August 8, 2010

It has been some time since I updated this blog so I hope you all are still checking it regularly. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I did go to Beaufort last Sunday and stayed at the home of my friends, Jay and Marleen Coleman. On Monday morning, Jay drove me to Charleston and I had another surgery to stretch my esophagus, but this time they added a metal stint. I am now able to swallow but it does take an effort. It doesn't hurt but I must be using some different muscles to force food/water through the stint. I hope this gets better because I now have to consciously swallow and it takes some effort. The good news is that my esophagus seems to be staying open.

After the procedure, Jay took me back to his home and I stayed there until Thursday morning when I drove back to Columbia. Jay has a beautiful home on the marsh at a place called Bull Point. He is about 50 miles from Charleston and about the same to Savannah. It took me about 2 hours to drive home.

The doctor told me to eat 5-6 small meals a day which is a difficult task since I still don't have any appetite. However, Jay made sure that I at least had 3-4 meals a day and we also usually had a milk shake from one of the fast food places. There is a beautiful pool at Bull Point and we swam almost every day. The water was warm but it was still great to get some exercise in the pool. Jay also has a theater room in his house and we watched a few movies in the evenings. Before I returned home, Marleen made me one of her famous meat loafs that I brought back to Columbia! It sure is nice to have such good friends!

The cats were glad to see me when I got home although Charlotte made it known that she didn't appreciate being left alone for such a long time. I'm still trying to have at least 3 meals a day and have been trying to get as much protein as possible. I am swimming in my pool almost every day and will continue my water aerobic classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'm still very thin and had to buy some new clothes. I now have a 33" waist and weigh about 160 pounds.

That's about it for now. I am enclosing some pictures from Bull Point including the Coleman's home, the pool and some pictures of the beautiful "live oak" trees and the marsh and waterway at the point.