Cruising Without a Stomach

I’ve never had much desire to go on a cruise and there are some things that have made it seem even less appealing such as occasionally having vertigo, occasionally getting seasick, and now having no stomach. My husband’s brother and sister-in-law, on the other hand, loved cruising and did it often. As they were nearing the end of their life, my husband started talking about using some of the inheritance money we would receive and doing a cruise in their memory. I couldn’t say “no”. On one of their cruises, they had received an upgrade to a Neptune Suite and Donna told Gary that she didn’t care if she had to wash dishes, that’s how they were cruising from then on. So, our plan was to cruise in a Neptune suite. My husband, Keith, even shared our plans with Gary and Donna before their death and they were very pleased to hear of our plans.

When Keith started talking about the cruise and doing the research, he was looking into Mediterranean cruises. I asked him why there and he started talking about all the ports. I told him all the ports were places we could go to on our own and that the only times I have been tempted by a cruise were when I saw pictures of Alaskan cruises, including those taken by Gary and Donna on their multiple trips. With Alaska, you can see places from the ship that you can’t see otherwise. Keith enjoys travel planning as a hobby and I usually just let him do it, often not knowing the details of where we’re going until we’re in the car on our way. But when I do offer input, he does listen, and he changed his course to planning an Alaskan cruise.

We started the conversation early in COVID, but wanted to wait till COVID “was over”. We were looking at going in May 2023, but it was January before Keith figured out exactly what he wanted to do and then it was no longer available, so we waited and went this year. The Holland America tour we ended up with went north from Vancouver with a week of land and then cruised south from Whittier, Alaska, for a week and ended back in Vancouver.

Day 1 – Friday, June 28, 2024 – Traveling from Kansas City to Vancouver

We flew into Vancouver a couple of days early. With a 1:50 flight out of Kansas City, we had planned to eat lunch at the airport, but didn’t allow enough time (still adjusting to the new KCI), so grabbed BBQ to go just before we boarded the plane. I’ve always enjoyed unsweetened iced tea, but it has 100% been my go-to drink post-gastrectomy. When flying, I look for bottles past security to get to take on the plane and then ask for a cup of ice during beverage service. I had checked a couple of places and they only had flavored or sweet tea. The BBQ place didn’t have tea in bottles either, but I was delighted to find they had it in the fountain. Knowing one cup wouldn’t be enough, I poured the tea into the Yeti cup I brought with me and got a refill. The only problem, there wasn’t room for the refill in the Yeti cup, so I was now balancing my carry-on, the food, and two drinks. I somehow survived without spilling and managed to eat the tasty burnt ends on the plane without making a huge mess. Success! I didn’t finish the overpriced burnt ends (airport pricing) but my husband finished them off after eating his meal, so no food was wasted.

Heading into Denver, we had quite a bit of turbulence and I wasn’t feeling great, but took a couple of tums and made it through. The landing was the roughest I recall ever experiencing. It was like the runway came faster than the pilot was expecting. My husband actually bumped his head on the seat in front of us.

I always pack lots of snacks when flying, making sure I have plenty even if we get delayed on the tarmac. It wasn’t until a year or so ago that I learned blue ice is permitted in carry-ons, as long as it is completely frozen. I have a small cooler bag that I put blue ice and cheese in. I can also fit one bottle of iced tea in it, if any had been available. Other snacks I pack include beef jerky, protein bars, and nuts. And of course, there’s the airline provided snacks. I don’t recall what all I ate, but I had enough to make it through. Even though we were a few minutes late leaving Denver, we arrived on time in Vancouver, landing at 6:19 local time. By the time we got our luggage and got to dinner, it was after 8, which meant it was after 10 Kansas City time.

By this time, it had been long enough since I had my last snack that I was hungry (yes, I experience hunger, it just feels different than it did when I had a stomach). Sometimes in the past I’ve had an issue where I’ve gotten too hungry and then basically couldn’t eat. Fortunately, 7 years post-gastrectomy, my body has adjusted more, and this wasn’t an issue. I was disappointed to learn that Canadians only do sweet tea and unsweet tea wasn’t an option.

After dinner, we went to the hotel room and were in bed by 10:30.

Day 2 - Saturday, June 29, 2024 - Vancouver (Chinatown, Gastown, and North Vancouver)

After breakfast at the hotel, we took the SkyTrain into town and then a bus into Chinatown. We arrived about 10:30 for an 11:00 Wok Around Chinatown tour. Since we had time to kill, we wandered around a little, but then about 10:50 tried to find where we were supposed to be and couldn’t find it. A couple of text messages and a phone call, and we finally met up with the guide and the rest of the group a little after 11. The four-hour tour included learning about Chinatown and eating along the way. I wasn’t quite sure how it was all going to work out because if we were eating every 20 minutes, for instance, I likely wouldn’t be able to eat that much or that often as I usually need an hour or so between times of eating. While the guide was going over the schedule at the lovely Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, we learned that the stops were going to include BBQ, a couple of bakeries for a surprise pastry (which turned out to be an apple tart), a lemon custard, and then finishing up with a dim sum lunch. We had not understood the dim sum to all be at one place, so that adjusted my expectations and also let me know that we weren’t getting a full lunch until likely after 2:00.

As always, I had snacks with me and as it was approaching 11:30, I had a debate with myself of whether to eat a snack or not as I still wasn’t clear on how long it would be to the first food stop. I decided to have a few nuts and I’m glad I did. We toured the garden and then had a first tea (hot tea) stop and then went down the road to Chinatown BBQ. We stayed outside while our tour guide went inside and then brought out two different types of roasted pork, one savory and one sweet BBQ. My snack had been light enough that I had no problem eating both pork dishes. It was just a sampling, so had no issue with being full.

The next stop was New Town bakery where the guide brought out delicious apple tarts. I wasn’t sure that I should, but I ate the whole thing and fortunately, didn’t regret it later. We then went to the Chinese museum. We didn’t have time to tour the museum, but the guide told us about the Chinese immigration to Canada, including that of his family.

Next stop was the Chinatown Story Telling Centre where we learned even more about early Chinese in Canada and learned that up until World War II, the Chinese were considered residents, not citizens and it wasn’t until after the War when some volunteered to fight for Canada that they were granted citizenship. A stop at an herbal medicine shop and then to The Boss bakery where we had the lemon custard. This time, I chose to just have a few bites of Keith’s.

After a brief stop at a shop that sells family worship supplies and explain that custom, we went to the oldest Chinese tea shop in Vancouver and sampled both hot tea and iced tea. The iced tea was flavored and sweetened with honey but wasn’t too bad. Thought about making a purchase, but the group was waiting, so I didn’t.

Next up was the Dim Sum lunch. Our guide had preordered 10-12 different dishes. I was able to sample all except the last one which came after I was already full. Some of the dishes were ones I have had previously when I’ve had Dim Sum and some were new.

After Chinatown, we went to Gastown and walked around, checking out various shops and the famous Steam Clock.

Since I have a need to drink between meals to stay hydrated, I pretty much carry a drink with me all the time. In the morning, it’s water and then I switch to tea at lunch. With not having unsweetened iced tea available, I made hot tea in the hotel room and refrigerated it overnight (using the bottle that I had managed to purchase in the Denver airport), so it was cold in the morning. I filled my Yeti cup with ice and water in the morning, and then when the water was gone, switched to the tea. That made it through most of the afternoon. I had run out of ice, but still had tea when I saw a Subway in the SkyTram station and asked if I could get some ice and was able to return my tea to iced tea. We took the SeaBus to North Vancouver for dinner.

 

Day 3 – Sunday, June 30, 2024 – Vancouver

The land portion of our Holland America tour officially started on Sunday, but all that meant was we had to change hotels. The new hotel was at the airport, so we delivered our luggage to the hotel in the morning and then went back into the city on the SkyTrain. We rode the aqua bus along False Creek, explored the shore, and then ended up at Granville Island where we visited the shops in the Public Market and the Artisan District. We went to a seafood restaurant for dinner and shared a lobster tail, jumbo prawns, oysters, ahi tuna poke, 1/2 Dungeness crab and potatoes. My husband, of course, ate the majority, but I sampled everything except the oysters and the ahi tuna poke, neither of which I care for.

