Tag: rats

Flexi appointment soon

I’ve got my follow-up flexisigmoidoscopy booked for about two weeks time. Seeing as the biopsies they took when I was in hospital showed nothing, I’m doubting new biopsies will show much either. However, this scope should show if the inflammation has gone/reduced from my small bowel.

I’m still taking the modulen daily – and will be at least until I have my scope – but this weekend I decided to have a break; I’m only having half my usual amount (200g), with yogurts and soup making up the remaining calories (sort of). I’ve found I can handle small amounts of soft food (mashed potato, banana, ect) as well as some solid foods (I’ve had a few prawn crackers and some mozzarella sticks with no side effects). I hope this means I’m getting better and that I can start to introduce solids more regularly soon.

In other news, as some of you may know, I have pet rats. Unfortunately, one of my older girls had to be put to sleep last night as she was really poorly. Her sister is pretty upset with us so we’re giving her some space but keeping an eye one her at the same time.

I’m having a chilled day today so I decided to see if the rats like to play in water. Neither seemed too interested but I at least got cuddles with them both. I find playing with them very relaxing; they take my kind off of whatever’s bothering me and give me a moment where I don’t feel like the world is falling apart around me.

I’ve had a productive day today; got my humira delivered this morning (no one’s arranged to come round to help me take it but I’m feeling pretty ok to take it on my own because I did three in the hospital, so I’ll be taking the next two doses tonight), I cleaned out the rats, went out and got a few cooking supplies, and then made gluten-free toffee cupcakes and chocolate brownies.
I’m feeling a lot better today but I’m a little tired now. Looking forward to seeing a friend (who I don’t get to see very often) tomorrow.

Not IBD-related (unless you count interacting with my pet rats as part of my recovery), but this just happened and it’s cheered me up before bed.
This is Zynaida and she’s not normally easy to get out of the cage. She didn’t struggle this time though and she was very calm and happy whilst on my shoulder. So proud of her! @cutiespoonies

I’ve had a very lazy day today. I didn’t sleep in as late as I usually do on my days off but I have been doing very little. I’ve eaten a few bits that aren’t especially flare-safe but most of my food today has been safe (cereal, scrambled egg ect.) Unfortunately, the pain in my left side has increased over the last couple of days to the point I’m taking Zapain. I don’t normally need such a strong (for me) painkiller. I’m going to call the helpline tomorrow; I think this classes as becoming worse.

In entirely unrelated news, we’re making huge progress with our rats; we’ve managed to pick them both up and hold them (re: allowed them to run around our shoulders) outside the cage. This makes me very happy.

Halloween!

So, I didn’t do anything special for Halloween but I did go out for a meal with my wonderful fiance where we decided to go and see Dr Strange. It is a really good film, so if you haven’t seen it yet, go watch!

In other news, my side is hurting again even though I’ve stayed mostly gluten-free today (I had a tiny bit this evening in the form of a mini egg-custard tart and couple of oreo biscuits). I know I shouldn’t have eaten them but I have a huge weakness for egg-custard. I will do my best to be gluten-free tomorrow; I’ve got some gluten-free Genius bagels so I’ll have one of those for my lunch. I’m also having a bit more fruit at the moment but staying away from anything too acidic.

For those interested in the rats, they are both being adorable and have braved coming out of the cage fully and onto my arms/up my jumper and into the collar for a short time. I’ve learnt one of them likes chocolate but the other doesn’t, and they both like dried banana and coconut shavings as well as pork sausage. I will continue to try and get them used to being on me and rewarding them with treats like fruit as well as the occasional cheerio.

Holiday start!

So I’ve been to gym again today. I did mostly leg weights but did a little bit on the cross-trainer as well. I’ve noticed my bad knee doesn’t like the cross-trainer too much though so I might have to give up on that and stick to a brisk walk on the treadmill instead.

I’ve also been cooking again; truffles are chilling in the fridge and just need to be covered in chocolate at some point, and the latest batch of brownies are on the cooling rack. I’ll be taking the brownies with me to Lincoln on Wednesday so I’m not allowing myself to eat any of them until then.

As for my symptoms, my bloating has gone down quite a bit now that I’m taking only four steroids a day, and even though my appetite is quite low at the moment, I’m able to eat normally. I’m sticking to a reduced-gluten diet at the moment so I’m feeling quite a bit better. I did have a little pain in my left side over the weekend but that’s gone now as have the headaches (mostly).

For those interested, the rats are getting new bedding this afternoon so I’ll be having fun trying to get them out of the cage; they won’t let me pick them up yet.