Due to mouth radiation I had to have all my teeth pulled and then two months of radiation and chemo just made my mouth a nightmare. I hit the point where trying to get down warm chicken broth was impossible. Everything I tried to eat just resulted in hours of pain to get down a swallow. So I didn't eat for around six months. I have a feeding tube for slurry to provide nutrients. It takes a bit to get used to getting full without using your mouth. There is a bit of a disconnect between your mouth and stomach.
I hit a point where my neck muscles were so unused they almost stopped working. I couldn't even swallow a tiny pill. So the doctors started talking about putting a balloon down my throat and inflating and deflating it a bunch of times to get the muscles working again. Fuck everything about that.
So I decided to just suffer and I started eating the blue box. (mac and cheese, kraft dinner for those up north). It was all I ate for months. I like noodles al dente but I had to overcook them to the point of mush so I could swallow them. Then I slowly worked my way to firm once I was able to normally swallow again.
But back to the greatest day of my life. I had only eaten mac and cheese for months and I decided to get adventurous. We had frozen hash browns in the freezer. So I cooked some in a ton of butter. My neck was still really raw so I barely browned them and covered them in ketchup to help them slide down since I can't chew anything.
It worked and was amazing. Then I had the bright idea to cover them in cheese so I ran up to Safeway and got a bag of shredded cheese. That was next level shit. I used to love the fried tater-tops covered in cheese and ketchup from Taco-Time.
But yeah. I was under 100 pounds and I put on about 15 pounds in a matter of weeks. That was 95% hash browns and Safeway cheese.
I think I need to put the internet down. Everything is so negative. Six months ago my good day would be your nightmare.