 

Day 4 – Monday, July 1, 2024

Being at the airport hotel, it didn’t make sense to go into town to do anything Monday morning even though our flight wasn’t until almost 2:00. We had to have our checked luggage ready to be picked up at 9am and then we just hung out in the room until about 11 at which time we headed over to check in. It was a long walk through all the airlines and we didn’t think we were ever going to get to Air North, but we finally did. Keith had read very good things about a restaurant in the airport so our plan was to go there for lunch, but it turns out it is in the international terminal which we couldn’t access, so we settled on a pub in our terminal. There was a couple and sister from our group that we had talked to as we were checking in that were sitting at a large table and they invited us to join them. Food wasn’t spectacular but sufficient.

The flight to Whitehorse in the Yukon was about 2 ½ hours. A little into the flight, I decided it was snack time and had one of my protein bars. Shortly after I finished it, they came through with complimentary sandwiches. It’s been a long time since I was served more than just a little snack on a plane and especially wasn’t expecting a sandwich at 3:00 in the afternoon. If I had known it was coming, I would have held off on the protein bar, but was able to eat a lot of it (especially the meat and cheese). It was followed by a warm chocolate chip cookie which I could manage only a few bites of. We were only in Whitehorse long enough to go to the bathroom and get some instruction before turning around and loading the plane for the 1-ish hour flight to Dawson City.

After we checked into our room in Dawson City, we made our way to a Jamaican restaurant that had only been open a few months. Keith likes Jamaican food more than I do, but it wasn’t bad. Many of the restaurants that we might have chosen to go to were closed on Monday.

We were sad to learn that a wildfire had broken out on Sunday in Denali National Park, right across the river from the hotel where we were scheduled to stay Wednesday and Thursday nights. As part of fighting the fire, they had cut power and water to the hotel. I can’t imagine what it was like for the people that were there; apparently, they were using port-a-potties and the restrooms on the bus. Not sure what they were doing for food with no electricity and no water. We were hopeful that it would reopen by Wednesday, but suspecting that it wouldn’t.

 

Day 5 – Tuesday, July 2, 2024 – Dawson City

Dawson City is a town of less than 1,500 in the Yukon. It feels like you are stepping back in time with the buildings mostly being unchanged from the time of the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1800s. The only paved road is the main highway, the rest are dirt roads and there are boardwalks instead of sidewalks. With light rain on and off, we had to be careful to avoid the mud and water holes, especially where the boardwalks were missing. We rode the ferry across the Yukon River and at the urging of one of the workers, stepped off so we could say we were at mile marker 0 on the Top of the World Highway. We walked around checking out the town and joined our group for a tour of Klondike Mining Company Dredge No. 4, the largest wooden hulled bucket lined dredge in North America, which was in use 1912-1959.

After dinner, we joined four other members of our tour group at the popular cancan show at Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall. It was fun getting to know other members of our group better. With over 20 hours of daylight, we walked around the town a little more before heading back to the hotel.

 

Day 6 – Wednesday, July 3, 2024 – Fairbanks, Alaska

This is the day we were supposed to fly to Fairbanks and then take a bus to Denali. We had learned on Tuesday that we would be spending the time originally scheduled in Denali in Fairbanks instead. Obviously disappointed, but what we had been expecting ever since we heard about the fire.

This was the earliest start to the day to this point of the trip. I’m not a morning person, so I wasn’t thrilled that we had to have our luggage set out by 7am. Because there’s not a terminal at the airport, we checked in with the airline representatives at the hotel. By 8am, we were on the bus to the airport. Since we were flying from Dawson City to Fairbanks, Alaska, this was an international flight. Security was done by manually inspecting our carry-on bags on a folding table and quickly scanning us with handheld wands. Many of the airline/airport employees had multiple jobs as we saw the same people checking us in at the hotel, doing security, and guiding the airplane on the ground.

We were to our hotel in Fairbanks by 11am, ate lunch in the hotel restaurant, and then took the shuttle to Pioneer Park, which opened in 1967 to celebrate the centennial of the Alaska Purchase. It looked like a nearly 50-year-old park that could use some tender loving care but was still enjoyable. The thing I found the most interesting was The Harding Car which was the train car President Harding rode in when he came to Alaska in 1923 to drive the Golden Spike for the Alaska Railroad.

One of the things that we had been looking forward to, as well as time at Denali National Park, was an excursion from Denali, flying north of the Arctic Circle to Coldfoot, Alaska, home to the world's northernmost truck stop. When our plans got changed, Keith was able to get us rebooked on the same excursion out of Fairbanks Wednesday evening. Wednesday afternoon, we got a phone call that because of the weather, they couldn’t fly into Coldfoot. They had a flight earlier in the day that couldn’t land and had to turn back. They then offered us a flight to Fort Yukon, Alaska, a native community, still north of the Arctic Circle, so we took it. There was no truck stop or place to buy souvenirs, but we were greeted by a local woman who took us on a tour around town. Fort Yukon (Gwichyaa Zhee in the Gwich'in language), with a population of less than 500, is far from any highway and over 100 river miles from “civilization”. The residents are largely self-sufficient as it is so expensive to have anything shipped in. We stopped outside our guide’s parent’s house where we were greeted by her father and her four-year-old son. Both were a delight as her father shared more about their family history, and her son was a 4-year-old giving everyone a hug and making you smile.

 

Day 7 – Thursday, July 4, 2024 – Fairbanks, Alaska

We found out the night before that Holland America had put together a free all-day excursion to try to make up for the itinerary change. It was going to include gold panning, lunch, and a riverboat ride. However, there would not be a refund if we had already booked another excursion (which we had) and the meet time was 9:30 which was earlier than we wanted to do with our late night the night before, so we stuck with our original plan. I slept in and didn’t get up until almost 10. I felt well-rested when I got up and was glad I let myself sleep late. I decided to skip breakfast (most days I’ve had a pack of granola bars) and we headed to lunch a little after 11.

For lunch I had a crab burger (crab cake on a bun) and Keith had reindeer sausage. Both were good. Then we headed back to the hotel where our guide picked us up for the excursion. It was only us and a boy with his grandparents. I enjoyed the boy’s excitement around everything and asking lots of questions. The guide was great with him. We went to the University of Alaska Museum of the North, a culture and history museum, and then on to the University of Alaska Large Animal Research Station, my favorite part of the day. We saw musk ox, the only animal that is still around and not changed since the ice age, up close. We also saw reindeer, but the guide wasn’t able to get them to come as close for viewing. Final stop was North Pole, Alaska, and the Santa Claus House, a year-around Christmas store with Santa. As expected, they get lots of mail addressed to Santa and answer them with a North Pole postmark. The kid with us was pretty excited to go there.

Day 8 - Friday, July 5, 2024

It wasn’t until Thursday afternoon after our excursion that we found out how we were getting from Fairbanks to Anchorage since we weren’t supposed to be in Fairbanks. We were supposed to be in Denali and taking the train from Denali. The good news was that the rail service had reopened and we were able to take the train from Cantwell Station (a little south of Denali) to Anchorage. The bad news is we had to be in the lobby of the hotel, with our luggage, at 5:30 a.m. to board a bus for a 3 hour ride as we needed to be at Cantwell Station by 9:30 to make sure we were there when the train arrived. The train arrived about 9:50 and we were on our way for the 7-hour train ride to Anchorage by 10:00.

There were two domed cars on the train, each seated 88 passengers. Since it was the first trip with passengers after the railroad had reopened, our group of 41 were the only ones on the train and were split between the two cars, so we had lots of room to move around and could easily move from side to side to have the best view. The picture taking wasn’t as great as it could have been as it was raining part of the time, so we were dealing with water on the windows. We did have the back car, so we were able to step out on the platform to take pictures from three directions and not deal with the windows, but did have to battle the wind.

We had lunch on the train. Each train car had a full kitchen downstairs under the domed car. I had a BLTO (onion) with lots of bacon. I had brought plenty of snacks with me, but thought the salmon dip on the menu looked good, so ordered that later in the afternoon as my snack.

