I Was THIS Close! (And My Almost Disastrous Day)

Several months ago, I was at the grocery store. As I walked down an aisle, this warm, wonderful feeling spread through me. Why? Because I realized that I felt good. Not just okay, not just better, but really, really good. For the first time in over three years.

It was such a memorable moment, I will never forget it.

But the next day light symptoms returned. I slid back into being "okay."

Ah, well. It was nice while it lasted . . . that one glorious moment.

So what happened?

I've wrote about this before so I apologize if you've already read it.

When my G.I. and I talked about tapering off of the mesalamine and taking only Rinvoq, I thought he said to taper completely off. He said that he told me to taper down to one daily pill and stay on that.

Regardless of whose fault it was, tapering completely off of the mesalamine put me into a flare. And despite going back on four daily mesalamine pills, I am having a heck of a time getting back to that oh-so-close full remission I was at in April and May. (Sigh) . . . I was so close.

My Almost Disastrous Day

My husband and I went to a PGA tournament this past week, as we did last year. Last year was great, I had no UC symptoms at all. I was worried about the semi-long drive, but it was all fine.

Not so this year. We had tickets for the Thursday and Friday rounds, and so arrived at our hotel on Wednesday. At the restaurant for dinner Wednesday evening, I had a "chicken pot pie." I put the words chicken pot pie in parenthesis because, while that is what it was called, it wasn't a pie, and it was awful. It was chicken soup in a bowl with a weird pastry thing sitting on top of the bowl. The soup tasted greasy and the pastry thing tasted like lard.

Back in the hotel, my stomach felt off. But it has felt achy and uncomfortable on and off for awhile, so I just thought it was that.

At 5:00 a.m. I was awakened by that lousy, familiar "I have to poop NOW!" feeling and barely made it to the bathroom. There was lots of diarrhea, blood, and pain. I went again an hour later, but luckily no more blood. We'd planned to head to the golf course around 6:30, but the way my stomach was feeling, I knew I wouldn't make it. So my husband left by himself. Twenty minutes later I ran to the bathroom again. 

Afterwards, I was laying in bed wondering if this was where I was going to spend our whole trip when I remembered that I had packed prednisone into my medicine bag . . . for just-in-case situations. Well, this was definitely a just-in-case situation!

I took one prednisone pill. If it didn't work, I'd take more. But thankfully, thirty minutes later, I was feeling much better. Two hours later I was feeling even better, so I hopped on the shuttle bus and met up with my husband at the 18th hole. The rest of the day was great. I had an "Oh, no" moment the next day, but there was a bathroom right next to me so no problem. The rest of the trip went fine.

I am blaming the pretend chicken pot pie for my problems. But I'm also still recovering from a flare, so my colon could be more susceptible than usual. Still, I hope to never eat something that greasy and nasty again!

Other Posts

© Colitis Senioritis 2024

Health Update October 2024: Tiredness and Sadness

I tried an anti-diarrhea pill. It worked for a couple days, but didn't stay permanent. I also dropped to three mesalamine because before, I really improved after I did that. But so far, no improvement.

My stool is short, loose strips in the first part and then mush in the second. I still have urgency that bounces between about ten and twenty seconds. I've had a couple of close calls with having accidents.

If I don't see any improvement in the next week, I'll call my G.I. for a prednisone prescription. He did say to call him for one if I did not get back to where I was before I started tapering off the mesalamine.

I have a couple of other concerns. I just don't know if they're related to my UC or something different.

I am losing weight. I could lose ten to thirteen pounds and still be okay, but not much wiggle room beyond that. So far, I've lost almost half of that and I don't know why. No changes in my diet or exercise routine. (If anything, I've been exercising less than usual.)

My other concern is . . . I . . . am . . . so . . . tired. I wrote in another post that I have suffered from fatigue since I started my period at age eleven, for one reason or another. Being tired has been my life. 

But this tiredness feels different. Like my muscles are on the verge of giving out. All of them. Like my physical body is empty inside. Like my bones have become malleable and are struggling to hold up my frame. 

This tiredness hit about a week after my September health update. Sometimes it is better, sometimes worse.

I've always been able to deal with my tiredness before, still do most things. Normally I love to decorate my house for the holidays, starting with Halloween. As soon as the stores pull out their Halloween merchandise, I feel that twinge of magical excitement flow through me and visions of ghosts and witches start dancing through my head.

But not this year. It took every ounce of willpower to put up my usual, spooky, trimmings. Not everything made it out of their storage totes, either.

But the worst thing was this weekend I gave my granddaughter a Lego set for her birthday and she asked if I would build it with her.

I wanted to, SO MUCH, but my body and brain both felt shaky and achy. I just couldn't do it.

I better close now. A sudden wave of sadness just washed over me.

We'll see what my body does over the next month.

Next update: November 2024, Prednisone to The Rescue, Again

Previous update: September 2024, Up, Up, a Little

All Health Updates

© Colitis Senioritis 2024