Unrealistic Expectations

Well, we made it through our first married Christmas together. It was the busiest holiday season I have ever had since I am married and have in-laws now. It was different, but good different. Marriage brings loads of change - some changes you expect and some you don't think of and some that are complete surprises.

We manged to fit our Christmas traditions and visiting family into 4 days. It really worked out pretty well, except Christmas day was very busy. We went to 3 family homes on Christmas day, and it just about wore me out. It was worth it for one day to see all the people we got to spend time with though. Today, the day after Christmas, Isaac and I recovered from the holiday extravaganza by literally laying on the couch watching the TV show "Heroes" for 7 hours! Days of rest are a necessity in this house. :)

During the Christmas holidays, we got into a little tiff and somehow got to talking about some of my unrealistic expectations that I have brought into marriage. I thought I was prepared; I thought I had faced all of what I thought were my unrealistic expectations before the "I do's." Why do these realizations always come about during tiffs? :) Probably because I realize how wrong I am.

When we got married, I assumed and expected that my husband should always take out the trash, which he does a lot of the time! Nevertheless, it was still an expectation. I think since I always saw my dad take the trash out growing up, I assumed taking the trash out was a man thing to do. But that is not true, I can totally walk to the side of the house and put trash in the dumpster, which I do sometimes haha. Most of the time I tie the trash bag up and set it on the porch hoping Isaac will see his gift I left for him to take care of ;)

A big unrealistic expectation that I had going into marriage was that our spiritual life should be nearly perfect for some reason and look like how I envisioned a youth pastors marriage. I envisioned praying and talking about God all day everyday. We do pray together and we do talk about our relationships with God. I am realizing that our spiritual life is something that will probably be up and down and constantly growing as we grown together-just life our personal relationships with God. It's not always perfect. We both try to strive to keep God at the center by trusting him and loving each other like he loves us.

I also realized that every marriage has a different spiritual life. Isaac said there is no perfect template for every couple. There is no template for what kind of church you should go to, how you should pray together or how you should serve God as a married couple.

Lastly, when I was first diagnosed with Crohns disease I expected that my husband should understand everything about my illness just because he is my husband. My husband is a person too. He is not perfect. He has a right to have questions, doubts and a hard time dealing with my Crohns just has much as I do.

Don't get me wrong - Isaac completely supports me and always has my back. He will go to doctor's appointments with me if I ask him to. But I have learned that if there is something specific I need when I don't feel good, I must communicate with him and be specific.  I must communicate things I learn about the disease. I cannot expect him to remember every little thing and every type of drug I take or have taken. It is easier for me to remember things, because it is happening to my body. Not his. I cannot expect anyone to understand exactly everything about Crohns, except maybe someone with Crohns. I must be patient with him and everyone else. I know he is trying his best. He has done very well with learning my diet. And my diet is no easy task. :)

I hope this post helps young newly weds or young couples who are on the verge of marriage to think about their expectations they have as well. Dig deep and don't be afraid to talk about them. Don't be afraid of tiffs! Get into them and be realistic with how you envision your married life together.

About 3 weeks ago, I stopped taking one of my drugs that I have been on for about a year and a half - Entocort. Entocort is a small dose of steroids. It does not have the same effect as Prednisone - which is the strong stuff. My doctor wanted me to try going off of it since I have been on Cimzia for nearly 4 months now.

I'm not sure if it is related, but ever since the weekend I went off of the drug I have been having bleeding, diarrhea, nausea, intestinal stomach and back pain about every other day. It hasn't last for long on those days, maybe a couple hours each time. It hasn't woken me up during the night, which is good. The symptoms are still very painful, make me feel like I have the stomach flu or something, and  disrupt plans during the days. We couldn't make it to the Christmas Eve service at church with my family, because I was stuck on the toilet  and curled up in a ball on the couch for about an hour and a half.

I have a GI doctors appointment tomorrow, so we will see what she says. I know I will get to remission at some point, I just don't know when.

Dear Ellen: My Letter to Ellen Degeneres

Dear Ellen,

My husband and I were married on June 15, 2012. After 7 months of some stressful planning, it was the day I had always dreamed of and everything was absolutely beautiful from the flowers to the cake to the ceremony. I loved that day.

