A Journey Through Chronic Pain

Today was one of those days when I wish I hadn’t gotten out of bed.  Having muddled through the past couple of weeks with varying degrees of GI distress, I have been feeling pretty frisky the past few days.  Things have settled down to the point where my diet was beginning to approach something more normal. That is until today.  For lunch we stopped at a mom-and-pop Greek place and I ate a pita stuffed with Falafel,  some yogurt, a bit of tomato and lettuce.  By the time I got home I felt as though I had been kicked in the gut by a mule!!! I was nauseated, sweaty, and very uncomfortable.  After several hours of feeling sick the sensation began to subside a bit, but not totally. Was it what I ate? Was it a poor choice based on what I have experienced recently? I am not sure.  But sometimes, regardless of how I feel, the urge to eat something other than gruel is overwhelming. I have subsisted on Boost, carbs, yogurt, and some soft cereals for nearly 3 weeks, which normally puts things to rest rather nicely.  I have avoided the antispasmodics for the most part because they have such a huge drying effect on the oral mucosa! I hate that feeling and would rather be a bit crampy rather than have terminal cottonmouth!!

Here again I look back to the days when I had this sort of cast-iron gut. My favorite food on earth was the Jalapeno Poppers at a place in KC called “Thirsty’s Cantina. OMG they were delicious, and I have never found any better, bar none! They were stuffed with a blend of cheeses, shredded chicken and spices. They were then dredged in flour and deep fried. One night I went with my brother who is the king of spicy foods. We each ordered poppers, 6 to an order.  Well, I ate mine, and half of his! Oh did I pay for it the next day!! Can you say “flame-on”?  But so delicious!! Today eating one of those would probably kill me!!  But I guess as they say, it could always be worse! I could be sucking down TPN as an alternative to food! Not a fun place to be.  And dragging around a G-Tube and collection bag was not much fun either!  I don’t know if I could go through all of that again. After two rounds of relatively long term G-Tube placement, I don’t really want to go there again.  But I guess we do what we have to do, right?  No matter how uncomfortable, no matter how protracted, sometimes it is the only choice.  Have never been one to dodge a good challenge. But some days, I would rather be a bit less challenged, if you know what I mean.