Safe Foods and Not-so-Safe Foods

There are some things that I love that I have come to accept as not safe tummy trouble foods for me; spinach, cole slaw, popcorn, nuts being the primary ones.

There are some that I have my doubts about being good for me...like peanut butter and cream cheese. (both manageably ok in just smear on bread or a dab or so elsewhere), lettuce-a leaf on a sandwich ok-more than that not good.

Then there are other foods that should be on the list but I keep thinking I can do in small amounts or maybe that wasn't a problem caused by the food but by the infection I had or some such. These foods, seem innocuous, very unproblematic and for goodness sake, non-replaceable diet components. (though spinach is hard...especially for a mostly vegetarian-next time you go out-look for a vegetarian-friendly dish without it-primary reason I eat more meat than I did 5 years ago)

The primary problem seems to be tomato-involved. 2 tomato slices on a sandwich-again ok, mostly. Puree those tomato slices and mix them with a nice friendly carb like say- noodles or pizza crust-arg. Not good.

My realization about this has been slow coming. (probably precisely because I eat a good number of tomato slices in a week-ok well maybe 5)

I have noticed the tomato sauce-bleack tummy effect before. I have put off pizza. I have even used this as an excuse not to eat "my specialty." (not that my specialty is anywhere near the top 10 list of foods, but the rest of the family seems to rank it highly) No biggy. I have never been a tomato sauce fan, but now I have a problem.

You see, once upon a time, there was a pizza place I loved. It closed when I was no older than 10. I burned my mouth on their pizza. I loved their pizza. Then other places nearby made pizza with similar crust, foldy, slippy, bubbly yummy crust. In fact, I thought this was how all pizza crust was created with the exception of the slightly odd and more expensive "deep dish" crust. I grew up with the bubbly, foldy crust.

Then I grew up and got married and moved away from home, not far at first so I didn't realize I was giving up good crust for good. Then we moved to the upper midwest where pizza crust in non-chain places was some sort of crackery thing. Hated it. Really hated it. Searched vainly off and on for good pizza but ok, it was the midwest. Things could get better. Then we moved to the west coast. The pacific northwest. Interesting pizzas, my first regular visits to 'gourmet' pizzas. I learned to love white pizzas of all sorts. We moved here. On our pre-move trip, we happened upon a great place, pizza nirvana. (with fab cannolis too) I think that decided the move for me. It closed a month after we got here. (with all the gossip that happens when busy, popular, really good Italian places vanish)

So, tonight we ordered pizza for the first time in months. Domino's special. I had seen the ad on the internet. Brooklyn Pizza. Ok, so it is Dominos but the ad looked promising. The pizza delivered (and was delivered) and it was wonderful (ok, other than the sauce, the toppings and the cheese, which retained the Domino's taste which I don't object to really-because well Domino's has often been as close as I can get to my version of perfect pizza in my adult life.) I was in love. I was going to budget for more pizza in our life without hurting our pizza restaurant working boy's feelings and without feeling guilty for supporting those Domino's people who have some views I don't like to pay for.

But, then.....sigh...the bathroom. Pizza-definitely on that list because I have actually done ok this week (well, bathroom-wise that way) GRRRRRRRRRRR. Finally, I can get decent crust for however many weeks until Domino's decides it is a bust and well, it isn't really worth the bathroom trips. Crohn's rots.

Happy World Toilet Day

In honor of the day...how about some urban legends. Or better yet.....play Urgent! The Game

Big Day in Toilets

Today is the first day of the World Toilet Expo in Bangkok. The theme is Happy Toilet Healthy Life. Now think about that for a minute. I did...and now I am wondering if my toilet is not happy with me.

Granted I can find something of interest in any conference but some of these sessions sound particularly great.

• Progressing towards gracious living
• The Happy Toilet: By Design, Not Chance
• Building Dignity, Not Toilets
• Toileting at Ease, Maintaining a Breeze
• And MORE!

Not only that there is an expo where you can:

"Discover effective hygiene solutions, as well as gain insights into the latest toilet-related trends, technologies, products and services from leading brands names."

Pretty cool stuff!

