{moan} I think I’m gunna die but that’s not possible because I’ve already died and gone to Hell, which is where I spent the entire accursed day.
Actually, the day started out OK, but it swiftly went downhill. It was a stressful day whose prospect has been causing frissons of NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO IT all week long. Is it possible that stress could influence the bellyache?
Awake at 3 a.m., unable to go back to sleep. Hungry & headachey; ate a piece of cheese & three figs; had coffee. Didn’t want to have an actual breakfast because I had to go to a breakfast meeting as dawn cracked and didn’t want to be rude by refraining from eating.
6:45 a.m.: raced to said meeting. Knew there’d be no chance for lunch and so ordered a blueberry pancake, bacon, & tea. Stomach was already upset when I got there; this didn’t help. Converted burpy to urpy.
The minute the meeting broke up, flew across the city to the new gastroenterologist’s office; made it on time. Conferred with her. Liked her a lot. She agreed with Young Dr. Kildare that I probably don’t have cancer, probably have developed gastric reflux disease, that it’s unlikely to go away soon, and that for the rest of my life I will be taking a drug that saps calcium out of my already osteopenic bones and is known to cause clinical depression. She also agreed that it made reasonable sense to do a noninvasive test for H. pylori, given my history of living in a Third-World country, before moving forward with an endoscopy. In fact, she felt an endoscopy is unnecessary.
She wants to do a blood test. I said the Mayo doc had opined that a positive result for H. pylori proved only that one was once exposed to the pathogen, not that one was presently infected. She begged to differ: if you test positive, she said, it means the microorganism is still resident in your gut. If you have not been treated with several rounds of antibiotics combined with proton pump inhibitors, then you are still infected. Therefore, in the absence of previous treatment for Helicobacter, a positive result means you are infected. She said she would treat me for H. pylori if she could prove I have it. So…that was reassuring.
Out the door. Not enough time to go home between the doctor’s appointment and class.
Trudged up to campus, a 45-minute drive. Stood (on the sore goddamned foot!) in front of a computer terminal passing another 35 minutes until class started. Steered students to computer commons, for librarian’s presentation.
Had to deal with unruly student (again!). Kid is out of control. She is just completely batshit. DAMN it, twelve more goddamn weeks of this??????
Computers went down. Librarian was unable to do her presentation. She filled time talking about life in China, whence she came. Some students interested, some bored stiff. Afterward she wanted to set another date, so now I’ll have to drag them over there again next week. This screws up my carefully orchestrated schedule, but I think I can do it by killing a busywork assignment.
Tina, trying to cope with her usual overload, sends worried e-mail. I finally escape and get home.
Stomach royally upset and actually hurting by the time I get back to the house. Significant heartburn. Annoying after ten days of feeling pretty good. Very, very annoying.
Gulp down some disgusting generic Gaviscon. Has no discernible effect.
A plagiarized paper surfaces. I give it a 0 and copy the chair; now will have to deal with THAT next week, god effing DAMN it.
Not hungry but decide to try some yogurt with honey, which sometimes is soothing. Feel marginally better, but not much.
Exhausted. Field some e-mails, stare glassy-eyed at news sites for some indefinite period. After a while, recover enough to continue working on website, hugely updating it, writing new pages. It now looks pretty good.
It’s after 7 p.m. The dog is whining and nagging at me, I’m sort of hungry but afraid to fix much food because I’m afraid it’ll make me sicker. The dog hasn’t been fed and is running out of food. I have no more meat to cook for her and don’t feel even faintly like grinding up veggies for her, either. Have canned dog food but that stuff always gives her the runs. May have to feed it to her, though.
Tomorrow, another doctor’s appointment, lunch with friends, all of which will put me behind even further on the various to-do’s I’ve set up for myself.
Of this week’s to-do’s, I’ve done ten of the twenty projects & tasks I listed. Some of them didn’t get done because the website needed to be updated and improved before moving on to things that would entail posting links at various networking groups’ sites.
Done:
• Joined Local First Arizona.
