Update, more personal story - very long - I'm bored

:kello:Hi everyone. First of all I must say it is so interesting to click through the different threads and see what everyone is up to. I'm so glad ya'll are here and I'm trying to read the different posts and get to know some of you a little better, but I confuse so easy lately and have trouble remembering things and there are soooo many wonderful people here. Plus I'm still trying to learn some of the site navigation. So please bare with me if I get you confused with someone else. I'm trying really hard. With that said .........

I spent last night curled in a ball, contemplating ER. My symptoms are more constipation and severe pain for a few days followed by diarreah for a little while, then back to constipation and pain. Thankfully I survived and feeling a little better today. Tomorrow will probably be toilet day. oo: I have been so careful about what I eat so I didn't understand why the pain was so bad. The nurse firmly explained to limit my activities. I don't feel like I'm over-doing anything, but I don't sit still much either. My nurse explained that since I've been in remission for so long and my last attack when I was officially diagnosed was not this bad and that I need to understand how serious this really is. I know it's very serious, but I'm still learning about the disease and my symptoms. And if I'm not in pain, I think I'm okay. I'm going to ask the doctor next week if I can see some comparison pictures from my tests. Maybe that will help me understand a little better.

The doctor told me a couple of weeks ago to stay out of the heat and limit activities. I live in Florida, it's July, so if I open my front door there's heat. My mom had 2 doctor's appointments this week and I had one, plus my niece graduated Tuesday night and we had the family here before the graduation. I went to the store to buy a sandwich ring and chips. So, I've been out of the house everyday this week. Except today. And now I'm getting ready to ride with my daughter to deliver a kitten to my niece that just graduated.

Since I'm writing a novel - here's that story- while in the hospital, a cat:cat: had 4 kittens under my house. With the help of a local animal program, we trapped them and got them spayed/neutered and put them back in my yard. I tamed them enough to put them in a back room and they are now getting homes. One was adopted by a lady at the shelter, 2 went to a new home last night, so this is the last one. It will be easier to deliver this one than to keep taking care of it. They can't pick it up until next week. I wish I could get paid to work with strays. It would be so cool......

Back to topic:

Bottom line is, I need to stop going everywhere and doing everything. My house is cleaner now than it's been in a long time, and there is still so much to do. I have a hard time looking at stuff and not taking care of it. My father-in-law moved in with us in January and passed away in March. We spent February cleaning out the place where dad lived, bringing half the stuff to our house. Mom passed away 12 years ago and a lot of her stuff was still in the house, so it was a very emotional time and a lot of stuff. My first visit to the hospital was in April so we still have not "un-packed" everything we brought from dad's. My husband was just diagnosed with major depression 2 months ago (can't imagine why) so we've been dealing with that, too.

With so much going on in my life, having a flare is very frustrating to say the least. Okay, I just figured this out. :ywow: Maybe all this stuff is what started this flare. I can be slow sometimes. :ybatty: I know this is a long post, and I'm sorry. I'm bored. If any of you take the time to read this let me know if I should have posted this somewhere else. I friend of mine said since my life is so much drama and I type so fast, I should start a blog and write stories. I don't know how to start a blog, but I think I'll learn and then I'll keep my posts here shorter.

Thanks for letting me chat. I hope someone will let me know if long posts like this are frowned upon. I won't do it again. Whether anyone reads it or not, it felt good just putting it out there. I could keep going, but this is long enough already. I hope this hasn't been to :boring:

If anyone feels like commenting on any portion of this, I welcome any and all comments. Even if you only read one sentence and want to say something, or glance at it and tell me it's too much. I just like any kind of feedback, good and bad, about Crohn's, cats, my life, you get the idea.

Hey Beverly, I know you've been going through a hard time and I don't mind listening. We've been out of town a few days so I haven't had much time on here. Try to take it easy for a few days if you can. I don't care if you just sit and type a novel if it makes you feel better. I'll read it and comment.

Hi Bev, I totally understand about doing too much and then feeling bad later. I tend to do everything I can when I'm feeling good, because I know I won't be able to do much of anything when I'm feeling bad. Last Sunday, I had just finished a run of pred and I was feeling great and energetic, so I cleaned out our spare bedroom (the room where we throw all our junk that has no other place). I took 8 boxes of junk to Goodwill. I did yard work and tended the garden. I did laundry and dishes. I waaaay overdid it and ended up feeling so awful the next day that I wound up in urgent care. I won't make that mistake again (at least not on my last day of pred)!

And I also understand about the heat affecting things. I live in Wisconsin so we only get hot temperatures for a couple of months out of the year, and my body just isn't adjusting to it very well. Even if I drink tons of water and try to stay out of the heat (hard to do because I don't have air conditioning at home), I still end up getting massive cramps from the heat. My guts just can't take it and I actually find myself looking forward to winter, which I have never done before. I used to love summer!

