Strange but true!

Sorry it has been a while since my last post, but trying to get ready for Christmas and not feeling well at same time, leaves little room for anything else.

First off, let me explain the title of today's post - Strange but True.  I saw my local GI doctor, to see if he could reduce the balloon in my J-tube at Dr. Wittles recommendation from last week's visit to IU. You may recall from my Endoscope procedure, they reduced the balloon from 20 cc's to 15 cc's.  However, Dr. Wittles said it could go down to 10 cc's.

So Dr. Wilson used a syringe to pull out some of the fluid.  However, it turns out there was only 3 cc's in the balloon!  So the question of the day was, where did the other 12 cc's of fluid go?  Fortunately, it is only saline so it will not hurt me, but we now have to figure out what is causing to the fluid to leak.  Ugh!!!

I received the new food that Dr. Wittles ordered for me.  I wish I could say that it has helped the problems I have been having.  Unfortunately, I has made things worse for me so far.  I called a wonderful organization, The Oley Foundation, to get help and they gave me some tips to try.  The Oley Foundation is a resource for people who are on tube feedings.  The person I actually talked with is a volunteer for the Foundation.  It was a wonderful man named Samuel who also has Gastroparesis.

I have been referred to a Nutritionist at Miami Valley Hospital to help me with these type of issues in the future.  Until then, I'm on my own.

I will begin getting IV Iron next week for 4 weeks to get my Iron back up.  My iron has been continuously low for months now and this could certainly be contributing to my fatigue.  Obviously because of my digestive issues, I am unable to take iron supplements.  But my doctors feel that taking Iron over an IV will be just fine.  It will take about 30 minutes during each infusion.  Not a big deal.

I did receive the pain injections in my back this past Monday.  I received 6 injections total and will go back next week for 6 more.  I believe they are working.  This is a good thing because it will get me off the pain medication.

As I mentioned at the start of this blog, I have also been trying to get ready to celebrate our Saviors birth.  Usually, I have two tree's - one real and one fake.  But this year we just ran out of time.  So we are using the little real one as our tree this year.  We did not put out nearly all our decorations, but it's ok.

I also made some yummy GP friendly Biscotti!  It was very good and tasted great dipping in a warm cup of tea.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.  I will be back soon, with more news to share!