Life Beyond GP
While gastroparesis is a big part of both my personal and professional life, I’ve made a conscious effort to ensure it’s not my whole life. I live in western New York with my fantastic husband of three years (a software engineer by day, up-and-coming voice actor by night!). We bought our first house in 2009 and hope to start growing our family in the next couple of years.
If I’m not blogging, counseling, or writing, I’m probably doing one of the following:
- Baking: Yes, despite the nutrition training and the gastroparesis, I still love to bake! In fact, you’ll find lots of recipes for “GP-friendly” baked goods on the blog.
- Watching (too much) TV: my favorite shows are Grey’s Anatomy, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Survivor, and…my very guilty pleasure…the Real Housewives (all of them!).
- Reading: I love books. Whenever I go to the mall, no matter what I’m shopping for, I always end up at Barnes & Noble. As you might expect, much of my time is spent reading about digestive health, nutrition and healing. I always make time for “pleasure” reading, though, and I’m currently knee-deep in the adventures of Stephanie Plum! I also read a lot of blogs, most of which have nothing to do with digestive disease and everything to do with food, fun and fitness.
- Hanging out with family: I’m very close with my mom, dad and younger brother (thankfully, my husband fits right in!). They’re all extremely supportive and I don’t know how I would’ve navigated these last 7 years without them. We laugh a lot and truly enjoy each others’ company.
- Watching Buffalo Bills football: No, our team isn’t very good. But I was born and raised in western NY, so I’ll always be a Bill-iever!
- Walking: I walk about six miles every day. It’s certainly good for overall health, but mostly it helps to manage my GI symptoms, allowing me to eat more and feel better. My goal is walk a marathon in the near future. Stay tuned!
Other things you may not know about me:
- In addition to health counseling and writing, I currently have a “day job” as the Marketing/Community Relations Manager for a local rental community.
- I attended Dartmouth College as a undergraduate, where I studied Sociology and English. After graduation, I worked for United Way, managing their young donors group and overseeing fundraising events like fashion shows and art auctions. Though it was a rather stressful position, I managed to continue working for about two years after I got sick. Since then, I’ve worked full-time, part-time and/or from home depending on my needs at any given time.
- I met my husband one year before I was diagnosed with gastroparesis and he has walked the entire journey with me. As we approach our ninth year together, we’ve been through much more than other couples our age — and it hasn’t been easy — but I really think it has strengthened our commitment to each other.
- I enjoy traveling and have tried not to let GP slow me down. I’ve been on three cruises since I’ve been diagnosed, plus our honeymoon in Las Vegas and several weekend get-aways to places like Toronto and New York City. My dream trip is a Mediterranean Cruise that includes a stop in Egypt. I MUST see the Pyramids of Giza in this lifetime.
- I love adventure. I’ve gone bunging jumping, been white water kayaking, swam with the dolphins, and bicycled through the French Alps. Surprisingly, I don’t like roller coasters!
- One thing I look forward to each summer is going to a Kenny Chensey concert. I’ve seen him perform live every year since 2001. The last few years, I’ve been front and center. For me, it’s 4 hours of total escape! A mini-vacation that always recharges my batteries.
Anything else you’d like to know? Ask away…
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12 Responses to “Life Beyond GP”
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Just wanted to say I am reading. I’m so glad you are doing better. I love all the pictures. Your wedding dress is gorgeous.
You go girl! You are an inspiration to us all ! I think this is the best part of the blog..getting to know the “you” behind it all, as it also shows that those who have this condition, still have lives as well! Oh, and I just had a feeling you were a Barnes and Noble lover as well..it is my happy place hand down!!
Woohoo! I didn’t know you were a runner too! Half marathons are great. I’ve done two and completing them made me feel so good about myself. Shorter races are great (my favorite race of all time is the 3k) but they feel completly different then longer ones since you get into oxygen debt racing a short one and glycogen debt when you race longer ones. Two completly different levels of exhaustion and two compeltly different levels of inflated self worth at the end.
