Lesson in eating that GERD is trying to teach me

Well, once again I have stuff I need to do by tomorrow noon, so of course I'm blogging instead of doing it. I was eating breakfast this morning and reflecting on how I eat now compared with 6 months ago and was really surprised at what I found. Some of this is advise I picked up from what few website and books are dedicated to GERD and some of it I learned by doing.
The first is: Take your vitamins. I don't feel bad when I don't take them, but I feel better when I do.
#2: If there is something specific that you want, eat it because you won't stop eating until you find that flavor. This becomes more significant when your stomach has shrunk to the size of a runty grapefruit, but it's good advise for everyone.
#3: EAT SLOWLY. There's really not much more that needs to be said on this one.
#4: When you eat, just eat. I don't remember where I picked up this great piece of advise but I'm glad I did. The theory behind it is that you don't feel satisfied if you haven't taken to time to really look at, taste and consciously know your eating. Using myself as an example, I have a habit of eating while watching TV which is unsatisfying because I am not focused on what I'm eating or what I'm watching so I feel I haven't done either.
#5: It's okay to put things back. I'm a member of the clean your plate brigade, I don't know how that happened because my mother was too smart to resort to the old "eat everything on your plate or you don't get dessert" line. She knows dessert is important. But it happened, so now (with my stomach the size of a grapefruit) if my eyes are bigger than my stomach I'm learning, all be it slowly, that I don't have to stretch my stomach to fit my eyes.
I'm sure this list will get longer as time goes on.

While we're on the subject of food I'd like to vent one of my pet peeves on the food pyramid. They have an entire section on the food pyramid called Milk! That's ridiculous for two reasons; one, if your going to include cheese and yogurt, exc. it should be called Dairy. And two, a person does NOT need dairy! There is no X number of servings of dairy you need to be healthy. Something my olds science teacher said really stuck with me and is pretty much the basis of my entire argument. Humans are the only living thing on the planet that drink milk after they're weaned. It is not natural. Does that mean it's bad and I'm advising all people to throw down their glasses of milk and their cheese sandwiches? Certainly not! While I don't drink milk much anymore, I am a card carrying cheese snob (really, my friend made cards for all us members of the cheese snob club), at this very moment my refrigerator contains at least 6 different kinds of cheese. My point is that we were not designed to eat dairy after the age of four so there is no way we NEED to eat dairy at all and certainly not on a daily basis. Of course a similar argument could be made for meat but you have to take out the part of no other animal does it and not being designed for it. If you want both arguments, go talk to a vegan.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post on here again, but I had pneumonia for over two weeks which was bad enough if two of those weeks were the last week of school and finals week. Somehow I got A's in everything anyway.
In Puppy News: Kelsa got off house arrest on Thursday! She's gone on three very short walks in the neighborhood, if we're going to have any problems I'm pretty sure it's going to be there because that's where 90% of her accident's were before house arrest, and she's gone to the vet, the farmers market, the library and the grocery store.

Now I have to go get ready for 5 fun filled days in Ashland at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival! 5 plays in 3 days, I can't wait!

All of what I ate today

So I'm really sick with an upper respiratory infection and bronchitis, and I can hardly eat or drink. This is a new low in the not eating or drinking category. I ate: half an orange, 7 m&m's, and a tangerine popsicle, and I drank around 10 ice cubes (I suck on them like a popsicle), 2 sips of hot chocolate, and 8 oz of water.   And the weather was in the 70's today.

Sisters, sisters

Here's a picture of Kelsa and her two sisters that are also in my club. Aren't they beautiful|?! I've wanted to get a picture of them all together for a long time. What's funny is that the one on the right is actually the biggest, but she looks much smaller because of the angle. All of them are within an inch of each other in hight.

L-R: Karma, Kelsa, and Kashi

Photo credit and a big thank you go to Asami, one of Kashi's raisers!

Busy, busy, busy

     So I know I've said it a million times, but I've been really busy recently. As a student this is going to be a recurring theme, particularly around midterms and finals. Well finals week is in two weeks so the circus has begun. It actually began last week, but that's beside the point. I have three more exams between now and June 7th. My Spanish and Cell Bio classes are different than any other class I've taken thus far because they both have three exams in a term instead of two.
     Next Thursday I finally have an appointment that will help make a definite diagnosis of GERD. The procedure is called an Endoscopy also called and EGD. They put a flexible tube with a camera on it down my throat and look at my esophagus and maybe stomach and duodenum. As far as I know they're looking for signs of damage in my esophagus from stomach acid refluxing. Sounds fun right? I'm glad that I'll be half way sedated. I have two problems with this procedure besides the obvious, the obvious being that there will be a tube down my throat. One; Half the time this test in inconclusive. Even if there are no signs of damage in the esophagus doesn't mean that the patient doesn't have GERD. Two; it's so counter intuitive that I have to damage my esophagus more to find out whether I'm damaging my esophagus.
In Puppy News:
Kelsa won't be going anywhere for the next three weeks because she's on 'house arrest', that's what I call it,  because she had an accident on a walk no more than 5 minutes after going in the yard. My friend Jill and I are going to do a puppy swap not next week, but the week after. So Kelsa can go drive her dogs crazy and I get her perfect puppy. I am definitely getting the better end of the deal.

P.S. I probably won't post again until school gets out.

Digestive Disease Humor

 I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while. A weight loss commercial for digestive diseases! What? You're not sold? Its in poor taste? Your probably right...but I'm going to do it anyway.

*In a classic announcers voice* Have all those other weight loss diets let you down? Ever thought "If only there was something more I could try"? Well now there is! Try Digestive Diseases; they're guaranteed to work and keep working for a long time! No one knows how you get most digestive diseases or how to get rid of them, so be sure you want one before you order! Digestive Diseases may cause loss of appetite, pain, nausea or vomiting, but its ok because that's the way their supposed to work!

*don't get a digestive disease of you are nursing, pregnant, may become pregnant, or want to live an easy life. Side effects may include: trouble sleeping, irritation, depression, lethargy, lack of patience, and shopping. It is advised that you get your recommended dose of hugs while having a digestive disease. 

So call for your free trial today!

First of all I'd like to say a late Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mom. I don't know how she managed to live with us for all this time, but I'm glad she did.

You did good Mom!

Okay, maybe not that good <3

Next, Delphine's graduation went really well and I didn't cry like I expected to. I was so happy she recognized me right away. My timing was bad though because they were about to take pictures and Delphine's just starring at me. I was touched that Delphine's raiser's family told her new partner about me.  

I love this picture even though it's blurry. 

Group photo. Delphine's raiser is on her right and her new partner is on her left.

In Puppy News: Kelsa's relieving is going better, it now seems like she's more confused about where and when she's supposed to be going than anything else, so we're going to be working on being more consistent. She had NO accidents on walks this week! She also had a busy week, for her, with outings. She went to Read to the Dogs and my spanish exam on Tuesday,  the grocery store and pharmacy on Sunday, and a club outing to the mall on Monday.

I decide we'd do some work on the "go to bed" command. It doesn't go so well when you have two dogs, one of whom knows it already.

She is such a tolerant puppy

Delphine is Graduating Today!

Delphine was matched with a blind partner two weeks ago and they have been getting to know each other and learning how to work together since that time. It all culminates today on graduation day! She becomes an official Guide Dog today. I'm sure she and her partner are going to be so happy together. 

I'm so proud of her, happy for her, and sad that I won't get to have her visit me again. 

Good Luck, Delphine (Little D, Delphini-Bean, Legs, Ears, Nose, Delphini, Cuddle Puss, Busy One)!