Today gets us one day closer. I saw two doctors who while both noncommital seemed to be the most positive since they've arrived on the scene. The Echocaridogram I had today showed a "trivial" amount of fluid which is expected after a surgery like this. Also, I still have those tubes draining out of my chest so a little more coming out and no, I'm not letting anyone adjust these. They will likely come out Monday after my body has had a few days to heal around them. So that will be a another enjoyable experience.
But the take away here is positive. The fluid doesn't appear to have any more triglycerides in it and therefore the most recent surgery appears, so far, to be a success (everyone, please knock on wood).
My diet was changed again briefly, just long enough to get my hopes up and then burried under an ashen colored salisbury steak (I still don't know what the hell this is).
After breakfast (chicken broth, cranberry juice and orange jello) the two doctors came in and both said I can have a regular diet again....and this makes a big difference now b/c the floor I am on actually has decent food. I was supposed to have Filet and Shrimp for dinner if you can believe that. I was allowed to have a lunch of turkey salad, tortoloni soup, salad and chocolate ice cream for dessert. Oh, thank God. At least now I can look forward to meals.....That was until dinner arrived and it was: Beef broth, orange jello, raspberry sherbert and diet gingerale. "Well they must have this wrong" I said. "I'm getting filet and shrimp." "I'll go let them know," declared Allison as she walked out of the room. Moments later she returned with the nurse who began an apologetic explanation. "I'm sorry Mr. Salvati. Dr. Gillinov wants you to stay on this diet until we get the results back from your drained fluid, so you need to stay on the clear liquids diet." "Just so you are clear, a "Clear Liquids diet" is not a diet. It is fasting and I am not protesting anything here. Can I just have a damn ham sandwich?
You know the reposnse already so I drowned my sorrow and dissapointment in a couple of Darvaset and am looking forward to an Ambien shortly.
As an tangential to the whole food thing, take a read below...I personally can't believe this.
The following press release was posted on the Cleveland Clinic's web site in September 2002. Take a quick look at it.
http://www.clevelandclinic.org/heartcenter/pub/news/hot/mcdonalds9_02.asp?firstCat=1&secondCat=429&thirdCat=526
Now to me the fact that the number one heart center in the world would want to be on the same press release as the icon for the unhealthy American diet is one thing. What is even stranger is what I saw the day I arrived here.
I had a full day of tests with a break for lunch and during that time I searched out the cafeteria. There was quite a bit to choose from: a decent salad bar, an "Internation Corner" which either had stir-fried rice, rice and beans or paellea. Apparently the only thing eaten outside the US is rice. Then there is your proverbial deli bar, sodas, and meal accessories like pretzels, chips, etc. But, if you chose not to partake in any of the usual offerings the clinic did have partners which offered other options.
Starbucks - Who wouldn't want a strong good cup of Joe while in a hospital
Subway - Jared lost something like 800 lbs so that must be good for you right?
McDonald's - Yep. The golden arches. The subject of the movie "Supersize Me" The imitaded restaurant in the movie "Coming to America". In all of its glory it presents itself like a dining oasis in a desert of healthy options. Big Macs, fries, Double Quarter Pounder with cheese, Filet-o-Fish (which makes it neither a filet nor a fish) and the ever popular McNuggets. How they raise chickens in those same 6 shapes I'll never know.
Am I the only one who finds this a little strange; A McDonald's on the first floor of the Heart Center at the Cleveland Clinic? Is it meant to keep business up? ( Board Meeting: Damn it, George, these quarterly numbers are in the toilet! We are either getting the message across too well about heart disease or we are losing them to competitors. We need to think outside the box. Get that clown from McDonald's on the phone ASAP.) Maybe it is a going away present..You'r heart is healthy again. Stop by the McDonald's on your way out to treat yourself...oh, and here, don't forget your free supersize coupon for coming to the Clinic.
Whatever.
~Joe
14 days post-op
4 comments:
Joe,
you had me in stiches over your Board Meeting/McDonald comment (sorry, not really in stiches, nor in drainage tubes...but I was laughing pretty hard!)