Toilet Paper

Toilet paper seems to have been invented in China in the 14th century for the Emperor's use. Squares were approximentally 60 cm x 90 cm. Do you think that the squares of toilet paper now should be bigger or smaller or are they just right?

Skeet has a Blog

Frequent tummy troubles commenter and good friend Skeeter has a blog! Go give it a peek, a comment and of course, subscribe to it because while she may claim she isn't interesting, she is very interesting and you don't want to miss a post.

Look What You Can Get

Perfect for the tummy troubled. Well maybe not since that can be messy and cleaning might be a bit more troubling. But, yes, you can make it operational and everything.

So, if someone in your house rules from their throne...make it look like one with this!

Prescription Drug Costs

This article reports on a study that says that doctors forget costs in prescribing only a third of the time. I am thinking that the only time a doctor has discussed prescription costs with me, I have brought it up.
Uh no, we can not do 30 days in a row of cortenemas, even if I loved them, which I don't. The insurance will pay for 5 and that will still cost me 40 bucks. What are our other options?

Of course, I don't know this until I show up at the pharmacy and they say "well the doctor wrote for 30 but first we need to special order them, second your insurance company will only let us dispense 5." "Ok, well do that and I will call the doctor" (which of course means the switchboard with press 52 followed by the # sign if you haven't passed out going through our options by this point and you still have something you want to say to our doctors)

Prescription costs are a problem, a big problem. They are one that really need to be addressed when the meds are prescribed. No one should have to think well, yeah, that script would help a lot and probably will save me much in the long run but I can buck up this month because we don't have the 40, 120, 260 bucks to pay for it this month.

If you don't remind your doctor this may be an issue...he/she may not have the foresight to mention alternatives. They get the nice samples and the literature and the newest drug may be the best option as far as meds, but it won't do any good if you can't afford it or can't sustain the blow to your budget. What has been your experience with doctors bringing up the cost of scripts?

Of course, telling your doctor, hey, wait a minute, I am not sure I can afford this, is hard. You want to get better. Obviously the doctor thinks that is how you will get better. You also have to deal with your shame over NOT having a life that allows for such expenses. Meds shouldn't be a luxury. Health care shouldn't be...but it is...even if you have insurance, even if you are not "in poverty." People make the decision whether to pay for electricity and their child's field trip as well as the presents for the 3 birthday parties their child got invited to this month or pay for their medications every day in this country. These are people with steady jobs, a car to drive and "everything" they need...except the $80.00 to pay for another prescription every month.

Teeth before Tummy

I had three teeth pulled. I knew these three teeth were in trouble but the scarey estimate to get them pulled was not at the top of my must spends...until they got evilly bad. They hurt.

Went to the dentist, yep, you still need them pulled...here is the oral surgeon because, well these aren't easy ones and see that there...that is where the root is wrapped around your sinus. Very dangerous.

They felt some better after that weekend, so I stalled. But not better enough I could dismiss them entirely, so I went and had the pre visit-woo hoo 1600 bucks to pull them. (in addition to the 6 k in regular dental work that needs to be done--well regular in the way that a regular dentist does it)

Uhhh let me figure out my calendar. Figured it out, made a nice appt for mid november. Well, then things went bad. REALLY, REALLY, mind-numbingly run a fever while on immunosuppressants bad. (This is really bad, if I spike a temp after years on imuran...not good)

Called the dentist, they called in antibiotics, come in right away. (in dentist terms, the next day)

Had them pulled yesterday. Mouth hurts, bled forever, still bleeding a little bit but all and all MUCH better than say TUESDAY NIGHT when I was pretty sure that it was much worse than any crohns pain ever. Really it was and leftover surgery pain meds, clove oil, ambesol, vanilla extract and everything else that I could think of or the internet thought of to cure dental pain helped. AT ALL.

Missed two days of work (yesterday and today) and a couple hours wednesday, officially overdrawing my sick leave--again. Damn it. I am doing everything I can to save vacation time so I can spend it with my kids before they go off for the spring (and so I can go see them in February)

In any case, years of yucky tummy, coca-cola and sucking on mints...combined with a previous really bad dentist and lack of money...bad for teeth. But, years of Crohns-they didn't have to give me a lot of info as to what was a soft cold food or a soft warm food.