Just One of Those Nights

Last night, right after I got home from the doctor's, K and I decided to get KFC (pot pie warning: excellent crust, inside not so good), and then the phone rang as I was taking my last bite and didn't stop for an hour, and then she and I watched Wednesday's Project Runway and then it was time for Lost. So, no post last night.

The doctor, henceforth to be known as Resnick, was very pleased with my progress, but reminded me that I am now at a point where I may begin to feel less well again. He had discussed this when I was first diagnosed, that the prednisone would make me feel great, but we wouldn't know until I was off the prednisone how well the other, the more specific medication, was working. And that's where I am right now. I have a bit of trouble with my tongue, and my feet hurt some, but I'm hoping that these will improve within a few days. If not, and if my stomach starts to get worse, I will have to move up to the next level of Crohn's medication, which, Resnick says, always works. I have read enough on message boards to know that this is not necessarily true, but I'm also starting to feel that I don't have one of the worst cases of this. The other medication is going to have its own side effects too, and I'm hoping I don't have to go there, but if I do, I will.

The other thing Resnick said was that he doesn't want me to go to a dietitian. He says that in his experience, people who do that end up eating more restricted diets and enjoy less quality of life. I pointed out that I preferred not to learn what I can and cannot eat through trial and error, but he said that's the only way to do it, and that I have to be less afraid of eating outside this small diet I've created for myself. But I did get his specific approval on artificial sweetener -- I guess I'm hooked on those little pink packets -- and coffee. So I've got my old standby iced tea waiting in the fridge for when I get home today, and I'm going to go get a nice soy latte someplace tomorrow morning before my haircut. The funny thing is, though, I have to try out new foods the way you introduce foods to a baby: try something, wait three days before trying something else to see if I react. I'm also keeping a log of what I eat. Who knows, tomorrow coffee, next week .... cheese? Ahhhh. Actually, Resnick said yesterday I should continue to "limit" dairy and I said "I'm eating zero dairy now," and he said I could definitely try small amounts of cheese. Oh boy, do I miss cheese.

Today's the last day of school before winter break, which means there are lots of people out, which includes, of course, the SCM, because he's never here the day before a vacation. Hey, whatever, at least K has work today. (But not in for the SCM; she's in the second of two days for a math teacher.) And the kids who are here are pretty squirrely.

Speaking of squirrels, our assistant principal has just struck again. She's a very nice woman, but honestly, nuts. She is so hyper-organized that in fact nothing she does is organized at all; she works herself up into such a frenzy that she can't get anything right. Anyway, at 1.34, she sent out an email with six (!) attachments about the upcoming state testing: all the schedules, instructions, and duty assignments. She sent out the corrected version of the same email at 2.00. I think that's a record for her, only 26 minutes between the original email and the correction. I don't know how long it will be before the second correction comes out, but it's coming, because every email she sends is followed by at least two corrected versions. Gah. And most of her emails (although not this one) are decorated in pretty colors and giant pretty fonts. Let me repeat myself: gah. As I say, just another squirrel.

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Home. Yes, the iced tea is wonderful. It was pretty much the only thing I ever drank before I got sick, except for coffee in the morning, and I stopped drinking it because I didn't know if the artificial sweetener was bad for me. (I couldn't get it to taste right with real sugar, for some reason.)

My big plans for tomorrow included getting my eyebrows waxed at 11.15, followed by a haircut, and then it turned out that R had an 11.30 wax appointment, so we figured we would go together. And then today, she somehow threw out her back at work, so is now at home on a muscle relaxer and something for pain. So my day tomorrow just became going to pick her up first -- 20 minutes there, 20 minutes back -- since it hurts her to drive, and she can't take the meds and drive anyway. And maybe after the haircut, we'll come back to the house, pick up K, and have a nice lunch out. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Okay, enough of me. I'm on vacation now! Woo Hoo!

WATCHING THE SIMPSONS :: ENTRY #1679