I had also been looking forward to a week long vacation in Riviera Maya, Mexico to relax and have some romantic time with my new husband. I bought new swim suits, a big floppy straw hat and new lingerie. J

Unfortunately, our plans of de-stressing on the beach for the week did not happen.

On our second day into the trip, we went snorkeling that morning. When we were swimming back to the boat to get in and go back to shore, my husband was climbing the metal collapsible ladder and his finger got caught in the hinge of the ladder. The water was choppy and the ladder closed on his finger suddenly and cut off part of his right index finger!

I was already in the boat, and I looked behind me to see him floating in blood and looking like he was about to pass out. I could see bone sticking out and wasn’t sure what had happened exactly, but I knew it was not good. The boat people were not helpful-no first aid kit and all they handed him was a tissue. A tissue!

We had to climb onto an ER jet boat that took us back to land. After about an hour, we were taken by bus to a nearby Mexican hospital. We stayed 2 days in that little hospital. And let me tell you, it was not like American hospitals!

No one spoke English, it was not super clean, there was construction going on inside the building, and I had no idea what was going on! They would give him drugs and not ask us or tell me what they were giving him. He had surgery to take a skin graft to cover the bone, and they kept him awake during the procedure!

At one point, I remember hearing him scream through the hospital and I had no idea where he was. It was terrible. I couldn’t get a hold of our families, because my phone would not work in Mexico, and there was no phone there they would let me use. I did figure out how to use texting through the hospital’s wifi.

With the help of a translator we had for a little bit, we found out that Isaac had lost the top one third of his right index finger and the bone to his first joint. In the surgery, they tried to cover the tip of his finger with a skin graft from his middle finger and the back of his ear.

The rest of the week was spent managing his pain. He was in a lot of pain and did not sleep a lot. I was hoping that by the time we made it back to the resort, I could at least get a day on the beach. But nope! 

When we finally got back, it poured the entire time. So, for the remainder of our honeymoon, we were stuck inside watching TV and Isaac not feeling well.

Never were we so happy to get back home to Oklahoma to our little one bedroom apartment. But the stress had only just begun.

A few days later, Isaac had to have reconstructive surgery on his finger in Oklahoma, because his skin graft had failed. The hand surgeon in OKC repaired nerves in his finger, and he gave him more length and a fingertip by taking fat and more skin grafts from all over his hand.

It took months to recover, and he still is not completely able to fully use his finger yet. We do not know how long it will take.

For me, this was way more stressful than planning a wedding and one of the most stressful events so far in my life. Because of the stress from the week, it sent me into a Crohn’s disease flare up. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease about a year and a half ago. I have yet to reach remission, but major stress events are not helpful at all.

A couple weeks after we got back from the trip, I went into a flare and for months, I was sick. I lost weight, blood, many days of work and just plain did not feel good. I am still recovering from my flare, but I feel am on the uphill now. J Fingers crossed!

In the midst of all this, your show brought laughter to me an hour each day and helped me forget what was going on in my life. It reminds me that finding the funny things in life to laugh about even in the most stressful, not fun times can get you through it.

I record your show every day while I am at work, and I recorded your show during the week we were gone on our honeymoon. When we returned, it was so refreshing to be able to watch your show (even though they were summer reruns) and laugh!

So, thank you. Thank you for making people laugh once a day. Thank you for dancing. Thank you for not being afraid to be silly in front of millions of people. Thank you for scaring people. Thank you for your bad paid for photos, bad tattoos and your hidden camera pranks. Thank you for giving back and inspiring so many.

Sometimes I ask myself why we had to go through all this in the first 6 months of marriage. Why us? I know married couples go through hard times, but in the first 6 months?? These are supposed to be the happiest times. I do not know why, but I do not that we are closer as husband and wife than many other newlyweds. I do know that in sickness and in health, we will stand by each other’s side. And I do know how important it is to laugh in marriage and in life. J

My Crohn's Advocate Magazine Came in the Mail!

                                                 

My Crohn's Advocate Magazine came in the mail! Yay!

This magazine is sent out quarterly, and I look forward to it every time it comes in the mail. Why? Because I have a Journalism degree, and I love magazines. I also love this magazine, because it makes reading about an autoimmune disease fun and interesting.

