Appreciation In August. #3. 2018.76.

My Alphabet of Appreciation FOR FOOD This Week in August 2018.

Some readers know that I have been without any teeth on top since my cancer diagnosis in May 2017 and after radical surgery in July 2017 a whole new inner /upper mouth was created and once I got home after 10 days, I needed to learn how to feed me. So much is attached to food: texture, tastes, preferences for savoury or sweet, crunchy food or smooth but I have been limited. Very much. It has been a big lesson for me in patience, creativity, adapting and making the best I can of the reason I had to do this hard work – cancer. The list here is all of the foods I have been able to eat. Often they are not in quantities I may have consumed pre-surgery as my mouth gets tired (and I get bored) with some food rolling around in my mouth for ages.

In a week or so, I will have had new top teeth added and I have no idea (yet) how this will be. This for now, is all I appreciate that I have been able to eat for the past 14 months.

A.

• avocado – in all manner of way: by itself and added to dishes.
• apple: I have tried many times with apple – grated but it is too hard to get it swallowed as I cannot (yet) chew.

B.

• bread – no crusts but can eat white or wholemeal as a sandwich, or small pieces into soup
• biscuits – dipping ones: malt, orange creams, plain biscuits. I have tried “choc covered’ ones: messy! I miss savoury biscuits as I cannot bite nor crunch
• butter – my preferred spread and it is needed to help food like bread go down
• beef casserole with chuck steak cooked all day – meat melts in my mouth

C.

• cake – my homemade cupcakes with icing and those from my friend Kyla’s shop
• coffee – double shot latte when I go out, and I keep a range of packet coffee mixes here
• crumpets – can be cut into 4 and spread with butter and honey, I can pop the soft part in my mouth and leave crust
• cheese – kraft blue box cheddar, tasty grated cheese and parmesan grated
• carrot – cooked and then blended and added to bol sauce, soups
• chicken noodle soup
• chicken mince made into sweet and sour dishes
• chicken cubes cooked and made into a casserole with cream of chicken soup

D.

• dairy milk chocolate

E.

• egg (scrambled only) with C for chutney on B for buttered T for toast

Some photos of some selections of the foods I ate in the early days. 

F.

• fish – in the form of S for salmon in tins & smoked salmon in small pieces for lunch in summer
• fruit – very limited. See P for pear, M for mango
• fillet steak – cooked medium, and cut finely, with some sauce for flavour, added to 2 min noodles.

G.

• grains – nope. They stick in places in my mouth and cannot escape.

H.

• healthy choices. I make as many of these as I can each day knowing how much my recovery and wellness needs.
• honey : good with plain yoghurt when I first came home from hospital last year
• spread on crumpets

I. 

• iodised salt is a daily condiment to aid flavour since I think my taste buds are slightly changed
• ice-cream. Not a huge fan but it soothes my mouth after surgery and vanilla is my go-to.

J.

• jelly. Oh so much jelly when I first recovered after major surgery and sometimes cooling and soothing after smaller surgeries. In a little container. Sometimes with I for ice-cream.
• jam. Adding some flavour to a toasted muffin. See M for Muffin and how this is eaten.

K.

• kale K for kidding. I can eat NO  leafy veges or salad other than what I list elsewhere

More foods from my challenging eating days. Imagination and creativity helps me with meals.

L. 

• lettuce in teensy tiny cut up pieces added to my taco bowl or a sandwich with vegemite and cheese

M.

• mango – could eat cut up in a bowl using a spoon. It was a great addition to lunch in Summer.
• minced meat. How I learned to love you and cook with you for me:
• minced beef: spag bol, savoury mince, taco mince
• minced chicken: as above
• minced lamb combined with the minced beef has made the best savoury mince to date
• minced pork: a version of san box choy – just the seasoning, and the mince and on some 2 minute noodles
• muffin: toasted white one: I can spread jam on a buttered one, cut into quarters and eat the middle part, leaving edge
• milk: in coffee and tea and on my breakfast every day. Before the first surgery I was not a fan of cereal and milk and now I am. See W for Weetbix.

N.

• noodles – see above: 2 Minute Chicken Noodles added to meat dishes. I have to cut the noodles with scissors before eating so I don’t choke on a long thread!

