Picking Yourself Up After You Fall

Well….I knew this would happen.  I just didn’t think it would be so soon into “Gluten-Free” April.  It seems that yesterday I hit a bit of a speed bump (or should I say traffic jam) and fell off my bike!  Okay, the photo isn’t literally me.  Everyone knows it would be coffee and not soda in my hand!  However,  feel that this photo portrays what a lot of people with Gastroparesis feel.  You go about your daily lives and then BAM…down for the count.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty good.  I had energy and was feeling optimistic.  I was even planning on going to a spin class with a friend.  (Hey, if she can go to class 8 months pregnant then I can go with GP!)  Then it hit.  The sea of brake lights in front of me when trying to get home.  Then another sea of breaklights.  Then another sea.  Then that nauseous feeling.  Then that weird feeling in your cheeks when you know that it is only a matter of time before you vomit.  Then the starting to plot where you can pull over to do so and if your body can hang on until you get there.

Needless to say that after my 1 1/2 hr + of driving and vomiting, I was not going to make it to spin class.  I did not get to check exercise off on my list.  I also did not have enough energy to prepare everything in the evening for work today.  (Although I could tell my body wasn’t going to let me go to work anyway.)  So I didn’t get to check evening prep off my list of things to do.  Since I was so ill, I wasn’t feeling like eating so I managed to stay gluten-free and check it off of my list as well as going to bed before 10 pm.

Even though I faced this setback, it was minor compared to the setbacks in the past.  I am starting to feel better today and think that I will be back on my bike by tomorrow morning.  I also had a nice chat with my GP BFF.  Our schedules haven’t been matching up well since we live on opposite coasts, but it was great to finally catch up with each other.  It reminded me that I need to add another item to my goal chart:  remember to check on my close GP friends.  We all need support and we all like knowing that we aren’t forgotten in the world.

So today, I will start picking myself back up from my fall.  I will start to chart my new course in life in an attempt to become as healthy as I can so that I can go tell Gastroparesis to take a hike!  (And not the fun kind of hike, the annoying all uphill in 100% of sweltering heat type of hike!)

~Millie