Adventures with Gastroparesis

When you have Gastroparesis, you go through stretches of more bad days than good.  When the good days arrive you try to jam as many things into them as you can.  You want to see friends that you haven’t seen in a long time.  You want to go for a walk and get some fresh air.  You want to go shopping and replace a pair of shoes that are falling apart and killing your feet.  You want to attempt to find some slacks that will handle your ever expanding/contracting stomach.  You actually want to do laundry.  (No joke, laundry becomes exciting.)  You even get excited to clean.

However, when making all of these plans and cramming your good days full of things and people that you have been missing out on, you inevitably leave out time for your caregiver.  They never say a word or ask for time to be saved for them.  They are so incredibly excited that you are feeling good enough to go do the things that you enjoy.  To go see the people you haven’t seen.  They know that these days are few and far between better than anyone else in the world.  They support you and encourage you to make the most of the good days.

But it is important to try to contain your excitement over a stretch of good days and remember to reserve one for your caregiver.  They do so much to keep us afloat and support us.  They are the only people in the world that see us at rock bottom.  To see us barely able to get out of bed.  To help us off the bathroom floor.  To see how many doctors’ appointments we have to go through.  To see how disappointed we are when we once again hear a doctor say “there is nothing we can do for you”.  To see the radioactive eggs we have to eat.  To see us put the yogurt in the cupboard instead of the refrigerator because our brain is in such a fog.  To see us spiral into a deep depression because we can’t easily do the things we used to.  They watch us go through all of this and never once ask for us to keep a good day for them.

It is so important for us to give our caregivers the best present we can ever give them…one of our good days entirely for them!

That is why tonight I am skipping my glass class to stay home and watch a movie with my caregiver, my rock, my shoulder to cry on.  Without him, I truly do not know how I would survive while battling Gastroparesis.

~Millie