Well, He Gets to Cross "Have an Endoscopy" off His Bucket List

My weeks have all begun to run together and while I like it busy, I can honestly say I don't ever have a moment to myself. So then, it seems downright WRONG to have anticipated John's doctor visit last week by greedily deciding it would be at least half an hour that I could work my crossword puzzle.

The short of the long of it is, he's been having issues with, um, digestion. I can't really describe it because it makes no sense to me, but I'm not living in his body. Apparently, it seems as though certain foods don't really go into the stomach, per se. He says they feel 'stuck' in his esophogas near his stomach. After telling our Doc during his annual physical (that he only does because his company will give him money for being healthy), the doc recommended him to have this endoscopy, which directionally speaking, is the polar opposite of a colonoscopy. I have mentioned before how my husband's diet has had to have changed drastically. I have failed to imprint on you the many ways this is ruining MY life.

1.) He has cut out caffeine. Totally. He's been sleeping better at night, but because I feel mean making a pot of coffee when he's home (which is 5 days a week), I am sleeping through my days. My new daily weight loss regimen of a cup of green tea helps, but still. Grrrr...

2.) It's really hard to cook for him. I enjoy cooking for him, and now there are limits...no chocolate, no tomatoes, nothing spicy, nothing nothing nothing.

But since it's really not all about me, he DID get an official diagnosis of ensophogitis today. I'm not sure if that's how you spell it, and I don't want to know, because when you say it out loud it sounds dirty. I am glad for this diagnosis because we can mark various forms of cancer off our list of what was causing his issues. Also, he is apprently prone to some sort of ulceritis (another very dirty sounding word) disease. The various biopsies came out good, so that's the important thing to remember.

We did have a long conversation on the way home from his procedure last week, albeit he was slightly stoned from the versed and twilighting drugs. I cannot understand how his cholesterol is as high as it it, AND he's having digestion issues. We do NOT eat anything out of a box, save rice and cereal. I prepare fresh, mostly clean meals that are typicaly dairy and egg free. I put flasxeed and wheat germ in our food whenever I can mask it good enough. I am following all the nutrition rules. I also found it necessary to point out on said car ride home, that maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't be putting 'flaming hot sauce' on every bite of food we eat.

John, for his part follows rules too. He eats oatmeal for breakfast, especially after a good work out. He WORKS OUT, fairly religiously alternating between cardio and a good weight training regimen. He's in good shape, hates greasy food, won't touch anything fried and has a hard time even SAYING mayonnaise, much less putting it past his lips.

So his issues are not my fault. They are not his fault. I think we can blame faulty genetics (high cholesterol runs in the family), but mostly I blame his stress. He is stressed about work, or has been for a while, and he does an okay job of keeping it in check where we're concerned, working out to get his frustrations out, etc., but stress has clearly altered his body and given him some warning signs.

He's too young for this crap, and I know him, and I know he will be pissed if he has to take any form of medication on a long term basis for any reason. It was hard enough getting him to the doctor earlier this month to treat his bronchitis with a 10 day antiobiotic and an inhaler (which, being an asthmatic, he probably should have anyways). He's also pretty pissed about having to take an antacid everyday for the next 2 weeks until he has his follow up appt. with his doc.

I'm looking for good ideas to keep things low stress, but it's hard, so any ideas are welcome.

And in case you're wondering, I finished my crossword while he was under the scope. It was a welcome break in a crazy day.