Thursday, July 20, 2006

Not EXACTLY what I'd expected....


Thanks to all for the nice comments and feedback. Very heartening! I haven't checked in for ages. For the past six weeks everything I've touched has turned to crap.....Wonder if there's a technical term for that....OH well.

On the CR front, I've had a huge awakening. I was SO thrilled to stop taking steroids for my Crohn's--Couldn't wait to shed the hair I'd grown on my knuckles (really). Well, my knuckles are smooth again thank goodness, but now I'm losing TOO much weight too fast. My appetite sucks PLUS the fact that Crohn's is a disease of malabsorbtion....I hadn't factored that part into the equation. As a nurse, you would think I'd remember these important points. HA! Anyway, I consulted a nutritionist friend with a Masters degree. Her response? It appears I will probably need to consume about 2000 calories a day to absorb1400. Of course, it needs to be good, healthy, nutrient-dense foods. Too bad my appetite won't allow it. I'm going to talk to my GI MD about it.

As if the eating/dietary crap wasn't enough, I've had a run of really bad luck. I wouldn't complain--but it started in 1998. Things need to be easing up a bit. I'll just share the high points of the past few months: My son has been kicked out of the army (after failing three drug tests and going awol once). My 14 y/o daughter (Photo above) developed Mono. in February and was out of school six weeks. During that time she became depressed and stopped eating--lost 20 pounds in no time. Just as things were turning around for her, she started having grande mal seizures and has been diagnosed with epilepsy. She's a tough kid but I hate seeing her struggle with these things. AND, to top off all the fun, her dad quit his job--dropping her health insurance--and moved across the state. It's not very Christian of me, but I'm praying that his pecker falls off. Hmmm, maybe that's why I'm having this long string of bad luck....Oh well.

Anyway, I'm having to re-think and re-arrange my whole CR idea. Of course, I'm learning a lot as I go. For any of you folks with CD or UC, check out www.crohnszone.org Register and post--after all, misery loves company!