O.

• oranges – cut and squeezed and drinking their juice

P.

• pasta – the spaghetti variety – cut up and sometimes tube one – but needed to be well-cut for swallowing
• pumpkin soup – over it. So over it. Yet because it “is” a vegetable and healthy I had made and eaten this a lot.
• potatoes –  as long as they are  mashed and buttered they went down well on top of my savoury mince.
• pikelets: these are great with some butter and a spread. Warmed even more so.
• peanut butter: sometimes on bread and sometimes on a toasted muffin.

 Q.

• nothing comes to mind for Q.

R.

• roast lamb dinner. Ok. Three times my dear husband cooked this and it was delightful, drowned in gravy and with burnt baked pumpkin and potatoes
• rice. Oh how I have used rice: white: fried: and it is a staple that I can generally ‘get down’ with a meat/fish in some kind of sauce.

Meals and more meals. Dinner was easier than lunch often. 

S.

• sweet potatoes have been good, blended with regular potato and added to meat dishes as well as soups
• soups. I know they are good for the body and soul. I made many: chicken and veggies, ham hock and veggies and each was blended and frozen for future consumption. I have a range of packet soups on hard always. I can only eat (and have always preferred) a thinnish soup. Not thick at all.
• sweets. I can eat some very soft sweets: this has been in recent months: milk bottles, strawberries & cream, pineapples.
• sandwiches. I know that they are hard to get down but I do because I missed bread. So, the fillings – spreads or cheese or salmon need some butter or condiments and then I cut off all the crusts, and then the sandwich into cubes. I can now get down 8 rectangles. Before the past month or so it was 16 squares. Takes ages to eat.

T.

• tomato condensed soup from Rosella in the can, with milk added is a comfort food from childhood and it gets a run regularly.
• tomatoes. I long(ed) for the taste of tomatoes but their skin made eating impossible. Lately though, I have bought small vine grown ones, and I cut out the middle with seeds and juice and that goes on a taco or even a crumpet for a savoury taste
• tacos came about when I was looking for NEW tastes. I make up the taco mince with the powder and freeze the cooked portions, making myself ‘taco in a bowl’ with added: tomato & lettuce (see above), tasty cheese, avocado, lite sour cream.
• tea: cups of …and often with biscuits I can dunk.
• toast…is eaten rarely but I have tried it in very small squares with some creamed corn on top and eaten with a spoon as well as with scrambled egg.

U.

• unhealthy but delicious at times: treats that I “can” eat when I am out: bits of donut edges, some cakes with no nuts and some icing, a part of a scone with jam & cream. Chocolate: including latest I can eat: freckles.

V.

• variety is what I try to have but it can be V for very hard some days and I just retreat to ‘old faves’.
• very good advice from the dietitian before I left hospital in July 2017 was to aim for enjoyment AND nutrition in my meals and snacks and I do remember that often.

W.

• water. I always have water near me and particularly when eating. I have not choked but water is a good lubrication in my mouth anyway so I have sips and swigs during my meal
• weetbix. Who knew? Before surgeries for cancer I rarely ate cereal. For the past year it is my standard and ONLY breakfast: 2 weetbix, some sugar (oh come on, I cannot do these plain) and lite milk. And I will continue this breakfast when I have my teeth and it is a healthy one.

X.

• of course nothing starts with X in this list but I will say taking eXtra care before attempting to eat food, and not talking as I eat (before surgery Denyse did) helps my food stay IN and then go down.

Y.

• yellow foods: cheeses, butter, custard are dairy-based and they are part of my meals and snacks and I try to have
• yoghurt in the fridge most weeks so when I feel like I need to be ‘virtuous’ I have some.

Z.

• zooper doopers are always in the freezer. They are awesome post mouth surgeries but need to be cut into small, manageable pieces as I cannot suck. Seriously, not even using a straw with success. Unsure if this ability will return.

Treats have become a daily event but in limited quantities. I have remained around the same weight for the past 12 months and wish to stay that way. Increasing activity now I am very well is helping. 

 

I hope you did not get too hungry reading this!

Denyse.

Linking with Leanne for Lovin Life Linky on Thursdays here.