And if you couldn't tell by my profile pic, I am also fond of cats.

Hi Bev,

By all means type away.

I'm going to ask the doctor next week if I can see some comparison pictures from my tests. Maybe that will help me understand a little better.

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I think this is a really good idea. For some people, if it is possible to see something tangible, visualise it, it can help to get your head around it.

The doctor told me a couple of weeks ago to stay out of the heat and limit activities. I live in Florida, it's July, so if I open my front door there's heat. My mom had 2 doctor's appointments this week and I had one, plus my niece graduated Tuesday night and we had the family here before the graduation. I went to the store to buy a sandwich ring and chips. So, I've been out of the house everyday this week. Except today. And now I'm getting ready to ride with my daughter to deliver a kitten to my niece that just graduated.

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Sometimes it's far easier said than done to follow instructions when you have family and other responsibilities. I guess if you can limit your trips and you know that you have only done what is necessary then that's all that counts. If that means you had to go out everyday then so be it, just don't beat yourself up about it. Life goes on and you have to live it

Since I'm writing a novel - here's that story- while in the hospital, a cat had 4 kittens under my house. With the help of a local animal program, we trapped them and got them spayed/neutered and put them back in my yard. I tamed them enough to put them in a back room and they are now getting homes. One was adopted by a lady at the shelter, 2 went to a new home last night, so this is the last one. It will be easier to deliver this one than to keep taking care of it. They can't pick it up until next week. I wish I could get paid to work with strays. It would be so cool......

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There are many people in this world that are very thankful for people like you Bev and I am one of them.

As a Mum, a daughter, a wife, a carer, an Aunt..............and on it goes, it's very difficult to sit and do nothing, the best we can do is try and prioritise and if we can ever get our heads around it, take a little time out to look after ourselves. Unfortunately for most of us that's just not in our job description!

Good talking to you Bev and see ya round.
Take care,
Dusty

Its perfectly fine to write what your feeling on here! Thats what we are all here for...to listen (or read!) and give support. I feel bad that you are going through a rough time and I hope that things get better for you and your husband soon.

As I said, I'm trying to remember who is who here. These personal notes help.

Mark - I know we've chatted some before. Thanks for the support. Where ever you went out of town, I hope it was fun.

Cat - I love your profile picture. I've seen you around on other threads. And you said it perfectly. Do it all when you feel better because tomorrow you may not feel so good. It sounds like you did a whole lot more than I did. And I'm jealous. You have a garden. I have a grey thumb. I don't just kill plants, it's a long, slow lingering death. They live long enough to let me think they are going to make it, then they wilt and die. So I gave up. What kind of garden do you have? Veggies or flowers?

Dusty - I think we chatted about some cats in another thread. I know I've seen you around. Anyway, thanks for the comments. And I have a question. How do you do the quotes from previous postings? I haven't figured that out yet. I have so much to learn. And my outing today I waited until after dark when it's cooler out. We almost kept this last kitten, but we already have 4 house cats and 2 dogs, one of which I got just a couple of weeks ago. We can only do so much, but at least they aren't living outside under my house anymore. The lady from the animal shelter said the kittens were too old and wild to tame. She doesn't know me very well. And it sounds like you are familiar with all my job descriptions. You must be in the same business. Pay is not very good but the extra benefits are priceless.

to all of you: I know I said it a lot, but thanks for being here. I've been sitting still for a little while and been across the United States and half way around the world. This is great. See ya'll around the site later.

Hey Bev,

How do you do the quotes from previous postings?

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Go to the part of the message you want to quote and highlight it, then press control and C. If you are in Quick Reply, the last icon on the toolbar of the message box is wrap tags. Click on it and it will give you your quote tags. The cursor should already be flashing between the quote tags, then just press control and V.

I hope that makes sense.
Dusty

Go to the part of the message you want to quote and highlight it, then press control and C

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I think I got it. thanks!!!!!!!

MisB said:

Cat - I love your profile picture. I've seen you around on other threads. And you said it perfectly. Do it all when you feel better because tomorrow you may not feel so good. It sounds like you did a whole lot more than I did. And I'm jealous. You have a garden. I have a grey thumb. I don't just kill plants, it's a long, slow lingering death. They live long enough to let me think they are going to make it, then they wilt and die. So I gave up. What kind of garden do you have? Veggies or flowers?

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I have a small veggie & herb garden - tomatoes, basil, mint, ginger, and pumpkins (jack-o-lanterns and pie pumpkins). We used to have a small rickety shed in the backyard, and when we tore it down, there was just a dirt patch where it had been, and it seemed like a good spot to start a little garden. Neither my husband or I had ever had a garden before, so it's been a learning experience!

