The Crohn's Update!
Well, I'm all strapped up for the moment for my capsule endoscopy. I had to sign a waver saying I wouldn't go into any banks or government buildings since I look like I have a bomb strapped to me. So I'm gonna lay low while this stuff goes through.
And if you are clueless about what I said above, let me explain...
A capsule endoscopy is an out-patient gastric procedure. What happens is I get strapped up with this radio box and a bunch of pads on my chest and stomach (IE the part that could freak out someone in a bank), and then I swallow this camera. It's about the size of a horse pill. Nothing too huge and nothing I haven't swallowed or dealt with before. So the camera/pill goes through my system, taking a picture twice a second for eight hours. That'll be about 50,000 pictures in the end for Dr. Quallich to sort through and see what he finds. That'll teach him not to see me when I need him right away. Haha!
So the liquid diet is almost done. I'm able to have juice now, but after all the stuff I drank yesterday, eh. I'm just not in the mood yet. I'm waiting for 12:30 to come around when I can have a sandwich! Big fat grin! And then tonight I can have whatever I want!
That was one of the beautiful things about seeing the doctor today. He took me off of my low residue diet! Woot! So I can go back to eating what I want now. I'm not going to go nuts right away, but ya know, I'll start with my raw veggies and salad and hit up the fruit and dairy gradually over the weekend. I'll probably stay away from fast food for another week at least, unless it's something I know I'll do okay on.
The other piece of good news is I'm already tappering off on some of my medications. He said tomorrow to go down to 30mgs of Prednisone, then subtract 10mgs every week. That's faster than my first flare up last year. I was on 35mgs then and he said take it down 5 every week. He also gave me an over the counter substitute for the iron. I can't remember the name of it right now, but he said it should be softer on my stomach. And he said that if it does upset my stomach, take it every other day. Just as long as I get some iron going in me.
Here's the one downside of everything though. Dr. Quallich is pretty sure that this flare up doesn't have anything to do with my Crohn's. My colonoscopy showed everything was normal and the Crohn's were doing pretty good. The endoscopy showed some slight irritation in the stomach, but nothing too horrendous. What he thinks is happening is in the intestinal area that the camera/pill is going to explore is there's a blood vessel that keeps getting rubbed and ruptured, causing all that bleeding when I flare. This would explain the appearance of the blood, but no pain. I mean, you get one little scrape, how are you going to feel it? I could bleed out and not even know it. Not a happy thought. But anyways, this will help determine what happens next. I could still be up for surgery. Who knows. The truth is they may not find out what happened with me this time. And that would suck. The blood vessel they're looking for is about the size of a pin, so with the 50,000 images, it could still be easily missed. Not a comforting thought, but at least I'm getting the test done to find out.
So I guess I just have to tread lightly for the next few months. I really have to watch my diet and make sure I don't do some harsh foods for a while. I will definitely have to space out my intake of popcorn (whimper), and I'll have to watch the fat intake too. I'll have to swear off a lot of fast food.
Okay. I don't think there's anything else new to report for the moment, so I'm going to play online a bit more and see what kind of sandwich I can nab for lunch. Tonight, I'm treating myself to a bit of chicken and a BLT pizza. Sigh. I love food. I'm glad I'll be able to get back on it. :)
And if you are clueless about what I said above, let me explain...
A capsule endoscopy is an out-patient gastric procedure. What happens is I get strapped up with this radio box and a bunch of pads on my chest and stomach (IE the part that could freak out someone in a bank), and then I swallow this camera. It's about the size of a horse pill. Nothing too huge and nothing I haven't swallowed or dealt with before. So the camera/pill goes through my system, taking a picture twice a second for eight hours. That'll be about 50,000 pictures in the end for Dr. Quallich to sort through and see what he finds. That'll teach him not to see me when I need him right away. Haha!
So the liquid diet is almost done. I'm able to have juice now, but after all the stuff I drank yesterday, eh. I'm just not in the mood yet. I'm waiting for 12:30 to come around when I can have a sandwich! Big fat grin! And then tonight I can have whatever I want!
That was one of the beautiful things about seeing the doctor today. He took me off of my low residue diet! Woot! So I can go back to eating what I want now. I'm not going to go nuts right away, but ya know, I'll start with my raw veggies and salad and hit up the fruit and dairy gradually over the weekend. I'll probably stay away from fast food for another week at least, unless it's something I know I'll do okay on.
The other piece of good news is I'm already tappering off on some of my medications. He said tomorrow to go down to 30mgs of Prednisone, then subtract 10mgs every week. That's faster than my first flare up last year. I was on 35mgs then and he said take it down 5 every week. He also gave me an over the counter substitute for the iron. I can't remember the name of it right now, but he said it should be softer on my stomach. And he said that if it does upset my stomach, take it every other day. Just as long as I get some iron going in me.
Here's the one downside of everything though. Dr. Quallich is pretty sure that this flare up doesn't have anything to do with my Crohn's. My colonoscopy showed everything was normal and the Crohn's were doing pretty good. The endoscopy showed some slight irritation in the stomach, but nothing too horrendous. What he thinks is happening is in the intestinal area that the camera/pill is going to explore is there's a blood vessel that keeps getting rubbed and ruptured, causing all that bleeding when I flare. This would explain the appearance of the blood, but no pain. I mean, you get one little scrape, how are you going to feel it? I could bleed out and not even know it. Not a happy thought. But anyways, this will help determine what happens next. I could still be up for surgery. Who knows. The truth is they may not find out what happened with me this time. And that would suck. The blood vessel they're looking for is about the size of a pin, so with the 50,000 images, it could still be easily missed. Not a comforting thought, but at least I'm getting the test done to find out.
So I guess I just have to tread lightly for the next few months. I really have to watch my diet and make sure I don't do some harsh foods for a while. I will definitely have to space out my intake of popcorn (whimper), and I'll have to watch the fat intake too. I'll have to swear off a lot of fast food.
Okay. I don't think there's anything else new to report for the moment, so I'm going to play online a bit more and see what kind of sandwich I can nab for lunch. Tonight, I'm treating myself to a bit of chicken and a BLT pizza. Sigh. I love food. I'm glad I'll be able to get back on it. :)