Freeeeeeee!

Today was my last early morning! And it was a tough one. Fridays have been toughest--the fatigue of the fifth aborted sleep in a row (I feel like I've been chiselled from my bed, it's that abrasive) squashes any and all imminent weekend joy. There are storms brewing today, which tapped another chisel deeper and deeper into the side of my skull; the sky now has a greenish tinge to the west which could foretell a pretty heavy party soon.  The scrambled eggs I got from the cafeteria were perhaps a bit flour-tainted or, at any rate, didn't settle quietly. Equipment malfunctioned so often that I was starting to feel like the machines were finally rising. Plus, I spent most of the day in a small room with a subpar bio-waste container, which leads me to a very timely public appeal:

 Please follow pre-colonoscopy directions, especially those specifying when to stop eating! So important! My fingers itch to colour details, but from a purely diagnostic standpoint (leaving the four or five involved and gloved/gowned people out of the equation), troublesome polyps and the like are judged most acutely without the smeary veil of

But then the day turned upside down :) The new and one and only sushi place in town opened today and it's delicious and even offers ikura! After dinner, I crashed and had a 2hr nap that was like floating on a tropical breeze! Then I decided to have a cheat day (we're doing another 2-week dietary detox) and I'm now maiming and marauding defenceless Sour Kids!  I guess that makes me a piggy too.  LOL.

But, seriously, if I had had the chance of getting an effective diagnosis of abdominal pain simply by not eating for 48 hours, I would have done it years ago.   I don't think I had to ever fast that long, but there were a few tests, a couple of hospital stays, and one detox that required fasting up to 24 hrs, and it wasn't ever a problem.  I'm not even counting the times where I was too ill to eat anything because that made it easy and after a day or two of fasting, euphoria set in and it became even easier.  The longest I've gone without food was about four days after dental surgery.   Just stopped getting hungry until eventually I threw up pure bile and decided that I had to shove something down there, incisions be darned.  I think extra blood must get rerouted from the digestive tract to the brain because thinking becomes so amazingly scintillating and precise after some time without food.

I try to put myself into other shoes and remember that there have been other times where I have been extremely hungry.  The worst was after a 20-ish mile run.  I had an ear infection and couldn't swallow much, and then nothing, without intense pain.  But I was comfortable enough to keep running, and it was a nice run.  and then I had to eat, but I couldn't.  I felt billions of hungry cells gnawing on other cells and my body ached, and then burned. It was such a profound hunger.

Yet I cannot understand these people who do not fast properly before procedures, especially since we're in the States and paying for health care is more transparent, and much more expensive here (except for old people).  Plus, a colonoscope is a substantial instrument that I wouldn't want to sheathe twice merely because I got a bit hungry or didn't like the taste of the chute-clearing shake.

Meanwhile, I have been running a bit but definitely not enough, judging by my present mood/ BITCHINESS.  I have typed about this way too much!  But it's been simmering in my mind for a few weeks and finally we got a patient that required not just a second, but also a third colonoscope in a row and now I'm wondering just what one has to eat to pull that off.  Tar?

Deep breathing...and this is why I must run!  But now I can wake up with the sun, enjoy some leisurely stretches with the dog, and then head out and roll miles of ground beneath me while the air is still cool. I must add, I like my job even though today was kind of rough, but I detest waking up that early. Once in a while is fine--heck, for most modest mountain hikes, I usually had to get up at 2 or 3 am, no prob--but it's like burning a fire too brightly. Fuel gets spent too quickly; by 2 or 3, I'm pretty much ashes. And then I have to go to bed by 9 (ok, it slips later and later as the week goes on) just when the good stuff (creativity, energy, etc) is getting thrown in the oven. Whereas, if I have a leisurely morning, the fire gets set slow and deep, and gradually the coals brighten, and glow for hours and hours.  And I will blast my music deep into the night.*

*ok, evening.

 Tomorrow, the dog and I might do a long run on post.

 5:15 alarm disengaged. I'm back!