Mood:
hungryNow Playing: Day 792-The Final Road To Survival
I'm just living in a Drano world as one of the unlucky victims...EEK!! Yep. Its that time again. It's Hell-In-A-Jug day. This circle of liquid dynamite just never ends and I don't think it will ever end in this lifetime. I need to come up with some fun ways to make treatment days go by a bit easier. Maybe something to help bide the time and keep my mind off of whether or not it will work too quickly, not fast enough or come back up. If you think reading about Drano gets old then you need to drink this stuff on a weekly basis. Even the prescription refills have now become their own story with each trip becoming more interesting than the other. It isn't the Drano that makes it interesting but instead the continued reactions of others. I am so glad Eric had to go pick it up today seeing I was too busy chugging my own jug at home. Yes, another interesting audience at the store for him full of strange looks and even stranger questions. Maybe not strange to us because we are used to it. Not that drinking this foul stuff is bad enough but staring down another six jugs was the last thing I wanted to see today. UGG!!!!
With it being less than two weeks away from seeing my new surgical team I needed to finish up the rest of the paperwork. Its like signing your life away. Actually your intestines away. Hahahaha!
Maybe my intestines need their own social security number because clearly they are starting to have their own identity. Everything lately has literally been evolving around my GI organs. NO LIE.
Between the every other day feeling of not being able to breath due to the intestinal inflammation pushing on my lower lungs and daily energy that quickly gets zapped its been a one thing GI event after another. For those who have asked, "Is that a new hair style in your wedding photo?" and other questions I have honest answers for you but for those who are fellow GP friends you already knew the answers.
*No. I lost most of my hair over the past few years which got even worse after each weekly treatments. It has been a slow process thankfully after having too much hair to start with. Hee,hee,hee,hee...I have my own wig collection at home and although I would love to have my full head of hair back it is what it is. I have learned to accept it and there's no use crying over spilled milk.
*My nails have done the same game as my hair. Here today, gone tomorrow. Not being able to eat normally and staying on a mostly liquid diet is only part of the problem. When you have Gastroparesis your body can not break down nor absorb important vitamins and nutrients properly so your nails get brittle. I do occasionally get nails put on or do them myself for important events however with risk of infection that is caused by nail glue I only keep them on for a week-max.
*Yes. I still have to use a cane and wheelchair if walking for a long period of time. I will always have my good and bad days. In our wedding photo I was able to lean onto Eric to keep my balance and same with a few others taken out of town. After awhile you learn not to pay attention to the reactions of others because at the end of the day does peoples opinions who have no idea of my condition really matter? Same with using masks outdoors. At first it drove me nuts with people looking oddly at me but now I don't think twice about the reactions or children staring. Hey, maybe I should take a few extra masks along with me seeing the smog and humidity in this city surely can't be healthy for anyone outdoors.
I guess my point is, life is clearly what you make of it. Good or bad. While people might spend their time and money buying into vanity and what others believe they should look like I am too busy putting my time and money into saving vital organs in order to just survive. Kinda strange how being sick puts life into perspective isn't it? Wisdom isn't gained by age. Wisdom is gained by survival and learning life sustaining lessons along the way.
Now I know how Pumpkin kitty feels eating the same ole food day after day so its no wonder now I have to change it up a bit and mix a different variety with his normal food. It has also been keeping him from meowing all hours of the night due to being bored with his food. Yes! The fur gang are one word, "spoiled" but they are well behaved fur kids and worth it!!
At least Cuddles kitty is getting some use out of it today. Hahahaha! She looks too funny! Poor Oreo has been having one heck of a time with his hearing. Its scaring him so much that I am now literally tripping over him as he stays close near my feet. We have to take him back to the Veterinarian next week to see how much hearing he has left or if maybe one ear is better than the other. Its tough on poor Oreo but I am so glad someone is always home with him.
One of my dear fellow GP friends Darlene recently got the Gastroparesis Awareness Campaign motto I started eight years ago tattooed around her ankle. It looks so neat and its such an honor to have others sharing the saying, "KEEP ON! KEEPING ON!"
With Gastroparesis it is indeed a struggle with the wide range of symptoms we all suffer on a daily basis. Support is very important and such a critical key to our over all care! Its been truly amazing watching our GP family grow through out the years and no matter how hard the journey may become we will never walk alone because we will always have each other. AMEN!
don't ask
"Just" when the honeysuckle trees and bushes were finally full and providing plenty of shade near the back patio area POOF! they disappeared!! Remember, we built a small sandbox on the patio last fall so this spring and summer once the honeysuckle trees and bushes grew back I could enjoy sitting out there since they provide lots of shade. What I didn't know was while I was sleeping the shade was slowly starting to disappear. Mind you, if I do any yard work that might go into either neighbors side of their yard I always made sure to ask them before cutting. I would assume everyone has some common courtesy to do the same but I was wrong. Instead now having a quiet shaded place to rest and put my feet in the cool sand after treatment days I might as well instead head down south to the ocean because its gone. Yes. That started my day waking up to realize my new neighbors butchered all the beautiful honeysuckle trees and bushes so they could plant grass seed?!! Say what? Another thing was I just planted grass seed for shaded areas where the bushes were and the grass was growing nice and thick. Now it just defeated the whole purpose. So did having somewhere in the backyard I could rest and enjoy after enduring Drano. I guess its that half-moon day or something because I would had thought like the prior neighbors who lived there they would had said, "Hey, since the bushes and trees are hanging over a bit I am going to just trim them back but we wanted you to see it first so we don't cut too much or everything back." Instead there is no shade anymore and if it ever grows back it will take years. Needless to say I was shocked once I walked outside to see the shade had disappeared.After the fact I was then told by one of the neighbors they decided to cut everything back this morning however shouldn't they had said something prior?. 
