In a post here o Monday, I promised to be back with a bit of the bad news.

It took longer than I thought, but here’s the tale.

Sunday was my first full day out of the hospital. It was also the day we were ferried down to Redwood City and set up in an empty house owned by one of Meda’s sisters. A lifesaver, indeed. But I discovered a problem.

I’m restricted to a pureed diet for at least the next week on orders of my surgeon. And I also need to include meat protein in order to stay on the recovery curve.

But my first attempt to puree and process some ground turkey failed miserably and left me almost despondent.

The instructions seem simple. Cook the meat, then cook it some more. Then puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. And, finally, push it through a strainer to remove any remaining tiny lumps. The result is supposed to be a pudding-like, gray or light brown substance that at some level should remind me of meat. Oh, it should also deliver a load of protein as well.

You have to understand. I’ve always been the cook and meal planner in our household. And here post-surgery, nothing had changed.

I had a plan for dinner. It called for a baked potato centerpiece. I would scoop out the center of the potato and put it through the puree routine, while Meda would enjoy the skin with various fixings. I had Meda and her sister buy a package of ground turkey, and my plan was to make her a simple turkey patty, while I would cook and puree some ground turkey for myself. Finally, a serving of green peas on the side. Again, Meda got the real deal, which I looked forward to pureed pea mush.

The problem is that although I had read about the cook, puree, then strain process to get a pudding-like consistency for my meal, I had never done it. And, it seems, I hadn’t thought it through enough.

This is where things quickly went downhill.

It proved impossible to create the two versions of this meal and have any chance of plating them about the same time so that Meda and I could eat together while our food was warm. And with three foods to cook, puree, and then strain, my side of the meal was much more complex than I realized. One issue is that we have very limited cutlery and dishes, and dish washing soap as well. Each stage of each food required me to stop, rinse and wash the implements from the prior stage, and begin again.

But things went from disappointing to disastrous when I was unable to properly puree and strain the ground turkey. And that means that unless I solve this problem, I have only limited ways to get the protein boost from eating meat.

I’ve tried to request additional information from a dietician at UCSF on the puree and strain process when meat is involved, and so far haven’t received anything that takes into account the problem I’ve run into. Instead, I was offered a video chat on Thursday morning (“The first appointment available,” they said).

One option is strained, Stage 1, baby food. My problem is 50 years of nursing elderly and sick cats feeding meat baby food from my finger. The smell is inextricably tied to the sad memories of sadder days. I now have samples of three different meat baby foods, and I’ll just have to test my ability to get past all of that.

Today I’ll get some canned chicken breast delivered. May it will be more cooperative.

THe nuclear option is a company, Mom’s Meals, that produces a variety of meals in categories corresponding to medical restrictions. On category is made up of pureed meals. I looked up the medical standard the company says its pureed meals meet or exceed. But when I sent what I thought was a simple question—is a meal prepared to this standard consistent with my dietary restrictions—I was again referred to Thursday’s Zoom meeting.

I’ve been loading up on commercial and homemade protein shakes until they must be oozing out of my pores.

I’m hoping that a delivery from Mom’s Meals will solve my problem. But I have to wait until tomorrow (Thursday) to get the official word.