The magazine has Q & A sessions with doctors across the country, interviews with others like me around the United States, and it always features a well-known person on the cover who has Crohn's disease as well. It's so nice to read about other people like me who use a toilet as much as I do. Their stories help me learn how to live with Crohns and how to have a sense of humor about a disease that can be really embarrassing at times.

Cynthia McFadden is on this month's cover, and I loved reading her story. She has had Crohns for nearly 4 decades! She has traveled for famous news stories all over the world. Although she says the traveling and working is a challenge, she has made it through and succeeded.

This is so encouraging to me, because traveling and being as busy as she is is scary to me. I believe it is do-able as long as I prepare myself and communicate with those around me that I may need help and support. Sometimes people need to be patient with me, because I might not always be on time or I might need to stop everything I'm doing to get to a restroom. And who knows how long i'll be in there.

I am still learning my limits, because while my body is fighting inflammation, I have to say "no" to things sometimes to get the rest that my body is asking for. I do not have the energy to do a whole lot sometimes. I am learning to listen to my body. When I am in a flare, I have to rest more than usual. It makes me extremely fatigued.

It's all a balance, and it is nice to see someone like Cynthia McFadden can accomplish so much while managing a tricky chronic illness.

For more information about Crohn's Advocate Magazine you can visit www.crohnsandme.com.

This web site has all sorts of information about Crohns, and you can sign up to receive the magazine in your mailbox too!

I hope others with autoimmune diseases have something like this magazine or good websites. It's so helpful to connect in a positive way.

Hope everyone is having a great month so far! I'm ready for Christmas break. I'll be off 11 days from work!! Woo hoo :) Me and Isaac's 6 month wedding anniversary is in 2 days. Crazy that we have been married 6 months. We spend that amount of time planning the wedding! It sure is different trying to plan our Christmas with both our families now that we are married. It is all going to work out well I think. It will just be busy. But it will be nice to spend time with our families.

I Joined a Support Group

Recently, I joined a support group for people who have a chronic illness through my company Chesapeake Energy.

I really work for a great company. We have three chaplains at Chesapeake who are super passionate about helping people. The woman chaplain started the support group, and I really love it. It is a small group of about 6 of us who all have some kind of chronic illness. The group is all women too, which makes it easier for us to open up and share with one another.

Even though we all have different illnesses, we can relate to each other to easily. Many of us take the same kind of drugs, and much of our illnesses are inflammation related. We are all living with the illness and work a 40 hour a week job too. It can be difficult to hold a fulltime job when you do not feel well more than the average person. A lot of people with our illnesses go on disability, and I hope I never get to that point. 

I can relate to these women in a way I cannot relate to anyone else. They get me. When they nod their heads when I am sharing, I know they really do get it.

We talk about relationships, doctors, working, family, holidays, diet, stress etc.

We encourage each other and vent to each other.

Sometimes things just suck, and we need to acknowledge that.

You might think sitting around talking about chronic illnesses might be depressing, but it is not. It all depends on the attitude you bring to the table. We are all women who want to succeed in life, work, have relationships and be more than our illness. Yes, sometimes we feel down, but we get back up.

Talking with each other from week to week is so encouraging for me. It helps me to see that I am not alone. I am not the only one battling health issues as a young woman. It is a struggle, but who doesn’t have a struggle in their life? 

Faith in a Plan

Sometimes I wonder what God wants Isaac and I to do for him? I know we both want to work, have kids, be parents etc. But I wonder, if there is something else too? Does he have other plans for us that we do not know about yet? I have always had a desire before I was married for my future spouse and I to serve God somehow together. Or at least serve God maybe doing different things but along side one another. I’m not sure what that looks like though.

I just don’t ever want to be coasting through life missing out on what we should be doing. I think we are exactly where we need to be for right now – adjusting to married life and learning to love each other in the very beginning of our marriage.

We may not always know why situations are the way they are, whether good or bad. But those situations are part of a plan. A plan that I hope we stay on track with. We cannot stick to His plan without keeping our eyes on Him. That is easier said than done.

I believe that God should come before your spouse. Jesus is “the one” and my spouse is the “two.” But honestly, it can be really hard sometimes. I know I talk to and think about Isaac so much more than my Savior. I don’t mean to. My prayer is that Isaac and I help each other stay on track.

