Connie's Craptacular Day

Hey Marilyn, It looks like we're in the same boat! I just got a note from my "gastro doc" that it's colonoscopy time once again......Oh boy......I'm so excited.........NOT!!!!!! Most people start on the colonoscopy routine at age 50, but since I have a history of colon cancer in my family ( my Dad died of it years ago), my PCP started me on them at 45. As for the sleep, I've been all messed up on sleep cycles since I started on the "Vampire Shift". The good news is that a supervisor's job just opened up on the 2nd shift (3P to 11P).....It's still nights, but at least I can sleep fairly normal hours. Wish me luck that I get it!! Besides the sleep, are you getting enough B12?? I noticed that when I boosted my intake of B12, I felt much better and had a lot more energy. Just a thought. Of course just being sleep deprived and anemic is more than enough to make you feel tired and dragged out. I hope that you can solve your problems soon. Mike

Yup I am 52 & never had one so they thought it was time. I no what fun they are Not. & have already requested the night Before & day of off. So I am prepared already. As for the b-12 I haven't been very good about taking it of late. I do take a b-complex & b-12 when I think about it. With taking the Iron so much & can't take certain things with it. I have kind of got down on some of the others. I will take more b-12 & see if it helps. Even though the Iron is still low. I am workin the 3 to 11 shift right now too hope you get it. Grave is so hard on any body I did it for 7 years. Swing works much better for me. As always thanks for caring. Marilyn, the Bearlady

Connie, girl! You are the stuff my nightmares are made of! What are we going to do with you? How are we going to get you put back together right? As for the calling 911, man, you could have checked out behind the wheel....not a brilliant move, my dear. Next time, ask someone where you are or to call for help for you. If they get to a landline phone, E911 will take over for where you are. In fact, many cities now can trace where your cell is coming from. And when you get into an ambulance (or even while on the phone with 911) you *should* be able to request where they are to take you. As for that Urgent Care....man, that scares me. So they let you walk out the door realizing you might have a heart problem? They didn't just automatically call 911? That's a serious problem in my mind's eye. The one thing to remember is this: Even if it seems you can get to a hospital quicker by driving yourself, that commute could kill you if you really are having a heart attack. Waiting a couple of minutes until an ambulance reaches you means that the staff can work on you WHILE you are in transit....and potentially save your life. Okay - lecture over. You just scared me....I hope you know where this is coming from. I just want you to make sure you take the safest route possible! Now, as for the potassium issues, they can give you a potassium fizzy that dissolves in water. It's nasty as hell, but it absorbs immediately. I had the same low potassium issues years ago after taking a med prescribed to me. So my doctor (who I worked for) would sit me down in front of a cup with that wretched stuff dissolving in it and wouldn't leave until I drank it all. They try to sweeten it and make it taste fruity, but imagine putting massive salt in your Kool Aid and you know what it tastes like. Anyway, I bet you would absorb the potassium if you took that stuff. I just did a search to find what it was and what I took was called K-Lyte. You can read about it here: http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/DVH/Uses/0,3915,8098%7CK%252DLyte,00.html As for the skin cancer, I'm pretty convinced it's just your way of getting a free facelift out of the deal. Go ahead - admit it....it is all a ruse. ;) Seriously though, I hope all works out well with that as well. My cousin just found out he had melanoma on his arm and he was ready to check out - thought he was a goner. He's had it for quite some time and has refused everyone's urgings to get it checked. Well, thankfully it was isolated and they got it all. Very scary though - especially for how long he's had it. I do know of 2 other people I work with who had melanoma on their face and they are fine once they got rid of it. Take care of yourself my friend. I will check back to see how you are doing for your next "Craptacular" installment.... Dina

putting in my two cents. next time with chest pain no matter how crappy the closest hospital is call 911. a crappy hospital is better than no hospital. that done. we are all astronots in a way. all of us are gastric by pass space travelers. I agree with Reenie that I wasn't informed about what happens after. but i do think they told us what they knew. we are the ones helping the next ones in line to go into gastric space travel. now and then I hit the first timers message board and will see different questions about what do i do for this or what do i do for that. usually you can read the terror of not knowing if they will get permission for their surgery and the heart ache of when will it be. i never went and read things from the older boards of people who had the surgery. if i'd read that would i have not had the surgery? no I'd still have gone through with it and even now knowing all the different issues that can happen i'd do it again. just for the reasons that connie said if she'd not had it. sure i am facing things that might not have been there if i'd not had the surgery but if i'd not I'd be facing something jsut as nightmarish. and if we all think about it if we were people who hadn't needed to lose weight but were just "Normal" sized people, well we'd have other things to worry about. i like to go to that beginning board and read and now and then give them my two cents. let em know that i'm happy i had it done i'd do it again but hey your hair falls out, you look like a sharpae dog, sometimes you can't poop sometimes you poop too much but what the heck its life, and you will be thinner and you will be healthier than you were before in the ways that you wanted. usually. connie i'm to call my doctor and get my mole checked.