 

Day 9 - Saturday, July 6, 2024 – Anchorage, Alaska

We took a trolley around Anchorage in the morning and learned a little about its history, and specifically the 1964 earthquake.  We went to Earthquake Park where we stood on the fault line and you could actually see the ripples left behind from the earthquake. There are still homes underneath the ground that were sucked into the earth.

For lunch, we shared a 3 item appetizer with garlic shrimp, calamari, and salmon dip. After lunch, we took a shuttle to the Native American Heritage Center. They had some nice exhibits and we were quite impressed that the natives demonstrating the dancing were all young people, some still in high school. We also spent quite a bit of time wandering around shops today.

For supper, we split a pound of Alaskan King Crab legs. We had seen them on the menu other places for $100-$130 for one to one and a half pounds. The $80 price tonight seemed like a bargain. It wasn’t until we placed the order that I realized I’m not sure that I’ve ever had them before, being much more familiar with snow crab, I basically ate one of the four pieces (although it was one of the two bigger ones) and Keith ate the rest. I did enjoy it.

 

Day 10 – Sunday, July 7, 2024 – Boarded Ship

On Sunday, we took a train from Anchorage to Whittier where we would catch the cruise ship, Nieuw Amsterdam. We had to report to the hotel lobby at 11:30 a.m. for a 11:45 departure by bus to the train station. The 2-3 hour train to Whittier was scheduled for a 12:45 departure. This schedule made figuring out lunch a bit of a challenge. We could get lunch or a snack on the train, but knew it would be a late lunch. We opted to eat a big late breakfast before boarding the train. In the interest of time and convenience, we ate breakfast at the hotel which was too expensive for a not very good breakfast buffet, but it was food that should succeed in holding us over.

While it was another glass domed train, on this train, the seats were at tables as opposed to the earlier train we had taken. We also had assigned seating; I was glad we were headed forward instead of backward. The train was late, so we didn’t depart until after 1:00. I decided to order the Alaska smoked salmon chowder in a bread bowl. The service/kitchen was very slow, unlike what it had been on our previous train ride. I didn’t eat a snack because I had ordered lunch. It was getting close to 2:30 and still no chowder. They were actually starting to come through with tickets for beverages and asking people to close out their tabs so they would be done before arriving at our destination. They weren’t delivering the ones with food that hadn’t been delivered because they didn’t want us to pay for something we didn’t have, but that told me I wasn’t the only one wondering if it was going to arrive. I was getting hungry. I was thinking very seriously about going ahead and having a snack I had brought, but wasn’t sure if I should or not. About that time, fortunately before I got a snack out, the chowder finally arrived. I’m glad I hadn’t eaten the snack as I wouldn’t have been able to eat the chowder if I had. It was good; not necessarily worth the wait.

Less than an hour later, we arrived at our ship. Going through security went smoothly. I wasn’t allowed to take my bottle of tea onto the ship, but I was able to pour it into my Yeti cup. The concern was the plastic bottle, not the liquid. That just meant I only had one bottle to refill for the rest of the trip instead of two as I had also packed one in my checked luggage. The information we had been sent said that any food taken on board the ship (both initially and returning from ports) had to be factory sealed. I had spent quite a bit of time before the trip evaluating my snacks and figuring out what I had to do to be able to have snacks during the land portion of the trip, unopened packages when we boarded the ship, ziplock bags to put them in for an excursion, but not putting too much in because I wouldn’t be able to bring it back on to the ship, etc. That was all wasted stress as I didn’t make a point of discarding any open packages from the first week of travel and I was never questioned about any of them, both in my carry-on and in my checked luggage. I presume that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be different a different time, but on this trip, it was a non-issue.

As I said before, we had a Neptune suite which was a nice roomy suite with a large balcony. There were some special perks that came with the Neptune suite, the best of which was the Neptune Lounge which was right across the hall from our room. They cycled through about three menus of snacks (morning, afternoon, and evening) so there was always food available. We probably could have made a meal of the offerings there, but we never did. It did work well for many of my snacks. And the best part was there was always unsweetened iced tea in the afternoon and evening!

We ate dinner in the main dining room (which we did most nights). One of the additional perks of the Neptune Suite was priority seating, so we never had to wait and always were seated at a nice table fairly close to the windows. When you ordered, you ordered everything at once, including dessert. They expected each person to order an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. That is obviously too much food for me, but I decided since we were paying for it anyway (meals are included), I might as well get my own appetizer and dessert even though I may only eat a few bites. Keith and I both got to sample two desserts instead of having to agree and share one like we usually do. This first night, I had French onion soup and rainbow trout.  We had chocolate fudge brownie cheesecake and a hot fudge sundae for dessert. It was fun to have a couple of bites of each. Room service was also included, and I ordered cheese and nuts one evening for a snack.

 

Day 11 – Monday, July 8, 2024 – Hubbard Glacier

Today was spent at sea, cruising south. We arrived at Yakutat Bay, home to Hubbard Glacier late afternoon. Knowing the cruise ship wasn’t allowed near this Glacier, we booked an excursion where we got on a smaller boat and were allowed within about a half mile of the glacier. One of the few glaciers that is still advancing, Hubbard Glacier is 6 miles wide and 400’ high. Because of the size, it felt we were closer than we were. While we were there, the glacier was very active. We saw (and heard) several calvings, where ice falls from the glacier into the water.

 

Day 12 – Tuesday, July 9, 2024 – Glacier Bay

We spent much of the day in Glacier Bay. Although there are more glaciers here, they were not active like Hubbard was and we were farther away, so they weren’t near as interesting. We did also see a few whales, but I never got a good luck at them.

For our time in Glacier Bay National Park, we were joined on the ship by park rangers, an Alaska Native Voices Cultural Ambassador, and Alaska Geographic representatives who brought books, maps and items to sell. The only thing I bought was a couple of postcards.

 

Day 13 – Wednesday, July 10, 2024 – Skagway, Alaska

We arrived in Skagway overnight and had to get up early for a 7:30 a.m. excursion. This was a day I was thankful I had brought granola bars with me as I didn’t want to take the extra time to have breakfast on the ship, but instead just eat on the way to our destination. The dock in Skagway isn’t open to the public because of mudslides, so we left the ship via a tender boat and then took a bus to our White Pass Rail & Klondike Highway excursion. We rode a narrow gauge train on tracks which were laid in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush to White Pass and into the Canadian Yukon. Once again, it was rainy and foggy and much of the time the “beautiful canyon” was full of fog. The little glimpses we did see looked nice. We then took a bus back down to Skagway. We walked around town the rest of our time, including having lunch, sharing fish and chips and one king crab leg. It was another town, like Dawson City, that made you feel like you were back in time to the 1800s and the time of the gold rush.

 

Day 14 – Thursday, July 11, 2024 – Juneau, Alaska

We had a later excursion time than yesterday, so had breakfast on the ship before disembarking for our excursion which was a float plane ride over the Juneau Icefield. We saw several glaciers from the air, but since it was another cloudy day, many of the pictures look like they were taken in black and white, but it was still cool to see from the air.

For lunch, I decided to take a break from the seafood I was having nearly every meal, but still get something I can’t get at home, and enjoyed a reindeer sausage corn dog. It was pretty good. After lunch we checked out the Alaska State Capitol building (we had visited the Hawaii Capitol last year, so it seemed fitting to see the Alaska one too). We then rode the Goldbelt Tram up 1,800 feet which gave a nice view of Juneau.

We ate supper back on the ship. Our cruise package included one specialty dining experience and we had selected to have it tonight at the Pinnacle Grille. This is one of the meals when I had to get over wasting food and just enjoy the experience and the food in small portions. I had a few spoonfuls of lobster bisque, a tasting of Keith’s Clothesline Candied Bacon, and a small filet and lobster tail for my entree. At home, I would have just eaten one and taken the other for lunch the next day, but here I had a few bites of each. I finished the meal with a few bites of my Key lime pie and of Keith’s chocolate souffle.

 

Day 15 – Friday, July 12, 2024 – Ketchikan, Alaska

We were due in Ketchikan at 11 and had an excursion at 12:15, so we went to the buffet when it opened at 11 for an early lunch. They were slow opening and we impatiently waited along with many other passengers. After about 15 minutes, the people on our side of the ship learned that a portion of the buffet on the opposite side of the deck was open and had been for some time. So, we all went over there to get our food.