• Fixed Tina’s CE Desk e-mail.
• Reorganized and rewrote entire website for client.
• Downloaded Google Contacts into Excel; used that to start a database and start preparing a hard-copy address/contacts book for CE Desk.
• Revamped the CE Desk website.
• Started building files for new contract workers.
• Cleaned out space to hold files for the same.
• Compared costs of Business Networking International (BNI), National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), & Trustegrity vs. probable marketing value; decided NAWBO is the best bet.
• Got in touch with two previous employees, schmoozed.
• Sent receipt to client.
NOT done:
• Look into Scottsdale Airpark business publication, for ads & possible PR opportunities.
• Come up with articles ideas for the same, for Phoenix Business Journal, for Scottsdale Chamber’s publication.
• Call Chamber’s director to discuss publicity; try to volunteer as ambassador.
• Set up a calendar on the iPad and try to get into the habit of using the damn thing (but realized that’s not going to happen…I’m unlikely to fiddle with that).
• Join NAWBO.
• Track down the third former employee who, I think, would be good to keep in touch with.
• Finish the database.
• Write this month’s newsletter.
• Bill website client for 5 hours of work. And, come to think of it, three earlier hours of work.
• Scan and e-deposit two other clients’ checks.
Pending:
• Volunteered for Habitat for Humanity; have to meet them at 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
• Choir director thinks we’re going to show up at 8:00 on Sunday morning.
I don’t want to. I hate racing around at dawn and hate this stupid schedule with two 7:30 a.m. classes a week and a 7:30 meeting in Scottsdale and do not want to fly out the door at 7:30 Sunday morning and I. need. a. BREAK!
No wonder my stomach hurts.
Until the GERD is under control you may want to lay off or reduce the coffee and tea, among other things. What finally helped me the most was getting a wedge pillow to sleep on- I use it under my regular pillow. Once I got things calmed down I don’t have to be as strict with the diet, but still try to avoid the more irritating things in the afternoon/early evening.
@ Valleycat1: Definitely would like to try one of those pillows. Where did you get it? I gather you have to go to some sort of medical supply house to find them???
Being the obsessive type, I’ve been keeping a food & symptom diary, first to track how this thing is going (can’t remember more than about two days into the past!) and second to see if there’s any connection between various foods & drinks and symptoms.
Coffee and tea do nothing to aggravate it. Similarly, there’s no discernible connection between anything I eat and the accursed ailment. However, there does seem to be a connection between wine and the symptoms, but it takes 12 hours or so to have an effect. One glass of wine does nothing (or at least, nothing noticeable). But two will cause a flare-up. So…that’s an interesting discovery.
From what Young Dr. Kildare says, it’s a matter of different strokes for different folks. Some people find certain foodstuffs and drinks do the job on their systems, and others find little or no connection. And for those who do experience a kickback from various comestibles and imbibables, no two people seem to have exactly the same set of hot buttons.
On top of that crushing schedule, to do list, you have volunteered for Habitat for Humanity?
Have you lost your mind? Cut back woman.
Habitat represents another networking group, given the particular set of people who gravitate toward its leadership.
Right now my job for the business is to network and make us visible in the local community and, on a national level, at various online sites.
I had the test for h. pyloria and went thru the antibiotic and pepto-bismal treatment – it did get rid of my ulcer and stomach problems!!
Yes, I still occasionaly get the stomach pains but small sips of water or milk and sleeping on my left side usually fix it. I have found that some foods and smoking more than usual can set off the stomach problems, but those go away when I pay attention and don’t eat, drink or whatever/whenever helps set the stomach off.
But I am so glad I, finally, had a doctor who gave me the test and treatment! I hope you have the same results if you do have h. pylori.
Just checked out your site…Your about us page opens in a different tab instead of same one…as does your contact page. I would also provide a place for someone to subscribe to your newsletter via email (you can do it for free with mail chimp).
Side note: I would never have pictured you looking like that!
I hope your stomach feels better. Have you considered seeing a nutritionist instead of just MDs?