Adventures with Gastroparesis

There comes a time in the life that you are offered such an amazing food selection that you just have to try it.  You have to throw Gastroparesis caution to the wind and try the detectible dish that is placed in front of you.  You know that the odds are high that you will pay for it later.  You know the amount of Prilosec you are going to have to consume to keep the GERD at bay.  You know the amount of Zofran you have to take to keep from vomiting.  You know that in spite of all this that consuming the dinner placed in front of you will be completely worth it.

The conference I am attending has a legendary dinner.  Considering this is my first time at the conference I wanted to partake in it rather than bringing in my smoothie to consume while everyone else dined.  (I have been known to do this and have become immune to the stares that it gets.)  The menu contained a fish option, which I knew was going to be a really horrible decision.  (Fish doesn’t go well for me at all.)  Another option was Antelope which was quite intriguing.  Yet another option was cocoa covered steak.  Considering I had never had antelope (who has?), I had absolutely no idea what the damage would be.  I decided to go with the controlled damaged of steak.  It also had a side of potatoes that I knew I could stretch out over the course of the evening.

The dinner came and it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  I decided that for the next 60-90 minutes that I would be “normal”.  I was going to forget that I had Gastroparesis.  I was going to forget that I would likely end up with stomach cramping, horrible GERD, and nausea.  I was going to enjoy this dinner no matter what the consequences were.  (Sorry to everyone reading this on TPN & Feeding tubes!)  I decided that I could lessen the potential damages by consuming bites of food that were the size of a pencil eraser.  This also helped to stretch out the consumption which allowed me to “finish” at the same time as everyone else.  Even though my plate was more than half full, I was done eating at the same time and the server was more than happy to whisk my plate away with everyone else’s.  No one noticed.  No one asked questions.  No one cared.  For one night I was “normal” and enjoyed a taste of my pre-GP life.

Now I am going to try to fall asleep as fast as possible before all of the Gastroparesis symptoms kick in.  Hopefully they work themselves out before I wake up in the morning!

~Millie