Gutless In Kansas City

How do you stay “fed” while on a business trip when the trip is short of time and lined wall to wall with meetings? The short answer is that you don’t. It is just not possible. These times are what makes getting back to a normal life after a total gastrectomy (T.G.) tough.

To stay healthy after my T.G. I need to eat 5-6 times a day.  I keep food and snacks in my office that I can reach for anytime. Eat some chips here, or some crackers there. Just keep eating is my motto. I understand that I am never going to be able to sit down like a normal person and eat enough food at any given time to keep me sustained for a long period of time. So I need to eat constantly. It is just a rhythm that I have learned to roll with. 

Well you can’t do that when on the road. You are just too busy and the challenge is that if you miss one or two smaller meals, you can’t just eat more later to make up for it. If you don't eat, it is just a meal missed. You can only eat so much so that missed meal is just food you don't get. Trust me, I have tried and failed on more than one occasion to eat more to make up for a missed meal and it is not pretty.

We arrived in Kansas City yesterday around lunch time. I had breakfast in the morning and a light snack at the airport. All good. Then if you count the peanuts on the plane then I was able to eat three times before lunch. Lunch was at an amazing Kansas City BBQ joint. However, after lunch the wheels started to come off my plan. Due to plant tours and process meetings the next chance I had to eat anything was dinner. So now I had missed two smaller “meals” that I normally eat.  Dinner was a local Japanese grill. This would be my first time eating sushi since my TG, and regrettably it did not go so well. The food was great, but my body didn't like it. Even my main course did not agree with me and I threw up everything I ate. Not good. Later in the evening I tried to eat some french fries just to get something in me, but after my dinner experience I was too sore and I threw them up also. 

Today (Wednesday) started early. We needed to be on location earlier than normal so I missed breakfast at the hotel. I was able to grab a bag of chips during a break, but other than that my first food came at noon when we went to lunch. I can’t tell you if it is related or not but I physically started to hurt this morning as the day progressed. The pain didn’t start to go away until after I ate at lunch. So far today I have really eaten only once and I should have eaten at least 4 times by now. 

We are getting ready to head home and are at the airport. I have sometime available to me to catch on my eating. However there is a bar right near me and I could go get a beer. If you know anything about me you know that I chose poorly. I can always eat later. Goose Island IPA.  J

Overall the trip was a success. We were able to find many ways to support our overall trip objective. 

I just need to get this eating thing down.

In the hustle of the day, were all inclined to miss

Little things that mean so much

A word, a smile, and a kiss

(Try A Little Tenderness   Frank Sinatra)