The Birthday Girl Has Gastroparesis

Last night was my birthday party and I had a blast! Even though I started my day off throwing up and I felt like I was being stabbed in my side/stomach all day long, I still quite enjoyed myself. When you struggle every day with an illness like Gastroparesis, you take the good with the bad in stride, you just have to. 

Due to my having been in the emergency room on Thursday and not going to work Friday, I didn't have the time or energy to go shopping for decorations. I had big plans for my Masquerade Ball theme, but those all fell through because of my illness. I had to rely on my mom to go shopping for the decorations the morning of my party and hope that she would find things that would suffice. In the end, what she found was great and I just went with the minimalist approach. 

I had set up a little area to be like a photobooth with masquerade masks for people to use and a banner that read "HOORAY". The dining room table held my cupcakes and had flat masks with feathers on them as well as mason jars filled with black and white M&Ms. Like I said, a minimalist approach. 

Every year I cook for my friends and this year, despite feeling so ill, was no different. This time I cooked a chicken and vegetable soup, chili, and a corn cake/bread. Everyone must have liked it because everything was gone pretty quickly! The only thing left behind was some of the soup and I sent that home with someone. 

We played the annual game How Well Do You Know Christine, a quiz-like game comprised of fill-in-the-blanks and multiple choice questions. It's just a silly little game to give my friends a way to win some candy. Then we played Draw A Cake On the Back of A Paper Plate While the Plate Is On Top Of Your Head. Everyone did a fantastic job and it was so hard for me to pick the best one, but I ultimately picked my friend Jessica's because she also wrote "Happy Birthday" on her's. But it was SO hard to chose!

We then had cupcakes--I don't have a cake anymore, there's always too much left over--which are made by the lovely Midnighy Bakery. She put different kinds of masks on each cupcake and they looked fantastic! And they tasted great, too! I only ate half of mine though. 

I so appreciate all of my friends and family that came out to celebrate with me. It means a lot! I think they had a good time...I know that I did. Despite feeling the way I did, I wasn't going to let it ruin my time with my friends!