The Bear Encounter by Land and Sea excursion was the one I was most looking forward to, but also the one we were the most concerned about. It was a 4-5 hour excursion and the website said, “Bears have an acute sense of smell; do not wear strong scent or bring food of any kind.” Even though the website also said a light snack was included, we weren’t sure when the snack would be, if it would be the right type of food for me, and if it would be enough to satisfy my needs over that long of period. While I’m usually comfortable sneaking food in where not “allowed”, I don’t have that same comfort level when bears are involved. My husband, being the great planner and very concerned about me, took it upon himself and had multiple conversations with the cruise company who also talked to the excursion company both before and during the cruise. The excursion involved a 40 minute bus ride, followed by an hour long boat ride to the place where we would then walk down a path to see black bears. We were told we could take food on the bus and boat and then we could leave our bag on the boat for the hour or so spent at Neets Bay Bear Observatory, so we decided to go ahead and do the encounter.

When we were getting ready to get off the boat, we learned that boat was leaving us and another boat would be coming to pick us up when we were done at the observation area, but the guide assured us that bringing our bags and snacks on the trail was no problem. So basically, all that worry for nothing!

As we walked the trail to Neets Bay Hatchery and the observation area, the guide pointed out scratches on the trees that were from bears. We had heard that groups weren’t seeing bears because the salmon weren’t spawning yet and that’s what attracts the bears. We waited about an hour and didn’t see anything besides bald eagles and some other birds when some in our group saw a bear. Keith looked and saw just a glimpse before it went back into the woods, by the time I looked, it was gone. And then 10 minutes later, it was time to go.

We figured our group had seen just enough to not get the $100 credit they give if you don’t see a bear because they are that confident you will see one. We were pleased to find out we each received the credit after all. It didn’t change the disappointment in not seeing them, but at least we got a small compensation for our 5 hours spent to see no bear.

When we got back on the boat, we were given the provided snack of a choice of a selection of salty snacks, along with a bottle of water. I’m glad I had brought my own snack which I ate part of on the way.

When we got back to town, we wandered around Ketchikan a little and checked out Creek Street before getting back on the ship.

 

Day 16 – Saturday, July 13, 2024 – Cruising the Inside Passage

Today was spent on the water, cruising the inside passage, We did see one thing we hadn’t seen the entire trip…the sun! The water actually looked blue today, the rest of the trip it had been basically gray. We spent quite a bit of time on the bow looking for humpback whales and orcas. There was definitely activity, but I didn’t get any good looks.

We went to one of the other premium dining restaurants for supper as we had some nonrefundable ship credits to use up.

 

Day 17 – Sunday, July 14, 2024 – Vancouver

We arrived at the port in Vancouver early in the morning and had to be off the ship by 9 am, so no sleeping in. Rather than taking the time to go to a restaurant for breakfast and have to get up that much earlier, we chose to have room service delivered to the room.

After disembarking the ship, we headed to the Vancouver Aquarium where we enjoyed a sea lion show and other animals.

 

Day 18 – Monday, July 15, 2024 – Traveling home

With a flight scheduled to depart Vancouver at 12:40 pm, we didn’t do anything besides have breakfast and go to the airport Monday morning. We thought today we would be able to have lunch at the place at the airport that Keith had wanted to at the beginning of the trip, only to learn that flights to the US are out of their own terminal instead of the International Terminal. So, we ate standard airport food.

We were supposed to arrive in Denver at 4:38 pm and Kansas City at 8:43 pm. Our flight left Vancouver on time, but when we got to Denver, we had to circle the airport as it was closed for weather. The pilot warned us that we may have to divert to a different airport as we had a limited amount of fuel. And sure enough, a few minutes later, we were on our way to Rapid City, South Dakota. The Denver airport reopened about the time we landed in Rapid City, but by this time, our flight crew had reached their limit, so couldn’t return the plane to Denver. We had to disembark in Rapid City and wait for a new crew to arrive from Denver. But, before we could go to a gate, they had to call in airport employees that had already went home for the day, so we got to sit on the plane. When we finally got off, we were thrilled that the one restaurant in the airport was open, so we could get something for supper. I’m not sure, but I think they may have also been called in to reopen. With very limited staff, they did a good job of trying to keep up with all the business. Unanticipated instances like this is why I overpack snacks while flying, but the reality is I hadn’t overpacked for this trip home as much as I probably should have. If we hadn’t been able to get off the plane or if the restaurant hadn’t been open, I think I would have been in distress mode, but fortunately that didn’t happen. We finally had a new plane and were headed back to Denver. We landed about midnight. The motel shuttle had stopped running for the day, so we had to get a taxi. We got to our motel room about 1 am, with no toiletries or clean clothes for the next day.

 

Day 19 – Tuesday, July 16, 2024 - Traveling Home Day 2

It was a short night as we had to be on the motel shuttle back to the airport at 7:30 am for our rescheduled flight. Everything was on schedule today. My eldest had been going to pick us up at the airport on Monday night, but couldn’t get off work to do so on Tuesday. When we were getting ready to leave Rapid City Monday night, I had posted on Facebook about our flight adventures and asked if anyone wanted to pick us up and one of our friends volunteered, so we didn’t have to take a taxi home from the airport. It felt good to be home when we finally got there.

6th Anniversary and Facebook Memories

6 years ago today, I was laying in a hospital bed at MD Anderson, totally out of it, having had my stomach removed the day before. Last year, around my 5th anniversary, I enjoyed all of the Facebook memories that popped up. There were posts from me as I was anticipating the surgery,from my husband giving updates during surgery and after, and then from me again when I was finally with it enough to post myself. I thought it would be helpful for me as I reflect back and for others who are contemplating the surgery and wonder what lies ahead to put those memories together here in one place.

Me - February 7, 2017, 8:04 AM

Two weeks from today I embark on the scariest journey of my life. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2015, I had genetic testing done. I tested positive for a very rare gene mutation, CDH1. While it is affiliated with breast cancer, it has an extremely high correlation with Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer, cancer that forms in the lining of your stomach and is undetectable until stage 4 or 5 and it is too late. The only recommended course of treatment is to have a Prophylactic Total Gastrectomy, ie have your stomach removed as a preventive measure. After much research and agonizing, I have decided to have this surgery completed at MD Anderson in Houston on February 21. I appreciate your prayers for a smooth surgery, uneventful and swift recovery and for a lifetime of learning to live a normal life without a stomach, it can and has been done.

Me - February 18, 2017, 8:11 AM

Sitting in our condo on Padre Island, looking out over the Gulf of Mexico. Flew down to Houston on Wednesday. Had pre-op appointments at MD Anderson on Thursday, Came down to Padre Island/Corpus Christi for the weekend. Will return to Houston on Monday and hope to have surgery on Tuesday. Right now things are uncertain. Started having what I thought were allergy symptoms late Monday, was really bad Tuesday and Wednesday, making the flight miserable. Hoped it was allergies and the allergens wouldn't be present in Texas. Am better, but still congested and coughing. Definitely not the flu but likely a cold and if I don't get this whipped in the next 3 days, it may delay surgery They have this thing about you being healthy and being able to breathe going into surgery.

Me - February 20, 2017, 6:12 PM

The good news is I think I am feeling well enough that surgery will happen tomorrow. The bad news is I think I am feeling well enough that surgery will happen tomorrow. Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers. We report to the MD Anderson OR tomorrow at 5:15am. Surgery should begin around 7:30am.

Keith Stokes (my husband) - February 21, 2017, 7:17 AM

Linda just went back to surgery. The first update will be at 10, then every 2 hours.

Keith - February 21, 2017, 10:57 AM

About 40 minutes ago, I was told the surgery was complete and the doctor would see me soon. Still waiting.

Keith - February 21, 2017, 2:51 PM

Just saw the surgeon. She will be starting to wake in about 20 minutes and I may be able to see her in about an hour and a half. He said that all went well. Nothing looked bad but the type of pathology they will do will take about a week.

