Tonight I am going to attempt to have my first real meal in 3 weeks, which should be exciting. I am allowed to eat rice and fish, so I rationalise, I should be able to eat some sushi right? Obviously I won't rush in and order the Spicy-Salmon-Tuna-Fireroll-Eel-Extravaganza, but some California rolls and salmon sashimi should be alright, I hope.

I walked to Chapter's today, quite an exertion considering that I haven't walked very far lately. I checked out Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall, which outlines the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which is promoted on many sites as an effective way to battle Crohn 's. I didn't buy though because I didn't want to waste the money before a proper diagnosis was made and it seems a range of options are still on the table. It still could be something non-permanent. I am seeing my GI specialist on the 25th.

I had a barium swallow this week, which was singularly unpleasant. It wasn't painful, but just drinking the barium was blechy. That is only 15 minutes though so it wasn't terrible. The taste wasn't so bad, it was sort of fruity, but there was so much to drink and it was unpleasantly textured, sort of like drinking two big glasses of Elmer's Glue. But I managed to keep it down and then waited around while they x-rayed various portions of my body. All in all the test, with follow-through, took about 2 hours. Luckily I had my book and was able to read most of the time, but it was chilly waiting around in my little backless gown.

After that they made me drink a few glugs more while they did some more x-rays. I also ate some pop-rock like crystals which exploded in my tummy and allowed them to see things more clearly by filling it up with air. The cool part was when I got to lie on this metal table, an ordinary x-ray table, but then it moved from horizontal to vertical position so I was alternately standing and lying down. Very Star Trek. The radiologist was very young but called me "dear" which was sort of comforting.

After that I went home to a minor belly ache and had some tea and a third of a box of Kraft Dinner which probably isn't allowed but oh well.