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Shitposting since 2005

The perfect day consisted of brunch followed by a couple hours at our favorite coffee joint.
We haven’t had Sunday brunch since before my surgery in September a year ago that robbed me of my ability to swallow not only food, but pretty much anything. I thought I’d found a workaround to this conundrum last Christmas when I went with him, his dad and his aunt for a steak dinner. I ordered mine to go, and while the logistics of it worked out fine, I discovered the emotional toll of just sitting there trying to muster a smile while everyone else was eating was more than I ever wanted to try again.
But, being the trooper that I am, I tried it again again at his dad’s birthday last summer. A more extended group of family was in attendance for that, and it was as if I was completely invisible. No thanks, I’d had enough and gave up any aspirations of public dining ever again.
Well lately, I think both and I have been missing our Sunday brunches, so this morning I suggested we go today. My attitude toward, well, everything has improved significantly of late, and I thought I could now handle ordering my food to go and sitting with Ben while he finished his breakfast.
Turns out I could. I’ve been allowing my current situation to ruin so many aspects of my life, something finally clicked over the fast few days and I told myself, “Enough! Let go of this bullshit and get on with your goddamned life!”
When we were finished at First Watch, we headed over to Window for our usual weekend coffee date.
I still can’t drink coffee the way I used to, but I can have a few sips and nurse it until I can get it home and squirt it through the g-tube like a normal person.
All in all, it was a good day.
But make no mistake: cancer—or more specifically, cancer treatment still sucks—and damn poorly at that!
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Or is it just the last remaining bit of gastronomic joy I can experience?
Why are you spending $7 a day for something you can’t even really taste?
Well, first of all Karen, I do still get a hint of taste with everything that goes into that g-tube; it’s just not the full-on experience I’d have otherwise. Don’t ask me how this happens. I only know it does—and my nutritionist has confirmed that many of her patients experience the same thing.
But in regard to the question if it’s addiction, devotion, or just plain enjoyment, I’m just going to go with a solid yes all around.
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Joey Alexander – Warna (2019)
And believe me, it’s needed.
I took Sophie in for her annual shots this morning.

She was such a good girl however, that we stopped for a pup cup on the way home.
Prior to leaving this morning, I was about to do my usual breakfast routine, but discovered I was out of the Kate Farms solution (haven’t received my monthly supply from the healthcare distributor and my most recent order from Amazon hadn’t arrived yet), so I combined my iced coffee with two cartons of isosource. All was well and good until right before I left for the vet and the most horrific reflux hit. Apparently I overdid it on the volume and my stomach didn’t like it one bit.
The worst part of not being able to swallow is when you get reflux. If everything were functioning properly, I’d whip up a glass of baking soda solution, swallow it, and everything would be right as rain. Unfortunately, that’s no longer an option. Yeah, I can still do the baking soda solution via the g-tube (after using the tube to drain the excess stomach contents) to quiet my stomach, but there’s no way of immediately relieving the burn left in my throat from the reflux. And of course there was a certain amount of aspiration, so my O2 (after being 98-100% for weeks now) took a—thankfully brief—nosedive to under 90%. It’s since recovered to the mid 90s, but damn…it wiped me out and I wanted nothing more upon returning home than to take a nap.
That’s passed now, but it’s still going to be a very low-key, quiet afternoon and Joey Alexander is a perfect accompaniment for that.
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