That's it, surgery is in 3 days! This is how I'm preparing for it.
First of all I'm psyching myself "in the zone"... truly. I need to think about and visualize what's ahead, trying to picture the ward, the room, the buzz of the place, the nurses.
I will check-in the clinic at 2pm the day before, surgery will be first thing on the following day.
The Covid PCR test
I'm just back from the clinic, where they took the swab for the PCR test. I am 100% sure I don't have Covid, but it's mandatory. It was good, the clinic is nice and I was there thinking... I'll be here the day after tomorrow! It helped with entering in the "zone", truly.
Now I'm home, looking at the post-op diet in front of me, which is made of simple guidelines. I'm told I'll have to follow it for 2 to 3 weeks.
I'll have to adapt this diet because I'm lactose intolerant, so I'll substitute milk for soy milk or soy greek yoghurt.
I also want to have a few meals ready to go, measured and all, waiting for me in the freezer. I had bought on Amazon small plastic containers of 120ml and 200ml so I'm set!
I prepared a casserole and a soup, that will be perfect for the first couple of days. For the rest I have something similar in mind but I'm told I'll be able to stand and go about my normal life from discharge onwards, so I guess I can potter about in the kitchen without any problem.
Chicken "casserole"
This makes 5 x 120ml pots, with 28gr of chicken in each. I will add 1 tbsp of puree potatoes.
Ingredients:
140gr chicken breast cut into pieces
350gr frozen mix vegetables (carrots, peas, cauliflower and broccoli)
4 cloves of garlic cut in pieces
2 bayleaves
1 pinch of salt, 1 pinch of ground black pepper, 1 pinch of dried sage, 1 pinch of dried rosemary, 1 pinch of dried parsley
300gr water
Method:
Put everything in the pot (the water might not cover it all, but that's ok) and bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 20mins.
Let it cool down to room temperature, take the 2 bayleaves out, then off into the mixer. Set on "chop" for a while, then set on puree until perfectly smooth.
Divide into 120ml plastic tubs and freeze.
Lentils and vegetable soup
This can also work with chickpeas instead of lentils.
Ingredients:
1 tin of lentils (235gr drained weight) - drained and rinsed
400gr frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, peas, cauliflower and broccoli)
1 onion cut in thick slices
4 garlic cloves in pieces
1 vegetable knorr cube
1.5 (675ml) pints of water
2 tsp of smoked paprika
2 bayleaves
Method:
Bring it all to the boil, then simmer almost covered for 30 minutes.
Let it cool down, take out the 2 bayleaves then mix it with an immersion mixer until really smooth. It will be a thick soup.
Divide in 200ml plastic tubs and freeze.
What's next?
I'll have now to prepare all my tablets. The pharmacist was so good to find out for me the ones that can be crushed and the ones that also come in liquid form, and order just those brands. Perfect. I will bring them to hospital together with a printed list of tablet, dose, etc.
Then it'll be packing the hospital bag and taxi!
After surgery I'll post in the "surgery" post category of this blog.
Wish me luck!
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