nightmares...

I've noticed that my nightmares have changed since my weight loss surgery.  No longer do I dream about ghosts, endless falling, being naked in class, being unable to open my school locker, not having my class schedule, or trying to lock the doors of the grocery store while customers keep streaming in (I worked in a grocery store for 5 years and usually made the closing announcement).  Nowadays I dream that I'm eating something, usually steak, very fast and not chewing well enough.  In my frenzy to finish the food I accidentally swallow a bite that's too big.  In my dream I start to feel as though I'm having a heart attack and start panicking.  I can't decide if I should ride it out or try to make myself vomit.  Then I wake up.

I guess it's not strange that this is my new nightmare.  It's a well-known fact of weight loss surgery that patients have to thoroughly chew their food so that the food can make it through the bottom opening of the stomach into the intestines.  We no longer have stomach acid to aid in digestion.  It's not until the food travels further down the line that the digestive juices mix with the food.  So if we swallow too big a bite, or eat something really dry, it basically sits in our stomach until we either vomit it back up or it breaks down enough on its own to make it through the opening.  Lucky for me that hasn't happened yet.  I'm very careful to chew thoroughly, because I'm paranoid about getting food stuck.  I just had part two of a root canal done so I've been sticking to really soft foods that don't require tons of chewing.  I don't want to take the chance that something gets stuck.