Archive for March, 2009

So, I haven’t been feeling very well lately.  This week, I thought I had the flu, but it’s looking suspiciously like a potential Crohn‘s relapse.  I’ve been denying some pains over the past few months, trying to attribute them to another intestinal malady that’s very common..IBS, but after the past three days of excruciating pain I realize I’ve been deluding myself.

Even so, I’m trying to stay positive and convince myself that I do have a really weird case of the flu or sporadic food poisoning.  How often do you hear someone wish for the flu or food poisoning??

Come on FLU!  GOOOOO salmonella!

It’s not looking good.

Of course I jumped to it and called my doctor for an appointment…which is scheduled for August of 2010, but I’m hoping to get in in the next two weeks.  I’m being proactive and asking for a barium test BEFORE I see him since I know that’s what he’ll want to do.  That, and put me back on Remicade, which he thinks I should have never stopped.  *sigh* I must have gotten weak in my two healthy years because I’m in a lot of pain and the thoughts of 4 hour IV treatments every 8 weeks isn’t so bad.

I had an amazing pain threshold before if I was able to handle this pain level pretty regularly.  At least maybe I’ll lose weight from all the nausea. To my Biggest Loser competitors: Does that count as cheating?

Come on FLU! GOOOO salmonella!!

Me asking for a barium test is like Satan asking for a holy water popsicle.  I hate hate hate that test.  It makes me want to throw up.  Violently (I’ve never actually thrown up because of it.  I’ve come close…)  If it will let me know where my intestines stand, I suppose I’ll put up with it.  I’ve been trying to convince my doctor to let me swallow that little camera, but he’s never really gone for it.  You’d think they could invent a barium pill that you swallow, drink a ton of water and it dissolves in your stomach so you don’t have to taste that crappy stuff.  Even fruit flavored it’s disgusting.

The second to last time I had to do this test (June 2005) something funny happened.  Well, at the time it wasn’t funny…humiliating is more like it, but as time passed and healed old wounds, it became funny.  I was sitting in the waiting room at 8am having just been handed the first batch of barium-deliciousness. I was scowling at it like I usually do for the first 10 minutes.  I have to use a straw because I can’t let the barium touch any part of my mouth so it took quite a while to get the first sips down.

I know I’m a baby…it’s ok.

As I’m sitting there  s l o w l y sipping away (and obsessively wiping my mouth every time) an elderly lady came into the waiting area with her own barium bottles.  She was accompanied by her daughter who was helping her get settled.  By this time, I’ve only managed to drink about 3/4 of my first batch, knowing I have  a second one coming.  It was not going well.  This lady who can’t even open the bottle herself waves away the cup and straw and proceeds to chug the entire bottle in  about 35 seconds.  It was like watching a freak of nature.  Then as I sadly look at my remaining batch, I watch her gesture for the other bottle.  Within 2 minutes she had downed both bottles and I was still nursing my first one…going on 35 minutes.  Of course I was embarrased and shamed.  I just moved to the corner where I could sip in peace and not be influenced by others.

I’ve had 6 barium tests in my life.  The first one took me 4 hours to drink.  They finally came in and told me if I didn’t drink faster I would have to start over.  That worked.  Each one has gotten progressively quicker with the one above taking 1.5 hours and the last one (January 2006 if you’re wondering) taking only 35 minutes to finish two bottles.  Yay!  Yes the memories of that lady kept me going strong.

This is what it looks like, in case you’re wondering.  Usually, I have to drink TWO of these.  With a straw.  And a gag napkin.  Not pleasant.

This is what it makes your insides look like.  This is an xray of a person with Crohn’s in the small intestine (like me.)  The arrows are pointing to a narrowed area that’s inflamed.

Crohn’s is an auto immune disease affecting the GI tract.  Basically, for some unknown reasons, inflamation builds up inside the intestines causing them to swell and close up, causing blockages.  This is what causes the abdominal cramps and pain.  Obviously…things can’t get through.  You can see on this xray via the arrows the small intestine has virtually swollen shut (not the technical term, but the easiest to understand)

This is not a picture of my intestines (those are upstairs on a CD…wasn’t sure if it was an overshare) but this is a good example.  My previous affected area was where the small and large intestines meet.  That’s where I had 12 inches of small intestine removed 2 years ago.

I know I’m complaining about a disease I knew was chronic and would eventually resurface , I was just  hoping for more than 2 years before it came roaring back.  It could be worse, I’m well aware that people out there suffer more than me.  Once I know for sure my status, I’ll be able to better deal with it (or once I’m able to handle the pain level it will be easier, too).  I’m just disappointed and frustrated and in pain.

