Good morning... how's everything this morning? I think it's going to be a pretty decent day today. We had rain all day yesterday from Tropical Storm Nestor as it went by in the Gulf of Mexico, but it's gone now and for the first time in quite a while, there is no tropical activity in, either, the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean... wow!! We're coming up on November 1, which will mark the end of hurricane season so we'll be able to stop worrying quite so much about the bad storms. Yay...
Anyway, this was a pretty busy week for me as far as as medical issues go. Monday I had the gastric emptying test I mentioned last week. It was interesting, if nothing else. As I said, I had to eat an egg sandwich - as it turned out, it was the egg that was radioactive - and drink some water, then they did a special x-ray at 30 minute intervals to see how quickly my stomach was emptying. The thought was that it was taking too long for food to leave my stomach, causing constipation and other issues. As it turned out, it was the exact opposite. The food left my stomach in about 1/2 the expected time. I'm not sure of the implications of this because I haven't heard from the doctor's office yet (results were posted on the patient portal for the imaging facility) and I can't find a lot online about rapid gastric emptying. What I can find is that it, typically, happens after one has had gastric bypass or some other type of gastric surgery, but I haven't had any type of surgery like that. I can't find any information about how this affects digestion, absorption of nutrients or anything like that, but I'd assume it would have "some" effect. Maybe I just haven't typed in the right search questions. :-) I'd also assume it might explain why I'm hungry very quickly after I've eaten, as well. The only solution I've found is that one shouldn't drink liquids while eating, which I don't typically do, but of course, they had me do prior to the test. So I have to wait to get answers from the doctor.
The other thing from this week is that I had to go through my colonoscopy. That was on Thursday and if you've ever had a colonoscopy, you know that the prep is much worse than the procedure. Of course, the prep is done the day before and trust me, it does take the entire day... I'll spare the details of that one. :-)
The colonoscopy was uneventful. They did find one polyp that was removed and sent to pathology. The doctor said it was a large one (2 cm) and it was flat, not one of the "thumb-like" ones they usually find. I didn't give that much thought until I got home and researched polyps. As it turns out, the flat polyps are more likely to be cancerous than the thumb-like ones, but the doctor did say he thought mine was benign, so I'm not too concerned.
I got a call on Friday that the spot removed by the dermatologist a couple of weeks ago was also benign, which she thought it was, so that's that.
So - I'm waiting to hear from the doctor about the gastric emptying test and of course, pathology on the polyp and I still have a follow up with the dermatologist to finish dealing with the large spot on my leg and the place on my face that she believes might be the squamous cell cancer. The place on my leg that she thought was a fungal infection did not resolve with the cream she prescribed, so I'd guess she's going to biopsy it when I go back, along with the place near my nose, which has not gone away either. That appointment will come up in November.
So that's all the medical junk - that's enough, isn't it? It seems like I've been living in doctor's offices or medical facilities lately, but we did take a day and do something fun on Tuesday. My husband found some cruises that go up the St. John's River. You may (or may not...lol) know that the St John's River is one of the few rivers in the world that runs to the north instead of south. Anyway, there are these neat lunch or dinner cruises you can go on. We opted for a lunch cruise because we figured it would be dark for a good share of a dinner cruise and we wouldn't be able to see a lot. The lunch was awesome (we both opted for prime rib) and so was the trip. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was gorgeous. It was a very welcome break in the middle of everything I've been through this summer.
Anyway, weight-wise, I was down 5 lbs the other day - no surprise there because I was doing prep for the colonoscopy, which means liquid diet and a lot of time in the bathroom. :-) Right now, I'm showing down 1.4 from last week. I've tried not go back to all the junk I was eating and I hope I can maintain that.
I'm really having difficulty in the evening, because we don't eat an evening meal, as such - it's mostly snacking and you know what that means - chips, caramel corn, popsicles and other junk food. We're going to the Farmer's Market today and I'm going to try to find fresh things that I can prep ahead and make as easy to grab as the junk. I need to kick this habit so I can lose the weight AND get my digestive system back into shape.
So - what about you? How was your week? I hope you accomplished everything you set out to get done.
~~Wishing everyone a wonderful, successful week~~