I put my focus on other things more than Jesus too. Like my health condition. I worry about it a lot and spend a lot of time thinking about it.

What if all that time was spent thanking God for what He is doing in my life, leaning on Him, learning to trust Him and building my faith in Him for healing? Isaac has faith that I could be healed. In some areas, Isaac has a lot more faith than me. And I have more fear. I fear the unknown, I fear getting sick, I fear money problems…

This is my verse of the day:

“Fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Is. 41:10

Our Newlywed Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

We sure did. Isaac and I had our first married holiday together. We spend the first half of the day in Duncan, OK where Isaac’s grandma lives. I had never been there before, and it was a cute little town. It is where his 

mom grew up.

We had to leave early, because I ended up having a bad allergic reaction his grandma’s cat. Ugh! I felt bad that we had to leave earlier than expected. We wanted to spend time with his grandma since we hadn’t seen her since our wedding.

Then we drove back to OKC to go to my grandparent’s house to spend the evening with my family watching football and eating their Thanksgiving leftovers.  By the end of the day, we were pooped!

Izzy and I were passed out on our couch back at home by 8:30 pm. Dang!

I was able to eat a little more this year at thanksgiving compared to last year. I think I felt more confident in what I knew I could handle, and my gut is not as inflamed right now either. So, both of those things helped! I stayed away from the super fatty stuff like green bean casserole, dishes with lots of butter or any dairy type products.

Mostly, I ate turkey, plain green beans (I brought my own can, because every likes to season these with lots of butter or bacon!), rolls, a little bit of salad, little bit of mashed potatoes and that was it! It doesn’t take much to fill me up.

For dessert, I had made me own monster cookies for everyone and ate those. Also, I had a little bit of apple pie with frozen yogurt that I brought. I got a little bloated and upset by the end of the day, but who doesn’t on thanksgiving??

The important thing was I was able to enjoy the day without being stuck in the bathroom!

Isaac and I did have a very busy Thanksgiving by splitting the day up, but we were glad because we were able to spend the rest of the weekend together. We wanted some time with each other to relax and sleep in. We enjoyed it. J

Here are some family photos we took on Thanksgiving in my grandparent’s backyard with our doggy J

Oh by the way, a few posts back I wrote that I had steroid induced rosacea. Well, I can tell it has gotten better from this prescription I got called Finacea. See the pic below. I can definitely see improvement. :)

The Best Probiotic

Most everyone has seen commercials for probiotics to balance your digestive system. You may have browsed the probiotics in the drug store trying to figure out which one is the best one.

What makes them different? Which one is the best? Some are more expensive than others, why?

Well, I don’t know all these answers yet. I’m still trying to figure it out myself! I have wondered why some are so freaking expensive. And I have been overwhelmed with the options, wondering which one is best for me.

I can tell you what I do know so far.

I started out taking Align when I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I can say that Align helped my bloating and gas tremendously, and I really liked it. This brand worked well for me, and I took it for almost a year.

The reason I decided to try something different was because of the cost. A box that lasted me for a little over a month cost me about 50 dollars! With all the other drugs and prescriptions I pay for, that was just adding too much to my monthly budget.

So, I went back to the drug store and stared at my options. I decided to try Phillips Colon Health probiotic, which was cheaper. I think it was like 15-20 dollars for a month. I tried that for a little while, and 

I didn’t really like the results. I noticed more bloating and gas.

So, my doctor suggested that I try Acidophilus Pearls. For a 90 day supply I got them for about 20 dollars at Walgreens. Wow! I am almost out and have been taking them for almost 3 months, and I can say that they are great! Just as good as Align. They are the cutest pill I have ever seen. It is really tiny and totally looks like a pearl.

So what is the difference among all these and what exactly do probiotics do? The main difference among all these probiotics is based on how many live cells they have in them and what type of live cultures are in them.                

