I’ve been meaning to write a post about our upcoming trip to Mexico, but it’s been a busy time and I’ve not been feeling very well— more on that later. After feeling stressed (see this post for details) about the trip at first, I’ve calmed down and I’m feeling pretty excited. Yes, still nervous about driving in winter (especially after the recent awful storms!), but focusing more on the end game and how nice it’ll be to be in balmier climes, and to see more of the planet than I’ve seen before.
So, before the holidays I was buying supplies for the camper and reading up and watching videos on all aspects of RVing to get as much info as possible crammed into my noggin. I was feeling excited with an undercurrent of anxiety. My anxiety stemmed from my longtime struggle with insomnia, plus an annoying stomach ailment that’s been plaguing me since the summer, but has gotten markedly worse in the last few weeks, culminating beautifully on Christmas Day with the conviction that I must have stomach cancer. I was miserable.
On Boxing Day I called the number for GP orphans such as myself to get an appointment with a doctor, and miracle of miracles, I got one for the same day! After hearing my story and examining me (if you can call a three second palpitation an exam) he seemed pretty sure I had an ulcer. He prescribed some medication to relieve the pain and discomfort while I wait for an endoscopy to confirm his suspicions. So, at least now I can say “I probably have an ulcer”, instead of “I’ve been having stomach issues”, which sounds lame and also, vague. I’m extremely grateful to be on this medication, which seems to be helping, as long as I also make good food choices. My stomach hasn’t felt this normal in weeks. I still have low energy but I’m at least not suffering greatly.
The upshot of this is that I’m not sure we’ll be able to leave on our epic journey as soon as we thought. I certainly wouldn’t want to go If I continue to feel like I did on Christmas day. I want to get this sorted out and on the way to healing before we leave. Not sure whether this is possible, but I’m hoping. We may end up staying home altogether , or possibly skipping the longer drive all the way west in favour of a shorter drive to Florida. We’ll have to see how things shake out. As it is, I haven’t been able to give the trip much thought, I’ve been so inwardly focused. The family is here for the holidays, which is another reason I haven’t thought much about Roly (what we christened our Alto trailer) or about planning any details. Luckily, I think we have most of the supplies we need so we can forget about it for now while we’re hanging out with the fam, and I’m thinking about my tummy.
On the plus side, I may have a solution for my insomnia! I got back on hormone replacement therapy. When I was on it for five years it helped my sleeping enormously, but I was worried about staying on it for too long because of the added risk of cancer. Now, I just need sleep. After all, lack of sleep is said to be the source of tons of health problems. I probably won’t know whether the HRT is helping until my ulcer heals, since that makes it hard to get comfortable, even with the new medication. However, with the help of a little weed oil to help with the discomfort, on the whole I’m sleeping pretty well these days, so that’s a huge plus.
So, that’s the news until now. I’ll write another post when I get results and know what our time frame might be. I really hope we can still do the trip, despite having to leave a bit later. Dave will be so disappointed if it doesn’t happen, as will I, as it turns out. That’s life I suppose, you never know what’s going to be thrown at you.
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