Week 2 post myomectomy

Yesterday marked the end of week 2 after my myomectomy.

I feel much better than last week but these are dangerous times… The words to describe this week are: imprudent and silly.

While at home, I am very mobile and I can walk up and down the stairs quite comfortably. Therefore, Tuesday, I went out for my first walk. Walking indoors is really not the same as going out. I only went out for 20-25 minutes and I’m glad I did it but I was very happy to get back home. It felt great at the beginning but after about 10 minutes, I felt that my stomach was pulling down a bit and that was very uncomfortable. I think that if I had a washboard tummy, I wouldn’t have that problem but that is sadly not the case. On Wednesday, I paid for my outing and felt a bit more sore from the very morning. I had to take it easy.

On Thursday afternoon, I had another appointment with the nurse to check my belly button stitches. She had to shorten it and as a result, the end of the thread now pricks me a bit when I sit down but whatever… I am still bleeding. It is not constant or heavy but I was a bit worried about it so I asked. She said that most people stop bleeding after 2 weeks but that everyone is different. My bleeding doesn’t look like it wants to stop.

The surgeon said that I would get a letter about my 6th week appointment and I still haven’t got anything. By then, I should be better. I will need to talk to him about my hysteroscopy to remove the last 2 fibroids. I need this to be done sooner rather than later.

Thursday was also my birthday and my mum made me my favourite dish: fish court-bouillon. It’s a dish from back home. She used parrot fish (because I love it) and served it with rice and kidney beans. The whole thing was delicious. My boyfriend made me my favourite chocolate cake. It is soooooo chocolatey… My cake was in the shape of a heart and I devoured it. The only glitch was buying a “healthy” custard instead of making one and it was disgusting.We ended up having it with double cream (little piggies).

This picture does not do it justice.

On Friday, I had friends over and really managed to relax. It was refreshing to talk about other things see different people and get all the gossip from work (mwahaha).

This week, I realised how tricky it was to be at that stage. The pain is no longer constant and most of my days are very good. Consequently, THREE times this week, I cried out in pain because I went in bed the wrong way. When your stomach doesn’t hurt all the time, it’s difficult to remember to sit, slide and roll.

I also really struggled with the whole “don’t carry anything, don’t push, don’t pull” thing. This morning, I decided to load the washing machine and do the washing up. I had to stop halfway through and ended up in the sofa, crying. All the meds they gave me at the hospital are now finished (ibuprofen, antibiotics, paracetamol) but I still popped a couple of pills because I was in a lot of pain. I still have to take iron tablets. I think I may be a bit anemic since the surgeon told me I lost a litre of blood.

It also still feels a bit uncomfortable to laugh hard, sneeze or cough but it is much easier than it was last week.

I am really getting tired of sleeping on my back; it’s not how I used to sleep and I don’t seem to get used to it. I have now mastered a technique that allows me to stay on my side for quite a while (tucking my side of the duvet or a pillow under that side of my stomach) but it’s SUPER painful when I return to lying on my back. I really want to try to lie on my stomach but it feels like a dumb idea because the voice at the back of my head is telling me that it will definitely hurt. In addition, I can’t think of a may to go from facing down to facing up without twisting my midsection, causing some sort of pull (no).

This afternoon, I had to use out of date creme fraiche (1 day) and rotting clementines so I made a little tart instead of throwing it all away. Half-way through, I realised I didn’t have enough clementines and had to finish off with some plums. It probably looks very strange but it was delicious.

My mum flew over during my first week and I can see that she is getting a bit bored because I can’t go out with her and she doesn’t want to go out on her own. Last time we went out (yesterday), I went to a few local shops with her and I got weird looks because she was carrying everything. I found it a bit funny. People judge so much… To be honest, I would have probably thought the same.

I am really hoping that by next week, I will be able to stay out with her and wander about. I actually need to pamper myself, get my eyebrows done, feel like a girl again.

Have a great week!

Easy weekend.

I haven’t been here for ages.

Not much has changed since last time. I’m gradually getting back into running and it amazes me that I’m sticking to it since it’s so cold outside. I run super slow and I only do 5K at a time at the moment but it’s okay.

My BF is away in France this weekend. I haven’t had days on my own for ages! I had sooo many plans: places to go, things to do in the house, friends to call,etc. I ended up doing next to nothing. I slept so much,it’s ridiculous! I am generally not the napping type and still can’t believe that I spent 2 afternoons in a row sleeping. The rest of the time I watched tv, baked and cooked.

I made an apple-sultanas-rum tart on Saturday. It was already done when I realised I should have taken pictures and posted a recipe. Here’s a picture anyway.

I’ve noticed that when I run, my fingers swell up. It looks like they actually double in size. Last time that happened to me, the doctor told me that it was due to water retention and advised me to cut salt from my diet. I think I’ll just get back to doing that. It’s very strange at first but you get used to it quite fast. In addition, last time I did this, I lost 4kg. It’s unbelievable but it happened.

