Time and Temperature Adjustment

I've been back in Seattle for the past 8 days. My first big adjustment was temperature. We left 86 degree Maui weather and experienced 46 degree Seattle weather on our first day back. I didn't begin to feel warm for another 48 hours, when Seattle temperature rose to mid and upper 50s (and I took a 20 minute hot shower). Today was a relatively warm (high in mid 60s) day, just before a string of rainy, windy and cold days. Fortunately I found time today to plant crocus bulbs which arrived while we were gone. I don't need to plant the 'hardy cyclamen' until later, because those are actually summer blooming bulbs. Slowly I adjusted to Seattle weather as I found and wore my favorite winter jeans, sweaters and coats.

The other big adjustment was time. Maui time is 3 hours later than Seattle (PDT) time, before we set clocks back on Halloween. When we first got back I went to bed late and woke up late, because my body was still on 'Maui time'. Returning to Pacific Standard time helped me adjust more quickly. Then I got a cold, which made me feel tired enough to go to bed right after dinner. That really helped me reset my internal clock.

Fortunately drinking lots of ginger tea, taking vitamin C and extra zinc helped minimize the symptoms and extent of that cold. However, I took advantage of my cravings for spicy, tomato based foods. So we had spaghetti when I first got the cold. Even though I was feeling much better today, I made 'Bengal Lentil' rice casserole for dinner. I wanted to prepare a dish with a microwavable pouch of very spicy 'Bengal Lentils'. After reading the very spicy ingredients, I decided to add some recently harvested garden vegies (leeks, carrots, tomatoes) as well as chopped red peppers and celery, a microwavable pouch of brown rice and a can of chicken (more protein for my nonvegan husband) to spread the spices farther over additional ingredients. I also served that with bland cooked sliced zucchini to tone down the spiciness. I LOVED that dish and my husband 'liked' it. He doesn't like tomato based spicy foods as much as I do. In retrospect I should have omitted the garam masala I added to the casserole. The 'Bengal Lentil' pouch was spicy enough. LOL

I've been soooo busy during the past week, that I haven't updated this blog until tonight. Since we returned from Maui over a week ago, I

unpacked and put away clothes, jewelry and makeup;

shopped for groceries (so we had more than frozen spaghetti with sauce for dinners);

sorted, prepped and did the laundry;

harvested the rest of the carrots, green beans and zucchini, most of the tomatoes and thinned the leeks;

transferred my winter clothes and sweaters into my 'active' closet and stored lightweight/summer clothes in my 'inactive' (office closet);

pruned dead flowers;

went to the mall to pay bills which arrived while we were in Maui (I try to shop at stores which don't require me to mail payments);

cleaned bathrooms;

handwashed lingerie and kitchen sheers (valances);

did my daily yoga/aerobic/weight lifting and daily 60-90 minute walks;

voted by mail in local election;

answered emails;

finished one week of 2x daily vancomycin and began once a day vanco tapered dose treatment.

So I'm still taking vanco to treat c-diff 6 months after diagnosis. I sure hope I can eliminate that bacteria with tapered and pulse dosing this time. I'm actually doing very well symptom wise. A few days ago I started having constant diarrhea (over 5 times a day) and wondered whether I was really eliminating c-diff. However, I also realized that my probiotic (good bacteria) levels (which control gut motility) are very low. Now that I'm only taking one vanco daily, I decided to increase the amount of probiotics I take, because the lower antibiotic (vanco) level won't kill off all the good bacteria from the probiotic. So last night I took 2 probiotics with dinner. The diarrhea completely disappeared by morning. Normal stools today. YAYYYY!!! So I took 2 more probiotics with dinner tonight. Maybe I'll also stop bruising so easily. With only one daily vanco I can time that dose to give the probiotics enough time to work before I take more antibiotic and kill good bacteria.

Even though I have time and enough vanco to stretch out the tapering and pulse dosing treatment for a month, I still have nagging fears that c-diff will recur. Not that I have any obvious symptoms, but 4 recurrences shook my confidence in vanco treatment. So I reguested prayer (and annointment with oil) during a healing service at my church on Sunday night. I believe God can heal me (as well as guide me toward healing). However, I also believe that there is a lesson in every experience. I'm uncertain what lesson God intends to teach me with this c-eiff infection. Nevertheless, I'm much more sympathetic toward thin women with bloated tummies. I want to tell them to get allergy tests, celiac tests or stool tests for bacteria, fungus or parasites. They don't have to 'live with' IBS symptoms.