cooking, cooking and more cooking

Whoa, the day just escaped me!  Must be all the cooking I am doing. Thanksgiving is at the Stolen Colon's house this year.  Since I'm no longer a ball of energy, I am trying to do most of the cooking in shifts.  I do plan to enjoy the holiday feast, well maybe not the feast part.  I can eat everything except the mashed taters and green bean casserole, due to the dairy in them.  I also have to eat very small amounts of food at one time.  I guess I'll just be enjoying many mini thanksgivings through out the day!  That actually doesn't sound too bad.  

I met with my colorectal surgeon and his nurses today.  Yup nurses, I got two of them since, as Dr. Kim put it, I am a mystery.  Yeah! I stumped one of the premier colorectal surgeons.  And I didn't even realize I was having problems. . . well kind of.  Starting in the evenings I get these intense cramps.  It starts by the old stoma site and migrates to the j-pouch area.  And it will feel like I have get to a toilet. . . immediately.  Once I sit on the throne, I only seem to produce a few mouse size turds.  Sometimes this will go on for hours, and in the worse cases, through out the night.  Eventually, I'll have a larger liquid movement and the cramping/intense urgency will disappear and I can fall asleep.  I assumed (wrongly so) that this was just life with a j-pouch, and that my body was adjusting.   Well not so much so.  

After having a half hour conversation with the Doc and nurses (wow!  I got is full attention of 30 mins, unbelievable!)  I left with a prescription for Bentyl, an antispasmodic and orders to irrigate the pouch, daily.  (I'll save you from the details on this. For now anyways.)  I also was given strict orders, to call his nurse if I have any discomfort and not to just wait till my next appointment (which is in 5 weeks! Hopefully this means I get to go a WHOLE month before going back there.  A new record. Um, I hope I didn't just jinx myself.)  

And for today's tidbit Thankfulness. . .  I am thankful for how blessed I am.  Through this whole ordeal I have met a bunch of different people with different illnesses.  I am constantly reminded of how lucky I am.  In the whole scheme of things, I'm not sick.  Yeah I lost an organ. . . but I avoided chemo right?!  And I found a doctor who is going to try and save a few more organs and help me escape chemo again!  The crap I deal with now is really just small potholes when compared to the craters that others have to deal with on a daily basis.   

Just the fact that my FAP was diagnosed when it was is something in of its own to be incredibly thankful for.  Just one more month could of made a world of difference.