This is what I found from www.livestrong.com:

Nothing more frustrating than bloating, gas, fatigue, cramps, or diarrhea on a consistent basis, which is a good indicator that probiotics are needed to reduce or eliminate the problem. Probiotics are the good bacteria that protect the body from disease and are essential to build the immune system, improve digestion and control inflammation. The other benefits of probiotics include treating urinary tract infections, irritable bowel syndrome and helping to prevent eczema and food allergies in children. Probiotics may also help people who suffer with lactose intolerance because the bacteria in them can help people digest the sugar in dairy products, especially in milk. Probiotics have also been shown to improve how the body breaks down vitamins and minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, copper, magnesium and phosphorus.

These are the differences among these three probiotics:

Acidophilus Pearls:

Pearls helps relieve gas and cramping, bloating and constipation. It has two live cultures (Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium longum) in each capsule that help support the intestinal tract. Take one capsule per day, preferably with water. This product may be taken with or without food (livestrong.com).

Each serving has 1 billion CFU – amount of live cultures. More live cultures does not necessarily mean better quality. It means different probiotics can be effective at different levels. So, each one is different for each person depending on how you need it. (www.isaap.net)

Align:

This once-a-day capsule has Bifidobacterium infantis or Bifantis, which is a unique bacteria strain that has been proven to build a healthy digestive system and maintain healthy gastrointestinal flora. Align is the only probiotic on the market that contains Bifantis (www.livestrong.com).

Align also has 1 billion CFUs according to the Align website.

Phillips Colon Health:

Phillips’s has 1.5 billion CFUs per capsule.  These probiotic caps naturally rebalance your digestive system and promote regularity, with a proprietary blend of 3 of the most beneficial strains of good bacteria*:

Lactobacillus gasseri - To support nutrient absorption and lactose digestion

Bifidobacterium bifidum - To help guard against occasional intestinal disturbances

Bifidobacterium longum - To support digestive and immune health. These bacteria help naturally defend against occasional digestive upsets (www.phillipsrelief.com)

From what I can see, there is not a perfect probiotic. It depends on you and your body. You might just have to do trial and error and figure out what is best for you. I would think it also depends on how out of whack your digestive health is. I would think it would benefit everyone to take a probiotic, because of all the good it can do for your health in general.

Let me know what you think and what probiotics you have tried! 

A Different Kind of Strep and Rosacea

Update on my thrush that turned out to not be thrush:

So, you may have remembered a few posts ago when I wrote about thrush. Well for months I have had what I thought was thrush in my mouth. I took four 7 to 10 day doses of Difflucan to try and “kill” the yeast fungus in my mouth. That did nothing. The doctors were stumped.

Finally, I went in to see my general practitioner and she swabbed my mouth to culture it. When the culture came back, it showed that I had strep. Not strep throat. It is a different kind of strep. I have had no sore throat and no fever. I never would have guessed, and I didn't know there was such a thing.

If I have had an infection for the last 2 months, that would explain why I have been so freakin tired and just not feeling well in general. I have been able to function; I just have not felt “normal.” Of course, it has been strep mixed with tapering off Prednisone and still fighting Crohns. All of that just wears me out. Phew!

I think I am still trying to swallow the fact that a common symptom of Crohn's is chronic fatigue. 

So anyways, the doctor started me on some antibiotics Ampicillan. And after a few days, my mouth and tongue look almost normal again! I have not seen my tongue look pink in months! I hope it heals completely. Isaac and I celebrated last night by making out. Ha! I know, TMI.

7 days after I started the antibiotic, I went to the doctor for several symptoms I had been having for a week of just feeling ill- migraines, nausea, extreme fatigue, fever and a period that was on day 8. 

I still do not know the cause of all these symptoms yet, but I do know that I stopped the antibiotic and resumed Entocort - a drug that I had stopped last week. My GI doctor said I could stop taking it ( a drug that I had been on for a year a half) since I am on Cimzia now. I'm not sure if I had some kind fo reaction to coming off of it or what. They ran a bunch of blood tests etc. 

My forever long period that still has not stopped was apparently brought on by the antibiotic. Weird, I know. 

Steroid induced rosacea:

For the last month or two I have noticed my cheeks have been blushed or really red looking. It has gotten worse over time, and the redness is constantly there with little bumps and red veiny looking things on my cheeks. Heat and stress make it stand out more, but it never completely goes away. It does not make me feel attractive, and it is hard to cover it up with make up.

Isaac says I still look beautiful and he doesn't really notice it much. But I do. I see it, and it bothers me. I don’t like it.

