8/7: Good-good/bad-bad news!

8/7: Let's start out by saying that this will be Tuesday's menu:
(Scroll down to see the pic first before continuing -I can't seem to get these pics to go where I want them to!)

So here's the story.... I have been having intense abdomen pain for years....probably like 7 or more. Initially it wasn't an issue; it would happen a few times a year and it was never frequent enough for me to follow up after visiting the urgent care and being told that since it's not life threatening, I should see my general practitioner. Within the last year, it's gotten worse; to the point that it's impacting the quality of my life. If I can't even enjoy my vacation or am constantly in fear that I may have an episode, that I change my plans because of it, I decided that it was time to do something about it. I've previously mentioned it to my general practitioner and she's never done anything to try to diagnose it so I decided to go straight to a specialist. After initially evaluating me, the specialist had me convinced that it wasn't my stomach, but something

lower. I was in fear that I might have to do an elimination diet, but the verdict was even worse! My symptoms or lack of certain ones, eliminated food allergy and IBS and ulcer. She really thought it was a bladder infection, which (after having enough to know) I knew it was not. But I went along with it. She advised me to get a blood and urine work up to eliminate colitis and bladder infection and possibly some other things. She also gave me the option of the Upper Gastrointestinal Series (where they make you drink the stuff and you get imaged) or endoscopy. She said the UGI series is more pleasant but really only lets you see the surface of your stomach. So if the irritant is smooth, it wouldn't show up. Or the more unpleasant method, endoscopy, where they would get a much better view, literally, of what was going on in my stomach. Being tired of this and wanting to get to the root cause, I opted for the endoscopy, which was a creator of many other issues/worries. Being out here in Delaware with only a few friends, I had to have someone give me a ride there and home and public transportation or Uber was not going to cut it. So of course I stressed. When I last had my neck shots, it wasn't enough for someone to come pick me up after the procedure, they had to have someone there waiting for me, but I didn't find out until I was there for the procedure. I don't exactly have the friends here that have the luxury of sitting around in a waiting room for me for hours, while missing work, as I get a procedure done. So I verified and re-verified that I would only have to have someone drop me of and sign in and pick me up after the procedure. So we'll see if that's accurate.

When I originally went to see the doctor and got the appointment for next Wednesday to have the procedure done, it was more than a month between when they could get me in the earliest. The blood and urine results came back negative for everything she tested. So I was still on for the endoscopy. When I was voicing my concern that the issue wasn't with my stomach and that this endoscopy wasn't going to reveal anything to a friend. I explained my worry would be that the next step would be to be examined from the other end (colonoscopy), but because of me ending my employment with medical benefits and my scheduled road trip, I likely wouldn't get an appointment before I left, she suggested that I have a 2 for 1 day! I thought she was brilliant, but stressing about it all night (last night); I thought it would be too late to ask on the Friday before to add it in. But today at work I called anyways and explained my situation and said I would be moving out of state by the end of the month. They said that there were colonoscopy appointment before the end of the month but that she, the doctor's coordinator, could ask the doctor if they could add the colonoscopy after my endoscopy. Keep in mind that all these conversations and arrangements were made via voice mails since I could never get through to her and I get no cell phone reception at work. I was amazed and thankful how responsive she was and how we were able to coordinate through voice mail in just a few hours. Once she got ahold of the doctor, she agreed to have both procedures done on the same day! Yay! Big win!

So that is the good new/bad news! I am now 2 steps closer to finding out what is wrong with me, while having to endure 1 hellish day!

Onto the second set of good news/bad news. I get the instructions for the colonoscopy. Initially the endoscopy instructions were just to not have food after midnight the night before the procedure. But the colonoscopy directions are much more.......restrictive/demanding? I anticipated that I would just have to take laxatives the night before, but that's not it!....instructions start much sooner than that....7 days before (I am kind of beyond that already ): discontinue Iron supplements. I guess it's a good thing I haven't been taking my daily gummy vites! 5 days before (should have started these this morning): "Avoid seeds, nuts, corn, and any other forms of high fiber (whole wheat)." Well, that just about throws out everything I now allow myself to eat. I started out with high fiber, low sugar cereal with homemade cashew milk. Then lately I've been having whole grain and red lentil penne with artichoke hearts and marinara sauce for lunch, followed by some high fiber meatless dinner with some fresh fruits and vegetables as snacks and a homemade oatmeal bar with raisins or prunes and golden berries. I guess it was a good thing that for lunch today (before I knew), I ate unhealthy and had the left over Malaysian noodle dish from last night. But for snack time and I was starving but had planned to eat these quinoa and kamut puffed rice crackers with peanut butter. My co-works think I eat so healthy....if only they knew!

It get's better! As pictured....24 hours before the procedure (8:30 am on Tuesday), no solid foods. I did get an exceptions list verbally from the physicians coordinator: I can have plain vanilla yogurt for lunch and Campbell's chicken noodle (which are both normally not on my to eat list since one has dairy and the other is just full of processed crap and SODIUM). So I anticipate by 11 am I will be DYING! When I recently had my crown, I ate my normal breakfast and went in at 9am. I tried to skip lunch since I was still numb (and always end up biting myself when I try to eat), but ended up gumming some puffed rice crackers and peanut butter until about 3pm when I was totally wasting away from hunger! Not sure how I am going to make it a whole 24+ hours without REAL food. In the past, I've never gotten anywhere with smoothie or juice fasts.

On top of all that.....at 3:00 Tuesday (while I am still at work), I get to have 4 Dulcolax laxative tablets. The at 5:00 pm I get to start drinking 8 oz of the 64 oz mixed up Miralax every 30 min till it's gone. But I was warned that the worst part, is the 10 oz of Magnesium Citrate I get to wake up at 4 am to take on Wednesday, 4 hours before my procedure.

As I just read the warning....vomiting is apparently a normal reaction to taking laxatives......great...more to look forward to. And NO, vomiting does not get you out of taking the laxatives, you just get to draw out the process longer!

Here's the good news/bad news: for the rest of the weekend, I get to eat all the unhealthy good food (pizza, burgers, hot dogs-I refuse to buy any groceries for the apartment that aren't high in fiber, whole grain, unprocessed), bad news, I had just finished training my body to eat good food and my cravings for bad stuff was almost gone.

So wish me luck as I am not sure how, after I've trained my body to be eating at a very minimum every few hours, I am going to go 24+ hours with what I am allowed to eat.

Made some seat cushions from the left over mattress topper foam and some old pillow cases. I made 2 so I could double up if needed or move one to my back. :)