Rough Week

It was a rough week last week.

I started the week off with an upper G.I. scoping that was the result of a visit the week before. It was pretty much a follow-up visit I have every year, but they decided to take a peek and also to stretch out my destroyed esophagus and throat. The scar tissue pretty much needs to be expanded every year, otherwise I have trouble swallowing, which I was having.

So when I woke back up the nurse said something like I had food in my stomach. How could that possibly be? I hadn’t thing to eat since 7 PM the day before. Turns out, I had a Bezoar. What’s a bezoar you ask?

It’s a chunk of undigestible food, such as celery, that clumps together in your stomach sealed with God knows what, and becomes a lump that won’t and can’t be digested and passed. So it floats around. Sometimes it sticks to the walls your stomach. More often than not it acts like a plug to prevent anything else from going on the digestive journey.

So they busted that up told me to drink a bunch of water and walk around. My stomach and throat is still pretty rough, as is my voice. On the other hand, I’ve been feeling kinda gross for a while and that seemed to cure it.

So I have that going for me which is nice.

But the thought occurred to me that I’m spending a lot of money with these people to fix my cheap Irish plumbing. Drinking alcohol is counterproductive here. And although I don’t drink a whole ton anymore, I need to stop altogether.

That’ll help with my goal of dropping my weight to maybe 220 or below. Friday when I weighed myself I found that I dropped another 5 pounds. I’m dropping 4 to 5 pounds a month, which is the healthy way to do it. In a way I’ve done it in the past. I simply clean up my diet, and increase my exercise.

All it takes.

After I had the coof, I felt great for about a day and ½. And then my allergies kicked in on turbo drive. I have lung issues caused by reflux and a destroyed throat that had acid washing in my lungs. So every year my lungs get more sensitive to allergies. They seem to get worse after Jasper got his big boy fur. For whatever reason he sheds and has dander more than the other two combined. Jethro doesn’t shed all that much. And Aria, while she sheds, she has zero dander and can go weeks before needing a bath.

So I had a sad moment of clarity, that I’m spending a lot of money in a pulmonologist and I really need to lower the allergy load in this house. And we’re going to have to redouble our efforts to get rid of Jasper. He’s probably going to wind up at a really nice no kill rescue shelter. The one thing I didn’t want to do, but have been unable for months to find him a new home. He’s a great dog. But I can’t sit in my office and have my lungs start choking up when he comes and lays down next to me.

It may get bad enough that we have to get rid of Aria as well and/or the cat. Aria can go back from where she came, but I’m thinking I may offer her to go with the daughter of the foster lady, who raised her since birth.

Needless to say, this put me in a pretty dark funk.