Its been awhile since I have been on this group chat. Lots of things going on and very busy is the best excuse I can think of. I volunteer with the NW Wisconsin Community doing taxes for the poor and elderly. So, another couple of weeks will be busy.

I also went on a couple of trips, one in late February and another in the middle of March. The February trip was by plane. Though it was an economy airline where seats are packed in like sardines. In the past, I frequently had to extend the belt as far as it would go to get it buckled. I had never needed an extender, but it was close a couple of times. This time it was nice buckling up and pulling the extra belt to tighten the seat belt.

On the second trip, we drove and took bicycles. It was nicer on the bike than it has been the past several years. I am looking forward to more biking this summer.

All in all, I am doing well. I am almost 70 lbs down from my peak and 60 lbs down from when I started this journey almost a year ago. My surgery was December 11th.

I am still learning to eat. However, at this point, I can eat just about anything put in front of me. I just can't eat a lot of it. I do have to be careful about the moisture. On our trip, I eat a small, may 3 oz, piece of chicken breast cooked on the grill. It was too dry. It was the first time I felt like I was going to vomit. But after about 30 minutes I was ok. Lesson learned. If dry meat, add some type of liquid like a sauce or something. My surgeon thought this issue may be more associated with the hiatal hernia she repaired during the Roux N Y surgery than the bariatric surgery itself.

Sometimes when going to a social event one looks forward to the food and drink and fun interactions with people. That has not changed. But once there, I know I have to be careful about the food and drink. I find that by carefully selecting the type of food and the quantities consumed, when I am full I don't miss indulging further. As for drinks, I know I cannot drink alcohol so I simply don't. Rather I might drink cranberry juice and I have discovered there are some non-alcohol and non-carbonated drinks like alcohol-removed wine. The selection in this area is small, but sometimes it's nice to drink something that is not just water and still meet the no alcohol goal.