So I might be rambling on a bit but I don't expect anyone to understand the little things those who are sick with a terminal condition enjoy because they don't walk in our shoes. They only walk in their own. 
Thank goodness for a new day! AMEN.
chillin'
If life is a lesson to be learned then maybe after going on 4 years of the spring and summer sunlight nightmare I would had learned to rotate my sleep schedule with the sun. Instead I ended up with a day of migraines, tremors and a few pop up seizures. NOT FUN. This also put a huge kink into the days schedule crossing off things to do like changing lots of information since we are now a married couple. At least the major stuff got changed yesterday. I call the rest "minor details" so it was up to my friend/Caregiver/Husband to finish the rest. Let's just call him Hubby now for short. Hahahahaha! I am sure to one individual, OK, maybe a few that term is burning a hole in their brains by now but you can't please everyone in life and for once I have learned to please myself. AMEN! 
Oreo has been hanging in there and doing a bit better each day. We both got a really cute card this week from my dear Angel friend down south. Oreo is so smart he actually read the part to him. Hee,hee,hee,hee...See, you can teach an older fur kid new tricks! So far we haven't had to increase his dosage on both medications but we still need to continue keeping a close eye on him. He still has occasional tremors and gets scared a lot which is normal they said since he is also losing his hearing. Its hard seeing him not feel well but we have been doing our best to give him lots of kisses and hugs. He continues to enjoy bonding time by my side while I catch up on my taped television shows. When he is ready to call it a night he jumps down to sleep on his huge floor bed. Littleblue has been doing a great job playing fur nurse to Oreo and even takes a few naps laying next to him.
It seems both of us are now experiencing the other side of the mountain. We have both been through hell and back and hell again through out the years so its been wonderful sharing all the recent great news with each other! We always joke around that somehow they must had switched cribs at birth because we are just like siblings. I sure wish we lived closer but since he is the first to make it out west it won't be too much longer when we will be following right behind. Hubby is more than ready to make the big move and continue positive changes in our lives. I couldn't agree with him more but unfortunately right now I must ride out this next medical challenge to see what the future holds.
"Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. Don't be afraid to fall in love because every second wasted is a second of life you can never get back."
d'oh
This has been an exhausting week! So far the short list of things to do has now turned into a huge list. Thank goodness for both of us now tackling things together which hopefully means cutting the time in half! 
With the heat upon us starting this weekend its our goal to finish the big "To Do List" way ahead of time before my next treatment which is right around the corner. We haven't had much time to celebrate being newlyweds however there is plenty of time for that later on. Right now we are just enjoying some peace and quiet by tuning out the reactions of some individuals in the city who were never supportive to start with and instead surrounding ourselves with those who were always there for us and cared about my happiness and over all well being. Thank you my dear friends! Thanks to the never ending kindness and support of strangers our fairy tale wedding will continue later this summer at Indiana Downs horsetrack as we re-exchange our wedding vows in front of friends and GP family. 
celebratory
a-ok
After speaking to my neighbors Daughter today its now apparent none of us escaped the horrible May storms and over abundance of rain which caused massive foundation problems for everyone. Even my neighbors house fell victim to basement flooding. They have foundation repairs of their own to catch up on later this month. That makes so far five houses in a row. YIKES! Mark told us today that since this used to be farm land with lots of surrounding water our basement was literally built on guess what? WATER. DOUBLE YIKES!! It seems the entire street used to be nothing but a lake. Now most builders will not build over water seeing it defeats the purpose and nothing good can come up of it but guess what? Foundation and water problems later on down the road. I guess we can all rest assured each of us are not alone fighting to literally keep our houses staying afloat. Hopefully all the repairs will keep the water out so its not continuing to come in. 
hug me
Since we got a pretty good rain the other day my peach tree is doing GREAT! We are going to have lots of peaches by the middle of next month. There are a few that the wildlife have gotten ahold of but those are peach seeds that didn't take to start with however Littleblue didn't find them too tasty. She picked one off a hanging branch today and after one bite into the extremely tart peach seed she quickly dropped it. Hahahaha! Same with the mulberries in the backyard falling from the branches. One tart bite and that was it for her! Hahahaha! The birds and other animals however have been quickly eating them so its been nice not having to clean them up this year. 
Hopefully the rain will stay far, far away for this upcoming week that way the rest of the outside house projects can get completed. They are calling for rain showers this evening into tomorrow however maybe it will stay farther down south. We just want dry skies so the new windows and drains can be installed. AMEN! Since there still is a slight chance of rain my friend had to fill one of the new holes back up with dirt on the side of the house this evening because the LAST thing we need is a flooded basement.
Key and goal for very successful upcoming surgeries is: NO STRESS. I plan on taking every precaution to keep it that way too! 
incredulous
THERE IS A DRANO GOD! 
Nope the Drano saga never ends nor does it ever get boring. There will always be some sort of funny story behind each jug. Kinda like today's Drano face. My friends called this one, "Bowser." Hahahahaha! Too bad ole Bowser didn't warn me of things to come. This jug hit me just way too fast that it almost knocked me on my feet. Literally! No, it doesn't make you mean or moody. Heck! Who has the energy to feel as such but instead it just makes you flat out tired and out of it. By 10:30pm I almost fell asleep watching the "Ghost Adventurers" with my friend.
That is very unusual for me but here I am chugging down as many fluids as I can in order to stay hydrated. Its been a Gatorade and Pedialyte night as my friend enjoys two special topping pizzas. One-Hawaiian three cheese and the other Chicken/Steak with feta cheese and white sauce. YUM!!! Good thing I was too tired to think about it further than a few seconds. I don't need to spend the night in the bathroom any longer than I will the next 24 hours. 