Diets

Still trying to start eating solid food again.  It is a real challenge to have to eat a particular kind of diet for the pancreatitis and another particular kind of diet because of the Warfarin.  Trying to successfully combine the two makes my brain hurt.

My brother still wants to have his surgery this week, but we know the doctor won't operate on a drunk patient so the surgery probably won't happen.

I cleaned out my roll-top desk today. It was Marshall's desk and I hadn't really touched it after he died.  All of the files are in his handwriting.  It was so sad.  And in one of the drawers I found two dog collars - one was Coco's and one was Marlee's.  So the desk was triple sad.  I miss them all so much.

Another doctor visit; more tests

Today I had an appointment with my cardiologist to discuss my need for nighttime oxygen (will this never end?).  He wants me to do a full sleep study before deciding if I have sleep apnea.  So I'll be doing that in the next week or so.

Then we discussed the pancreatitis situation and he wants me to have my gallbladder looked at since in 90% of all cases of pancreatitis, it's the gallbladder causing the problems.  So he is going to order a gallbladder ultrasound.  That should also happen in the next week or so.  I am sick of all this.

And last but not least today we learned that my brother is drinking again.  He is supposed to have surgery this week for the fracture in his spine.  Not sure if that is still going to happen.  Good grief.

Still healing

It looks like this whole re-introduction of solid foods is going to be very slow.  Every time I try something that my pancreas doesn't like, I get a little vertigo and need to kind of stay in bed.  Oatmeal went well, but an orange wasn't such a good idea.  So what I thought might take 6 days to get back on a semi-regular diet looks like it may be two weeks.  Or more.  At least I'm not having the severe pain that I believe can come with acute pancreatitis.

I've ordered a Pancreatitis Diet Cookbook to get a feel for some good meals.  Then I have to also pay attention to the limitations in diet from the drug Warfarin that I take.  This probably will be doable here at home but boy, traveling and eating out is going to be a bitch.

Poor Mia has been so good just laying close to me wherever I am -- she obviously knows things aren't  totally right.  She is a very energetic dog so staying still must be hard on her.  And she hasn't been to Camp BowWow in several weeks.  If I feel good tomorrow, I will take her to Camp so she can get some physical and mental exercise.  Her trainer has moved on to bigger and better things so Mia hasn't had any training for several weeks, either.  She really liked that trainer.  So I've been trying to keep up with the things she learned and she does well.

That's it for today.

Feeling better

Yesterday I went back to the doctor and had more bloodwork done.  Doctor told me not to eat any solid foods until the test results come back, but I was so hungry that I ate a piece of bread but it didn't sit well.  I came home and went to bed for the day with Mia by my side.

Today I got the results of the bloodwork and my lipase level is back to normal (went from 145 to 19). So he said I could start SLOWLY reintroducing solid food back into my diet, very slowly.  And from here on out, no alcohol, no fatty foods, no red meat, no coffee (boy, nobody wants me to have any coffee).  I had a tiny bit of food today and my stomach reacted, so I need to go even slower.

I feel much better, but I'm disappointed that there was no way to figure out what caused all this.  Frustrating.  But I'm glad to get back into the world again, I felt so bad for over a week.

My brother is doing really well, he's been sober now for about 75 days.  He found a job but then found out he had to have spine surgery on Feb 2 so he'll have to pass on that job until he recuperates from surgery.

And to show how much he has improved, he actually called me on my birthday, something he hasn't done in many years.  Yay!

PS:  An interesting tidbit -- this lipase range differs from lab to lab which I think is kind of unfair.  My doctor's lab says the lipase level should be between 7 and 60.  But the Mayo Clinic, for instance, has a range of 18 to 180.  I asked the doctor about it and said my level of 145 would be acceptable at the Mayo Clinic and he said, "Then you need to go to the Mayo Clinic."  Ha Ha.

I'm hungry

Clear liquids for the past 5 or 6 days and I am so hungry.  But I've lost 8 pounds, for whatever that is worth.

And my cardiologist has not called me like was promised so I guess my heart medications aren't causing the pancreas problems or he would have called, right?  I love all my doctors, but they can be so irritating.  When they don't do what they say they will it just makes me scared.

So tomorrow is more blood work and then wait some more for the results.  And I'm not sure what these results are going to tell me.  If the lipase level goes back into what they consider normal range, what will that mean?  To me, that means I will still have no idea what's been making me feel bad.

That's it for today.

Life gets harder and harder as we age...

First, my brother.  He has been sober for roughly 70 days and is doing wonderfully -- as far as the alcohol goes. He even got a job and was scheduled to start this week.

But remember that accident he had when he slightly fractured his spine?  Well, he needs to have surgery (scheduled for Feb 2) and the recuperation will be about 30 days.  So the job is gone for now. They did tell him to reapply when his doctor releases him for work.  His spirits are still high.

Now, on to me.  For the past week I have been feeling really bad.  Monster hot flashes, bloating and a little vertigo.  I went to Urgent Care and they couldn't find anything wrong and suggested I might be dehydrated.  Told me to drink more water.

I went home and drank more water but it did not improve, so I went back to the clinic and this time they took X-rays and bloodwork. They called me Wednesday night and called during the 10-minute time frame that I was outside walking Mia so they left a voicemail.  She said, "Your A1C is normal and you are not diabetic or pre diabetic; however, you have an elevated lipase consistent with pancreatitis.  Go on a liquid diet immediately and come back in a week to have blood drawn again."  I hope that means this thing can do a turnaround if I'm a good girl.

Good grief.

Today I went to see my cardiologist to have my pacemaker checked out just to be sure this wasn't all a pacemaker issue, but no, the pacemaker is still doing a topnotch job.

However, there is a possibility that one of the heart medications I take could have affected the pancreas and caused pancreatitis. My cardiologist is going to go over all the paperwork (medications, pacemaker report and lab work) and get back to me Monday with his opinion on whether it's one of the medications and, if so, what we should do about it.  If it is not caused by the medication, then we just wait until Jan 24 (happy birthday to me) when I get the lab work redone.

I did a bit of online research (good old Dr. Google) and learned that 70% or more of the cases of pancreatitis are caused from alcohol.  I quit drinking about 13 or 14 years ago, so I don't think we can blame it on alcohol.

Did you ever watch the Redd Foxx show?  Whenever things were overwhelming, he would look up and say, "Elizabeth, here I come..."  Well, I feel like saying, "Marshall, here I come..."  Ha!

In the meantime, I AM STARVING!!  A clear liquid diet really sucks.