Saturday, August 18, 2007

I'm a hypocritical blogger...

I realized this today. I become silently frustrated with people who don't update thier blogs every day. I start to feel disconnected or left out when I don't read what's going on with them. It's been almost two weeks since my last blog. I went in for a colonoscopy on Monday, Aug 6. I got my results on Monday, Aug 6. Here it is, Saturday Aug 18 and I'm just now updating. So much for keeping my readers on the edge of their seats. HA HA! :) This is why I'm not a writer!! :)

So...what did ole Doc say about my colon. First off, I don't remember anything. I remember freaking out all day Sunday...being sick because I was so hungry and mad that I was in the bathroom for 75% of the day. I get in, they hook me up to the IV, which left a nasty bruise on my hand, and then I get rolled back into a dark room. A few seconds later, I wake up in the same place they had put in the IV and 10 minutes later, I was in the car on my way home. I felt drunk...that was it.

As soon as I came to, my dad and Dr were talking and he said he was really surprised. I have diverticulitis. Which pretty much anyone over 80 years old have and 50% of 60 year olds have. It usually doesn't show up until you're in your 50s, mostly in men. But luckily, in my 27 years of life, I've developed it. I've always been ahead of my time!! I'll let you google and figure out what this means. It's a bit gross, but it's manageable. So I'm increasing my fiber and I'm not allowed to eat things with small seeds. (ie. tomatoes, strawberries, sesame seeds, or any kind of nuts) Lettuce is a huge trigger too...which makes sense as to why I would feel nauseated after eating a salad. OH...and I should watch out for fried foods. So lots of fresh fruit and veggies and bran. mmmm...yucky...I mean yummy. (I need a new attitude!) And I'm on Nexium and another pill that I put under my tongue to dissolve before I eat. It helps to keep my stomach and colon from wigging out when I eat. I'm up to 5 different types of meds each day with a total of 13 pills per day. It's like I'm 70.

So...pretty much everything that I liked, I can't have any more. The worse thing is I can't eat popcorn. I LOVE POPCORN! But this will be good for me. I need more discipline in my life. I need to be more intentional on eating healthy and being healthier overall. They said that raising my activity level will be positive for the condition as well. So, I'm still working towards the 5K in October. Even though I haven't done the first mile....it's 105 degrees for crying out loud!!

In summary, I have the colon of a 70 year old man and I have to start eating healthy and get my butt off the couch. Happy Saturday!!

How are your bowels moving this week??

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Today sucks.

I'm in such a bad mood, so please excuse my attitude. I just needed to vent a little bit.

If you're a personal friend of mine then you know that the last couple of years, I have had issues with my health. I've seen several different doctors and specialists. I've done every type of test you can think of and I've had countless scans, etc. etc. All of them have ideas as to what my condition is, but none of them can come up with a firm diagnosis. So I'm on some heavy meds that don't seem to be helping for condition that they aren't sure that I have. Some days I feel fine, then there are other days where I'm sick or just in a weird mood. I guess you can call it mood swings...I don't know. But over the last 8 months, my stomach has been wacked. It started when I came back from Haiti in November. I went to the Dr...and they couldn't tell me anything, so I decided that this will just be normal for me and left it alone.

So a couple of weeks ago, I was having some pain in my side. It's happened before, but this time is really hurt. There were several other weird things (but I'll spare you the details.) I went to see my Dr and she referred me to another specialist. I made an appt, and he checked me out. He decided that I may have IBS. So tomorrow morning, I have to go to the hospital and have this little procedure done to check it out. Today, I can't eat anything...no solid foods...and I'm drinking some thick watery stuff to clean me out. You could call it extreme weight loss, I call it torture. I decided to just sit in my room and pout all day. I've got a couple of movies I could watch, and I'm going to drink my gingerale, eat my clear colored jello, and lemon pops.

BOO!! I hate this...

It's hard for me because I really wonder if they'll find anything. I mean, I've been through all this other crap and nothing, so why would this time be different. I'm so cynical I know...but I just can't be positive. We'll see...I'd appreciate some advice, encouragement, and definitely prayers.

Alright, gotta go pee...the liquid diet calls!!