I also do not have a green thumb and I was sure I had killed my tomatoes - I planted them a couple of months ago, and we immediately had frost for the next few nights and the plants all looked completely dead. Somehow, miraculously, they came back to life and are thriving now in spite of my cluelessness. The tomatoes and pumpkins are just starting to flower now, and the tomato plants are now big enough that we had to support them with sticks. So I feel like it's a success - it just took a little luck to get my little garden going.

I understand about wanting to do it all! I used to feel that way, but now I have really let go on that and you know what - it feels pretty good! In fact, if I were ever to have a miraculous recovery from Crohn's and go back to feeling perfectly normal, I don't think I would go back to trying to do it all. I don't mind telling people no and taking time for myself. I hired a cleaning lady to come every other week and while she doesn't do as good a job as I would do, who cares. My house is still pretty clean. I have found that is one positive thing about Crohn's and a huge learning experience for me.

On a side note - I really respect your dedication to animals. You are such a caring wonderful person. I hope you do find a way to get paid to take care of strays because we need people like you out there!

Hi Beverly

hope you're doing ok hun?
not been on here much over the last few days, I've been preoccupied! My boyf came to stay over for the weekend! so we've been doing other things! lol
I was a bit stressed out too, my son Jordan has gone on a trip with his Dad and he text me to say he's upset and homesick, so I was upset then too! They've gone to Shangai, then to Singapore, now they're in Perth, Australia, then they're going to New Zealand, then Los Angeles, then Las Vegas then home on 24th July! I miss him so much!
I've calmed down now, I was making myself really poorly with stress, but I've chatted to him on Facebook, he's fine!
Feels good to let all that out Beverly, and that's wot we're here for! to vent and listen.
take good care of you xxx
speak soon Joan
xxxx

Hi Bev....I don't know you that well, but have seen you post on here on occasion. If you feel the need to write and don't want to post here, I've found that just writing in Word and saving it to the computer really helps alot (I don't know how to blog either...lol).

@Joan...OMG that's a huge trip!! Your son is lucky! To see so much of the world is fantastic...and living in the world of such easy communication is fantastic....

Yes Cindy he's a very lucky boy!
Jordan was upset cos Facebook is banned in China! He's ok now cos he's communicating with mates over in OZ, but a bit miffed cos it's freezing over there!
xxx

Hi Beverly,

Your post had me rolling. Sorry if that sounds rude.

What, did we trade homes? Or maybe we traded dramas?

I can totally identify with what you're facing with "stuff" from move-ins, move-outs, and then trying to be superwoman (or superman). Yes I understand about getting the kitties you got neutered out to various people who wanted to adopt them. Also looking at the "stuff" lay around every day. I know how that "stuff" just calls out your name, especially when you're sick and you need to move an 85-lb chest of drawers, or maybe you need to paint the ceiling? Try that one on the day after your colonoscopy.

Then to hear Cat-a-tonic talk about packing 8 boxes to deliver to Goodwill while cleaning out the spare bedroom. After all, who would dream of having a spare bedroom cluttered up with junk? Especially when it's 90 degrees in the shade. It makes total sense to me: that's a pure call to work-your-@ss off.

You guys really crack me up. That's because I understand. And if you don't do something, you end up feeling guilty because you didn't do anything.

I love this place!

Joe, did you really paint a ceiling and move furniture after your colonoscopy?? Wow! My "doing too much" drama continues as well; since the back bedroom is now clean, my husband suggested to me that we move a bookshelf out of it and move the futon into it, so we spent the weekend again doing too much. Did I mention we don't have air conditioning so we did all this in the heat? Yep, I think I am certifiably insane.

Wow....so much suppport!! Regular Joe:

Your post had me rolling. Sorry if that sounds rude.

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Not rude at all. No matter what happens, a sense of humor is most important. I remember a recent post in regards to your super-human activities after your colonoscopy. After your escapades, Cat-a-tonic's, and a few other threads I've looked at, I'm beginning to think that trying to be a super hero is just another side effect of the disease. I put my dr's appt results in another thread, so I don't want to repeat myself. If you can find it. I'm still learning how to navigate this site, but I'm getting better. I feel like I'm starting to get to know some of you a little better and starting a new family. You all are the very best:ghug:

Hey Bev, I have been on this forum 2 years and I am still learning! I just got the hang of it and they go change it on me.:yfaint: :lol:

I agree with the humour thing, we all need it and some of the post have me rotf :ylol2:.

Sometimes I get bored but moreso in the winter months and get :crab:, but the summer brings more energy in my life.

I have enjoyed reading your posts, and it is true, we are family here!:smile: