Stuffed peppers with roasted Mediterranean veg

Well, that was a fun start to the day (not).

Early this morning, about 2am ish, I woke with a stiff back from the way I was lying. I rolled over, and the discomfort migrated to my ribcage, feeling like a tight band was squeezing around my ribs. I took a couple of antacids, sat up for a while, then laid back down to sleep.

The discomfort didn’t go away, and started to cross the line into actual pain. I looked at the NHS 111 website, which advised calling 999. I thought of all the hassle that would be involved, the likelihood that it was indigestion and I would be told I just need to lose some weight, the panic it would cause mum, and dismissed the idea: the pain would go away on its own.

It didn’t. It got worse. Mum saw my light on and asked if I was OK, and I had to admit I really wasn’t. I called 999 and, after a few questions, an ambulance was dispatched, just to make sure. I sat up playing on my kindle while I waited, reassuring mum every few minutes that I was fine, it was nothing serious, it was just uncomfortable.

By the time the ambulance arrived it was definitely real pain and, as they attached the sticky pads to do an ECG, it moved into the severe pain category. Like many people with chronic conditions, I live with pain every day and have a higher pain threshold than many people, so when I’m curled on my side trying to remember how to breathe you know it’s bad.

Anyway, long story short, it’s not my heart: the lead paramedic thought it may be gallstones. I know that it was suggested as a possibility for mum’s stomach pains – now mostly controlled by IBS medication, thankfully – and now it’s a possibility for me. After a chat on the phone this morning with one of the local ANPs, I’m booked in for a blood test tomorrow, and for a physical examination on Monday afternoon.

The ANP recommended I stick to clear liquids only today but, as you can see from the heading of this post, I didn’t comply. 😳

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This afternoon mum and I went to have our hair cut. Halfway there, the taxi driver casually asked how we were getting home, which was a shock as I had assumed that, when I booked the trip there, it went without saying that we needed to get home too. Thankfully another taxi driver came to the rescue so we got home post-haircut, which in my case was quite a lot of cut as I have decided I like my hair best when there isn’t much of it.

This evening’s dinner was of the ‘baking tray in the oven’ variety. I added salad to mine as my stomach isn’t happy that I have only had a banana to eat today. It was a fancy variety of lettuce with decorative golden edges and not just plain old iceberg that has been in the fridge too long and has gone brown. Honest.

I’m now trying to resist the call of all the nice sweet stuff in the kitchen. Maybe I’ll have an apple and hope that hits the spot. Tonight I will go to sleep early and hope for no recurrence of this morning’s drama.

Please, world, no more drama.