Purple Curtains

Just an update on my thrilling story of the evasive purple curtains:

I randomly decided to check a store again, but a different location, with my friend. Just to see if maybe they got new curtains in a week. 

I show my friend "look there's no purple curtains! Only dark! See..brown, black, grey...............purple?!?" 

She thought I was crazy. 

Then we go to the linen aisle, to get purple pillowcases to match. Theres a wall of brown and blue sheets. Miss Lucky walks up and reaches her hand under some packages of sheets and retrieves purple pillowcases. Unbelievable!

So now I have my purple blackout curtains and purple pillowcases and I'm never going shopping without her again, as it is clearly a waste of my time.

The End. 

PS- That is my cat Simba :)

Starting at the gym

My work gives us something called a benefit credit which we can use towards health or wellness. We have to decide which one. This was tricky for me, because if I calculated correctly, it works out to about $400 a year. Now, being as I have Crohn's and barring some miracle, I will require prescriptions. My coverage is 80%. So I could use that benefit to refund me for my portion of prescription costs, or I can use it towards wellness costs. For wellness, my work will pay gym memberships, athletic clothing, stuff like that.

I've decided to use it for a gym membership. It was difficult to decide, but I figure that:
a) My doctor has taken me off Pentasa ($40 every 6 weeks)
b) I'm also not going back on Entocort ($120 for 3 months)
c) Prednisone only cost me $55 total for the whole 10 week prescription, as I didn't have insurance at the time.

Being that the expensive pills are not going to be prescribed to me, and prednisone is dirt cheap in my eyes (compared to the others), I think it will be more beneficial and useful to get the gym membership.

Plus, I'm ballooning up and it's not cool. I saw a girl last night I haven't seen in months and she squeezed my chubby cheeks saying "they're soooooo cute!" Thanks! Moonface is totally super cute! Not.

I've gone to yoga and cardio dance class so far. My body feels broken but I feel great that I'm moving and working towards getting my normal body back. I know once I'm off prednisone (6 weeks!) I will get back to normal naturally, but even before the meds I wanted to get back into shape. I love the feeling you have after a good work out. Since there's not a lot of exciting things happening in my life these days, I gotta grab some extra boosts of happiness where I can find them. 

Tonight on my way home the subway had issues. Trains were turning back before my stop, and it was madness. I kept my irritation in check until I saw sneaky people going up the empty platform on the other side and sliding into the train before any of the other 500 people on the right side of the platform got a chance. We all had been waiting atleast 20 mins and 3 trains left full we couldn't get on. You can't even blame me for being mad, I'm sure everyone else waiting with me thought it was rude. Anyway, despite me wanted to offer them a few choice words, I kept cool. I was proud of myself! 

One last thing...I ate half a bag of Smartfood Popcorn the other day. Didn't die, didn't feel pain, nothing. What is going on?!?!?!

Today is a better day

Yesterday after my massive irritation on my way into work, I became quite calm. By lunchtime I was feeling great! These up and down emotions from prednisone are nuts. 

Today I've felt good too. Still blah about my weight, but I'm not wanting to fight people. Oh, and I do have this stupid buffalo hump. I was at my friend's house last night and she gasped sooo loud when I showed her going "oh no! oh no!" so I guess I'm wearing scarves for the next couple months!!!

I made myself a list of things I wanted to get accomplished this weekend. I woke up at 9:30 and got at them right away, and I did quite a bit. Laundry, made homemade pierogies, homemade applesauce, picked up my probotics and a new pair of running shoes. I found a deal for a gym in town for 2 months for $24..this is perfect because I'm getting a membership through work but that won't happen until March. So I'll go tomorrow with my new running shoes :) (they're pretty..black and pink!)

My friend gave me a new name: ADD energizer bunny. Prednisone makes me go go go all day long. She even noticed I text her more haha. I like being more productive though, so I hope I get into the habit of it enough for the rest of my time on prednisone (45 days/6.5 weeks..but who's counting?)

I am on a mad search for purple blackout curtains (so I can sleep during the day if I'm up all night). I know I  am being stubborn about the purple part but I've never had curtains before and I really want it to add some colour to my room! Too much to ask for? I've been to atleast 5 different stores with no luck. All I can find is black, brown, and grey. My room is already brown and tan colour, I don't want to add more of it. I'll probably have to order some online.

Going to go watch Raising Hope now...hilarious show! Goodnight!

Watch out...