My general practitioner suggested I go see a dermatologist. Last week, I saw a dermatologist, and she said it looks like steroid induced rosacea. Great. She thinks it should go away with time and being off the steroid. I sure hope so.

I had been using this Redness Relief Eucerine cream twice a day, when I noticed it was making the skin on my face feel really tight and it became extremely dry and itchy/ It was gross looking. It stings when I put it on. 

So, the dermatologist prescribed me this gel stuff called Fenacea. Tonight is my first night to try it, so we will see...

My skin all over has been so itchy lately. It might just be dryness in the air and the weather changing. Has anyone else felt this??? 

Let me vent:

It is times like these that frustrate me. It just feels like one thing after another. I want to cry. When will I feel normal again? I just want to have a break. I constantly feel tired all the time.

Is it ok for me to just vent in this blog post? I don’t like to whine a ton publicly about my health condition, but sometimes you just need to! It sucks having an autoimmune disease at 25 years old. I’m young. I’m not supposed to feel this way. I’m supposed to have energy and not go to the doctor so much. People always remind me, it could always be worse…yes, yes I know, but it doesn't mean it is not hard.  

I have learned to put a smile on my face a look somewhat normal even when I feel like crap, because I do  not want to look ill all the time and get attention for being sick all the time. I want to be understood that I am having a hard time, but I don't want people to feel sorry for me all the time. On the other hand, it has hard when I am feeling bad and people are like, "oh, well you look good." How I feel does not always show on the outside. 

I know it will get better. It has before. It goes up and down. It comes and goes. 

Lord, help me to see the good in this situation. Show me how you can use me with this condition. Heal me, soothe me, love me, protect me, and give me peace. Thank you. 

We bought a House!

Last weekend, Isaac and I bought our first home together. Wowee! We are still a little in shock thinking, did we really just purchase a home? When did we grow old enough to do that??

We began looking actually not too long after we got back from our honeymoon. Before we even began looking, we went to speak to a mortgage broker to see financially what this would look like and get pre-approved to buy a home. We had to find out if we were allowed and were able to buy a home first, before we started looking.

Looking for us did not mean we are for sure buying a house. We were just seeing what was out there and learning about what it meant to buy/own a home.

The looking part was harder than I thought it would be. I became very picky. I didn’t think I would be picky, because anything sounded better than a one bedroom apartment. But I realized than when you are putting so much money into something, it is okay to be somewhat picky. I also realized that you will not get everything you want in a first home. You must be willing to sacrifice some wants and realize you can get them later.

These are the most important things to me when we were looking for a home:

Layout- I wanted an open layout. I wanted the kitchen to be somewhat open to the dining and living room.

Pantry- must have for me.

Fireplace-also a must have

Good natural light meaning lots of windows

Good size closet space

3 bedrooms 2 bath

Fence in backyard for our sweetie pie (our dog Izzy)

Fairly updated-I did not want to buy a “fixer upper”

Big open kitchen with a lot of counter space and cabinets- I ended up with a smaller, galley kitchen. It is smaller than I had hoped for, but that was the one big thing I decided I could live without for a little while. 

Overall, I love the whole house, and the price and location were great so that is why I am good with our cute, little kitchen. Also, the kitchen feels bigger, because it is open to the living room.

After our offer on the home was accepted, (we made an offer after the home had been on the market for a day!) the real craziness began. The mortgage company was constantly calling asking for bank statements, copies of old checks from the past few months, running credit reports, questions about things on our credit, sending us paperwork to sign and fax back etc. We also had to shop for home insurance.

 A few days before we were supposed to close, a miscommunication happened between the sellers and their realtor. Long story short, we were told the sellers could not be out of the house by close.

After much negotiation and many phone calls back and forth with our realtor, (stress levels were high), we all came to a negotiation. We decided to close on Friday, and the sellers had until 4:30 pm the next day to be out of the house. We made a new contract that said this, and that they were financially responsible for any damage that might happen to the house after we closed. It was kind of like a lease agreement till they vacated. Our realtor collected a deposit from the sellers at close, and he would give it back to them after we did a second walk-through of the house after they had officially moved out.

When we did our first walk through on Friday, surprisingly they were almost completely out of the house. It was basically empty except for things in the garage and backyard. They ended up vacating earlier than expected on Saturday, which was great for us!