Today I made chicken with couscous and sultanas. I seasoned my chicken with smoked paprika, cinnamon, chicken seasoning, honey and ginger (and burnt it) so it didn’t really need salt.

That’s it for my disappointing weekend. I’ll definitely try to post more often.

P.S: I’ve made a vegetable soup. I don’t want to freeze it because I know for a fact that I would never take it out of the freezer (pizza or frozen chips always win that battle). How long can I keep it in the fridge for? There’s no dairy in it, just vegetables, olive oil, a cube and water. Thank you.

Potatoes for the potato

First of all, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who “liked” one of my posts or even subscribed (still can’t believe it. Really?!). I can honestly say that I had no idea anyone would actually read what I write (I generally get 0 views). In addition, I am quite a boring person who, I warn you, won’t really have anything exciting to write about, so I am enjoying this before I get back to my usual O.

I did not run today. I know some people run everyday but I have tried it and it’s a sure recipe to ruin my morale. I just can’t do it! I am going tomorrow with my neighbour (she’s back on track).

My boyfriend (S) and I had our Cineworld cards done and went for our first outing today. I love going to the movies but after work, I find that I just want to pass out in front of the television or read until I fall asleep so since we’re both off this week, we decided to give it a go.

I am 33 but most days, I feel 40 years older. I don’t know if it’s personality or just laziness but I just can’t be asked to go out on weekdays… I was not always like this but with time, I came to appreciate much more the comfort of my sofa, the softness of my duvet and the joys of a movie in bed.

There is also the financial aspect of it. We are trying to save money and I just hate “just” going to the movies and coming home. For me, going to the cinema should always mean buying popcorn before the film and going for a meal after to discuss it. Movie+ popcorn + 3-course meal + wine =Kaching!! (no thanks). We came across the Cineworld cards (£18/month for unlimited movies in any of their London theatres) and decided that it sounded great. We went to see “Loopers”. I know, it’s been out for ages but we still hadn’t seen it. I loved it! That’s all I’m going to say, no explanation, no analysis. I’m not a film critique and I’m certainly not going to pretend to be one so…I really enjoyed it, see it if you can!

When we got home, we were starving and decided to raid the fridge for “things that have been in there for too long” to cook for dinner.

We ended up having roast potatoes, mushrooms (just me, S hates them)  in butter and loads of garlic  and frankfurters with onions. My plate looked like this:

I know, I know. My mushrooms are overcooked. I was watching Derren Brown at the same time and got distracted…

The potatoes took ages even if I parboiled them but overall, it was ok.

🙂

Running and tarts

I went running today and did a very slow 5K. I feel really happy because I hadn’t managed to last that long for ages. Going back on Saturday, hope I can maintain it.

Yesterday, I had two of my friends over for pumpkin carving, a movie, gossiping and food. I baked two tarts that we had with salad. I always read people’s cooking blogs and I absolutely love it. They are all so beautiful and appetizing and I decided to have a go. I’m obviously nowhere near Nigella or even my mother but I thought it would be fun.

I am going to start with my onion tart. This is something that I bake very often. Being French, this is considered easy,cheap food that you can have at any time as long as you have a good salad.

Pastry ingredients

I am rubbish at quantities so I won’t even go there but you need water, flour, oil, salt, baking powder.

Mix your ingredients. Don’t be scared to use your hands!

Then, the worst happened. I FAILED my pastry. I swear guys it normally works and turns out great but yesterday, everything went wrong and THIS happened:

To start with, I thought I should just leave out this picture but it happened so…

It was not rolling out. The pastry was breaking all the time and the whole thing looked horrible.I had to patch it together… I think I put too much oil and not enough water in. Will be more careful next time.

I precooked the “pastry” for 10 minutes in a Gas mark 5 oven then started getting ready for the filling.

Onion tart filling ingredients

About  one kilo of onions, 2 eggs, 3tbspoons of creme fraiche, a pack of diced bacon (lardons or pancetta are better but I’m on a budget), emmental cheese.

Fry your bacon. without fat. I like it really dry and brown so that later it colours my onions nicely. When they look done, add your sliced onions with some white vinegar. It prevents it from burning. Cover everything up for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. They are ready when they look soft and brown. You can now spread the filling over your precooked pastry.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 eggs and 3 table spoons of creme fraiche and season to your taste. Pour the mixture over the pastry + filling.

Cover the whole thing in emmental cheese and put it in the oven (Gas mark 6) until the top is brown.

The second tart I made was a tuna one.

Here are the ingredients: 2 cans of tuna, mushrooms, creme fraiche, a few tomatoes (these are miserable ones from my garden), an onion. I know there are eggs on the picture but there are no eggs in this recipe.

Fry your diced mushrooms and onions in a bit of olive oil. When they have softened, add the tuna and the tomatoes with some vinegar (or lemon juice). When the tomatoes have broken, turn off the heat and spread your filling on your precooked pastry. Cover the whole thing with creme fraiche and emmental cheese. Place on the top shelf of a Gas mark 6 oven until brown.

I hope that made sense.

Bon appétit!