August 7, 2007

Two eggs, scrambled, on toast, please. . .
And may I have a glass of water with that?
Thanks.

And so I ate a most unique egg sandwich a few weeks ago, a sandwich that had something to say. It told the doctors with little inaudible signals that my stomach was not emptying fast enough. My stomach had been telling me the same thing for quite a while, but it is definitely nice to have a second opinion on this. :) By the way, if you were wondering, the egg sandwich was radioactive, but no, I did not glow in the dark afterwards. :(
My trip to Cleveland Clinic was very encouraging. Thank you so much for praying. I wasn't too nervous, even though I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. The doctors seemed to understand when I told them that I felt hungry and full at the same time - hungry because my body badly needed nutrition, yet full because my stomach wouldn't empty fast enough. They took me seriously, which I genuinely appreciate. They didn't think I was doing this to myself on purpose for some reason or another. (Not that my other doctors have said this to me, but statistically, it is the most probable conclusion and it was the feeling I got from a couple of them. Most seemed to feel that this was not the problem, but it had to be ruled out of course.) I felt that the doctors' understanding, compassionate expertise alone was definitely worth the trip. They are used to seeing cases that are statistically improbable (which mine apparently is.) The GI specialist I saw there complimented my specialist in Ft. Wayne on how well he ruled out nearly all possible causes for my symptoms and condition. His job was much easier as a result (and I didn't need any scopes or other more involved procedures.) He said that he had two tests, a medicine and a referral for me. He also explained the process of ruling out and ruling in what my condition actually is.
The first test was a blood test, which confirmed my doctor's expectation that it wouldn't show anything (just to rule it out). The second was the solid gastric emptying study with the radioactive egg, which I described earlier. That test showed that I had somewhat delayed stomach emptying; and because we have ruled everything else out, that means that what I have is called idiopathic gastroparesis. This means that we are not able to figure out what bug or other cause made my stomach not work correctly, but we DO know that it isn't working correctly. This could be caused by a virus or maybe something genetically related; we don't know at this point. We will keep searching. I didn't expect them to have all the answers, so please do not complain about this. They are not God, but I know who is. :)
I am currently taking the medicine the doctor prescribed, and it is working pretty well to help my stomach empty more quickly. I'm eating the same types of foods, but hopefully now I'll be able to eat a little more of them. By the way, what I am eating it isn't all unappetizing - I am eating things like ice cream, applesauce bread, and chicken spread on crackers. Here is a link to a yogurt smoothie that I enjoy: http://www.stonyfield.com/OurProducts/Smoothies.cfm
If you want the recipe for chicken spread, here it is. Let me know what you think if you try it.

Chicken Spread (for crackers)

Ingredients:
1 10 oz. can chicken, fully cooked, reserve water
1 hard boiled egg
Yellow mustard
Pepper to taste

Put chicken and egg in food processor, process until spreadable, adding water if necessary. Add mustard and pepper to taste. Serve on crackers of your choice. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Please pray as I continue to prepare for student teaching. I am really looking forward to it. I want to do my best and soak up all I can learn during those weeks. I am very thankful and excited to be studying under the supervising teacher I am placed with. Please pray that I would be a blessing both to her and the students I will teach. The first teacher day is August 17, and the first student day is August 20.
Psalm 121 has been very encouraging to me in the past couple of weeks. I hope it will be to you too. Thanks for reading this. Please let me know how you are doing. I really appreciate reading your emails. :)

"Between true friends even water drunk together is sweet enough."
- Zimbabwean proverb
This is a quote I appreciate because even if I can't share a fancy meal with friends, I can drink water. It's the care we share that really counts.