Keith - February 22, 2017, 8:51 PM

Linda's heart rate is rapid, but it isn't bothering her beyond the annoying alarms. We moved floors so they can monitor telemetry continuously. They took x-rays and blood for tests. The heart rate has not responded to drugs so far.

Linda still sleeps as much as they will let her, but I told her of the KU victory.

Keith - February 23, 2017, 1:25 PM

Linda's heart rate has behaved today.

On her most recent walk, she took 2 of the very short laps for the first time. She has fewer tubes and is more comfortable.

Keith - February 24, 2017, 12:37 PM

Linda is progressing and will try to walk and sit up more today.

She is now permitted a tiny amount of clear liquid and hasn't wanted more.

She has tulips from her sister in law and appreciates them, but there is no need for others. There is little room and we probably have at least one more room change ahead.

Keith - February 25, 2017, 9:40 PM

Progress is very slow. Linda still sleeps often, but was up for 5 short walks today and would take more, but for the hassles of being in the hospital. The doctors seem to think that her progress is normal.

This was the second day of liquid diet. The quantity permitted is very small, but Linda does not appear to mind the quantity. I think she will move to soft food sometime tomorrow.

Me - February 27, 2017, 5:58 PM

Thank you to everyone for the continued prayers and concern. It's hard to believe it's been almost a week since surgery. It's been an adventure. Surgery went well and as expected. I've had some issues with temporary high heart rates and low oxygen levels, but nothing has been severe and we continue to work on getting it all under control. Had nothing to eat or drink Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Friday and Saturday was on a clear liquid diet of 240cc every 8 hours. That's not very much. Was moved to mechanical soft diet on Sunday. Was frustrated over the weekend because even though I was given the go ahead to eat, had no direction as to what I should really be doing since the dietitians don't work over the weekend, made even more complicated because the heart issues had me being on the telemetry floor instead of the normal floor I would have been on with this type of surgery where the nurses understood a little better what surgery I had done and what my needs were.

Today has been much better as I've got direction from a dietitian, got switched to a post gastric surgery diet that I was supposed to be on yesterday instead of the one I was on, and got up and walked a lot. Even went to the beauty shop and had my hair washed.Yesterday I was getting mixed signals on everything, including walking. They are talking that I could be released from the hospital as early as tomorrow. We'll see. Will then still be in Houston for at least a few days before returning to KC.

Me - February 28, 2017, 3:23 PM

Got out of hospital this morning. Am at hotel (connected to hospital). Will visit doctor and nutritionist in office on Thursday to evaluate if we come home Saturday or if it's an additional week.

Me - March 1, 2017, 11:41 AM

Yesterday was an adventure on so many levels!

I got released from the hospital a little after 11:00, beginning the adventure of figuring out how to live and eat without a stomach...on my own! I'm supposed to eat something every 2-3 hours, so it was basically time to eat. 6 pages of post-op diet guidelines in hand, we explored all the food options at the hotel, including a small store and a "grab-and-go". Settled on a few chunks of watermelon and some cheddar cheese. Then headed to the nearest grocery store. Was hoping Keith could push me in a wheelchair, but they only had scooters. If you've never used one of those things before, they are an adventure in and of themselves. Added to it, the grocery store was in the midst of a major remodel and had boxes and stuff all over the store as they were reshelving and such. It was an obstacle course to navigate through. With diet guidelines still in hand, we read labels and compared items like I've never done before, It probably took us an hour in the store and we spent less that $50. Spent the afternoon trying to consume something every two hours. Had trouble keeping much of it down. Had not had trouble with this in the hospital. Reevaluated early evening using the food diary I'd been keeping all day and realized the solid foods were staying down, but liquids were causing more problems. Water seemed to be fine, but not really anything else. They encourage protein shakes and such to fill gaps between meals. I was trying them and some other beverages to keep hydrated, but that part just wasn't going well. I think I was pushing myself too hard and trying to do too much. I've backed off and am doing much better.

The adventure last night was trying to sleep. I found the bed at the hotel EXTREMELY uncomfortable! It is super soft and I just couldn't sleep. Tried moving to chair in the middle of the night, but it wasn't a chair designed for sleeping. Finally woke Keith and traded sides of the bed and slept a little better, but not much. Am exploring other options today.

Me - March 2, 2017, 8:50 AM

Had a bed board under the mattress last night. Slept much better! Follow-up with doctors today. Will know in a few hours if we get to return to KC soon.

Me - March 2, 2017, 6:54 PM

March 2, 2007 - It was about 9:20am when I got the call that changed my life forever. That's the day my husband and the father of my two wonderful children, Jesi Lipp and Mary Clow, died. We've been through so much since then. 4 graduations, 3 weddings, 1 divorce, and so much more. I love my children so much. It is hard to be away from them today. I want to wrap my arms around them, but I can't because here I am on March 2, 2017 embarking on another journey that will change my life forever. I had the follow-up with the doctor and nutritionist today. He can't decide whether to let me go home on Saturday or not. A couple of the blood counts are not quite where he would like for them to be. Will have another blood test tomorrow and then decide. So much uncertainty, so much unknown about this future without a stomach. So much like 10 years ago when I didn't know how I was going to keep going, but knew I had to. For myself and for my children. I now also have a wonderful husband and son-in-law, and ex-son-in-law. They have all played such an important role also. Thank you to everyone who has helped us get through the last 10 years and who will be along on the journey for the next 10.

Me - March 3, 2017, 3:47 PM

I GET TO GO HOME TOMORROW!!!

Me - March 3, 2017, 7:53 PM

After eating every "meal" since being released from the hospital in the hotel room or at the "grab-and-go" at the hotel, we tried the hotel restaurant last night. Keith ordered an entre and I ate just a very few bites of his meal. With success then, we decided to venture out tonight and do the same thing at a real restaurant. It went well. Feeling good about this. Wasn't expecting to do so only 3 days after being released from the hospital. It was nice for Keith to be able to have something other than hotel/hospital food.

Me - March 4, 2017, 1:55 PM

GOOD TO BE HOME!

Me - March 9, 2017, 9:30 PM

I'm supposed to walk 6 times a day. I just walked all the way around Rose's pond, without stopping, for the first time since surgery. It's getting cold and windy out there....I think that gave me extra motivation.

Let's Talk Dessert

 Let’s talk dessert. Valentine’s Day seems like a good day to do that.

 Leading up to my gastrectomy there were so many uncertainties. No one could provide a list of foods you would and would not be able to eat after surgery as it varied person to person. Dessert was one of the biggest unknowns. Having no idea whether I would ever be able to eat sweets again, I tried to make up for it the months before surgery, having dessert with virtually every meal. I figured if I wasn’t going to be able to eat them again, I was definitely going to enjoy them now and I didn’t care how much weight I gained. I was going to quickly lose it anyway.

 I am thrilled that I can still eat dessert. It’s often just a few bites, but I still enjoy sweets. I get to enjoy the wonderful taste and am usually satisfied with just a few bites, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to have a whole dessert. A couple of years ago, I made a favorite dessert for a time we were having some friends over. It’s one I’ve made for years. I made a couple of variations to make it better for me, but was still surprised when I find myself eating the whole thing. Usually my body tells me when to stop, but it didn’t. I wondered if I was going to regret it later, but I didn’t. I’ve now made it several times, and I’m almost always able to eat a whole slice of my Frozen Strawberry Yogurt Pie. It’s quick and simple to make: mix together one 8 oz. tub of thawed cool whip, 3 8 oz. containers Greek strawberry yogurt, and 1 14 oz. container of sliced frozen strawberries. Spoon into a graham cracker crust and freeze. Most people enjoy it best if thawed for awhile before serving, although I also enjoy it frozen. The only changes I’ve made from the original recipe is substituting regular yogurt for Greek yogurt and using unsweetened strawberries instead of sweetened strawberries.

 I don’t usually worry about grams of protein or calories or anything, but I have tried to calculate for those that do. The counts will vary a little based upon the brand of Greek yogurt, etc., but cutting the pie into 8 slices, each slice is approximately 240 calories, 16 grams of sugar, and 6 grams of protein.

