Ahira's Hangar

I think today's most interesting thing for us happened early this morning. Right now I feel...

Tired…
Relieved…
Appreciative of what I have…

We had a bit of excitement overnight…

There were apparently high winds. We have a dying tree in the back yard which is directly across from the window in Beorn's bedroom...

Its trunk shattered and fell towards the house...
…missed his bedroom wall by about a foot.

The head of his bed is right against his window...
where the trunk fell short of...
it was about 4:00 am and we were all asleep...

Another foot and...
*shudder*

We now have a mess in the back yard to be cleaned up and the air conditioner compressor, which is right outside Beorn's window was hit, so that will probably need to be repaired. But the house itself was NOT hit from what we can tell inside.

We haven't gone outside to look for any possible damage yet…

*double post, sorry*

Crap.
The rental agency is closed on weekends.
I really don't want to go into the backyard myself to check for damage, in case more of the tree falls.
There's still about 25' of trunk still standing, I think.
I'm terrible at visual measurements though...

The agent's business card has a home number. Does this justify me calling there?

Why would French bread and mashed potatoes be cheating, Duchess? They seem pretty bland to me.

There's some good info about diverticulitis and .

Your doctor may be aiming for a , which has sometimes been recommended during the acute phase of diverticulitis. Some of the other sites don't mention that type of diet with regard to diverticulitis, though. I am not sure what the currently accepted recommendations are for diet in diverticulitis, just giving you some information I have found that seems reputable.

Of course, any information you get from the web needs to be shared with your health care provider, as the health care provider is the one who has assessed and diagnosed you and knows the particulars of your specific case.

In any event, hope you feel better soon!!!

A diverticulum is a pocket in the colon. Diverticulosis means you have diverticuli. Diverticulitis means your diverticuli have become infected/inflamed. (Not sure about the spellings of those. I'm just sounding them out. Heh.)

I had my first bout of diverticulitis about seven years ago. I had fever and chills. But more important, I had a pain I'd never had before in my life. At almost 40, I thought that was something I should check out. I was visiting my sister in NC at the time, and went to an urgent care place. They didn't know what it was, but gave me antibiotics, and it went away.

I had my second bout a few months later. My doctor had his suspicions, and an x-ray and colonoscopy confirmed it. Again, antibiotics took it away. After my third bout, a few months later, I decided to stop eating crap, which had been my lifestyle forever. I had the third bout the day after my third day of eating a Reeses Snowman. IIRC, something like 80 grams of fat and 800 calories. So for the next year, I cut fat out of my diet almost entirely. No peanut butter. No crazy cakes. No Reeses. (Pain is a hell of a motivator.) I didn't worry about calories, just fat. I still had dessert every day, but it was low-fat ice cream or non-fat frozen yogurt. I even put Hershey's chocolate syrup on it, since that's non-fat. LOL. Aside from not getting sick again, despite the fact that I did not exercise for one second in that year, I lost almost 25 pounds. Simply not eating the way I had been all my life seems to have been a good thing. Heh.

I've had a few attacks in the last several years. The worst was when my marriage finally ended and I moved out. A few weeks later, I was in the hospital. Not sure that the grief and guilt led to the diverticulitis, but it sure made things worse. Anyway, I was on IV, and didn't eat or drink, in case they needed to go in, surgically or... otherwise. Fortunately, it went away.

These days, when I feel a bout coming on, I immediately go to an almost liquid diet. For the first day, nothing more than oatmeal, applesauce, banana... Not even necessarily all of that. Second day probably the same, depending on how I feel. It seems to work. I haven't had a serious case in a few years, and haven't needed antibiotics. I still take it much, much easier with the fat intake, even if not like that first year. But I don't worry remotely about the seeds and nuts that everybody will warn you about. That may be as much folklore as anything else, but it may also be individual differences. Maybe it doesn't bother me, but it may you.

A couple of years ago something had me very stressed out (a big part of what led me to steer clear of the Watch most of the time. heh.) And I ended up having diarrhea every day from February through December (there were TWO days in that time span I did not have it - and those were at the tail end of a vacation). Note that I am not blaming Kevin's Watch for this, or 999% of the people there - or even the person I have had so many problems with. I think it was just that last bit of stress that tipped me over the edge - remember that I work in a hospital and well, you read about that one coworker (the Soul Sucker) above. And that other thread about the male coworker (the Thieving Pervert) who went into my locker and stole my clothes - so it isn't just the drama of working in the hospital, it's plenty of weirdos to work with, too! And I was still coming to grips with my father's death and other personal things. Well, that (the daily diarrhea) finally started clearing up, but I still get diarrhea whenever I get too stressed out.

Now last week I felt great. A week off without work, without stress, being able to be with my kids - eating very healthily (ironically!!! ), taking walks every day, getting to go to concerts two nights. A day or so before going back to work I told Calibaby it was the best I had felt in YEARS, and that I had not even had to take any motrin or aleve for knee pain.

And I think the stress of going back just hit me on the first night back. Either that or it was eating healthy homecooked meals with plenty of fresh fruit and/or veggies every day!

I get to go to my regular doctor tomorrow morning, and hopefully everything will be fine. And hopefully he will clear me to eat something other than bland awful stuff. As usual, when denied something, I crave it. In this case, a great big glass of milk!

OK, went to the doctor, and since I am still having problems (though not bloody problems ) it might be awhile before I can work my way up to eating real food again (every time I get the runs, my doctor wants me to go back to clear liquids, work my way up to bland stuff like applesauce and toast and plain white rice, then slowly work my way up to real food). What can a poor foodie do???

I have been fantasizing about what I can eat when I can eat freely again...

* a tall glass of milk

* a big plate of salad

* something very spicy and very Thai, with lots of veggies

* my favorite spicy beef with shredded carrrots and celery dish from my favorite Chinese restaurant up in Canton, MI

* a several course dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant

* bean and cheese enchiladas

* steak and vegetable fajitas

* ice cream

* pizza with lots of veggie toppings

* tempura veggies from this good Japanese reataurant nearby

* all you can eat soup and salad from Olive Garden - I love that pasta fagioli soup there

* a bowl of cottage cheese

* chocolate

**** ARABIC FOOD**** (tonight that is the worst craving - starting with hummus with warm pita bread, then a meat pie, then a spicy dinner, maybe kibe)

* Walkers Scottish shortbread cookies

After going to the doctor, I headed to the nearby Cost Plus World market and bought a bunch of cannisters of good tea, scone mixes, and gourmet chocolate. I then put together Easter baskets for some friends, and delivered them this afternoon. They can eat the chocolate, and I can enjoy that, since I cannot have any myself.