Having said that, I’m very thankful that I’ve had two pain-free years and an intensive surgery and recover that were astonishing.

Even so, I ask you to join me in this very important plea:

Come on Flu!!! GOOOOO salmonella!

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about goals for this year…personal, health, travel, and professional goals. I’m sad to say I haven’t made much progress on any of them!  But I’ve been rejuvenated lately regarding some of those goals. (Thanks Kim…we’re making triathlon progress!)

I’ve begun following a lot of librarian/reader blogs because even though I spend my days working with books, I can’t seem to keep up with all the reading I need to do…for my own enjoyment OR my job! I found this post from Everyday Reading very inspiring and as a result I’ve decided to track the books I read this year.

I’d like to read 150 new books this year. Notice I said NEW…because if you read this blog you know I’m always rereading a book, so I won’t count those on this list, but I will keep track of the rereads as well, just for my own information. So again, my goal is to read 150 new books this year, which is an average of 12.5 books per month.  OK, so that’s a complete misrepresentation of realistic statistics because I could read a picture book in 20 minutes and a chapter book could take me one to seven days depending on a number of mitigating factors…how long it is, the intended audience, how much time I have to devote to reading, etc. Do you see you unnamed federal education lawmakers, just how easy it is to misrepresent statistics?? Anyway my list will include picture books, children’s books, young adult books, books for adults and professional reads. I make no distinction between books.

I added a page at the top of the blog where you can track my reads for the year.  If, if, if, I decide to review a book (something I don’t like to do. Remember…I talked about this already) I will add a link to my review.

Happy reading!
Chris

In case you’re dying to know…I think my count for the year is 10…technically according to my unrealistic statistic, I’m already behing schedule!

I made a VoiceThread about Venetian Boat Knots — please go to VoiceThread, make a free user name (it’s free forever if all you are going to do is comment on other threads) and comment if you’d like to see how VT works! I have comments moderated right now, so yours might not show up right away.

This week I was lucky enough to attend a technology conference for teachers.  I’ve been able to attend three times in the last four years.  I missed a year when I was in the hospital recuperating from surgery.  It’s a pretty good conference, even for the one day I get to attend.  I’ve won a technology award each of those years which allowed me to get a free registration otherwise I wouldn’t be able to go.  This year we had a few teachers involved in the project (a student video productions club) so a large group of us was able to get the free tickets.  I always find at least one thing that I get pretty excited about and can’t wait to try out at school (or home.)   This year was no exception.

But before I get to that…have you seen WORDLE? You can make your own customized word cloud art.  You’ve probably seen something like this framed in a store and it’s really expensive.  This is cool because you can use your own chosen terms and keep changing the display until you find the perfect one.

Here’s what you do:
Go to www.wordle.net
Click “Create Your Own”
Paste in your text, from a poem, speech, etc. or type your own words in.  I’m going to do one for Nina and Billy (our cats)

The more frequently a word is included in the list, the bigger it gets in the final arrangement.  There are lots of customizable options too, including fonts, colors, fills, background colors.  This could make a nice gift for someone, provided they are not annoying cats who eat everything in sight and make lots of noise when you’re trying to sleep in in the morning.  Just saying.

The really cool thing I wanted to talk about is something called VoiceThread.  I’m still working out all the details, but basically you upload photos or video clips and you make an initial recorded comment about it.  Then you throw it out there for other people to comment on.  (They have to make a free VoiceThread username.) The photo/video collects various audio comments from people and displays them around your photo. It’s really cool.  Here’s a quick tutorial.

You can have a free account, but are limited to 3 VoiceThreads only.  The yearly subscription rate is $60 which isn’t bad if this is something you’ll do to keep in touch with family.  Either way…it’s a neat way to make photos a little more interactive.  Another digital scrapbook, I guess.

VoiceThread has a school safe site as well, which I’m looking into.  I’d like to enhance a project I do with the 5th grade students/teachers.  It’s a Superhero unit where we study elements of the fantasy genre and superheros which culminates with the creation of a superhero of their own, complete with powers and costume.  Then, I take their photos on a blue screen and we import them into a drawing program and they draw their costume over their photo.  This would add one step where the students could comment on each other’s projects (about elements of the assignment, not random comments)…anyway, I digress.

I wanted to have a VoiceThread made so I could post it here and you (all four of you that read my blog) could comment on the photos if you wanted too…but I didn’t get around to it today.  Check back and I’ll probably have one up sooner or later.