Pre-Op

Before my surgery, I wanted to make sure I had all my ducks in a row, so I made a shopping list based on everything I read online. Based on what I read on various tonsillectomy-recovery blogs and comments, I decided to avoid dairy. I like almond milk, so that will do. Here's what I bought:

• coconut water
• clear (cherry) Gatorade
• almond milk: I bought the original flavor as well as a coconut-almond blend in both regular and unsweetened forms so I could mix things up a bit
• bananas (for smoothies)
• almond-milk pudding
• almond-milk ice cream
• chocolate syrup (dairy-free)
• jello
• instant mashed potatoes
• low-sodium chicken stock
• unsalted vegetable stock (interestingly, this "unsalted" stock has more sodium than the "low-sodium" chicken stock)
• some flavored waters (unsweetened) to mix things up: cucumber, pear, lavender-mint, etc.
• a cooler to hold bags of crushed ice
• a cool-mist humidifier, since I've always been a heavy mouth breather at night and I don't want my scabs to dry out while I sleep, lest I be left in the horrendous pain so many people have written about (humidifiers are not recommended for people who are allergic to mold, as I am, since they can harbor mold, but I figured a brand new one would be OK for a week or 2)

I also picked up some "Revive" Vitamin Water and some pre-bottled vegan shakes, which have both vitamins and protein, and some carrot juice, which I figured wouldn't be too acidic. I also found some aloe juice, which I thought could be very soothing, so I picked some of that up as well.

I also made my list of things to avoid. Besides dairy, which I read about online, the list is based on my ENT's recommendations: dairy: milk, yogurt, butter, cheese, ice cream, cheese (I figure that when I feel ready I'll try a bit of butter on something and see how it goes); citrus; bubbles/soda; spicy foods; hot foods; "sharp" foods like pretzels and chips; straws

I figured smoothies would become my main "meal", and probably banana since it's soft and not acidic like orange or berries. I got a new blender I hadn't used yet, so I pulled it out and made a smoothie for dinner the night before surgery. I figured I didn't want to eat too much so I couldn't sleep that night, and I didn't want to have to be figuring out how to work the blender or what proportions would be OK while I'm recovering. BTW, it's a great blender with a smoothie mode and a self-cleaning mode (!), which is just smoothie mode but with warm soapy water. It also has a citrus-juicing lid. I got it at Williams-Sonoma, where it's one of the lower-priced blenders, and in any case it's far cheaper than any Vitamix. Check out the Breville Hemisphere Twist Blender if you're looking for one.

I laid out all the non-perishable food items I'd need so I wouldn't have to go searching for them during recovery: the stocks, mashed potatoes, bananas, agave, tea, and cocoa powder. I also cleaned my apartment and made sure all my laundry was done. All my bills are on autopay, so the next thing I'd have to worry about is my rent, and I know I'll be fine by April 1 when it's due (and it only takes a minute to pay online anyway). I wished I'd filed my tax return, but I figured I still had over a month to file, so even if I couldn't do that during recovery, I'd still have plenty of time for that.