Christmas books and GI appt

I was feeling pretty crummy tonight.  I think it was a combination of not eating enough (eating is still rather painful) and my antibiotics.  I am feeling a bit better now, but have stayed up so that I can fit in the last dose of antibiotics for the day.  My mouth feels much better than yesterday, but I still can't move my lower lip much without a lot of pain.  I have some definite swelling in my chin and beneath my lip.  I had no idea this would make me swell so much!
Graesen and I did a little Christmas book reading tonight since I felt too icky to do much else.

I had a follow-up appointment with my GI doctor's nurse.  I was a little disappointed.  I walked in and she asked me what results came back from the biopsies.  I am pretty certain that she is the nurse and I am the patient, so I was a bit surprised when it seemed like she hadn't read my chart at all.  (In her defense, she was probably expecting a simple, "do you have any questions" with no real questions asked kind of follow up).  She didn't say anything about the gastritis/esophagitis or what I can do about it.  Then she asked me what I wanted her to do for me.  Again, a little weird.  I told her that the majority of my symptoms cannot be answered by gastritis or esophagitis.  She acted surprised that there were other symptoms (I think a little chart reading could have helped both of us out).  Then she said that she could write me a prescription for a couple of medicines to treat my symptoms.  I mentioned the fact that I would still like to know what is causing the pain if at all possible.  I told her that I would prefer to do things like try diet changes over taking medications for years (if you read yesterday's post you know that me and medicine don't always mix so well).  She asked me what kind of response my body has had to these kind of medications before.  I told her I have never been given any medication for any of my digestive symptoms.  She asked me this two more times during the appointment, so I think she was a bit distracted.  I told her that part of the reason (besides not liking to take medications for things that I may be able to control naturally) that I was reluctant to just take medications was because of what the doctor had said to me.  He had told me that if the biopsies did not explain all my symptoms that he would want to do an ultrasound of my gallbladder and maybe my liver.  He said if those didn't tell him anything he would want to start testing for some really rare things and said he would not be satisfied until he had an answer.  (I think the reason he is so concerned is that I have 3 types of symptoms that don't seem to fit together-nausea caused by the gastritis, pain under my ribs I get when eating in general, and sharp lower abdominal pain that I get when I eat wheat and lately even without eating wheat).  Once she heard what the doctor had said, and the fact that my dentist is concerned that the enamel on my teeth is wearing away even though I have very good dental hygiene, she changed her mind about just having me take medications.  She decided to run some more blood tests to see if I am deficient in certain vitamins/nutrients (possible explaining the teeth thing that happened at the same time as all the stomach stuff) and order a gallbladder ultrasound.  Depending on all that she may order a barium swallow study to see if I am digesting food too fast or too slow.  She did order a one month supply of one medication so I can see if it makes me more comfortable.  If they help she will order more.  If they don't I can stop them at any time.  She talked to me about what time of day I get stomach pain.  I have come to realize that it is mostly nights.  I don't eat very much early on in the day.  For example, on work days I usually eat a fruit for breakfast, and then for lunch I have 2 hard boiled eggs, raw vegetables, and a fruit.  I often have a small snack in there too, like a small amount of corn chips or a small sandwich bag of popcorn.  So, basically, I eat very simple food earlier in the day (I started doing this, because they stomach aches were making it hard for me to work).  At dinner, when I eat a normal meal I have a problem.  Some days I do fine, but a lot of the time I feel frustrated that it seems like everything I eat makes me hurt.  I also found out today that I will have lower endoscopies performed every 3 years now since I had a pre-cancerous polyp.  I am going to look at the bright side.  Besides the fact that we caught it before it turned into real cancer (which is a very good thing), if I schedule it before Thanksgiving each time, the 2 days of not eating may counteract some of the Thanksgiving feasting :)