 Having discovered that I can eat a whole slice of this pie, it got me curious if there were similar ones that I could eat as well.  I found one that I modified a little, but also enjoy: Cream cheese chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. Combine 8 oz. thawed Cool Whip, 2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, 1 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup peanut butter chips. Spoon into a chocolate cookie pie crust. Refrigerate. If cut into 8 slices, each slice is approximately 700 calories, 32 grams of sugar and 15 grams of protein. This one does have more calories and more sugar, but also more protein. Since it is quite a bit richer, I usually actually cut it into 12 slices. I can usually eat 1/12. I often can’t eat 1/8.

I continue to look for other desserts with high protein and low sugar, but these are definitely the best I have found so far. The great thing is that as well as me getting to enjoy a whole dessert, my friends and family like them too.

 Happy Valentines Day!

3rd Anniversary

Happy 3rd Total Gastrectomy Anniversary to me!

It was 3 years ago that I had my stomach removed and my life was forever changed....but not as much as I feared it would be.  Going into the surgery, I really had no idea what to expect.  I had talked to one person that had had the surgery, had read several blogs, and done other research online.  I hadn't yet found the CDH1 facebook group (which I would highly recommend to anyone with this gene mutation.)  One thing that I did learn from what I had read was that everyone's experience was unique.  What worked for one person didn't necessarily work for another one.  No one could give me a list of foods that I could and couldn't eat.  It would all be trial and error.  This was one of the scariest parts.  I didn't know if there were foods that I would never eat again.

I've been fortunate.  I don't know if it's because I had a great surgeon or because I did something right in my recovery or if I was just lucky, but I am in a better place than I ever dreamed I would be.  I didn't get here overnight, but I can now eat pretty much anything I want to.  There are some things I choose not to eat a lot of because I don't want to fill up on things such as salad, bread, etc.  I focus on protein. But I do eat the other things also.  The main thing that I really have to watch is sweets, but I do get to eat candy and dessert...just in small quantities.  That's one of the things I wasn't sure if I would ever eat again.  But when you only get to eat a few bites of dessert or one piece of candy, you actually cherish it and enjoy it more.  I'll post another blog about dessert and a couple of desserts I have found I can eat a whole piece of soon.

The other place I have made adjustments is in beverages.  I've always loved unsweetened iced tea and drank a lot of it.  Prior to gastrectomy, I would also drink Coke.  I've never liked Diet Coke, so I would drink the real thing.  I didn't try Coke for awhile after surgery because of the carbonation and the sugar.  When I finally did, I found I could tolerate it (in small quantities), but I didn't really enjoy it anymore.  So, I have pretty much stuck with the tea that I still love...and then I can enjoy other sweets more because I'm not wasting my sugar intake on a beverage.  I've also made an adjustment to the alcoholic beverages I prefer. My preferred drink used to be a fuzzy navel with orange juice and peach schnapps.  I have found that's now too sweet and have switched to wine more often.  I also drink hard cider, that's something I've enjoyed before and after surgery.  I don't drink much as without a stomach, the effects of alcohol are felt much sooner.

I've talked in this blog before about my weight loss.  I lost 85 pounds, going from 243 before surgery to 157 about 18 months later.  I stayed at that weight for about a year and then about 6 months ago, I started gaining weight.  I'm up to around 164 now.  As opposed to many people that have this surgery, being overweight, I saw the weight loss as a nice fringe benefit.  I was thrilled with my 157 weight and felt great about my body.  I'm still happy at 164, but really don't want to gain too much more.  If I keep gaining, I'll have to figure out what to do to stop it.  Losing weight is something I've never been able to do until the gastrectomy, so I'm not looking forward to that if it becomes a thing..but for now, I'm happy with where I am.

Many people find it hard to believe that you can live a good life without a stomach.  I'm here to tell you that you can.  I started this blog to hopefully help others faced with the same decisions I was.  When diagnosed with CDH1, I found so little information out there.  I found the blogs from other survivors to be so helpful.  If I an help someone else, that's what it's all about.

Traveling without a Stomach

Many people ask how difficult it is to travel without a stomach.  It does take more planning than before, but is easily doable.  When flying in particular, I overpack food.  I not only have enough snacks for the anticipated flight time, but have plenty extra for potential delays, especially, if we were to get stranded on the plane with no access to airport food, I want to make sure I am prepared.  I pack protein bars, nuts, cheese, jerky, peanut butter filled pretzels…pack whatever your go to snack is.  The last two times I’ve flown, they have had you take any food out of your carry ons to be scanned separately.  I think the TSA agents, and other passengers, think I’m nuts when I keep pulling out more and more food, but no one has said anything yet.

At home, I often bring home leftovers when we eat out and then warm those up for my lunch the next day.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t work as well while traveling.  I try to order just a sandwich and eat the meat without the bread or just an appetizer or something so there is less waste, but I’ve also tried to get over it and if I throw away food, I throw away food, and not let it bother me.

Smoked trout dip with pita bread and carrots

Another option is what we did one day on Mackinac Island during this trip.  There are so many wonderful places to eat that instead of just doing lunch and dinner, and me doing my normal snacks in between, we spent one day just doing appetizers.  Starting a little after 11am, we went to a restaurant and shared an appetizer, then a couple of hours later, another appetizer, a couple of hours later, another, etc.  We had the last appetizers about 8pm.  I had less of a need for snacks in between and I don’t think we spent any more money than we would have if we had two bigger meals.

In just two days, most of the 10 oz. package of dried strawberries are gone.

One highlight of this trip to Northern Michigan was stopping at the General Store in Good Hart.  It may seem odd, but returning to this little store in this tiny town is something I’ve been looking forward to for a year.  A year ago when we were there, I purchased some dried strawberries.   I like dried fruit, but very seldom have I encountered dried strawberries.  These were wonderful!  And the fantastic thing is I could eat several at a time and they didn’t bother me.  I was eating them like candy.  But unlike actual candy where I can only have one, or maybe two pieces at a time, I can eat several of these at once, and I'm fine, even though cane sugar is the second listed ingredient (behind strawberries.)  If I eat more than one or two pieces of candy, watch out! Dumping is not fun.  But I can eat these dried strawberries by the handful.  Most every time I snack, I make sure to have protein, but once in awhile, it’s nice to eat something just for the pure enjoyment of it.  For a year, I’ve searched close to home and never found dried strawberries.  Thus, the trip to Good Hart, to stock up on dried strawberries, both to enjoy now while on vacation and to take home with us.  The packaging says they’re good till June 2020.  I don’t think they will last that long.

Daily Food Routine

As I get further and further removed from my gastrectomy, I find myself posting less and less often.  I often think about posting, but don't make myself sit down and do it.  I commented recently, "I was too busy living life to write about it."  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm going to try to make myself do better as I know it would be helpful to those who are going through the same things and others are just curious.

I thought it might be good to share my daily routine as far as food intake.  I am 17 months out from my surgery (and that's how I usually refer to it, "my surgery"; I've had various surgeries over the years, but this one is just "my surgery" and life is defined as before and after surgery, just like before and after children).  But anyway.....

Before surgery, I was never a big breakfast eater.  I would usually eat a granola bar on the way to work.  Now I emphasize protein every time I eat.  I don't count calories or count grams of protein, but I try to get protein with every meal and every snack...and it seems to be working.  Granola bars do not have very much protein, so they have went bye-bye.  They have been replaced with Kellogg's Special K Protein cereal for breakfast.  I have found that I like the Cinnamon Brown Sugar Crunch flavor straight out of the box. There are 7 grams of protein per 3/4 cup serving.  I've actually never measured how much I eat, but I'm guessing around a serving.  I carry it in a zip-lock bag and eat in on the way to work, usually finishing at work since I only have a 2 mile drive to work.  I often don't eat breakfast until close to 9:00 (I'm not a morning person) and I usually eat lunch at 11:30, so I often don't have a morning snack.  If I do have a morning snack, I like Atkins Peanut Butter Granola protein bars.  They have 16 grams of protein.  A lot of the snacks I eat later in the day, I don't like to eat in the morning; this is one of the few things I enjoy in the morning besides my cereal.