In the end, it all worked out and we are moved in. We have been living among boxes for the last week, but we our in our new home!

Here are some photos! You can see how large the backyard is! 

Izzy loves all the space to run around and having a backyard. Isaac loves his “man room,” and I love my home to decorate J I already know where I am going to put the Christmas tree!

My Crohns with moving:

The only time my stomach really acted up was right before closing. We went to the bank to get our cashier’s check, and I guess I got nervous. All of a sudden, I had bad stomach pain and had to have diarrhea. I was in the bathroom for a little while before we were able to get on our way to the title company. Once we got there and started going through the paperwork, I was fine and my nerves settled down.

On moving day, I felt pretty good. Thank goodness! I was even able to eat a few slices of pizza and nothing really healthy as a meal. 

Our Honeymoon Re-Do in Colorado

Isaac and I just went on our “Honeymoon Re-Do” last weekend, and it was a success! No broken bones or lost limbs like our original honeymoon. It was fun, relaxing and exactly what we needed. It was so nice to get away from everyday life, and just be with each other doing fun things.

We stayed at a friend’s house in Winter Park, CO and mostly relaxed a lot. Watched movies and TV while it snowed outside, slept in, made breakfast for lunch, and explored the town. On our last day, we drove north a little to Grand Lake, CO in Rocky Mountain National Park to explore the cute little mountain town and go hiking at Allen Falls.

We LOVED Grand Lake. We went to this cute shop called the “Goofy Moose” and bought some of our first married Christmas decorations. We bought a moose ornament, a plaque thing that has a tree on it, and a little Christmas tree figurine. Then we ate lunch at this restaurant called Sagebrush and Isaac had the best pulled pork sandwich he has ever had. I’ll admit, I don’t like barbecue that much, but it was pretty good meat.

I can see why it is important for couples to get away even just for a couple days every now and then to forget about normal responsibilities at home and focus on being with each other. I think the only thing we bickered about was where to eat while driving to Colorado and having a hard time finding somewhere off the highway. Haha. 

Here are some photos below from our trip :) 

How my stomach did on the trip:

My stomach did pretty good. Two nights I had really bad bloating and cramping. Like laying on the floor with a heating pad bad. Also, the altitude made us both pretty gassy - which is to be expected.

Thankfully, on our last day when we went hiking I felt my best! My stomach felt flat and no diarrhea, bloating or cramping that day at all.  

Since we had a kitchen in the house we stayed at, I brought a lot of food from home for me to eat. That way I was not relying on eating out for my diet on the trip. We ate out for dinners, and I did okay with Margarita pizza two nights and chinese food another night. 

Usually when I eat chinese food, I order steamed chicken not cooked in any oils with either dry seasonings or a light sauce, white steamed rice and if they have it, edemame. Love that stuff! 

We Are Going To Colorado!

This is a short work week for me, because my husband and I leaving for Winter Park, Colorado on Thursday for a little get away! Yay. We are really excited to get away and see mountains. We also plan on driving up to hike around in Rocky Mountain National Park.

I am labeling this little trip our “Second Honeymoon,” because our original one was awful.

Long story short, my husband lost the tip of his index finger on our second day in Mexico when we were on our honeymoon. While he was getting back into the boat from snorkeling, his finger got caught in the hinge of the collapsible metal ladder. From there, it just went downhill. We spent two days in a Mexican hospital, then when we got back to the resort it literally poured the entire time. Isaac was in so much pain too.

Here is a picture the day after his finger accident at Playa Med Hospital. We were waiting to be discharged from the hospital. It was a long night. If you are wondering what that thing was on his ear, they took a skin graft from the back of his ear to put on his finger, which ended up dying. They had to re-do everything when we got back to Oklahoma. He is doing so much better now! 

Thus the reason we need this little vacation to Colorado. J We need to get away and do something fun together, see beauty and just be with each other. Things have been so crazy lately starting off our marriage with getting Isaac better and with my health not in great condition either.

I am ready to see sites like these! Beautiful mountains!

We decided to drive which will take about 11 hours on Thursday. This will be our first long road trip together. I hope it is fun to be in the car together that long haha. People always say road trips are the best, but we just want to get there. Plus we will be driving north though Kansas, so it will be kind of a boring drive.

