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Liz - Noticed your absence
Hi Liz. I've noticed you haven't posted in quite some time. Just wanted to ask how you're doing. You had said that you were having problems. I always look forward to your posts....they are so informative. Hope you're well.
Wow! Sounds like you had an incredible time! I'm glad to hear that you are well....or as well as we can be. You are an inspiration. You will list 10 things that aren't going so well then follow up with a few week adventure that would have wiped out even the healthiest of people. I wish I had your stamina and positive outlook.
I look forward to reading more of your post. Like I had said, they are so informative and I have learned so much from you already.
Oh, and I have more than a few extra pounds that I would gladly share with you if I could. :-)
Stay well!
I look forward to reading more of your post. Like I had said, they are so informative and I have learned so much from you already.
Oh, and I have more than a few extra pounds that I would gladly share with you if I could. :-)
Stay well!
Hey Lizzie! Good to have you back! You sound like you had a wonderful vacation! Except for getting the bruises, etc. Sorry to hear about that.
Hey, I just realized that you're just four years younger than my mom! Don't worry, she started having kids early, lol. I don't recall you ever mentioning, do you have kids, or grandkids? Having two teenagers, sometimes I wish I could hurry up and push them out of the house, lol. Then maybe I could go on vacation! :)
I'm doing pretty good. I'm supposed to see a GI specialist next Friday. I tried to get my insurance to cover me seeing a dietitian, since I think a lot of my problems stem from something in my diet, but they wouldn't cover it. Instead, they are sending me to a specialist! Go figure. The specialist costs more money, I'd think. Oh well. Gotta do what the insurance will let me do. I'm still having stomach pains a lot. Still trying to figure out what I can or can't eat.
And now they've diagnosed me with Degenerative Disc Disease so I have to go to physcial therapy. I'm telling you, I'm falling apart, lol. No, I'm not going to let myself fall apart. I've just got to figure out what will help me to be my optimum best and keep moving forward.
Good to hear from you again! Don't be a stranger. And I've got a few pounds I can loan you if you like, lol. Start drinking those milkshakes, lady. We don't want you to fade into nothingness. ;)
Take care, my friend, and God bless you!
April
Hey, I just realized that you're just four years younger than my mom! Don't worry, she started having kids early, lol. I don't recall you ever mentioning, do you have kids, or grandkids? Having two teenagers, sometimes I wish I could hurry up and push them out of the house, lol. Then maybe I could go on vacation! :)
I'm doing pretty good. I'm supposed to see a GI specialist next Friday. I tried to get my insurance to cover me seeing a dietitian, since I think a lot of my problems stem from something in my diet, but they wouldn't cover it. Instead, they are sending me to a specialist! Go figure. The specialist costs more money, I'd think. Oh well. Gotta do what the insurance will let me do. I'm still having stomach pains a lot. Still trying to figure out what I can or can't eat.
And now they've diagnosed me with Degenerative Disc Disease so I have to go to physcial therapy. I'm telling you, I'm falling apart, lol. No, I'm not going to let myself fall apart. I've just got to figure out what will help me to be my optimum best and keep moving forward.
Good to hear from you again! Don't be a stranger. And I've got a few pounds I can loan you if you like, lol. Start drinking those milkshakes, lady. We don't want you to fade into nothingness. ;)
Take care, my friend, and God bless you!
April
Hi friends..... how caring of you both to ask how I am doing....okay! Been a very busy month with lots of tests, scans etc at the hospital for the Crohn's flare. Gastro has been brilliant - doubled my chemo (methotrexate), added in budesonide (a steroid that only metabolises in the small intestine) and am continuing with omeprazole for the oesophogal ulcers, domperidone for the nausa. Can't seem to put any weight on, still around 98 lbs, but drinking 3 bottles of Fortijuice a day in an effort to put some weight on in case I have to have a strictureplasty for the two strictures in the small intestine. Gastro unwilling to order surgery until the inflammation heals. He thinks, but is not sure, that the breast cancer adjuvant meds (Arimidex and Alendronic Acid) may have caused the flare, so I have stopped them. GP wrote to a new Oncologist and she said as I have had 4 yrs of bc adjuvant meds (my cancer had spread to the lymph nodes before the invasive ductal tumour was diagnosed) and there is no research on whether 4 or 5 yrs of aromatose inhibitors is better to prevent a recurrence, she is happy that I stop them. Just got to take my chances as I need to get some quality of life back.