Today I feel like a monster. My temper is very short these days to begin with, but today seems worse. I was on my way to work and people were just making me crazy! I almost screamed at an old lady for stepping back slightly when the train was approaching the station and she pushed into me a bit. This is not me! I had to try so hard to keep my mouth shut, what I wanted to say to her was really mean and unfair. In my defense, my stomache was really hurting me and all I could think of was reaching the bathroom a couple stations away, and there was a train delay at the time. But still…I should not be wanting to tell off innocent bystanders.

Also, I stepped on the scale this morning and wasn’t happy with what I saw. I need to stop my constant snacking! But I feel like my crankiness will get even worse if you add hunger to the mix. I worry for society. But I can’t keep gaining weight or my already getting too small clothes won’t fit me at all. So add stress over my weight to what I’m going through too. And my chubby face. And I think I’m getting this “buffalo hump”. Ugh. Feeling crappy body and mind wise today. I wore nice clothes to perk me up, it helps slightly. I strategically picked out my clothes to hide my bulging tummy. The first outfit I picked today made me look like a whale.

I hope today goes by quick and I can go home. I miss my sweats.

Catching up with friends

Last night I went out with my college friends to catch up. We went to all you can eat sushi. I was a bit nervous but also kept in mind I survived the tomato...so I ate whatever I felt like! Ok, I'll admit I didn't go crazy...but I hadn't tried seaweed since diagnosis, so that was a risk, and there were cucumbers in some of it. So that's about the extent of my rebelling with sushi as far as I could tell.

We were at this place for 2.5 hours...man they are slow bringing it all out! But it wasn't bad for us, we barely ever see each other. Some were seeing me for the first time since crohns, and all of them were seeing me on prednisone for the first time (except one friend who works with me). At one point I got laughing so hard that my chest and shoulders hurt..bad case of the giggles. Crazy emotion time! They asked questions about the meds, what foods I eat, and all that. They were all interested and understanding. Lately I've been blurting out things without thinking, which I did, and they laughed at me..what are friends for right? I didn't randomly cry, so I say it went well!

I came home and flopped on my bed in a food coma, passed out and had THE BEST SLEEP EVER!!!! I haven't woken up feeling so refreshed since I started prednisone 3 weeks ago (which feels like forever). Today at work I felt ok..until I needed to use the washroom. Then I felt nauseous. Not sure if it was just me feeling crappy in general or if it was the sushi wreaking havoc on my tummy. Either way, it passed and I felt ok the rest of the day.

I tried my best to not snack all day long (failed). But I did get a 2 month membership to a gym for cheap...so I'll put my prednisone energy to good use. 

Tonight I made some yummy pureed potato and leek soup. Its nice on my tummy :)

Time for bed! I'm wide awake tho..not looking promising. 

One of those nights :(

It's 2:45am on Saturday night and I'm awake. This might sound normal but it's not when you went to bed at 11:45pm. I've been awake since 2 and have a feeling I won't be sleeping again tonight. Prednisone.......you suck.

On the bright side, tomorrow is Sunday so I can catch up on my sleep at some point, unlike when this exact situation happened last week on Xmas eve and I had to work for 10 hours afterwards.

Have sweet dreams for me!! 

I have no idea why it changed but I wrote this on Dec 30, 2012

A bit of frustration...and I ate a tomato!

Today I decided to have a toasted tomato sandwich for breakfast, and I didn't feel like dying! I've been so careful about what I eat the past 8 months and I feel sick anyway. My doctor doesn't believe that food causes symptoms and always tells me to eat whatever I want. So today I decided to test the theory. 

Crohn's is a very tricky disease. I'm scared of eating a lot of different foods for fear it will make me sick. But does food actually cause problems? Stress? Lifestyle? Is it completely random? There is so little know about Crohn's and it drives me CRAZYYYY sometimes. To me, it is normal to want to fix your problems. You have the flu? You rest. You don't go for a jog, run a marathon, whatever. You rest and drink gingerale and take an advil and ride it out. With Crohn's you don't know what you can do. Sure take meds, see if they work, but in the grand scheme of the disease, we have no clue. We don't know how to fix ourselves. I thought not eating fruits, veggies, seeds, nuts, popcorn would help. But then why do I feel like crap for weeks on end when I'm eating very basic easy to digest foods? 

Anyway..there's my rant for the day. Going to bed soon. (By the way, I've never in my life been so excited to wake up to my alarm at 6:30am as I have been the past couple weeks, just knowing that I made it through the whole night sleeping, haha)

Bye for now!