Well Reader,
It’s been a difficult week of doctor appointments and other less-than-pleasant things.
Yesterday, we nearly went to the Emergency Room, but praise the Lord, my amazing gastro got involved and ordered me all the tests and x-rays needed (as well as prescribing meds) to keep us from spending the night in the ER.
I guess I should explain.
One of the many gifts my Crohn’s Disease has granted me are three strictures throughout my intestines. Basically, due to so much inflammation and excess scar tissue, three areas of my intestines have narrowed into such teeny openings that oftentimes, food cannot pass through. Many people wonder why I can’t eat things like berries, nuts, popcorn, most raw vegetables, etc. That’s why.
Sometimes, it seems that it doesn’t matter what I eat; this stricture blockage will still occur. The pain is unquestionable. When this starts happening, I know what it is. I also know that it will typically last up to 12 hours. My usual reprieve includes hospital check-ins and morphine through an IV. The pain is truly unbelievable and unbearable.
I also know what the doctors always tell me: You have to go to the ER when this happens to make sure nothing is rupturing.
And/or other less-than-ideal things.
Let’s speed things up a little bit…I contacted my gastro who saw me immediately and ordered x-rays and blood work to be analyzed stat. (No morphine though…sigh). I did not end up having a full-blown blockage. Praise the Lord (again). The pain was debilitating, but not as bad as I have experienced, and since I didn’t have a blockage, we managed to avoid the ER. By the eleventh hour of pain (10pm), it stopped. Thank God for a peaceful bedtime.
I describe the pain as “contractions”. Yesterday, for example, it would come about every 5 minutes, last for about five minutes, give me a 5-min break, and so on. It’s been my experience before that the “contractions” will start to get closer and closer together, and that is when it seems that morphine will indisputably be a part of my imminent future. Luckily, we didn’t get to that point yesterday.
Today, it is so peaceful. Like the aftermath of a storm, I say, acknowledging the cliche. My abdomen is quite sore, but really that is nothing at all.
I feel that’s enough medical-talk for today. I won’t bother going into detail about this past week’s appointments. I do feel I should mention that I have an MR-enterography on Monday. It is one of my least favorite things. I have to drink 3 bottles of barium and lie in a ridiculously claustrophobic machine for 45 minutes while I hold my breath to the beat of ear-splitting beeping. ‘Nuff said. Prayers always welcomed.
On a more exciting note:
Adam is finally seeing all of the Wes Anderson films! Huzzah!
Some have questioned how I am married to someone who has never seen even one of my dearly-esteemed Mr. Anderson’s movies. To that I say: Who cares. He’s seeing them now.
We are going in no particular order. We watch one, I witness his reaction and take it into account, and I then choose what I deem to be the next appropriate one to watch.
It has been exceedingly helpful to have this great place next door:
Some may say that I can look a tad like a tourist when we go on walks with my Instax camera. Said unnamed person mentions this fact with love. To which I respond “Well, Adam, what the heck else is this for?”
Anyway, Film is Truth is a really excellent local movie store in Bellingham. We’ve been frequenting that place like crazy lately. They also happen to have every Wes Anderson film ever made. I sadly only own The Darjeeling Limited and The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which may or may not be but probably are my favorites.
It may be possible that the reason I never insisted on Adam watching any of the Wes Anderson films before is because I kind of thought, just maybe that he wasn’t going to like them. Perhaps I was thinking that these films do not contain quite enough plot, and a bit too much whimsy, clay, and kind-of-unlikable-characters-who-still-manage-to-be-sort-of-likable for my dear husband.
Turns out, I was wrong. Drum roll. He does like them.
We have three films left for him to watch. This has been the order so far:
I tell you with a certain level of surprise that his favorite thus far has been Moonrise Kingdom. Who woulda thought that the one about the boy scout and the girl in the cute dress with the imaginary books would be his favorite?
We’ve still got The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Bottle Rocket. We’re both kind of thinking he’ll like Steve Zissou the best. We’ll see.
We also rented one of Adam’s favorite movies since childhood, Princess Mononoke. Considering my absolute disinterest in anime, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this. People have told me that I would like Spirited Away (same director), so I was definitely intrigued. Incredibly enough, I liked Princess Mononoke a lot. It certainly had it’s slightly-obnoxious, cartoony tendencies, and it was even a bit gory for my tastes, but it was made beautifully. I couldn’t believe how much I loved some of the scenes. They were really quite endearing.
I think I’ll say goodbye for now. I’ve just realized that my hands are feeling rather like icicles, and this apartment has gotten much too cold AND quiet. Quiet? That’s suspicious. What is that little Juvenaly doing… (Honestly, quiet is good. The cat is probably finally sleeping and done terrorizing things. I better go find the sleepy thing and bury my face in his soft belly.)
I hope that everyone is having a beautiful day.
Until next time!
My Husband, the Cross-Eyed Cat, & Me. 