Alive and well in Phoenix

Well, we've made it to Phoenix in one piece. It was the trip from hell, but I'm still way too tired to explain it all now!

I do have a couple of good stories. The first one we call "The Great Twizzlers Escapade". When I was still in the hospital, my mom had gone down to the gift shop to find me some hard candies. She also found a bag of "no sugar added" Twizzlers. We figured they were fine because the package showed there was no sugar. So, I ate a few of them. A bunch of doctors then came into my room for rounds. When they saw the giant red globs coming out my g-tube, they were concerned that my stomach was bleeding. I said, "Oh no, that's just Twizzlers!" They all looked at me laughing and said, "No, you can't have Twizzlers. Let's lay off them for now!" One of them showed me that it had "sugar alcohol" which is one way they can sell things labeled "no sugar added." Oops! Now fast forward a few weeks. I was out of the hospital and had no g-tube. Mom and I went to the movies, so I HAD to get some Twizzlers! I sent this photo to Dr. Dunn who thought it was very funny. But the best was that doctors and nurses were coming up to me later, laughing about my Twizzlers escapade. I guess word traveled fast, because I didn't send it to anyone but Dr. Dunn, ha!

The second is a photo of me eating an Arby's roast beef sandwich. The significance in this is that I haven't been able to eat beef in about 6 years. My pancreas did not like it, so it caused horrible pain and vomiting anytime I ate it. I'm holding out hope now that I will be able to eat like any other normal person. Sure would be nice!

So, I'm here in Phoenix at mom's house for the week, then Lew and the kids will come get me next Sunday. I miss them SO much! I still have good days and bad days, but overall I'm getting better all the time. If we do anything during the day, I definitely need an afternoon nap! This recovery has been much harder and taken much longer than I had prepared myself for. Everyone told me, but I thought that I usually recover pretty fast, and I wasn't as bad as some other folks who had the TP-IAT. It gets frustrating at times (ok, a lot of the time), but I know I'm already WAY better than I was before the procedure. And my islets are starting to kick in! Dr. Bellin reduced my lantus (long acting insulin that I take every 24 hours) again, and changed how much novalog (short acting insulin) to give. It was to give myself novalog if I went over 120, but now it's only after I get to 140. And, I haven't had to take any insulin at all when I eat! This is exactly where I want to be. I'm ok with a daily shot, but having to figure out how many carbs are in each meal and convert it to how much insulin I need and then give myself insulin before I eat - I just didn't want to deal with all that. I know I signed up for it, but was hoping for the best. So thank you everyone, for all your thoughts and prayers. Please keep them up! I know that this is what has gotten me this far!