As I said before, I usually eat lunch around 11:30.  My lunch is, more often than not, leftovers that I bring to work and heat up in the microwave.  It includes some sort of meat, potato, and sometimes a vegetable.  It also includes unsweetened iced tea.  Before lunch, I drink water periodically, but then I  drink tea with lunch but not too much) and will continue drinking it all afternoon.

In the afternoon, I have several snacks. Using the criteria of eating every 3 hours, it would only be one snack, but instead I tend to eat 2 or 3 snacks during the afternoon, eating every hour or two.  At work, I keep a supply of cheddar cheese sticks, mozzarella string cheese, pretzels (that I eat with the string cheese) and protein bars. Protein bars vary a lot in the number of grams of protein.  For the most part, I have stopped buying the ones that are only 7-10 grams figuring I might as well eat one that's 20 instead.  I particularly like Pure Protein.  They are small bars (I never have problems finishing them which does sometimes happen with bigger bars), but have 20-21 grams of protein. Costco sells a variety pack with 21 bars of Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chewy Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Deluxe.  Others that I particularly like are Cliff Builder's Protein-Chocolate Mint or Chocolate Peanut Butter (20g), ProMax-Double Fudge Brownie (20g) and Balance Chocolate Mint Cookie Crunch (14g).  I also really like Atkins Caramel Chocolate Nut Roll Bar.  It's only 7 grams of protein, but I still buy it because it's almost like eating a candy bar.

I also always carry snacks in my purse.  I usually have peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets and nuts, either regular mixed nuts, peanuts or honey roasted peanuts.  Lately, I've been mainly doing honey roasted peanuts.  I didn't do them for quite some time, afraid that they would be too much sugar.  I don't know if I would have had troubles earlier, but I've had no problems now.  I stopped doing mixed nuts because I don't like cashews and I got tired of the number that were in the mixed nuts.

At home on weekends, as well as doing the above snacks, I do a variety of cheeses with crackers.  I'm so glad I don't have any dairy issues as I know some people do after TG as cheese is a big part of my snacking.

I eat a variety of things for supper.  There really isn't anything I won't eat, but grilled fish and chicken are my "go tos".  I also eat steak, hamburger, pork, etc.  We often go out to eat, which almost always means I will have leftovers for lunch the next day as American restaurants serve too much food.  If I fix my own dinner at home, I will often eat an entire frozen fish filet or chicken breast, partially because the serving size is smaller and partially because I don't fix as many side dishes.  If I need leftovers for lunch, I'll go ahead and fix an extra serving.

I had been having a smoothie almost every night as I found it did better than many other snacks in the evening.  My typical make your own smoothie is 2 ice cubes crushed in the blender, add some juice (strawberry watermelon or mango), 4 tablespoons whey protein powder, 1 container Greek yogurt (any flavor), frozen fruit (some combination of mangos, peaches, and berries) blended all together.  Just over the last few months, I have found myself having other snacks in the evenings and doing less smoothies, although I still like the smoothies too.  I particularly do a lot of the peanut better pretzels and honey roasted peanuts in the evening.

It's nice that I've pretty much fell into a routine and have a system, but at the same time, I'm not afraid to experiment and venture outside of it.  Occasionally, things don't go well, but more often than not, they do.

Drinks, Sweets and Dumping

Dumping syndrome is a condition some people experience after a total (or partial) gastrectomy.  It is caused when food, especially sugar, moves into your small bowel too quickly.  Symptoms of dumping syndrome include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, dizziness and rapid heart rate.

I have been very fortunate.  I have not experienced much dumping.  Actually, in my first year, I didn't have any severe dumping.  There might have been a few times that I had a little, but not really much at all.  I don't know if what I had would even be considered dumping as it was so minor.

Fear of dumping syndrome is one of the reasons I don't do a lot of sweets.  But I have built up to doing them more often, a little at a time, and haven't had any problems....until a couple of weeks ago.  It was the same day as my last post where I drank a whole can of Coke while watching the KU game that afternoon.  I was fine, no issues.  Then that night, I could tell I was going to have trouble getting to sleep, so I decided to have a mixed drink before going to bed.  My go to drink is a fuzzy navel (orange juice and peach schnapps).  Yes, it is sweet, but I've had it before, and I've been fine.  I actually didn't have any orange juice, but had mango juice from my Smoothies.  I've mixed mango juice with peach schnapps before and had no problems.  As I was having the drink this time, I could tell it was starting to bother me.  I didn't finish the drink and went on to bed.  As I was laying in bed, I started having abdominal cramps really bad.  I got up and went to the bathroom.  Went back to bed, still cramping.  I got up again.  This time I was successful in having a bowel movement.  Went back to bed, still cramping.  I was laying there, curled up, in a lot of pain.  Got up and went to the bathroom one more time.  This time I had loose bowels.  After that, I actually felt better.  I was finally able to go back to bed and settle down and eventually go to sleep.  I think that was dumping syndrome.  My first experience with it and I hope my last.  I really don't want to go through that again.

I haven't had my peach schnapps and orange or mango juice again yet since then.  Not sure how long I'll wait before giving it a try.  One of the frustrating things with all this is something that can be fine one day, isn't another day.  You never know.

I did have a celebration with dessert this Friday night.  We had some friends over to play bridge and I made a frozen strawberry yogurt pie (Cool Whip, frozen strawberries, and strawberry yogurt, poured into a graham cracker crust and frozen).  I made it one other time since surgery.  That time I was tempted to eat the whole slice, but made myself stop at half.  This time I made it with Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt.  I figured adding the protein would make it better for me.  It was still yummy and I did eat the whole slice this time.  No dumping.  No regrets.  I felt totally fine afterward.

There are leftovers from the pie in the freezer.  I may just have to go have a slice....

Have a Coke

I love iced tea (unsweetened!).  Always have.  Before TG, I was more likely to have iced tea with my meal than anything, but occasionally enjoyed a Coke...real Coke, don't like the aftertaste of diet.  After TG, iced tea has been my go to drink.  No sugar, no carbonation.  I like it, I have no issues. 

Before today, I had had 2 cokes in the last year.  Both times I had about half of a 12 oz. can.  I don't know if it's been all the Coke commercials which watching the NCAA tournament or what, but I decided I needed to have a Coke.  Partially, I wanted to have one at home so I would know if it was safe to have one while I was away from home.  If I'm at a party or something, iced tea isn't always an option.  I need to know if I can drink a whole Coke.  So this afternoon, while watching KU play Duke in an incredible game and advance to the Final 4, I had a Coke.  I drank the whole 12 oz.

Truthfully, it didn't taste all that great.  When you've got used to drinking drinks with no sugar, it just tastes sort of weird.  But I did OK.  My left side actually hurts a little.  Not a lot, but a little.  Maybe I should describe it more as just a little discomfort.  I actually have had this happen several times over the last few weeks after I eat.  I don't know what causes it.  It's not that bad.  I live with it.  It passes in a few minutes and I'm fine.

I'm still going to drink lots of iced tea.  That's not going to change.  But if I want to have a Coke or if iced tea isn't an option, I can have a Coke!

One Year!

It's been one year since I wrote these words:

I'm sitting here on the eve of my surgery. I'm freaking out. I can feel my heart rate accelerating. I try to take deep breaths to relax and stay calm. How did I get here? Am I really doing this? Am I really having my stomach removed in less than 12 hours? What will the rest of my life be like? There's no turning back. (View the whole post here)

I had no idea what the future would bring. I was scared, probably more scared than I've ever been in my life.  The year hasn't been easy, but in general times it hasn't been as bad as I feared.  I had set myself up for the worst.  There have been bad times, but the good times have far outweighed the bad times.  I've been blessed.  Some people have a rougher time than I have.  I don't understand the difference.  I don't feel like I have done anything in particular, but I had a great surgeon (Dr. Mansfield at MD Anderson), and I do try to listen to my body, eat every 2-3 hours (sometimes only an hour), eat protein every time I eat and keep hydrated by drinking mostly unsweetened iced tea, water, and smoothies.  I have a smoothie that I make myself (I don't like the store bought ones and they don't always settle well) almost every night as I found it often settles better in the evening than food does. 

