Christmas Curry!

This year to get all the girls together I decided to cook a meal for them all, I did plan on doing a Christmas dinner but then thought everyone would be sick of that so we had a Christmas curry! At the moment I cant eat tomatoes as they hurt my ulcers so I had to be careful what sauce I used which is why we chose a korma. The group is split 50/50 meat eaters and vegetarians so I made a turkey curry and a veggie one and a big bowl of rice! We had an Indian selection to start and cheesecake and a cheese board for desert. We all had some drinks and I was careful to let the lemonade go a bit flat as I've been told to avoid fizzy drinks.I did a 2012 quiz from an app on my iPad and a picture board which you have to have at every party! It was really nice to see everyone and I shocked myself that I could manage a meal for 8 people that wasn't affected by Crohns! 

Azathioprine and Prednisolone

This week I had my first post-hospital check up with my Doctor. I first saw the nurse who took my weight (I've finally managed to put on some!) and my height (I've grown 1/4 inch, i'm now a massive 5"2 1/4! I then saw a specialist Crohns nurse who my doctor had asked me to see. She was the most helpful person I have spoke to so far and gave me so much information. The blood test from a couple of days before showed I still had high inflammation and low protein. I have come off the steroids I was on as my symptoms had got worse and she suggested the dosage wasn't high enough so I have been put on another 6 week course which decreases my one tablet each week, this is called Prednisolone. I have also been put on Azathioprine which is an immunosuppressant to stop the cells in my immune system attacking my body and causing inflammation. These can take up to 6 weeks to start making a difference so as the steroids decrease these should kick in and start to work. 2/3 people are fine on this but the other third can suffer from side effects such as flu symptoms and joint pain which I need to be aware of. It also says a 'very common' side effect is anorexia which I cant understand! I will need to have blood tests weekly to check my liver function  and anaemia which start this Friday. I also had several questions to ask which she answered fully such as Can I give blood? Nope, I need it! Can I take paracetamol and codeine? Yes, anything but ibuprofen is fine. Can I drink alcohol? Yes, in moderation. My original doctor came in to visit during the appointment and said some words that have really helped. He said its up to me now I really need to own it and if I want to be better they will do everything they can to help like giving me the medication I need but its up to me to take it and look after myself and focus on getting better. It has made me realise that this needs to be priority now and everything else like University and other things can wait. He said that if the medicine starts to work I should be able to go back but if they don't then I wont be able to go on the Cologne trip so fingers crossed!

Gin and Lemonade

If any of you know me personally then you might know that my drink of choice is a gin and lemonade (or just shots of whisky if I'm not quite drunk enough!) however since getting ill I haven't drunk at all and I'm starting to miss it a little bit! At the moment while I'm living at home its fine as I rarely leave the house let alone get an opportunity for a night out, but next Monday I will be going back to Coventry for two events where I would like to drink! Usually it takes me quite awhile to get a bit tiddly but I'm expecting that after not drinking for over 3 months and losing a stone will probably make me a lightweight! 
I have had a look online and there's a lot of information about drinking with Crohns, generally saying its a bad idea as it makes symptoms worse. Sometimes I've found that the symptoms of Crohns are like a bad hangover anyway (I never get a headache!) so this doesn't affect me too much. However some people have found they are fine with certain types like clear alcohols such as vodka. I've never been a big beer or wine drinker, I only enjoy the occasional cider when its hot so that works for me! I'm hoping that also counts for gin but I'm not sure about the lemonade as I've been told to avoid fizzy drinks as they can also irritate me. So, I have decided tonight to test out a nice glass of gin and lemonade after putting the Christmas decorations up and then seeing what happens... wish me luck!