June 2012: Progress is Still Progress

June 2012

Having fun with Elizabeth!

I was learning the hard way how awful being cross contaminated with gluten was. For 12 days, my stomach felt like the fireworks on the 4th of July. I was also exhausted all the time, I had terrible headaches, and my legs ached. It was hard to assess how the amitriptyline was helping my stomach while under attack from gluten. My mom reported the progress that I had made to Nurse J. at my pediatric GI doctor's office. I was definitely feeling better but not 100% so Dr. Di increased my amitriptyline to 50mg. I was very optimistic that the increased dosage would do the trick.

"Horse Therapy"

 After I recovered from being "glutened", I began to get back to a normal life. I had a sleepover with my friend Elizabeth, and I felt like a regular teenager for the first time in a long time. I realized that teenagers are supposed to splurge on junk food, jump on trampolines, and stay up late watching movies with their friends. I felt like one of those regular teenagers and not like a teenager who had spent more time in doctors' offices than at friends' houses. I also paid a visit to my grandparents and went on a horseback ride at a nearby camping ground. I felt so relaxed during and after the horseback ride that I went on while camping so my mom thought it would be beneficial for me to do it again. The next day, I started volunteering at the Des Moines Area Religious Council (or DMARC) food pantry warehouse. I was getting very bored and restless being at home all the time. I still wasn't healthy enough to commit to a job, but I needed to find something to do. I helped the employees of the food pantry sort through donated items to make sure they weren't expired and then boxed the donations. I volunteered once or twice a week, and it ended up being a huge blessing! I really believe volunteering there helped me mentally by having somewhere to go and physically by the movement and lifting of heavy boxes that was required.
 On a Saturday, my sister and I went to the beach at the lake. While the water is absolutely disgusting and filled with who-knows-what, we enjoyed laying out on the beach in the sun while listening to music. I felt so great! I was thrilled to be able to lay on my stomach (something that I wasn't able to do because of how sensitive my stomach was) and get some sun. That evening, my siblings and I went to an Iowa Cubs baseball game with our mom. None of us really care about baseball (my brother quizzed me about baseball rules while I quizzed him about England's kings and queens),  but we had a blast anyways!

Hannah

 A few days after this glorious day, I had a very memorable day on June 12. I had been emailing with a girl named Hannah for over a year by the time we finally met in person. Hannah's dad is a very talented traveling Christian musician, and he was passing through Iowa on one of this tours. I was so excited to meet Hannah! She was diagnosed with Crohn's disease the day after I was diagnosed with celiac disease. Although our conditions are different, we are able to sympathize with each other when it comes to nausea, pain, loss of appetite, restricted diets, and anything else digestive related. We had a fantastic day together, and I was sad to see Hannah and her lovely family drive off to their next destination. Fast forward two years, and Hannah and I are still emailing! To top off a great day, there were moments during the day when I had absolutely no nausea at all! I was beyond thrilled and grateful. I was so used to having a chronic stomach ache that I was taken back at how different it felt to not have a stomach ache. Was this it? Did I make it to the other side?! Unfortunately, no. The next day, I accidentally ate some granola that had whole nuts and honey, two IBS no-no's, that made my stomach upset and hurt for the rest of the day. The day after the nuts and honey incident, I picked up some nasty flu bug. I went from having minimal to no nausea to feeling like I was going to throw up. I had to cancel fun plans to go shopping with Elizabeth and her sister, and that made me upset. I was so sick and tired of having to cancel plans just because I didn't feel well. I hated it when my health prevented me from doing something. This bug lasted for about three days, and then I felt better. I was able to go shopping with Elizabeth and drive myself to volunteer at the food pantry. While I was still frustrated about not feeling 100% better, I was very thankful that I was able to drive myself again. I was impressed at how far I had come!

Towards the end of June, I felt like I was going to turn the corner very soon. A church member told me one Sunday that I looked like I was feeling better. My diet was very restricted, but I finally felt like I had that aspect of my health under control. I read in a book about IBS that symptoms are often worse in the heat. Iowa has some steamy summers so I started drinking cold water whenever I was outside. As is typical with IBS, I still struggled with abdominal pain and constipation. I was definitely in less pain, even if it was still a level eight when it hit occasionally. It always seemed that I was feeling better (almost to the point of "calling it") and then I take two steps back by being hit with another round of nausea and constipation. I was beginning to notice a trend between those two lovely topics. I remembered my surgeon, Dr. R., telling me: "Constipation causes nausea." Now I was on a mission to fix this constipation problem once and for all.

TO BE CONTINUED.....