Almost three weeks and counting…

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Update. Saturday, May 30, 2026.

Monday, June 1, will mark three weeks since my surgery at UCSF in Mission Bay, and just over two weeks since I was released from the hospital to start the process of recuperation.

We are still ensconced in a pleasant house on a flag lot in Redwood City, right on the border with the luxury estates of Atherton. The house is hidden down at the end of a 350-ft tree-lined driveway, shared with the neighbors, according to my quick foray into measuring distance in an online mapping program. The house is owned by one of Meda’s sisters, who generously offered it for our use during this post-surgery recovery.

The isolation means that it is normally very, very quiet. It also creates an irritating and continuing error in Google Maps. If you look up the address on Google Maps, you are directed to the next street, which is considerably close physically to this house. Unfortunately, there is no access to the house from that street, despite Google’s insistence, leading to repeated lost delivery drivers, ride share drivers, etc., as we’ve been relying on these services since arriving.

There were two significant advances during a visit with my surgeon’s nurse practioner the following day. First was the removal of the external drain tube coming out of my belly to remove fluid from the surgery site and deposit it into a collection bag. The drain didn’t hurt, but it was inconvenient at best, and required careful effort to hide it under a couple of layers of clothing so as not so gross out friends and neighbors or scare small children.

After it was declared unnecessary, removal was simpler than I ever expected. I asked if the removal would hurt, and the answer was an equivocal “not usually.” The tube was held in place by a suture or two, and after carefully cleaning the site, the nurse practitioner began to snip and remove the sututes. She asked me to breath deeply, which I did, while averting my eyes. Snip. Suture gone. Snip. Another gone. As I steeled myself for the main event, I was surprised to hear her say, “All done.” The tube had been pulled out without my feeling a thing.

For those wanting more detail, here’s a selfie taken just before the removal. You may not want to click for a larger version. The selfie shows the drain tube in place. The collection bag was dangling below, just out of this photo. Also visible are three of six incisions through which the Da Vinci Xi surgical robot and its tool set were introduced to do their thing. The incisions are sealed with surgical glue, and are healing at their own pace.

Of more longterm importance, however, was approval for me to “graduate” from a diet of pureed food to “soft” food, a category which includes “real” food including soft fish, well-cooked chicken, some ground meat, white rice, pasta, etc. Pureed food and I never really got along, so I envision this as a huge step forward.

But I quickly learned that it’s much harder to start eating again than to stop eating. I thought I could just sit down and enjoy a feast. Nope. I’ve pivoted to tiny amounts of real but soft food, and even then my stomach is slow in learning that it’s all right to eat. So the process of ramping up has been slow and gradual. But I woke up this morning feeling much better than I have all week. Progress that I can feel!

I’ll defer a medical update until early next week after another blood test and two more medical appointments via Zoom.

I do expect that we’ll be heading home within the next couple of weeks. I’m hoping for more details after a Tuesday appointment with my surgeon’s office. He’s calling the shots for now.

“Better For Me” Doesn’t Taste Better

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Here’s another example of the pureed meals from a commercial distributor of meals appropriate for any one of several medically-required diets.

This is described as a pulled pork sandwich with gravy, and a side of creamed corn. That sounded good, but the 10.5 ounce tray required a hefty amount of imagination to tie it back in any way to the underlying foods.

The alleged pork was absolutely tasteless. I ate as much as possible mixed with the small amount of gravy, which saved the day. I found in barely palatable. And when the gravy was used up, I had to abandon the rest. I just couldn’t force myself to keep eating.

The corn was a notch better. It reminded me of uncooked cornbread batter. Somehow it had retained a measure of corn flavor, making it a bit easier for me to relate to.

I know that these carefully prepared and delivered meals are better for me than the alternatives. But some of those alternatives, high calorie and protein shakes blending ice cream, Greek yogurt, fruit, and milk (or a bit of a commercial protein shake) make a tasty and nutritious meal. Sometimes I add a little peanut butter for good measure. Not a balanced diet by any means, but most vegetables are excluded from the pureed diet anyway.

Many of you suggested trying to rescue the pureed meats with creative spices.

Lipstick on a pig, as they say.

Balky toilet appears to have been fixed

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After two days of stress and two nights in a Menlo Park hotel, we arrived back at the house in Redwood City which we had to flee on Friday due to the lack of a useable toilet.

But Guy Plumbing & Heating had diagnosed the problem on Friday, and then managed to have a crew here on Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend to dig out and replace a section of the drain line connecting the bathroom with the overflowing toilet to the sewer.

So far, the repair appears to have solved the problem! Toilet working. And that means we will be able to relax and hang out here for another week or two until heading back to Honolulu.

Now I need to post a positive online review of the company!

Stuck in the land of blender foods

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I have been having a very difficult time staying within my prescribed pureed diet, which requires food to be process in a blender and then strained, while at the same time eating more than just commercial protein shakes, homemade heavy milk shakes and things like custards.

The problem is that pureed foods seem to me to have virtually no smell or taste, and an off-putting texture.

I asked Google for commment on this.

Google’s answer confirmed my personal experience.

Overview

Pureed foods lose their smell and taste because blending drastically alters the chemical release of flavor compounds and removes the physical act of chewing. Without the natural aromas and chewing process that stimulate your senses, the food is perceived as bland and homogenous.

1. The Disruption of Aromatics (Smell)Up to 90% of what we perceive as “taste” actually comes from smell.Dilution: Pureeing breaks down food structures, mixing distinct ingredients into one mass and heavily diluting the aromatic compounds per bite.Oxidation: The high-speed blades of a blender expose food to excess oxygen, which rapidly degrades and evaporates the volatile oils that carry scent.

2. The Lack of Chewing (Taste)The mechanical process of chewing does more than just break down food; it triggers saliva production and repeatedly pumps aromatic compounds up through the back of your throat into your nasal passages.Because pureed food is smooth and pre-chewed, you simply swallow it, leaving very little time for the flavor to register in your mouth.

3. Masking by Starches and liquids to achieve a safe, swallowable texture (like the International Dysphagia Diet Initiative [IDDSI] Level 4 standard), purees often require adding thickeners, water, or broth. These additions dilute the natural concentration of the food, muting the overall flavor profile.

I’m hoping that I will be released from this strict diet at my upcoming post-surgery checkup back at the UCSF adult concern center on Tuesday morning. But, of course, such hopes don’t always materialize. We’ll see.