Murphy

For better or worse, I was the owner of a '95 Subaru for the past two years. It hauled my stuff up to Alaska almost two years ago, hauled it all back a month ago, and took me and my kayaks many places in between. But I sold the Murphy. I just didn't like him anymore. Because with Murphy, whatever could go wrong, would go wrong...

TMI?

I get to have a colonoscopy and endoscopy on the 26th of August. So I'm gluten free for another 2-3 weeks, then going on a gluten tour of Western Washington for 2-3 weeks, then don't eat for a day... should be good times... hopefully they find something that can lead to something other than the bullshit diagnosis of IBS*. But I get to wait at least another month to find out. I guess this is why I moved back, because if I hadn't it would be yet another trip back and forth... But I wouldn't mind being in Haines for the summer... if only...

*After talking with friends, we have agreed that IBS is what doctors say you have when they know something is wrong with your digestive system, but can't tell you what it is. "Oh, you have stomach issues but don't have Celiac, Crohns, food allergies, or a parasite of some sort? Huh. It must be IBS."

wait for it...

So I went to see a GI specialist at the University of Washington Medical Center today. What did he tell me? Here's the dramatized version...

Dr: It easily could just be IBS.
Me: Wait... you're telling me that I have had such crippling pain that I've almost gone to emergency rooms and moved 1,000 miles to be closer to doctors, and this is something that I just have to deal with?
Dr: Maybe. But since this really seems to be bothering you, we'll do a colonoscopy, endoscopy to take a biopsy of (insert technical thing regarding gluten here), a full blood work-up, and more labwork on a stool sample.
Me: What is that going to tell us?
Dr: Probably everything will come back negative and it's just IBS.
Me: So I just have to live with it?
Dr: Yes. It could be Post Traumatic IBS, which would mean that it could go away eventually, but that can take years.
Me: So we're just going to test for everything rule out other possibilities?
Dr: Yes. Oh, and for the biopsy to work, you have to eat gluten for at least two weeks before.
Me: So I basically get to eat whatever I want again.
Dr: Yes.
Me: DONUTS!
Dr: Oh, and I want you to start consuming more fiber. Try citrucel.
Me: Awesome. Or something.

So where does that leave me right now? The same place I was over six months ago. What the heck stomach?!?!?

a week in

I've been back in the lower 48 for just over a week. Granted, I spent half of that time in Oregon with my family, so I haven't exactly had the chance to settle in, but I think things will be ok. In all honesty, I think the hardest part about being in the big city will be loneliness... being that I am living between 35 and 1000 miles from most of my friends. I wonder if this is how people who live out the road feel...