I'm sitting here on a Sunday night, listening to David Byrne & Brian Eno, trying to mellow out before what promises to be the busiest, most stressful week of the year.
I was doing so well leading up to this! After a false start with budesonide, I finally got to the point where I could tolerate a full dose, and I've been on it for around 3 weeks. The first week was OK, and by the second week, I started noticing an upward trend. I was starting to normalize, and I was reliably feeling pretty good. Could it be that I was finally getting better?
This past week, however, has been a different story. I started noticing a downhill slide on Tuesday, but figured it was just a rough patch -- there have been dips along the way, for sure, so nothing to worry about, right? I just toned down the food for a bit. A little more white rice. Maybe ease back on the fattier foods, even if they seem low-residue. Maybe stick to soup, that won't mess with you too much...
By Friday, I had called out of work (the first time I've done that since my diagnosis), and my diet had been reduced to Ensure Plus. Saturday, I added some some bakery white bread and a banana to the mix, but this morning I was making more trips to the bathroom than I ever had before. My wife and I had plans to head up to Boston today -- I finally bit the bullet and took a couple loperamide just so we could go, mostly because I didn't want to let her down. (Dress shopping and eating out at a restaurant weren't high up on my list of things to do, but again, we were going to see friends and she was looking forward to it.)
I was worried about whether or not the loperamide was going to hold -- thankfully, it did. (It actually might still be working, come to think of it... hopefully I won't be in for any horrible surprises in the middle of the night.) I split off from my wife and stopped in at a friend's place while she went out and got lunch with her pals, so I managed to dodge that situation.
Anyways, we returned home and I survived... I had some rice and boiled chicken tonight (which was a big step up from Ensure). It's sitting alright so far. As I sit here and type this, I wonder about my experiences this weekend and how this upcoming week/weekend is going to play out. I simply CANNOT miss any work this week -- our departmental diploma ceremony is this coming Sunday, and I basically oversee the entire shebang, so I have to be there (especially Sunday). I'm going to try to avoid it if at all possible, but at least now I know I can take Immodium in a pinch if I need to during this upcoming week. Once this week is over, I feel like I can use whatever sick time I need to -- I am actually headed to my gastroenterologist the following Tuesday, and frankly, if I ended up in the hospital on Monday, I'd be fine with that... I just need to make it past Sunday.
If anyone has any advice on powering through a situation like this (a job obligation, college exams, whatever) when things are not going so great, health-wise, I'm all ears. Similarly, if anyone has any input regarding when it's apparent that your prescribed treatment is not working, I'd appreciate that as well. I really thought the budesonide was doing the trick... previous symptoms such as mucus had begun to disappear, and I was making far less frequent trips to the bathroom on average. I'm not sure if this recent episode is a new problem -- the symptoms seem a little different this time, somehow.
Just to make things a little more challenging this week, my final online course for my M.Ed. starts tomorrow, and my wife is leaving for a wedding on Thursday and won't return until after the weekend. Honestly, the course might actually serve to keep my mind occupied on other things, which is good; my wife leaving, on the other hand, means that I'll be taking care of the cats and our puppy alone. (Cats are easy, the puppy requires a bit more work though.) I just wish that she was going to be around...
I was doing so well leading up to this! After a false start with budesonide, I finally got to the point where I could tolerate a full dose, and I've been on it for around 3 weeks. The first week was OK, and by the second week, I started noticing an upward trend. I was starting to normalize, and I was reliably feeling pretty good. Could it be that I was finally getting better?
This past week, however, has been a different story. I started noticing a downhill slide on Tuesday, but figured it was just a rough patch -- there have been dips along the way, for sure, so nothing to worry about, right? I just toned down the food for a bit. A little more white rice. Maybe ease back on the fattier foods, even if they seem low-residue. Maybe stick to soup, that won't mess with you too much...
By Friday, I had called out of work (the first time I've done that since my diagnosis), and my diet had been reduced to Ensure Plus. Saturday, I added some some bakery white bread and a banana to the mix, but this morning I was making more trips to the bathroom than I ever had before. My wife and I had plans to head up to Boston today -- I finally bit the bullet and took a couple loperamide just so we could go, mostly because I didn't want to let her down. (Dress shopping and eating out at a restaurant weren't high up on my list of things to do, but again, we were going to see friends and she was looking forward to it.)
I was worried about whether or not the loperamide was going to hold -- thankfully, it did. (It actually might still be working, come to think of it... hopefully I won't be in for any horrible surprises in the middle of the night.) I split off from my wife and stopped in at a friend's place while she went out and got lunch with her pals, so I managed to dodge that situation.
Anyways, we returned home and I survived... I had some rice and boiled chicken tonight (which was a big step up from Ensure). It's sitting alright so far. As I sit here and type this, I wonder about my experiences this weekend and how this upcoming week/weekend is going to play out. I simply CANNOT miss any work this week -- our departmental diploma ceremony is this coming Sunday, and I basically oversee the entire shebang, so I have to be there (especially Sunday). I'm going to try to avoid it if at all possible, but at least now I know I can take Immodium in a pinch if I need to during this upcoming week. Once this week is over, I feel like I can use whatever sick time I need to -- I am actually headed to my gastroenterologist the following Tuesday, and frankly, if I ended up in the hospital on Monday, I'd be fine with that... I just need to make it past Sunday.
If anyone has any advice on powering through a situation like this (a job obligation, college exams, whatever) when things are not going so great, health-wise, I'm all ears. Similarly, if anyone has any input regarding when it's apparent that your prescribed treatment is not working, I'd appreciate that as well. I really thought the budesonide was doing the trick... previous symptoms such as mucus had begun to disappear, and I was making far less frequent trips to the bathroom on average. I'm not sure if this recent episode is a new problem -- the symptoms seem a little different this time, somehow.
Just to make things a little more challenging this week, my final online course for my M.Ed. starts tomorrow, and my wife is leaving for a wedding on Thursday and won't return until after the weekend. Honestly, the course might actually serve to keep my mind occupied on other things, which is good; my wife leaving, on the other hand, means that I'll be taking care of the cats and our puppy alone. (Cats are easy, the puppy requires a bit more work though.) I just wish that she was going to be around...
