A Mighty Change for Me...

Tuesday morning, January 14th, I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy.  The results were twelve color pictures of my innards. 

I know I have reflux. These pictures showed concerns with how bad all of this reflux is and what is actually happening inside of me. While I was pretty groggy as Dr. Robbins discussed his findings and what these lovely pictures tell him, Claude was there to hear and remember what Dr. Robbins said.  I heard things like diverticulosis and hiatal hernia and excess bile, etc.  The most disturbing thing was the need to change my diet.

I love fresh raw veggies.  I love to keep a bag of sugar peas in the fridge for snacking on in the evening.  Raw fresh veggies are now 'off the list'.

I love a fresh salad.  Claude and I even have big chef salads for dinner, especially in the summer.  When we go to Fazoli's my meal of choice is a salad.  When I go to Zaxby's my meal of choice is a salad. These are now 'off the list'.

It turns out corn is not easily digested so...corn and pop corn are now 'off the list'.

We keep a bag of almonds on the counter in the kitchen.  A handful makes a nice snack instead of a junk food.  Thought I was doing a good thing with them.  I love pecans.  My grandparents had pecan trees and we had all the fresh pecans we could eat as kids.  I love the nuts they cook in sugar and cinnamon.  Guess what?  They are 'off the list'.

I keep crunchy granola bars on my counter for a snack that is somewhat better than candy.  It too is 'off the list'.

Apples, pears, hard peaches and apricots are now 'off the list'.

Dairy...I am not a milk drinker. Never have been.  But I do love cheese, cottage cheese, cream cheese.  These are not completely 'off the list' but not to be indulged in.

I may have cooked veggies, peanut butter, hazelnut butter, grits (Yeah! I love grits), cornbread, corn tortillas and cornflakes, soft fruits like bananas and citrus fruits and soft berries, cooked oatmeal, cooked rice (I love rice), and soy milk, almond milk or rice milk (How do they milk rice?).

The worst part, absolutely the worst part, is that I cannot have soda pop anymore.  My beverage of choice is Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew.  I also enjoy Mr. Pibb or Mellow Yellow.  These are all absolutely 'off the list'.  I like to have a soda a day and on difficult days I have two.  Not anymore!!

In addition to these 'off the list' items, I will take a medicine for three months to heal my innards. 

Today is Thursday.  I have been obedient for two days.  I haven't experienced a miraculous change but I dimly remember Dr. Robbins said it would take a bit for the meds to work.  I shall persevere and get used to my new diet.  Today Claude took me to Qdoba. I found a soup I could eat and a cheese quesadilla. I ordered a bottle of water instead of my soda.  I did just fine.  I missed my soda but the food was good.

Now, the silliest thing I remember about this entire experience was when David, the nurse, came in and started to wake me up. I was beginning to wake up.  In my fog I remember my first words which were a question.  I asked David, "Will I still be able to go to Egypt?"  I vaguely remember him saying through a grin, "Yes, you will."  Poor David probably thinks I was just verbalizing rambling thoughts.  He has no clue I really am going to Egypt.  It gives me a grin when I think about it. 

So happy these tests are done.  So happy nothing too horrible was found.  And I am grateful for a hubby that was there for me through the prep, took my car and had it washed from my mud hole incident while I was being tested, and then took me for meds and lunch and then home to rest.  He had me rest for an extra day because I am really just worn out.