In an effort to self-solve my stomach trouble I tried a little experiment today. At breakfast I didn't have coffee or orange juice... just water with my bagel, avocado and cheese... and a banana. More water at lunch with a veggie sub... and some dodgy shepherd's pie (microwavable) for dinner. Guess what? My stomach felt a bit better. No bloating, no gas. The dull cramping still lingered, but perhaps lingering is to be expected.
I don't know whether or not to hope it's just something like Acid Reflux. It's certainly better than stomach cancer, but it would mean cutting out approximately 3/4 of my regular diet. Maybe this is just my body's way of telling me that it's time for that anyway.
I'll continue the experiment and see.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Less Health, Less Welfare
Time has passed.
About... no, exactly 3 weeks since my last post. I was sick then... told you I'd tell you more about it... well not much to tell really.... For about a week and a bit I had what I dubbed a "migratory flu," one that started in my head & throat at waking, moved into my chest by afternoon, then gave me diarrhea by evening. Repeat until unnecessarily irate.
As with most cold/flus (flues?) I get in the winter (thankfully few and spaciously spaced apart) the symptoms tend to linger long after the actual affliction has fled. This time is similar, but rather than the usual cough and headache I've been left with a lingering stomach ailment.
In truth this stomach thingy has its roots from back before xmas, at least. After a couple of holiday-fortified nights of drinking I awoke to not only my standard inside-brain-earthquake of a hangover but also a sharpish pain in my guts. The first time I wrote it off to overdoingness, but the second time I started to worry a little bit more. But then it kinda went away.
Over the ensuing few months I noticed I was getting indigestion more frequently than usual (which is to say usually never), and also decreasingly hilarious bouts of gas after meals. My diet is very bad, you see... too much fast food, not enough water, vegetables, fibre... you know, modern. I would wake up early with a surprisingly empty feeling in my stomach, not unlike hunger, coupled with nausea balancing the other end of the equation. Eating alleviated the nausea but quickly produced bloating. This too came and went for the last couple of months.
Over the last two weeks, though, it has been more or less my waking state. I'm sick and tired of waking up sick and tired, to paraphrase the punk lyric.
I have a doctor's appointment next week, but in the interim have been feverishly self-diagnosing with the help of:
Medicinenet
It's an excellent site for the medically curious, not to mention the mildly hyponchondriac.
So, obviously I'm hoping it's something minor, transitory, easily treatable... I'll let you know.
In other not-so-happy news...
Well, let me say, really, on one hand it IS happy news... my Mandy got herself a job curating for the Andrew & Laura McCain Gallery. It's a good job and a good chance, and one she fully deserves. The downside is that it's in Florenceville, which is an hour and a half away.
It starts soon... next week. So I am really, selfishly, sad about it. It's not so far that we won't be able see each other, but I've grown adhesively attached to having her around every day. It's going to make time pass very slowly.
Well. Must go for now and tcb, or pcb, or pcp. So long as it doesn't upset my stomach.
later
About... no, exactly 3 weeks since my last post. I was sick then... told you I'd tell you more about it... well not much to tell really.... For about a week and a bit I had what I dubbed a "migratory flu," one that started in my head & throat at waking, moved into my chest by afternoon, then gave me diarrhea by evening. Repeat until unnecessarily irate.
As with most cold/flus (flues?) I get in the winter (thankfully few and spaciously spaced apart) the symptoms tend to linger long after the actual affliction has fled. This time is similar, but rather than the usual cough and headache I've been left with a lingering stomach ailment.
In truth this stomach thingy has its roots from back before xmas, at least. After a couple of holiday-fortified nights of drinking I awoke to not only my standard inside-brain-earthquake of a hangover but also a sharpish pain in my guts. The first time I wrote it off to overdoingness, but the second time I started to worry a little bit more. But then it kinda went away.
Over the ensuing few months I noticed I was getting indigestion more frequently than usual (which is to say usually never), and also decreasingly hilarious bouts of gas after meals. My diet is very bad, you see... too much fast food, not enough water, vegetables, fibre... you know, modern. I would wake up early with a surprisingly empty feeling in my stomach, not unlike hunger, coupled with nausea balancing the other end of the equation. Eating alleviated the nausea but quickly produced bloating. This too came and went for the last couple of months.
Over the last two weeks, though, it has been more or less my waking state. I'm sick and tired of waking up sick and tired, to paraphrase the punk lyric.
I have a doctor's appointment next week, but in the interim have been feverishly self-diagnosing with the help of:
Medicinenet
It's an excellent site for the medically curious, not to mention the mildly hyponchondriac.
So, obviously I'm hoping it's something minor, transitory, easily treatable... I'll let you know.
In other not-so-happy news...
Well, let me say, really, on one hand it IS happy news... my Mandy got herself a job curating for the Andrew & Laura McCain Gallery. It's a good job and a good chance, and one she fully deserves. The downside is that it's in Florenceville, which is an hour and a half away.
It starts soon... next week. So I am really, selfishly, sad about it. It's not so far that we won't be able see each other, but I've grown adhesively attached to having her around every day. It's going to make time pass very slowly.
Well. Must go for now and tcb, or pcb, or pcp. So long as it doesn't upset my stomach.
later
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Health and Mental Welfare
Can someone please pull my nose down and out of my brain pan, please? If it turns out to not be the thing lodged up there giving me a headache and making my throat hurt then we'll turn our hearts and hands to something else.
