Upper GI's Are Fun

Had my upper GI series today. Wasn't bad, I just had to stand in front of the x-ray thing, and drink thick, vaguely fruit-flavored barium while the doctor took pictures, then go forth and eat something. I have to drink much fluid over the next couple of days, because the barium will make you constipated, and oh, by the way, my shit will be white. Nice.

Hopefully Dr. Griffith (the surgeon) will like what he sees, and I can have the Esophyx procedure. I'm sitting here right now, "enjoying" a round of heartburn for no discernable reason. I haven't eaten anything that should cause heartburn. I just ate a handful of antacids; that will straighten it out pretty soon.

The most excitement associated with the GI series is that they almost had me drink this fizzy stuff that was going to inflate my pouch. I kept telling them "I've had gastric bypass, I'm not sure I should drink that", but what do I know? I'm just the person with the surgically modified stomach. Then the doctor came in, saw I'd had gastric bypass, and said "NO!!! She can't drink that stuff! We'd blow her pouch out!" He was almost panicky. Nice to know I almost had a splodey tum.

In rental house news, we tried to match the color of the hall paint and couldn't. So we went to Wal-Mart and found a Dutch Boy color that was pretty close (Whitetail Deer). I was hoping it was close enough that it would blend in, but it's a hair lighter. So I just cut in all around the hall way, and tomorrow I'll roller the rest. Mike says he can't tell, but I sure can. Then again, I'm really good at seeing small differences in tints and shades of color, so who knows. It won't take any time to roller the hall, so I'm not upset. I like painting; if I could do it all over, I'd probably be a house painter.

Haven't heard from the lady with the cash offer, so I don't know, maybe $90K was still too rich for her blood. We sprayed X-O all over the place and Mike scrubbed it into the carpet with a rubber broom. I've got more coming Monday, so we'll do it again. Got to mow the lawn over there too.

I sure hope it moves soon -- this house just reduced its price by about $20K... needs some work, a little paint, the basement finished, but it's on an acre, in a cul de sac, and I think it has potential.

Barium Isn't So Fun

The latest side effect of thick, vaguely fruit-flavored barium? Horrific heartburn no antacid would touch. All evening. The only thing that finally got it to calm down was Cheerios. The O-shaped oat cereal. I don't know why, but when my pouch decides to re-enact the Great Chicago Fire, the only things that will make it Stop That! are either rye bread or Cheerios. I don't know if it's the caraway seeds in the rye bread, the oats in the Cheerios, or some murky psychological something or other going on, but I don't care -- I don't have a Fiery Pit in my stomach anymore. If it works, it works.

So yeah, I'll be bringing a loaf of Ingle's rye bread to Chicago with me. Just In Case. And Shel, if I suddenly leap up and run to the bathroom, and you hear gagging, don't worry. It's just me hurking up some bright yellow bile. I'll be okay.