Healthy things...

[ellenmillion]

OMG! I've been nominated to the Distinguished Professionals Online! The Vice-President himself wrote to me to let me know that my candidacy was formally approved! He was so impressed by my [insert generic qualifications]! All I have to do is verify all of my personal information and agree to a credit check!

In real news, I figured I'd update you guys on my health.

I'm doing great. No symptoms. No pain. Plenty of energy, lots of appetite. Never been better.

Except that I can't eat any fats at all. Not a few, no sneaking a peanut, no eggs, no cheese, not 'low-fat,' only 'non-fat,' with a little zero in the nutrition table.

Thank GOD for hot salsa and fat-free sour cream. It makes just about anything interesting enough to eat. I desperately miss certain foods... bacon, cheese, olives, any snack food. Rice cakes are already getting old. The fat-free things like cottage cheese and milk and cheese all taste vaguely like plastic.

Despite going back to mandatory snacks and regular small meals, I'm still losing weight. This would be awesome... if I had any extra to lose. I'm super concerned that I'm going to end up sugar-sensitive again and need to watch my sugar intake, too. Right now, sugar is the only thing keeping any weight on me.

Medical background, for those folks I've forgotten to update... it's a gallbladder problem. My mother dealt with this for years, with the same zero-tolerance level for any fats. She - like me, so far - tested negative for all the usual indicators, so it went undiagnosed for 10 years or so, until the gallbladder came out in emergency surgery. "Should have had this out years ago," they told her. She can eat fat again, now!

The doctor agrees that it's 99% sure it's my gallbladder. I get a HIDA scan next Thursday at some horrible hour in the morning. He's promised me that I won't have to go through what my mother went through, and I'm already in much better shape because I recognized the symptoms and didn't have to play the 'what's making me sick' game. I'm seriously feeling great, if rather hungry most of the time... and desperately, desperately craving potato chips and buttery popcorn.

My friends and family have been awesome to me, though this. Jake is experimenting with a hundred interesting ways to make chicken breast and halibut, and he's spent hours at the store reading labels to find things I can eat. (I can eat prawns!) He doesn't eat fragrant foods that I can't unless I'm going to be out of the house. My gaming buddies have made concessions for my intolerance of most of our usual high-fat gaming fare, and Jeffrey even found me fat-free (calorie-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, not sure what's actually IN it and don't want to know) chocolate dip. Jennie's bringing vegetables to costuming night. Mom's sending me recipes. Your comments when I complained last week made me want to hug you all.

So really? Not as bad as it could be. They'll probably yank out my gallbladder with a simple out-patient surgery, no matter what the results of the test are. It's apparently a very optional organ, and it turns out I know a lot of people who know a lot of people living very full lives without theirs.

And someday... some beautiful, beautiful day... I'll be able to eat bacon again.

Comments

[kittrel.livejournal.com]

That nasty gallbladder.... I'd probably go after mine with a melon spoon myself if it prevented me from eating ice cream! Glad you are feeling better though. Get some Old Bay seasoning, that stuff is good for adding flavor to most things too!

[ht.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear that you're feeling better! After the HIDA scan, how much longer before you go in for the operation?

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

It's apparently a very optional organ, and it turns out I know a lot of people who know a lot of people living very full lives without theirs.

*raises hand* I would be one of those, more or less. I still have acid-reflux and other issues that need to be corrected but I'm getting along fine without the pesky thing. :)

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I would be going stark raving bonkers on a diet like that. And I would want that organ GONE, soonest. (Good friend raqs had hers out years ago, as an emergency thing; is doing just fine.) Hang in there! At least you know there will be bacon in your future.

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

I'm another that's sans gallbladder. Before it got diagnosed, I ate some arroz con pollo at the local Mexican restaurant, and some 4 hours later, I would be in absolute agony. Now, I can eat that same dish, and wake up a very contented woman. The only downside is the scars from the laparoscopic procedure still itch like crazy.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I would fuss about you losing weight, except there's not a single goddamned thing either of us can do about it, so I will merely hug you, like so: *HUG*! and be very glad that this is a problem which *can* be solved. In the meantime, well, brush your teeth a lot so you don't rot them with all the sugar you're eating. :)

[pixiewildflower.livejournal.com]

Congrats hon!

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you've had to change your diet so drastically, but I'm glad you're feeling better as a result. I hope they figure out for sure and get you all better and able to eat "real" food again. And I'm glad Jake and your friends are being so supportive!!

My mom had her gall bladder removed a year and a half ago. Her diet's still restricted, but it's only because of her heart and her borderline diabetes.

*HUGS ELLEN TIGHT

Congrats on the nomination too!! I can't think of a better qualified person!