The last 3 weeks have been exceptionally busy as we had some American friends (who live in Omaha, but whom we met when we all retired to Spain in 1985) come and stay for a week at our holiday apt at the Fort, then joined us and 7 other close friends to fly to the Costa del Sol, southern Spain, to celebrate my husband's 80th birthday. We all stayed in a friend's 8 bedroom villa, half way up a mountain in Mijas, where we used to live. Unfortunately, hubby inveigled one of our friends to drive us up to the top of the local large mountain, some 7,400 ft above sea level, to view an enormous satellite mast...two days later I came out in about 20+ red/purple bruises on the inside of my left thigh, and about 10 on the right side. Looked as if I had been whacked with a baseball bat - and before you ask - I don't indulge in strenous sex!! When we got home the bruises had spread to my lower abdomen, so rang my specialist IBD nurse. She said she had never come across anything like them, so to see my GP right away and get them "eyeballed".
Saw GP same day and she said: "Liz, I have only seen blood vessels burst like this in meningitis" - yikes! I obviously didn't have meningitis so she unbelievably said: "I'll have to Google it" - came up with a diagnosis of "mountain sickness", caused by the rapid ascent in a car, being driven far too fast, up the mountain. She thinks being on 25 mg weekly of methotrexate, which does affect the bone marrow production of blood, particularly red cells, combined with the steroids, which thin it, was the pivotal factor.
No problem....no medication thankfully, and they have now disappeared.
We had a great time in Mijas, with a wonderful surprise on hubby's actual birthday, our last night there. Our hosts had booked a private visit to a new "Museo of Malaga vino", where we thought we would just be sampling new vinicultures, and tapas, but it turned out to be a 5 course banquet, with a different wine at each course. Then, whilst sampling their champagne, or Cava, as they call it, a local female flamenco singer/dancer entered the vast room, with her father, who played classic Spanish guitar. Most of us females got up from the huge dining table and did our own versions of flamenco dancing.What a way to spend one's birthday? It has been some 9 yrs since we visited Mijas and a lot has changed, with new motorways, high rise apt blocks, new shopping centres and marinas etc, but we have no inclination to go back there to live. Another memorable evening was spent in the original Arab fortress in Mijas (the area was conquered by the Arab Moors from Morroco for many years) which has been turned into a wonderful restaurant. The interior decor was amazing, just like being back in Tangiers, something out of the Arabian nights, all flashy - but great local fish, baby lamb and suckling pig. We had a glorious day out in Puerto Banus, near Marbella, visiting an elderly widow who was a great friend to us when we lived there. We had lunch in a French restaurant right on the beach. It was so very hot there, some days around 103F, but the bedrooms were air conditioned, there was big pool, and lots of shaded areas on the outside terraces, so I managed to keep out of the sun. I did get a slight tan, from the reflected sunlight off the white walls, and came back looking a lot healthier than when I went.
Our American friends asked if they could come back to the Fort with us for 3 nights, and as the studio was booked, I ended up sleeping in the lounge, and christened a sofa bed we have had for 3 years....wonderful to lay in bed listening to the waves lapping the black rocks outside. However, the whole 3 weeks were very tiring, and I am just getting myself "back into a normal groove". I will start posting answers to questions where I feel I can help, but this week is rather taken up with hospital appointments. My young cleaner, 31 yrs old has been ill for some 2 months, and our GP suspects she has Lupus, which is frightening, and we are taking her to see a Consultant Rheumatologist tomorrow. My husband has been having some urinary problems - blood, and burning - GP has given him two courses of antibiotics, which have done zilch, and he is now on medication to try and reduce the size of his enlarged prostate. Gosh, we hate getting older!
This past week Ted and I have been busy sending out some 122 letters/price lists and booking forms to the previous guests at our holiday apartment and pleased that we already have 26% of the year's bookings confirmed, with deposits. Having this holiday apt to see to has really made a big difference to our isolated lives in a remote part of Cornwall - we get to see new people each week, some of whom have become good friends that we invite to dinner one evening, and then go out another day for lunch with them. It is not intrusive, as would be with a Bed and Breakfast place - it takes me about 3 hours to do the "changeover" of linen, towels etc. and make sure everything is clean. If guests leave the apt dirty, they don't get to come back! In the 4 yrs we have been doing this, some of our visitors are on their 6th or 7th visit, so I must be doing something right - although the location is unique.
Okay, novel for tonight finished - thanks so much for thinking of me.
Love,Liz.
