I go back to work on August 4. Which means of course that this month of July will fly by and I'll be sad that my time off is over. I have decided that I have missed my calling as a pampered St. Albert house wife.
I had a doctor's appointment on Friday, July 3 with my gastro specialist to discuss my medications. Final verdict - I have to continue on with my Humira injections because studies have shown that the injection should keep me in remission longer now that all my sick parts have been cut out of me. My doctor and I chatted a bit - he and the surgeon are both amazed at how much disease I had and the fact I was still walking around. He looked at me and said "you were one very sick little girl." I'm sure he meant Crohn's-wise and it wasn't a comment on my personality.
I have gained a bunch of weight - which is lovely for me. It's not every girl who would appreciate friends and co-workers telling me I've put on some pounds but I get what they're saying. I have to admit I'm finding it strange to look in the mirror and see this girl who is gaining weight - it's totally a mental thing cause I'm thinking I must be close to getting double chins or something even though I'm far from. I've also started to try to eat very healthy - a lot of vegetables and stuff that I wasn't able to eat before, which is sad for my husband who is more of a meatitarian and figures that eating the animals that eat vegetables is good enough. I bought the book "You are what you Eat" by Dr. Gillian McKeith and it's wonderful and full of great tips and foods and that type of thing.
I've been feeling so good that we've decided to do a little trip to Banff. It will be my first foray out and about and is close enough to home (4 hours) that if anything happens it's not a big deal. During this trip I'll try swimming for the first time and we'll see how that goes. I purchased a lovely belt that attaches to my ostomy flange and helps to secure it around my waist for when I'm doing activities.
We've got a bit of a roll going on now with Chuck - I had not had a blow out for about three sessions...until last night. Stupid. I have to say Paul is awesome at changing the bed and helping me get cleaned up at 2 a.m. which is the usual time. Chuck can never be active at say 6 a.m. or even 5:30 a.m. It's always in the dead of night. Whatever.
I will continue to update as I try new activities and do new things. A couple of things I've learned from being out and about - public bathrooms aren't great but they're not so bad. Mainly because many of the toilets are quite a bit longer in the seat making it easier to sit back and empty the bag. It's difficult though because a lot of them don't have a surface to set my water bottle on that I use to rinse the bag. Oh funny story - I was at Earl's in St. Albert with Paul for supper and I was just finishing up in the bathroom and refilling the bottle of water I keep in my purse all the time and a lady walked in and filled up a spray bottle before heading into the stall. I looked over and said "so how long have you had your ostomy?" and she was stunned. I showed her my bottle in my hand and we had a little chat. This particular woman suffered from diverticulitis and it was a temporary ostomy for her. By the way it was just the two of us in the bathroom, I didn't call her out in front of a bunch of other ladies, or heaven forbid the scantily clad big boobed female staff.
Stay tuned to find out what swimming is like and why I think my tankini will be too small for me!
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