It began almost two weeks ago and I recognized that feeling in my stomach almost immediately. After studying my blog for a spell, I found the pertinent story in July of 2013 when I’d written about a visit to the gastro doc and his conclusion that I was suffering from an ulcer caused by the h-pylori bacteria running rampant in my gut.
“We can medicate it out of you, but it’s been attacking the lining of your stomach for some time and made you susceptible to the digestive fluids there, which led to your ulcer. You should have come in sooner,” he concluded.
Salt in the wound. Tell me something I don’t know, I thought. Well…not this time. I called and made an appointment and saw him last Monday.
“I’m looking at your ulcer from two years ago. Pretty nasty,” my new doc said. The old one had retired. “I need to send a scope down there and have a look to see if it has returned. You are also overdue for a colonoscopy, which I see here we discussed but you declined.”
“I’ve had two clean ones and I’m starting to think every five years is overkill,” I suggested. It was falling on deaf ears, so I offered another idea.
“Can you do both at the same time? I mean what’s the point of going under twice and having to miss two days of work?”
“Sure. Do it all the time,” he said.
“Well then…let’s be sure you go down the throat first since I know you’ll be using the same camera to come up from the other end,” I said.
He smiled. Probably heard that one already.
I went to the front to schedule the appointment. “I guess I’ll need a driver to take me home after the anesthesia,” I said.
“Only if you want the procedure,” she answered with a smile. They love my humor.
“How about the second week of December?” she said.
“Um…only if you’ve got something I can take for the belly issues I’m having for the next three weeks,” I said. She found something the following Monday.
So…I’m in. My stomach has been feeling bloated and I haven’t been hungry in two weeks. I’ve exercised a little, but I’m in a bit of a funk there, as well. My weight continues to stay down since I’m quite active at work, but I’ve lost some muscle tone and know I need to return to the Survival Workout if I’m to gain it back. My endurance is off, too, as I noted when climbing 1,400 steps with Kathy two weeks earlier in the Strongsville Metropark. I’ve been on the bike several times in the past month, but with no consistency – something that used to be my hallmark.
With all that in mind, I dragged my bike and trainer up to the family room and propped it in front of the TV and dialed in Netflix. I figured I’m living alone and could leave it there indefinitely where it could be a constant reminder that I had something important to do. Since its dark at like three o’clock in the afternoon, outdoor rides are for weekends only. And if I didn’t ride it, it would make another excellent place to hang a coat or a shirt or something.
I hopped on and managed 45 minutes of hard riding while watching an episode of ‘Lost’. My stomach didn’t much like the idea, but it felt good to break a sweat. Copper (visiting for the week while Savannah attends a conference in Arizona and visits the Grand Canyon) and Dakota watched and wandered to the side door constantly as if to say ‘get off that thing and take us out to play instead’.
I had a cup of soup after riding, but only because I know I should have something in my stomach to give those acids something to do besides eating holes in me. Monday can’t come soon enough.
Bike duration: 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 120 bpm.
Calories Burned: 630.
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