The last 3 weeks have been exceptionally busy as we had some American friends (who live in Omaha, but whom we met when we all retired to Spain in 1985) come and stay for a week at our holiday apt at the Fort, then joined us and 7 other close friends to fly to the Costa del Sol, southern Spain, to celebrate my husband's 80th birthday. We all stayed in a friend's 8 bedroom villa, half way up a mountain in Mijas, where we used to live. Unfortunately, hubby inveigled one of our friends to drive us up to the top of the local large mountain, some 7,400 ft above sea level, to view an enormous satellite mast...two days later I came out in about 20+ red/purple bruises on the inside of my left thigh, and about 10 on the right side. Looked as if I had been whacked with a baseball bat - and before you ask - I don't indulge in strenous sex!! When we got home the bruises had spread to my lower abdomen, so rang my specialist IBD nurse. She said she had never come across anything like them, so to see my GP right away and get them "eyeballed".
Saw GP same day and she said: "Liz, I have only seen blood vessels burst like this in meningitis" - yikes! I obviously didn't have meningitis so she unbelievably said: "I'll have to Google it" - came up with a diagnosis of "mountain sickness", caused by the rapid ascent in a car, being driven far too fast, up the mountain. She thinks being on 25 mg weekly of methotrexate, which does affect the bone marrow production of blood, particularly red cells, combined with the steroids, which thin it, was the pivotal factor.
No problem....no medication thankfully, and they have now disappeared.
We had a great time in Mijas, with a wonderful surprise on hubby's actual birthday, our last night there. Our hosts had booked a private visit to a new "Museo of Malaga vino", where we thought we would just be sampling new vinicultures, and tapas, but it turned out to be a 5 course banquet, with a different wine at each course. Then, whilst sampling their champagne, or Cava, as they call it, a local female flamenco singer/dancer entered the vast room, with her father, who played classic Spanish guitar. Most of us females got up from the huge dining table and did our own versions of flamenco dancing.What a way to spend one's birthday? It has been some 9 yrs since we visited Mijas and a lot has changed, with new motorways, high rise apt blocks, new shopping centres and marinas etc, but we have no inclination to go back there to live. Another memorable evening was spent in the original Arab fortress in Mijas (the area was conquered by the Arab Moors from Morroco for many years) which has been turned into a wonderful restaurant. The interior decor was amazing, just like being back in Tangiers, something out of the Arabian nights, all flashy - but great local fish, baby lamb and suckling pig. We had a glorious day out in Puerto Banus, near Marbella, visiting an elderly widow who was a great friend to us when we lived there. We had lunch in a French restaurant right on the beach. It was so very hot there, some days around 103F, but the bedrooms were air conditioned, there was big pool, and lots of shaded areas on the outside terraces, so I managed to keep out of the sun. I did get a slight tan, from the reflected sunlight off the white walls, and came back looking a lot healthier than when I went.
Our American friends asked if they could come back to the Fort with us for 3 nights, and as the studio was booked, I ended up sleeping in the lounge, and christened a sofa bed we have had for 3 years....wonderful to lay in bed listening to the waves lapping the black rocks outside. However, the whole 3 weeks were very tiring, and I am just getting myself "back into a normal groove". I will start posting answers to questions where I feel I can help, but this week is rather taken up with hospital appointments. My young cleaner, 31 yrs old has been ill for some 2 months, and our GP suspects she has Lupus, which is frightening, and we are taking her to see a Consultant Rheumatologist tomorrow. My husband has been having some urinary problems - blood, and burning - GP has given him two courses of antibiotics, which have done zilch, and he is now on medication to try and reduce the size of his enlarged prostate. Gosh, we hate getting older!
This past week Ted and I have been busy sending out some 122 letters/price lists and booking forms to the previous guests at our holiday apartment and pleased that we already have 26% of the year's bookings confirmed, with deposits. Having this holiday apt to see to has really made a big difference to our isolated lives in a remote part of Cornwall - we get to see new people each week, some of whom have become good friends that we invite to dinner one evening, and then go out another day for lunch with them. It is not intrusive, as would be with a Bed and Breakfast place - it takes me about 3 hours to do the "changeover" of linen, towels etc. and make sure everything is clean. If guests leave the apt dirty, they don't get to come back! In the 4 yrs we have been doing this, some of our visitors are on their 6th or 7th visit, so I must be doing something right - although the location is unique.
Okay, novel for tonight finished - thanks so much for thinking of me.
Love,Liz.
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