Re: Chrissy from

[Guest guest]

Chrissy,

My GI and internal med doc have a great relationship. My internal med doc was

the one who called in my current GI back in June 2003. I had been under the

care of a GI in Birmingham (100 miles south) who kept insisting my pancreas was

fine. He first said I had adhesions causing all the problems. Then when that

was proven wrong, he did the liver biopsy that my internal med doc had been

saying I needed for four months. Found out I have autoimmune liver disease and

then he blamed all my pain on the liver disease. when I ended up in the

hospital under my internal med doc's care for the first time, he said there was

no way that it was anything but pancreatitis since my lipase was elevated. I

talked him into letting me go home after about 4 or 5 days because Nikki was in

town and we had several wedding appointments. Nikki assured me that she could

handle the appts on her own, but you know us moms, we just have to be there for

our babies, no matter how old they are! I made it through all the wedding appts

but that evening I ended up back at the ER. My lipase and liver enzymes were

even higher than they had been when I was admitted before. I made it about 36

hours before I was back in the hospital! My internal med doc came to the ER and

told me that from now on I had to listen to him! I told him that was worse than

having to listen to my mom. He smiled and said he was sure that was true! He

called in my current GI and that's when I was diagnosed with CP.

Anyway, I've rescheduled my colonoscopy for Nov 10th. My appt with the surgeon

ended up being on the same day as the colonoscopy was originally scheduled - Nov

3rd. Of course, given a choice of postponing the appt with the surgeon or the

colonoscopy, I chose to put off the colonoscopy!

I am sure I'm probably not walking enough. That's probably a lot of why I am

having such trouble with gas. I hadn't really thought about walking having an

impact. Hard to make yourself walk when you feel like crap! However, I will

make an effort to increase my walking. As for the miralax, I've taken it on

several occasions as much as 2-3 times a day for a week or two at a time and I

can't seem to tell that it helps at all.

As for my kids, my daughter, Nikki, and her husband, , are students at

the University of Montevallo. It is a small liberal arts college with about

4000 students. In fact, UM is the only public liberal arts university in the

country so it is somewhat unique. Montevallo, AL is a small town 30 miles south

of Birmingham, and 130 miles south of our home - Athens, AL. UM was absolutely

the perfect place for Nikki to go to college. She has blossomed into such a

lovely young woman while she has been there. And, of course, she wouldn't have

met if she hadn't gone to UM. Nikki got her B.A. in English on May

8th. She and got married on May 29th after a 2 1/2 year engagement.

will get his BS in accounting in December. Nikki will get her master's

in Education the end of May 2005. Nikki and are both 22.

My stepdaughter, , is 20 years old. She is currently engaged to her

boyfriend of 3+ years, Luke, who is 23. They are both in college, also.

is going to the University of North Alabama (UNA). She's majoring in marketing.

Luke is going to a Muscle Shoals Community College and taking pre-engineering

classes. UNA is in Florence, AL, about 45 miles west of Athens. and

Luke are planning on getting married around September 2006. Hopefully I will

have recovered from Nikki's wedding by then!

I used to think it would be horrible to have an empty nest. I have to say that

it has been a wonderful time in my life. My relationship with both girls is so

wonderful. Nikki and I spend a lot more time together now than we did when she

was a teen. We often talk for hours on the phone. She and are really

remarkable. They truly listen to the advice of those older and wiser than them.

They have so many decisions to make over the next few years. They often feel

very overwhelmed. Things like - should they start trying for kids after the

first of the year or should they wait longer. Should go ahead and

start trying to transfer to this area before Nikki graduates or would it be best

to wait. You know, all those kinds of decisions that most newly married couples

must make. I give them my opinion but always tell them that there may be

numerous 'right' decisions. I tell them that I trust them to make the decision

that is best for them. Nikki often tells me that she'd rather have someone else

make the decision for her. I normally laugh and tell her that's what being an

adult is all about. You have the responsibility of living with the impact of

your decisions and you are mature and wise enough to be somewhat scared about

making all the decisions you must make. I believe that a little fear is a very

good thing. I also tell them that delayed gratification makes you a stronger

person, so she and ought to be VERY strong! It seems they have been

waiting for one thing or another the entire time they've been together. They

considered getting married 12 -18 months sooner than they did but decided it

would be best to wait until after Nikki got her first degree. They would love

for Nikki to be pregnant right now, but for now, they are waiting a while. They

would love to be living closer to home, but, again they must wait a while for

that, also. However, despite having to wait for a lot of things they want, they

are still truly enjoying married life and they are not just sitting around

waiting and longing for the future.

Well, enough already. I could talk about my kids all day long! Tell us about

your kids.

W

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