Updatey thing - the predisone yay! version

OK, so I started prednisone after my scope on Wednesday. The dosage is relatively high (40 mg) presumably to kick my immune system into touch that bit quicker.

Today I can honestly say that it's making a big difference. No cramping at all since Sunday morning, bathroom visits are normalizing, weight has not dropped for five days and no sign of blood since Sunday either. Also, my energy is returning and I'm feeling better within myself than I have for a long time. It's not the super-zippy, hyped up temporary energy blast that I had after the transfusions. This feels more like energy returning properly, to stay, with the prospect that I'll keep improving steadily rather than crashing in a day or two.

That isn't to say that I'm not tiring during the day, I am, but it's not the bone-deep, must collapse now tiredness. And each day gets that little bit better :-)

The other good news is that, so far, no sign of side-effects. I've got no idea how long side-effects take to develop, but I'm counting the lack of nausea or insomnia as a really good thing. Looks like the pred is doing its job and will be the drug that works well on flares for me.

The next challenge, I suspect, will be getting me into remission fully and then finding the right drugs to keep me there. I've got no idea how long it will take for the inflammation to heal now that the symptoms are going and I'm guessing that I'll be on the pred until it's all healed and then switching. These are the things that the GI guy will hopefully be able to explain on Thursday.

Still, this is really good and I'm hoping that it's a sign that I'll be one of the people who's colitis can be well-managed with cheap, low side-effect profile drugs rather than one who requires hideous diets, massively expensive drugs and frequent surgeries. Let's all keep our fingers crossed, OK?

Yesterday I had my first full day in the office for nearly three weeks. It was tiring, but manageable. Today I'm working from home because it's snowing hard and I'm smart enough to know that I don't need the worry of a bad drive home on top of the tiredness. Hopefully I'll be at the office every day for the rest of the week, which for me is a sign that things are really turning around. The cats decided that I was obviously well enough to be a complete nightmare while I work, so they've been banished upstairs to give me some peace.

To give my guts a bit of a rest, I've been avoiding the mutli-grain, seed-filled bread that I usually go for and instead I'm making tortilla wraps for my lunch. The new lunch menu may be a permanent change even after I'm healed: I've been getting inventive with the fillings and the wraps are making lunch so much more interesting! I'd been in a bit of a sandwich rut lately and I'm not very good at easting if the food doesn't interest me. So this is great and I'm really quite excited about all the potential for wrap fillings.

Yes, I adore food, so having any kind of gut-related chronic illness has always been my nightmare. I can feel the irony. I will be resisting exclusion diets etc. with all my will-power unless there is good clinical evidence for why I need to do that. Everyone with homeopaths and weird woo diets can just stay quiet around me, OK?

Anyone with really awesome wrap recipes can chime in very loudly, though :-)

A very relevant link

Signal boosting this link: http://mevennen.livejournal.com/828534.html

I've always been a strong believer in the value of a national health scheme. Growing up under the NHS in England with a chronic joint disorder plus watching my uncles go through all their health issues means that I've had first hand experience with both emergency and regular medicine in the so-called 'socialized' healthcare system. It's impossible to place value on it. The care is always excellent and if the only big gripe is having to wait for non-urgent treatment because urgent cases are prioritised, I cannot see any problem.

After the last three weeks, my thoughts on national health care are even stronger. My care here in Canada has been excellent since day one. My GP did a full MOT when I first arrived, got me appropriate referrals when needed and had me in x-ray a couple of hours after seeing me when I had some shoulder problems.

The only problem that I've had has been the length of time it took to replace my GP when she moved, leaving me at the mercy of duty doctors at my practice's walk-in clinics for some months. My province has a big problem attracting family doctors and it's a problem in many areas of Canada that really needs to be worked on. We need more doctors to commit to family medicine. Despite the duty doctor issue, my practice called me and got me to an ER as soon as those bad blood results came in. The hospital got me seen by a GI guy the day that I was released, I had a scope, diagnosis and treatment started all within a week.

Even more importantly, I'll never have to worry about delaying treatment due to expense and so my long-term outlook is really good.

The duty doctor who told me I was fine two days before the ER trip? A one-off problem doctor who could have happened anywhere including the USA. The practice is now aware of the problem and is doing everything in their power to rectify it and make sure it never happens again.

The horror stories that people hear in the USA are the outliers, the unusual cases, which is why they get the publicity. For 99.999999% of cases, my normal experience is what happens: excellent care, super-fast attention for urgent stuff and short waits for the non-urgent stuff like joint replacements or non-critical diagnostic procedures all free of charge at the point of treatment.

National health care/single payer/socialized medicine. Call it what you want, it should be a basic right for everyone and not a privilege for the rich.