With this long of a road trip, one of the "Crohn's concerns" I have is getting to a restroom quickly if I need to go. Since I was diagnosed with Crohns, I have not been on any long road trips. Thankfully, I have been doing much better these past few weeks. So, hopefully I will not flare at any point during this trip. I pray that God blesses our second honeymoon, and that it will be a trip to remember - in a good way!

Another "Crohns concern" I have is how I am going to do with the change in altitude. I have been to Colorado before, and I usually get altitude sickness the first day. I’m not sure how I will be with all my drugs and this darn steroid in my system. I have been drinking a lot of water to prepare my body for the change in altitude.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for me?

I wonder if altitude change will affect my stomach at all? Not sure, but I will find out! 

Quit Corn Flakes?

Lately, I have been feeling pretty good. I just so want to get completely weened off this Prednisone. I am down to 5 mg. It just makes me very tired, shaky and achy. But my stomach is feeling a lot better lately! I can honestly say I have not had diarrhea in weeks! Crazy.

For some reason last night I had really bad stomach pain and bloating. Oh man, it was so painful. All I could do was lay on my back on the floor with a heating pad.

Isaac thinks this happened, because I ate Corn Flakes. The pain did come on right after I ate the cereal. But I have had Corn Flakes before without that specific pain. He thinks it has something to do with corn. This pain and bloating always happened right after I used to eat Corn Pops too. So, I quit eating those.

I might try eat a bowl of Corn Flakes one more time one evening just to see what happens. If it happens again, then I know it is for sure the Corn Flakes. Sad. I love that cereal.

But I do not love it enough. That was some bad stomach pain.

It's weird though, because most Crohn's websites say that Corn Flakes should be okay for people with Crohn's. Anyone have any knowledge??

Or maybe I had the bad stomach pain, just because my disease decided to flare up last night randomly. I mean that is part of having Crohn's! Sometimes there is no explanation to why symptoms come on other than my intestines are just inflammed and they have a mind of their own! Argh.

How I Eat Lactose Free

As I have mentioned before when I wrote about my diet, I stay away from heavy lactose foods. Most people with Crohn’s are lactose intolerant. Actually, I think a lot of people are in general to some degree.

When I was first diagnosed, I thought to myself, OMG, no more cereal, ice cream or cheese ever again?? But that is not true! There are ways around this to eat yummy dairy foods without lactose or getting an upset tummy. However, it all depends on the person too. Some tolerate more lactose than others.

Dairy foods that I CAN eat include:

Frozen yogurt

Eggs

Lactose free milk (Great Value at Walmart is the best!)

Most hard cheeses like swiss, sharp cheddar, mozzarella, goat cheese etc

I do fine with grated cheese on my tacos

And Dairy foods that I do NOT tolerate include:

Regular milk

Ice cream

Velveeta

Any kind of queso or liquid cheese like at Mexican restaurants- this is the worst!

Mac and cheese

Cheesy pastas at Italian restaurants

Cheesy garlic bread-this upset me terribly because of the cheese and butter smothered all over the bread!

Probably cheesecake, but I have not tried this in a long time.

The two “substitutes” I was most excited about to discover were frozen yogurt since I cannot eat ice cream and Great Value Lactose Free Milk. Love them!

Seriously, the lactose free milk tastes no different than regular milk. I think it tastes even better and it lasts longer than regular milk! We buy reduced fat or 2 percent. J Yum. I can eat cereal all I want. Of course it depends on the cereal, because certain cereals upset my tummy too. Corn Flakes and Cheerios are pretty safe for a Crohn’s tummy.

Recently, I bought this carton of frozen yogurt at Wal-Mart. It is really yummy and tastes juts like vanilla ice cream. This brand has different flavors of frozen yogurt too!

Health food grocery stores usually have lactose free ice cream that I have tried. Its okay, it just doesn’t taste all that great. But it is better than nothing! 

 Oh! And I also found these frozen yogurt fudge bars at Wal-Mart too! My husband even loved these. They taste just as good as regular fudge bars!

Please let me know if you know of any other great lactose free foods! I'm always looking for something new to try, because who doesn't love dairy? :)