The end of February came and went in a stretch of work and play slapping together like desperate trout on a river bank... or something. Notably Marc Bragdon was well-wished, swished and whisked off to the wilds of Baker Lake, Nunavut. The party at
The planned 3 band festival was more or less a non-issue. Opting not to get a PA made the evening easier to set up and prevented the greater possibility of authoritative backlash, but it also dulled the impact of the "rawk." Piper Perabo and Bachelor Padlock essentially became one entity (esp. given the absence of one f.c. Giles... often the wacky backbone of outlandish musical events) and the special guests (Rob and Jon) went on late to an enrapt and intimate crowd. Filling in the space between was a sparkling freestyle set by MC JB Free... hip, hop and topical.
The morning following the party brought a bus trip north to Campbellton. In essence it was 6 hours of enforced unconsciousness enshrouded by the sweetness of music-mediated isolation. Once at my folks the actual task at hand went well: helping my mom prepare for a colonoscopy (sp?) and gastroscopy. This involved fasting and medication-enhanced purgation... for my part I prepared meals for my dad and myself to alleviate her having to be around food during this period. The day of the exam there was a snow storm which change the transportation plans. I ended up providing dog-sitting services for their still-not-a-year-old Cocker Spaniel that howls like a timber wolf when left alone... in an apartment... with neighbours... who don't like to hear timber wolves nearby. As with most medical exams this one yielded not much immediate information... prefering to defer to the family physician to give the actual facts at a later date... and so back I went to Fredericton on the bus...
...and off the bus and to work... right then.
PART II
The intermediate week was busy. My boss worked my off-hours at the store and graciously did a major tidying of the workspace. I must admit, and those who know me must realize, I am a clutterer. My system involves keeping pertinent paperwork and work tools out in the open and close at hand... and everything else pools away in ever increasing concentric circles which are organically spaced depending on need vs. accesibility. At the very perimeter is the stuff which, frankly, has no use... at all... but never ever finds its way to the post consumer recycling center/wastepile it deserves. My only two excuses are 1) I don't have a car or drive and 2) I have to leave each day at 4:55 p.m. to make it to my second job of the day. On the other hand I could do this sort of thing on the weekend... and I WILL... at least I like to think I Will.
In his Mr. Cleaning routine Gordie streamlined a few things but also disrupted my dirt devil-style feng shui... It is not yet reestablished, but I'm-a workin' on it.
The lab is less than busy this week (March Break) but the store is crackling, for better or worse. It seems like there's been more than the usual share of disgruntled messes, unwashed masses, and just plain "other"s.
I'll comment more tomorrow. Plus I'm sick... thus the title above. I'll <><> tell you more about that too.
The end of February came and went in a stretch of work and play slapping together like desperate trout on a river bank... or something. Notably Marc Bragdon was well-wished, swished and whisked off to the wilds of Baker Lake, Nunavut. The party at
Christmasland
saw folks of all types (friends from F'ton, friends from Lincoln, friends from work, radio personalities) gather to rock and back slap their way into the wee hours.The planned 3 band festival was more or less a non-issue. Opting not to get a PA made the evening easier to set up and prevented the greater possibility of authoritative backlash, but it also dulled the impact of the "rawk." Piper Perabo and Bachelor Padlock essentially became one entity (esp. given the absence of one f.c. Giles... often the wacky backbone of outlandish musical events) and the special guests (Rob and Jon) went on late to an enrapt and intimate crowd. Filling in the space between was a sparkling freestyle set by MC JB Free... hip, hop and topical.
The morning following the party brought a bus trip north to Campbellton. In essence it was 6 hours of enforced unconsciousness enshrouded by the sweetness of music-mediated isolation. Once at my folks the actual task at hand went well: helping my mom prepare for a colonoscopy (sp?) and gastroscopy. This involved fasting and medication-enhanced purgation... for my part I prepared meals for my dad and myself to alleviate her having to be around food during this period. The day of the exam there was a snow storm which change the transportation plans. I ended up providing dog-sitting services for their still-not-a-year-old Cocker Spaniel that howls like a timber wolf when left alone... in an apartment... with neighbours... who don't like to hear timber wolves nearby. As with most medical exams this one yielded not much immediate information... prefering to defer to the family physician to give the actual facts at a later date... and so back I went to Fredericton on the bus...
...and off the bus and to work... right then.
PART II
The intermediate week was busy. My boss worked my off-hours at the store and graciously did a major tidying of the workspace. I must admit, and those who know me must realize, I am a clutterer. My system involves keeping pertinent paperwork and work tools out in the open and close at hand... and everything else pools away in ever increasing concentric circles which are organically spaced depending on need vs. accesibility. At the very perimeter is the stuff which, frankly, has no use... at all... but never ever finds its way to the post consumer recycling center/wastepile it deserves. My only two excuses are 1) I don't have a car or drive and 2) I have to leave each day at 4:55 p.m. to make it to my second job of the day. On the other hand I could do this sort of thing on the weekend... and I WILL... at least I like to think I Will.
In his Mr. Cleaning routine Gordie streamlined a few things but also disrupted my dirt devil-style feng shui... It is not yet reestablished, but I'm-a workin' on it.
The lab is less than busy this week (March Break) but the store is crackling, for better or worse. It seems like there's been more than the usual share of disgruntled messes, unwashed masses, and just plain "other"s.
I'll comment more tomorrow. Plus I'm sick... thus the title above. I'll <
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