At first, when all of those supplies showed up at my house along with all of the devices, it was daunting. I felt as though I was sitting in a sea of never ending syringes and alcohol swabs and saline flushes...and I didn't know how to use ANY of them! My mind and my heart felt overwhelmed by the boxes and bags of equipment splayed out around me. "When did my life become an episode of ER?" kept running through my mind.
But as the tears began to form in my eyes and my heart raced, something deep inside me told me that I had to conquer this like I've conquered so much before it. And as the supplies were organized and my set up became part of my routine, it has all become less discouraging and more a part of my life. And when supplies begin to run low, I find myself looking forward to Supply Delivery Day!
And it's like Christmas or a birthday every week as you open up boxes and bags of supplies; mostly of things you were expecting (TPN, vitamins, alcohol wipes) and things you weren't because you forgot about them (flushes, needles, syringes, stockinettes, batteries, etc.) And, as you rifle through the newly arrived supplies, you realize just how much it feels like Christmas in the middle of June.
Viewing these weekly deliveries as positive as opposed to added stressors to the Chronically Ill Life, it helps to manage this often intimidating, scary, and exhausting aspect of being ill.
Do you know what caused your gastroparesis?
ReplyDeleteHello! Thank you for your question. No, I do not know what caused my Gastroparesis. I am not diabetic and had not had any surgeries nor had been sick prior to coming down with the disease. Right now I am diagnosed as true idiopathic Gastroparesis, which makes me even harder to treat. They're currently trying to figure out if I have an auto immune disease or maybe it this is something else all together presenting as Gastroparesis. But, currently, nobody has any idea of what is causing my Gastroparesis or Gastroparesis-like symptoms.
DeleteMay I ask what your gastric emptying results were?
ReplyDeleteI've never been told numbers. I've just been told everything from mild-moderate to moderate-severe depending on the doctor looking at the results. It's been two years since I've had a GES, I'm thinking I need another one if I eat more than a few crackers, I'm a goner. I threw up a fudge pop this morning that I ate yesterday afternoon. 😏
DeleteThis made me smile! I thought i was the only person in the world who sometimes thinks of Supply Day as Christmas. ��
ReplyDelete