Gastroparesis....

Man, that is a heavy word. And yet, it lifted some of the weight off of my shoulders. I am indeed NOT crazy. On the other hand, I am sick. I have a chronic disease. I cannot be cured. It has taken me until now to be able to voice those words. I have secluded myself since leaving the doctor. I think I just needed some time to absorb what this is going to do to my life.

Gastroparesis (GP) is a disease that stops the stomach from emptying its food. Therefore, the food sits in your stomach and can ferment bacteria and then apparently my body goes into overdrive trying to extract said food. I will be prone to bezoars (sounds like something out of Harry Potter to me) and I will face many obstacles.

There are various treatments and many more on the horizon. For now, we are going to try a drastic change in diet and a drug protocol. Unfortunately, the only drug approved in the United States is Reglan and due to the risks with it my GI does not want me on it. Instead he has prescribed a medicine I can get from Canada. Of course, my insurance does not cover this.

I will go to the doctor every month for awhile to keep a steady eye on my progress. Other treatments can include a pacemaker inserted in the stomach lining, a form of gastric bypass that will bypass the muscles that don't work and there are studies of how botox injections can affect the stomach. These are some of the most drastic treatment options.

It will be nine years this year. Nine years since I had my bowel resection. Nine years of no answers. That's crazy to me. Crazy that it has taken almost a third of my life to find a doctor who was determined enough to give me an answer. It took him six weeks....six weeks. Nine years. Six weeks. Nine years. Blows my mind.

I also have indicators of small bowel chrons disease. He wants to take it one step at a time and see what we can fix as far as the GP first.

And as if that wasn't enough....I am now going to be taking B12 injections for the rest of my life. My deficiency is a result of the surgery and I will never produce my own again. Because the doc sees this as a permeanant treatment, he wants me to administer them at home. I just don't think I can give myself a shot so poor Ev gets to pick that one up. He is being quite the trooper and was very attentive when I got mine today. I will get next months shot in the office and then we will take the next step and start administering them ourselves.

I realize I am rambling. That's all I have done all night. Hence I haven't answered the phone. I don't have the words yet. Well, I guess I have a lot of words I just don't have them to voice yet. Hopefully, this will help some of you understand and give you some insight. I know that the news could have been so much worse. And for this, I am so thankful.

I prayed that God would show us an answer and he has! I prayed that the answer would be something that I can live with, and it is! Now, I just pray that God provides me the strength to deal with what is coming both physically and emotionally. I know that he will never give me more than I can handle. I may need a little help at times but, hey that's what all of the wonderful people in my life are for!