#smilingspoonie

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Happy days back at the Ivy Suite! I started my #vedolizumab infusions tonight; a gut-specific immunotherapy. Roll on remission! 🏥💉😄 #beatIBD #smilingspoonie #inflammatoryboweldisease #ulcerativecolitis #ibd #positivity #temperancetrail 14/16 days #alcoholfree

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Back in da big purple chair! Time for my second #vedolizumab infusion. I’m exhausted this evening; it’s good to put my feet up. 🏥💉🌚 #beatIBD #gutsy

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I lost the sun but a run got done! I needed a quick mood booster before my doctor’s appointment, so took the pupper for a jog around the park in the rain. I had to hop in the shower anyway so not a problem. 😄☔🐶

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Apart from basically serving a breakfast menu all day (yay!), being happy to adjust food for my onion intolerance (thanks!), and the best Portuguese tarts (yum!), the other thing I like about Doric Street Café is that the lunch kitchen stays open until 3.00pm (not 2-o-bloody-clock like some places). Oh and the coffee is good! The Husb & I had a late lunch after my GI specialist’s appointment. It is time for Plan C. I start vedolizumab once approvals are through - I’m just going to call it V-mab. It’s another infusion (no more injection reactions), but gut specific, and a different pathway. I have a feeling this is going to work! But more #prednisolone first to kill this flare (blah). ☕💊💉😃

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#berries for #breakfast and #humira - one morning shift to get through and I am on holiday for five days. We're off to the forest and the wild South Coast. The weather is stormy and forecast inclement but I have a raincoat and hiking boots. I have been in #struggletown this week - headaches and fatigue - so my yoga mat is coming with me too. #smilingspoonie #autoimmunedisease

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The sun and the sky. Spring is here. I had a beautiful weekend. I am back on my #bike and #lovinglife. 🌞🚲☕ #smilingspoonie #cappuccino #coffee #happy

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Nerd Seeks Herd 21 July 2017 Okay, that heading is a private joke with a group of goats who are very far away. 😉🐐

And my whimsically embellished profile pic at the top is me trying to fit in with the nerd herd. (In truth, whilst I’ve always been a competitive high achiever in my studies, I’ve always also had a wicked alter ego - I’m a Gemini after all. But shhh…) 😂👓

I was amusing myself at home on a Friday, being not-quite-well-enough to do much more. I have a headcold and I feel oh-so-very-weary. Motivational Jo’s on Insta have been giving me inspiring words and actions and I am impressed. I am! But my legs are so leaden, my arms are straw. (Ironic because my job is to motivate cancer patients to exercise.) A week after my initial quadruple dose of Humira I’m sort of okay, if you discount the fatigue, dizziness, headache and hoarse voice. My wonderful GI nurse phones twice a week to check on me. But look - I’m smiling - I’m the smiling spoonie. 😄💉

I ‘spotted’ some of my cycling buddies on TV at the top of the Galibier cheering on Alberto Contador. This time last year I was at Le Tour de France cheering the riders (discreetly I might add - none of that dangerous, exhibitionist nonsense one sees on the cols). 😒🚲

I would have gone out for pizza tonight or last night but The Husb is still disgustingly full of the Man-flu he brought back from South Korea. Instead, I’ve cooked: my own version of butter chicken with orange juice/zest and cinnamon; and prawn curry with ‘glass’ noodles. Good stuff. 😆🍤

But most impressively, I’m three weeks dry and it is beginning to feel normal! (Although I had a dream last night that I was peer-pressured into drinking a glass of wine with dinner, but realised it was still July too late, and cried.) What’s more, some champion friends have donated $770 so far to help fund support services for cancer patients. 😁💓

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Let’s Go! 17 June 2017 I am that person who has everyone striking poses an hour into making their acquaintance. I can’t help myself. 😆 After last night’s HIIT circuit class at The Dojo, I bounded to run training at the local park this morning. It’s fun being coached. I got 6.2km in my shoes and my #garmin told me I achieved a 5km personal record (while the fast girls lapped me heehee). Excitement! 😁

Now just because my meds have kicked in, I can’t get cocky. I looked after my fuel and recovery needs as a priority straight after training; getting hydration and protein in me pronto; then back home with the electrolytes, a cup of tea and my egg, mushroom, rocket, & tomato brunch. I love my breakfast and cafés which serve it all day long… I did the same again at 2.30pm with avocado & feta thrown into the mix. 😋

Dinner was om nom nom-worthy and preceded by some foam rolling and stretching - ooh aah oww - running hurts. 😮