Perpetual Ruminations

Friday.

It's getting pretty late for me to be in here tonight, but that's the way it goes. It's been another long day but a pretty good day. It started  at three-thirty this morning, get up and get ready to go in and have a scope put into my stomach to see what's going on in there. After, and while still under, I had a colonoscopy done, as well. The results aren't in for everything yet, but the doctor did say that things looked pretty normal. Even so, he did do a biopsy of the stomach, so a three to four days more to find out what that shows. All good news, but no answers to what is wrong. It's looking a lot like the gallbladder, even though there were no stones.

Yesterday was horrid. No food after I went to bed Wednesday night, and then just clear liquids until after everything was done today; forty hours with nothing but liquids, and then another twelve hours with nothing at all. That was tough, but not the worst of it. The stuff they prescribed to clean out my digestive system was the worst of all. First of all, it was expensive, almost a hundred dollars for the box of medication. Two packets of powder to mix with water for the first dose, then another two packets to mix for the second dose. Awful tasting stuff, and difficult to choke down without gagging on it.

Both doses were the same, the first started at about five, but ended up closer to six by the time I actually started drinking it. I had to drink approximately eight ounces of the solution every fifteen minutes, until the first liter was done. Then I had to drink another eight ounces of water before the second dose began in an hour. The second was the same, another eight ounces every fifteen minutes, then follow it with another eight ounces of water. So, that's just over ten, eight ounces of liquid in three hours. I was barely able to pack it all in my gut just because of the volume. No sipping, just our it down as fast as possible, then try and keep the nasty stuff from coming back up.

Despite the rapid response to the medication, it seemed to clear through my system pretty well by ten o'clock last night. Pretty well, but I still waited until eleven before turning in and then had to get up once during the night. After the procedure, they gave me a muffin and a cup of coffee, which seemed to sit pretty well. We had about a three hour drive home, and I slept most of the first hour, dozing on and off. We then stopped and had a light lunch, which also sat better than I expected, but I didn't eat much of it. Once home, I needed to lie down for a while, and slept most of the afternoon.

I'm feeling pretty good tonight, and just had a pretty good dinner; a fish fillet and macaroni and cheese. It's sitting pretty well, but there is some discomfort. I'm not sure if it's because of the procedure this morning, or the problem they are trying to figure out. Likely, it's a bit of both. Hopefully, when I talk to the doctor after the labs are all back in, there will be some idea of what's wrong and what direction to go form here. I know one thing that needs to be investigated further, my blood sugar levels.

When they did blood work, I had not eaten anything, or drank anything for twelve hours, yet my blood sugar was elevated. That in itself is not a good thing, and I'm going to have to go in and get more blood work done to check specifically for diabetes. Being overweight, it's highly likely that I may be developing this disease, although I don''t know much about it. I'm pretty sure it's not serious and can be controlled through diet, but even so, it needs to be checked out further.

On a brighter note, Rhonda is bustling around the house, tidying up for a visit tonight and tomorrow of our daughter, her husband, and their kids. It's going to make for a long day tomorrow, but an enjoyable one. They are suppose to be here in about an hour or two, but will likely head off to bed shortly after arriving. Tomorrow we will get a chance to visit and enjoy them for a while before they head out to the Black Hills for some camping this week. Then, if they have enough time, they will stop back before heading home to Minnesota.