My smoothie "recipe" is simple: ice, 100% fruit juice and/or milk (I originally used all juice, but have recently been using a combination of juice and milk), whey protein powder, Greek yogurt, frozen fruit.  Blend.

The amount of food I can eat in one setting keeps increasing.  Sometimes, like tonight, my plate looks like a real person, eating a real meal.  This was my supper tonight. I ate everything on my plate.  When eating frozen fish fillets prepared at home (this one was salmon), I can pretty consistently eat the entire thing.  Potatoes are a staple for me, these are sliced and coated with olive oil and garlic seasoning and then baked in the oven, along with the salmon which was preseasoned.  I only started doing corn a couple of months ago, but it has been doing OK.  I haven't really encountered anything I can't eat at all, but there are things I didn't try for months and corn was one of them.  I still don't do a lot of it or salad or bread, but I can eat any of them.  I mainly just don't want to fill up on foods like bread or lettuce that don't supply me with protein or many other nutrients.

I wish I could say that it was always easy and there weren't surprises, but that's simply not true.  Sometimes after eating there's a few minutes that I don't feel good.  I can't really describe it, but things just feel a little out of balance.  It usually isn't severe.  It seldom lasts long.  It doesn't happen all the time.  I just live with it.  It's not a big deal.  I don't know if this is something that will be part of the rest of my life or not.  I do know it happens less often than it did 2 months ago when it was happening less than it was 6 months ago.  So I'm guessing it may totally go away at some point or it may always be there occasionally.  Only time will tell.

It had been a long time since something hadn't set so badly that it came back up.  That was until last night.  I had some peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets for a snack.  Everything seemed fine at first, then I started not to feel well.  I don't want to be too graphic but I want to tell it like it is for those who might be anticipating or recovering from a TG.  It took two trips to the bathroom with it coming out of both ends before I felt better.  But once it was over, I was fine.  It would be easy to say that I just shouldn't eat the peanut butter pretzels, but I had some both Friday night and Saturday night and everything was fine.  I didn't feel the least bit sick then.  This is one of the mysteries of life post total gastrectomy.  You never know what is going to bother you one day that didn't bother you another day.

My weight seems to be stabilizing.  I've been right around 163 (162.7-163.4) for 6 weeks now, down 80 pounds from the 243 I weighed going into surgery.  It is a weight I am very happy with and think I look good at.  I will be thrilled if this is a weight that I maintain and won't be concerned about trying to gain weight.  Actually, wouldn't want to gain any more than 10 pounds or so and if I end up losing another 10 pounds that would be OK too.  I'm basically where I want to be.

Here's to one year of life without a stomach.  Hoping and praying the second year is even more uneventful, which I am expecting it will be.

Thanksgiving

Being the first major traditional stuffing yourself holiday since my total gastrectomy, I was a little anxious about how Thanksgiving would go.  I was pretty pleased.

I slept in, had breakfast about 9:30 and then got making apple pie.  I had made pumpkin and sour cream raisin (my first attempt...my husband's favorite, so I thought I would give it a try) the night before.  During the pie making, there was one issue after another, but survived not finding the mixer bowl I was looking for, the meringue not stiffening, the pie crust falling apart trying to put it in the pie plate, a collapsed crust, and whatever else went wrong.

We left the house a little after noon to head to the home of my step-sister-in-law's mother (did you follow that one) where we would share Thanksgiving Dinner with about 30 "family".  Having been about 2 1/2 hours since I had ate breakfast and knowing it would be at least an hour and potentially a couple of hours, before we had dinner, I took along a protein bar to eat as a snack on the way.  I laughed about eating a snack on the way to Thanksgiving dinner, but knew that if it got much over 3 hours between me eating, I could potentially have issues and wanted to avoid that.

We ate around 1:30.  I put small portions of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn and a roll on my plate.  I've got pretty good about judging how much I can eat, but I thought there was a good chance I had put too much on my plate this time, but I hadn't.  I ate every bit of it.  I sat at the table and visited for a little bit and then eventually decided I was able to have some pie.  I cut a little bit off of a piece of apple and a piece of pumpkin and had probably about 3 bites of each.  It was delicious (if I don't say so myself) and satisfying.  I never felt bloated or sick or anything.  I had succeeded in limiting myself to just the right amount.

I continued to feel great the rest of the day.  I would say that's a successful Thanksgiving!

Random Ramblings

I'm way behind.  It has been 3 months since I've posted.  I've intended on posting several times over the last 3 months.  I've thought about what I would say several times.  I've just never actually sit down and typed anything.  So, I am doing that, today, now!

By August, I had lost enough weight (about 55 pounds) that some of my clothes didn't work anymore, or at least looked baggy.  I was thinking about going shopping for some new clothes, but then discovered I had some in the upstairs closet that I had "outgrown" prior to surgery, but hadn't gotten rid of.  I was enjoying my newfound wardrobe.

The first of September, we went to Mackinaw City, Michigan (my husband's hometown) for vacation.  My daughter and son-in-law went with us.  It was my son-in-law's first trip to the area and my biggest trip post-TG.  About 2 days before we left, I decided that I really should buy new jeans before we went.  The newfound wardrobe had included dress pants, but not jeans.  At home, I was still wearing a lot of shorts, but in northern Michigan, it would be cooler and I would want jeans.  While I was still able to cinch my jeans tight enough with a belt to wear around home and to work where I'm sitting at a desk most of the day, they wouldn't be as comfortable when we were walking around most of the day.  It took 3 stores, but I finally found some jeans that fit.  I had went from a size 18W down to a 14, the same size I had worn for much of my early adult life, but not anytime recently.  Having jeans that fit felt wonderful.  At that point, I didn't want to go back to wearing ones that were loose.

If you've ever been to Mackinaw City or Mackinac Island, you know the area is known for fudge.  There are fudge shops every other store.  The same company will even have two shops within a block of each other.  I learned while we were there that I can still eat fudge, caramels and other candy that is just too hard to resist.  I just have to pace myself.  I ate a lot of sweets on the trip, but I would have one piece and then an hour or two later have another piece, etc.  I never got sick by eating too much.

View of the Mackinac Bridge Walk from our hotel room

Part of the point of going to Mackinac over Labor Day weekend is for the Mackinac Bridge Walk. It's the one day you can walk across the 5 mile long suspension bridge.  Keith and I did it in 2011, the first time he had done it since he was a kid.  Mary and Nicholas wanted to do the walk, so the 3 of them did.  I decided that I wasn't up for that long of a walk and especially not for leaving the hotel at 6am, so I stayed behind and took pictures.  Mary ended up live streaming the walk on Keith's facebook page.  If you're interested, you can watch it at https://www.facebook.com/210773555600457/videos/1752567588087705/?fref=mentions and/or view Keith's pictures from the walk at http://www.mightymac.org/2017mackinacbridgewalk/index.htm

Mary and I went horseback riding on Mackinac Island.  The first horseback riding I've done in years.  I was definitely sore after the hour long ride, but glad I did it.











About the end of September or early October, I suddenly realized I was working full days regularly.  Because I have great flexibility in my job in regards to what time I get in and what time I leave, it had sneaked up on me and I had been doing it for a week or two before I really realized it.  I was also going for a walk or doing other activities in the evening, after putting in a full day, without being totally exhausted.  So, it took 7 months, but I was pretty close to "fully recovered"...whatever that means.  That doesn't mean there aren't still moments when I don't feel good, but in general, things are really good.

Before my surgery, Keith and I played tennis for exercise.  We hadn't played since my surgery, but finally played 3 or 4 times in October.  Then life got busy and crazy (normal) and the weather got cooler and we hadn't been playing or walking or doing any exercise.  I made a conscience decision to try to do better and this weekend has been nicer and we went for a walk on Friday and then played tennis today.

As I'm now down about 70 pounds. I am finding more and more of my old clothes that don't work anymore.  I'm enjoying buying new, although I still haven't done a ton yet because even though my weight loss has slowed down, it hasn't stopped and I don't want to spend a lot of money of clothes that I may not be able to wear in another 6 months or a year.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving this week.  This will be another test for me as I try to not put too much on my plate and not over eat.  We'll see how it goes.......