Friday, August 29, 2014

Health Issue

For anyone who has been wondering how my stomach ache issue resolved, it hasn't.  I haven't been writing about it (because boring!) but I've been in to the doctor many more times for tests and they haven't found much.  I'm taking iron for the anemia since they didn't find a cause for that either (I suspect heavy periods/blood loss from that, but what do I know).  I feel a lot better now that my iron is up, but I can't eat much without suffering.  So NO dairy, NO meat except turkey or chicken, NO butter, NO fat except a tiny bit of olive oil to cook vegetables.  As long as stick to that I do pretty well, but I really miss bacon, and pie, and sausage... and the list goes on. 

 Today I'm drinking barium for breakfast (bleah) and then having a CT scan.  This sounds like the last step before they do surgery to remove my gall bladder, which is actually functioning, but on the "low-normal" side.  

18 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is the first time I am writing to you although I have been reading your blog for a long time. I decided to write today to encourage you to keep on your diet and stay positive as you approach surgery. I will be having surgery myself this month and I have also been informed that I will have to change my eating habits, so no more bacon or pie for me either. We can do it and lead healthy lives well into old age. Keep your spirits up and feel better soon. (I deleted my first entry to correct some spelling errors)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I suffered for years with gall bladder issues without knowing. I've always had trouble digesting fatty food. Eventually I had it removed, and things are much better and my diet practically normal. Sticking to a low fat diet made a huge difference while I waited for the surgery. It made me realise how ill I'd been. Of course, I lost weight too, which was a pleasant side effect :)
    Wishing you the best for the scan. I hope they resolve your problem swiftly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I lost weight too, at first, but then have plateaued after I figured out things I could eat.

      Delete
  4. Sorry about pie and bacon :(

    I hope all goes well today! That Barium is yucky stuff, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is yucky! I don't know why they can't make it taste like chocolate milk, with all the miracles of modern science.

      Delete
    2. They can barely mask the taste of cough mixture, let alone Barium. That would take way more than a miracle of modern science :(

      Delete
  5. Good luck, i had gall bladder problems last year....
    hugs abby

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hopefully it wont come to surgery, but if it resolves the problem it will be worth it, good luck for the scan.

    x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good luck. I am sending positive thoughts to you for a quick recovery.

    Hugs,
    joey

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good luck hon, I've been away with strep throat, so just now catching up on your blog and seeing all of this. I will be thinking about you! Hang in there! xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good luck, I'll be keeping you in my thoughts, and hoping for no surgery but instead answers that lead to eating pie and bacon again.
    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  10. Why not try a month on an elimination diet, with a wide variety of vegetables, before surgery? The "Whole 30" people seem to have the most popular one.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Many gall bladder surgeries are suspect at best. Surgeons want to cut! That's where the money is. (I have several in the family!) If you have a low-normal GB function now, it's guaranteed that after the surgery, you'll have zero function! If you can't certain foods now, you certainly won't be able to have them post operation! GB surgery should be the very, very last option, imo. An option after years of experimentation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, in this case they don't at all. They would be perfectly happy to leave me alone and let me be this way forever and ever. In fact, one Dr. said to me, "well, how much do you really miss eating meat? Can't you just do without" Well, a bloody lot, that is how much. I don't even like vegetables.

      I have had this issue for 3 months, not years, I know, but in that time I have tried just about every sort of diet. My Master is proposing that I add back in some of the things that I totally cut out, but I'm afraid to be sick again, so I haven't (he hasn't made it an order, only a suggestion).

      Delete
  12. Hope everything went well!

    I had my gallbladder out when I was still in my 20's. I kept having attacks, but never realized why. Now that its out, I really haven't changed my habits in terms of I *can't* have... I'm just trying to eat better in general.

    Though eating a lot of fatty or greasy foods for me is like giving a lactose intolerant person milk. Without the gallbladder digesting it really doesn't happen and it causes intestinal issues and a trip to the bathroom. Maybe TMI, but wanted to give you a heads up.

    ReplyDelete
  13. More update: Master and I had a meeting with the surgeon. Because he's not convinced it is my gall bladder, he was not keen to risk taking it out and that not helping me. So Master said he wasn't going to make me have the surgery. This is a relief. For now we do nothing and I just continue to adjust my diet to feel as well as I can.

    ReplyDelete

. You Never Know When They Will Catch Up To You

  I just made what would have been a hilarious joke on social media, if only the one other person who would get it would have been around to...