Stupid, Stupid . . . Stupid!

The title of this post says it all. But what or who was stupid? Me, me . . . me!

A family member invited us over for a Fourth of July barbecue and evening festivities. Everyone invited was asked to bring a side or dessert. There is a salad I love called an Overnight-Layer-Salad. My recipe makes a lot and I'm the only one in my household who likes it, so I rarely make it because most of it goes to waste. I decided to bring this salad to the barbecue.

This salad has lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, peas, bacon, mayonnaise, onions, sugar, and cheddar cheese. So far, I've been able to eat all of those things with no problems whatsoever. 

This is where my stupidity came in.

At the barbecue, I dished up a modest amount of the salad. It was soooo good! So I scooped another serving. And then another. (Stupid.) After all, I seldom get to enjoy this delicious salad! And then I took another serving. (Stupid!) Honestly, I lost track of how many servings I took. (STUPID!)

The rest of the evening went well and was enjoyable. I had a good night's sleep. But then . . .

About mid-morning the next day, I had to run to the bathroom. I had very loose stool and some cramping. A few hours later, it happened again, only now it was straight diarrhea. The bathroom trips continued through the day . . . and through the night, until about four in the morning. 

Thus my saying I was stupid. The running to the bathroom all day and night with diarrhea and cramping was completely my fault. It was a direct result of my lack of self-control. I probably would have been okay with one salad serving, maybe even two, but as much as I took, it might have made a person with a completely healthy colon get sick, let alone someone with colitis. 

But that's not all. There is more.

The day after my "aftermath" started, we were supposed to leave for a camping trip. During my four a.m. stint on the toilet, I was thinking, "We're supposed to leave in a few hours! Am I going to be okay? Should I not go camping? (I missed the previous year.) Should I go and take my chances? How could I be so stupid?!?"

I really was not sure what to do. However, in the morning, as I had gone over four hours without a bathroom run and my stomach did feel a little better, I crossed my fingers and climbed into our truck. My husband did remind me that we were towing a trailer and if needed, he could pull over so I could use the trailer's toilet. Thankfully, that was not necessary. And my stomach became better and better each day. So it was good that I did not stay home. But the whole situation added a layer of stress that was completely unnecessary.

That fact that I ate so much salad at one time was stupid. The fact that I did so within 38 hours of leaving on a trip was stupid on steroids.

Hopefully, I've learned my lesson. 

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© Colitis Senioritis 2023

Update August 2023: Only a Week Left

The reason I was not able to do a health update in July is because we were camping for three weeks. (Trailer camping.) That is a good thing. It means I was feeling well enough to venture out into the wilderness with only a camping trailer toilet to rely on. Last year, I was not able to join in on the family camping outing.

For part of the trip, our trailer was parked in a relative's large yard. While there, we slept in the trailer, but tried to avoid using the trailer toilet. When I woke in the morning, I would hurry into the house to use the house bathroom. That worked most of the time, but I did have one time where I didn't quite make it. (Sigh.) Sometimes when I start thinking I am headed towards a more normal life, my colon reminds me, "Not so fast . . ." It happened the morning after we had a delicious home-made chicken dinner with gravy. I've discovered that some gravies are okay for my body, some are not. But I haven't figured out how to tell the difference, yet.

In my last update, I said that my eyes were going kind of funky, and I wondered if it was the prednisone. Since being off the prednisone, my have have gone mostly back to normal, but not all the way.

I have now been on Rinvoq for six and half months. It has brought me to about 80% of where we (the G.I. doctor and I) want me to be. Although not 100%, the Rinvoq has done better than any other medication. 

However . . . 

As of July 1st, we changed insurance. My new insurance denied the Rinvoq for the same reason my old insurance denied it. (See January 2023 health update.) They want me to try an injection biologic first. So now the appeal process begins. Here's where the "however" comes in . . . I only have a week's worth of Rinvoq left. I seriously doubt an appeal process can be completed in a week. I may have to jump on the prednisone again, depending how long all of this takes. 

Stay tuned . . . 

Next Update: September 2023, Can You Say Budesonide? (Not Really.)

Previous Update: June 2023 (No July), Maybe . . . Possibly . . . Hoping?

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