Of course I remember that very 2002 article. Since french fries are my favorite food (yes Al, with cheese of course), I follow studies on them carefully, and am awaiting the day that someone comes out with the french fry diet. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be named for the 'South Beach' or any other glamourous locale, but after spending a considerable amount of time in both upstate NY and NE PA (where 'fried' is goriously considered 'the forgotten food group'),'the Canton, NY' or 'the Pocono' would be my prediction for the next fried diet regime.
Speaking of fries (am I helping divert your attention to drainage tubes and smurf feet at all?), my friend just got a funky trivection microwave/oven thing that warms / cooks / toasts / crisps, etc. I didn't realize they made these for the home (as well as commercial use), but I'm really impressed by the fact that they actually have settings for french fries as well as crinkle fries! After dining with them last night, I'm convinced the trivection would be able to warm, crisp and make even your beef broth taste good! Who knows, you might develop a liking for broth and, like today's predicted plans, we will find you on future Sundays on the couch with Max and Al watching the Giants (hey, Al's Denver crew, will you be rooting for your broncos today, or the Giants, to put a smile on Joe's italian ice eating face? :) drinking a beer and doing shots of beer broth rather than eating wings? When I come to visit, your version of the award-winning 'green meal' will now be green jello topped off by a lime popsicle...hmmm..I'm planning my visit already!
Call Market Basket and Jack and Nancy - I think you're onto the next big catering theme.
OK smurfie, cy (short for cyborg) or superman...you've gained a tremendous collection of stories, painful moments, diet suggestions, nicknames, fan base and respect in the past 2+ weeks...but yes, that light at the end of the tunnel is finally bright and shining, with the days 'til departure countable on one hand...yay! We miss ya!
Karen
Your wish is my command:
What is Salisbury Steak?, from foodreference.com
One of the earliest of the 'health food fadists', Dr. James H. Salisbury, a 19th century English/American physician (1823-1905), wrote 'The Relation of Alimentation and Disease'. He believed that diet was the main factor governing our health, so he created a special food and diet for his patients suffering from anemia, colitis, gout, rheumatism, arteriosclerosis, tuberculosis, and asthma.
He believed that vegetables and starchy foods could produce substances in the digestive system which poison and paralyze the tissues and can cause heart disease, tumors, mental illness and tuberculosis. He claimed our teeth are "meat teeth" and our digestive systems designed to digest lean meat, and that vegetables, fats, starches and fruit should only be 1/3 of our diet. Starch was digested slowly, so it would ferment in the stomach and produce vinegar, acid, alcohol and yeast, all of which were poisonous to our systems. His cure for this was his special diet, including Salisbury Steak, which should be eaten 3 times a day, together with lots of hot water to rinse out the digestive system
Here is his 'recipe':
"Eat the muscle pulp of lean beef made into cakes and broiled. This pulp should be as free as possible from connective or glue tissue, fat and cartilage.....The pulp should not be pressed too firmly together before broiling, or it will taste livery. Simply press it sufficiently to hold it together. Make the cakes from half an inch to an inch thick. Broil slowly and moderately well over a fire free from blaze and smoke. When cooked, put it on a hot plate and season to taste with butter, pepper, salt; also use either Worcestershire or Halford sauce, mustard, horseradish or lemon juice on the meat if desired."
Anytime the word cake is used in the same recipe with meat, I get a little worried.
Keep going Joe, no stopping now.
George R.
Thrilled to hear a little positive news. Now another day of football, some more world series action, a bit more rest, and some potentially great news Monday, after those damn tubes are pulled (guess that's better than tied).
As for the McDonalds downstairs, that may be lunch tomorrow. And if anyone knows more about that colored Salisbury steak, please let us know. I'll bet Ray Kroc knows something about grey meat, and could help identify the process
Hang in there everybody...
Joe's coming home soon!
And my money's on him grabbing a quarter pounder on the way, if not sooner.
Jamie
Joe, I've been reading your blog and realy feel you missed your calling. You should have been an author. Steve
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