CHEESE. And other solid food.

You guys. I don't think I can stress to you exactly how excited I am about what today means for me. Seriously, it's up there as a major life event.

Today is the last day of my two-week puree diet. Tomorrow, I can eat solid food. It has to be soft, but it will be solid. The list of allowed foods includes moist meat (chicken, turkey, fish), eggs, certain fruits and vegetables, and low-fat cheese.

What this means is I can eat FOOD. I can CHEW. I can eat something other than yogurt, cottage cheese, and protein shakes, which is literally all I've eaten for the past two weeks. And let's not forget the three days before that spent on the clear liquid diet. I haven't eaten actual food since Sunday, May 10. Mother's Day. In Germany.

Maybe this makes me food-obsessed, but I have been planning what to eat on this first day pretty much since the first day that I got all nauseated looking at a protein shake. The menu includes scrambled egg whites and fruit for breakfast, rotisserie chicken and some avocado slices for lunch, string cheese as a snack, and grilled salmon for dinner.

Of course, I have to take it one new food at a time, to make sure that I can tolerate it and that it doesn't get stuck in my band. And I have to chew really well to make sure everything goes down easily. But oh my god. You guys. Food! Real food! Varied food! Food that I like and ate pre-surgery too!

I am curious to see how much I can eat, since I don't have any fills so still no restriction, but I've been surviving on about 700 calories a day (or less) for the past two and a half weeks, so I can't imagine that I'll want to toss 1800 calories down my throat tomorrow. I have definitely noticed my appetite increasing since the surgery, though, which I think is normal--I think it's related to the internal swelling going down. At first I could only eat a tiny amount of anything, like half an individual container of cottage cheese, and now I can eat two containers of cottage cheese as a meal.

Also, I'm thinking I might start the party early and have a "transition" dinner of chicken noodle soup tonight. Just thinking about that makes me so happy. And don't worry, I'll be careful to chew thoroughly.

Lastly, I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to look at a container of yogurt without gagging, ever again.