Parents' Day!

Mood: 

This holiday was actually yesterday. Cool that there's an actual Parents' Day rather than just Mother's or Father's Day. I feel strange about either of those holidays, now...😅Parent is neutral, which is nice. For the US, the holiday started in 1994. In South Korea, they started it in the 1930s. 

It was also Cousins' Day. I have a lot of cousins!😳 I hope they're all doing well. I've never lived close to them. I did have a first cousin twice removed live in the southern part of the state, close to the border. Both his kids and himself were the closest in terms of distance. He was my maternal grandpa's cousin. Not really my immediate cousin. Most of the rest of my cousins live on the other side of the country. I've connected with a lot of them through facebook, which has been nice and interesting.😊

Today's Video Game Day. I still have my Sega Genesis, and several games for it. Works pretty much like it did when I got it. I have Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Ecco the Dolphin, and a couple of others I'm blanking on. I really liked Sonic and Ecco. Still think they're of the best ones I've played on there. I've never finished Ecco all the way. Got to the last level, though. Sonic is quite a bit easier, but I never got all the gems for the special side levels. I also liked Morrowind for the PC. RPGs can be fun. Fable is another fun one. If I play a video game now it's usually the Sims 2 Seasons. Occasionally, it'll be Fate. 

Well, it's been really warm outside lately. So, I've had my desktop turned off for about a week. It's in my room, and my room tends to get the hottest in the house when it's hot out. Having a computer on in there can make it even hotter, and is probably not good for the computer itself. I haven't posted much on here mainly because of that. I'm trying a new thing this time. Blogging on my iPhone instead. It's just through the desktop site (or 'web version'), not an app. I was thinking of the app, but with the average rating of one star, doesn't seem worth it.😒 Seems ok so far. A bit more awkward, but doable. Might post more often to this in the future this way.

Emailed my gastroenterologist, and she made a phone appointment to talk more about what's going on with me last Tuesday. She was 45 minutes late. 😔At least, she managed to call me. She said it sounded like the pain on my side is pancreas related. Apparently, it's rare, but azathioprine can affect the pancreas. Sometimes causing pancreatitis, and other issues with it. Yay.😞 She said that my colon and small intestines could be inflamed, and the pain might be from that. It doesn't sound like azathioprine's really for me...She said either way I might need to change to another med. The only ones left are heavy ones like remicade and humira.

She wanted me to get a blood test done as soon as possible, and I did that the next morning. She sounds really worried about this. 😨She wanted me to take dicyclomine for the pain. Apparently, Dad takes it and has the rare side effect of euphoria. I haven't had that yet. The side effects I've experienced so far are: dry mouth, numbness in my mouth, an odd warm relaxed feeling in my gut, and drowsiness. At least, I'm finally able to sleep now. The pain in any part of my gut hasn't really changed. She wants me to have a bland diet for the time being.

4 of the tests have come back, and I'm unsure if there will be more. The lipase and amylase tests were normal. They're enzymes that break down fats and sugars, and are produced in the pancreas. So, maybe that rules out my pancreas?😯 I hope so. My general blood panel was normal, but many of the values were the lowest ones I have on record. Barely within normal on those. My body either was (and is) fighting something, or azathioprine reduced them. It does suppress the immune system. 

My sed rate was back to being high.😣 It measures inflammation, and is an indicator of remission for IBD. Remission range is 0-20mm/hr. Last time it was finally down to 20. This time it's 32. It's the biggest difference so far between blood tests. At least it's not at 44, which was the highest it's been. It is halfway there, though...😨I had the same exact result back in September. It's like stepping backwards for me. It's sounding more and more like azathioprine is not helping anymore. 

I think the pain on my side might be because the inflammation could be in my small intestines. One section could be really bad, twisting over itself, and moves around when I stand up or walk. It makes sense to me, and she did suggest something like that. I haven't heard back from her, yet. The longer I don't hear from her, the scarier it feels.😱

I was going to get back to cooking from cookbooks last week. Doing that for my lunches was my plan. But, when my gastro said to go on a bland diet for the time being, I decided to put it on hold. Although, I might look more into what I wanted to make, and see if it's bland enough. If not, maybe I could make it that way, too. I'm going to go through each of my own cookbooks first. I have a lot of Asian-related cookbooks, so I might be having a lot from that region. However, it's a pretty diverse area.😊

The first one I'm using is one of the newer general Asian ones. I've made a chicken and broccoli soup, and a chicken and cashew stir-fry so far from it. The soup was very simple, yet tasty. The stir-fry was full of flavor. I also saw some interesting noodle ones, salads, egg dishes, etc. 

I'm also going to try to make desserts more often. Most of the cookbooks in my room don't have very many dessert recipes. One of the few interesting ones was from the Chinese Kosher Cooking cookbook. It was for a Chinese steamed cake or fa gao. Made that the same night as the soup. It was really good, and was interesting to make. It had almonds, brown sugar, and vanilla. Made for a unique and delicious taste.😌I might make 'toffee apples' next from the same cookbook. Although, we don't have apples at the moment. So, making Passover muffins might be next. I do have some of the Passover stuff that I could use. Plus, people can have Passover food all year round if they want. I could add more flavor to them as well, if they need it.