Day Thirty-three

This morning, I had half of a smoothie, and it totally wired me up. I felt like I had an electric current running through my muscles. I actually stood up at one point and started jogging in place then did a few jumping jacks just to see if it would let me sit still for a few minutes and focus. It did help actually.

Then I had my surgery consult this afternoon. I tried -- I really really tried to avoid the surgery -- but I think I started too late. The doctor said that with as many stones as I have, there is a big risk that one of them will try to pass and get stuck, blocking the duct. This could lead to jaundice, liver damage, and pancreas damage. If we do the surgery now, it will be a laproscopic procedure. I would go in on Tuesday, go home on Wednesday, and be back at work on Thursday or Friday. He said we could wait, that there is a chance that it will never flare up again, but if it does happen, at that point it would be an emergency surgery and it could not be done laproscopically. If we do it as an emergency surgery, they would need to open me up. So I decided to go ahead with it. The surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday.

The funny thing is that my biggest worry is what I'm going to eat while I'm in the hospital. I've been in that particular hospital twice in the last six years and I know what their food is like. The last time I was there, even though my soy and gluten allergies were marked clearly on my chart, they served me soy and gluten at every meal. Even though -- at the time I was there -- I was designated as diabetic, they would come in at 9:30 pm to bring a soda and some crackers. When I told them I was diabetic and couldn't have that because my sugar would spike, they assured me that if it spiked they would give me insulin. No worries, right? <insert incredulous look here> So knowing that, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to maintain my elimination diet and get through these two days. To that end, I went ahead and introduced rice this evening, and I plan to introduce eggs this weekend.

I figure with rice and eggs in my diet it will give me a little more flexibility. At least I'll be able to have breakfast. And I told my boyfriend to bring me chicken and rice when he comes to visit me, I'll be able to have some dinner as well . I guess if what I'm going to eat is my biggest worry, I'm doing ok.

Tonight for dinner, I roasted a small chicken, steamed some rice, and some rainbow chard. I stuck with tried and true seasonings, salt, garlic powder and Italian seasoning. I did slice up a lemon and stuffed the chicken with it just to get the scent in the meat, but didn't eat any of the lemon itself and I didn't squeeze the juice or anything -- just the aroma to flavor the meat. It was delicious. And while I feel just a tiny touch bloated, so far I'm tolerating the rice well. Here's hoping.