Friday, February 25, 2005

I'm free! I'm free! (but I ain't cheap)

HOORAY! I'm back from seeing the GI and, drumroll please -

NO DRUGS!!!

Based on how I'm feeling he said he didn't feel the need to poison me again just yet (his words - and his terminology for most immunosuppressives). I am so happy! I'm not taking any pills and I'm not even in trouble about it. tee hee Since the surgery showed almost no disease activity at all, just one very small ulcer in the area of the fistula, he doesn't know if the meds were doing more than we thought, or if it was just time. My thoughts? Time. I am so happy I don't know what to do with myself.

I'd noticed that I was tolerating a whole lot of foods much better than I ever used to - but was afraid to hope...and since my BM's always hurt so much (pre-surgery) I guess I thought I was imagining everything else being better.

Oh, and best news? I've been thinking I gained a bunch of my 7 lost pounds back after sitting on my butt for two weeks recovering (and consoling myself with M & M's) and my newer jeans were feeling tight again... But I kept thinking - my calves look skinnier -

Per his scale I've only gained back about 1.5 lbs - and I swear it's all in my belly and period related. That really brightened my day even before I saw the doctor - I thought I'd blown it and gained back that weight and was so depressed. Once I was done with him, I was walking on air! LOL

AND, it's sunny outside, and my daffodils are blooming, and I saw my first flowering tree in bloom, and it's 60+ degrees, and ...the world is just looking wonderful today. :-D

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Spring is coming!

I've just finished turning the left side in front of my house into a rosebed. :-) I moved the poor rose that was languishing on the corner (it was labelled a climbing rose, but I haven't seen any growth yet - in 3 years) to the middle, and surrounded it with two climbing yellow roses, and two bush red/orange roses. Then I planted most of the remaining daffodil bulbs around them and dug a trench along in front of them and filled that with crocus and a few grape hyacinths. Added about 3.5 cubic feet of peat moss to the soil before I planted anything. On top of all that I had a bag and a half of left over "garden path" flower seed mix (the stuff that has the dried paper and all mixed in with the seed) and put that on top of it all. I have no idea if it will grow or not, as it's rather old seed - but it's certainly not going to do anything in the bag, so might as well give it a shot.

The question of the day now is "Will I be able to move my arms in the morning?" LOL

Wonder what's for supper? I seem to have developed an appetite.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

I concede! They were right!

I felt really good today - had a BM, didn't hurt too badly, hung around the house. Decided to go shopping tonight (more boredom than anything). One trip around Big Lots, one trip around grocery store (1.5 hrs total) and I was Hurting. Came home, had another BM and now I'm HURTING.

Damn them doctors for being right! Glad I didn't go back to work this week (sigh).

Just broke down and took half a Lortab. Gonna do the sitz thing and go to bed I guess, unless the diet Coke I drank keeps me up.

Monday, February 07, 2005

February update

As many of you already know, my great-aunt "Boots" - Elizabeth Letanosky died early last Saturday, very unexpectedly. I had entertained thoughts of returning home from the funeral but am under strict 'Dad orders' to not even consider it.

I called the doctor's office this morning to get a better idea what to expect with this recovery as I'm still quite sore off and on, only to find out that it takes about SIX weeks to heal completely! Triage nurse told me to take this week off work too - so, somewhat reluctantly, I did. Sometimes I feel like a slacker, but other times, when I'm starting to feel sore and cranky, I'm glad I listened to her.

Lots and lots of sitzing going on here - guess it's a good thing I'm paid ahead on my water bill!LOL

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Ye-OUCH!!!

Well, as many of you have undoubtedly heard, my simple steroid injection under anesthesia became a full-fledged fistulotomy. I'd explain it, but I'm too sore, tired and cranky. I'll be fine, and once I heal up inside, I suspect I'll be feeling a lot better - but for now I'm sitting on soft pillows and eating metamucil wafers. (yummy :-P )

I'll be back in a few days or so - depends on how long I can sit.

FYI "Two-thirds to three-quarters of patients with Crohn's disease will require surgery at some point during their lives. "

Maybe I've now met my quota -