As for the Barnes and Nobels addiction, I’m with you on that. It isn’t a weekend unless I’m at a bookstore at least once. We only have Borders here though. Have you ever heard of Goodreads.com? You might check it out.
Thanks, Lauren! I searched for a year to find “the” dress and ended up choosing the very first one I had tried on (I had the lace cap sleeves added; it was originally strapless). The wedding was fantastic, despite being in the middle of one of my worst bouts of GP. Our reception venue was fantastic — they worked with me to provide a special meal (including a yummy low-fat chocolate frozen yogurt milkshake!). When we cut the cake, we had a rice krispie treat on-hand, so my husband could feed me a bite of that while I fed him a bite of cake. We also had hot chocolate with our dessert/cookie buffet, and they put out two varieties — one with fat-free milk and one with regular milk. This way I was able to participate in all aspects of the night. It was fantastic and worth the extra planning in that respect.
Thank you so much…this post proves that someone can live “normally” with GP. It gives me, as a mother, hope. My daughter will be turning 7 next month, and has been sick her entire life. She was finally diagnosed with GP last September. Right now, she seems to be doing very well on her new med plan that includes Erythromycin and Prevacid. She still has symptoms, but they are far less frequent, and I think less severe than they once were. Now we’re just hoping to build her weight and health up, and hopefully get her lungs under control (basically, having the GP undiagnosed for so long has allowed the reflux to destroy her little lungs)
Anyway…after being hopeLESS for so long, it makes me feel hopeFULL that no matter what, she can live a full life.
The wedding sounds amazing. I’ve heard from a lot of people, they end up with the first dress they try on. One of these days I will walk down the aisle and I will have options better fit for Ryan as well. He’s been doing very well. It’s nice to see even when your at your worse you still manage to have a life, even if it sometimes proves to be very hard. I’m so glad to be able to read about your journey.
Another “Housewives” fan! Yay! Most of them are train wrecks (RHofNJ I’m looking at you) but great trash TV.
I am recently diagnosed and it has been great cruising through your blog getting ideas and advice. I think I will feel a little more comfortable experimenting with foods. It is also nice to know that there are some things I can still enjoy. My husband and I have been planning an anniversary trip for quite some time and your blog will hopefully help me prepare for it.
This is all great information! Thank you!!
Hi, Frances. So glad you found us, especially in time for your anniversary trip! Yes, there are certainly still ways to enjoy version of your favorite foods — it just takes some knowledge and planning. If you haven’t downloaded the Eating for Gastroparesis eBook, that might be a good resource for you, as well.
Take care,
Crystal
Hello Crystal, Recently found your website and enjoy it much. I have had GP since Jan 2009 but not too bad. I can tolerate “normal” food with help of enzymes but only occasionally. After much research, I have come to the conclusion that I am very lucky in the severity, or lack of, of my GP. I have yet to be so sick as to vomit, mainly deal with bloating problems and of course, not being able to eat much at one time.
My sister is a BIG yoga freak, teaches it at a college and is a devote follower. She continually tells me if would help, but I am not a fan of yoga. It is too “quiet” for me??!! I love to ride bike, many 60-100 mile days, run and lift weights. My question for you is how has yoga helped you? How long before you felt the benefits and are their certain poses or tapes you would recommend? Thank you so much and look forward to buying your book!!
Hi, Carla! Glad you found the site. First, just want to say that I encourage people not to downplay their own symptoms because others have more severe symptoms. {Doctors do this a lot, too, and it’s frustrating.} If it’s affecting your life and impairing your ability to eat, you deserve treatment and support just as much as anyone else! Not that you shouldn’t be grateful that you’re still able to eat normally at times…that’s always a good way to look at things
Anyway, regarding the yoga, there are so many kinds of yoga and some are very athletic. Something like power yoga or vinyasa yoga might be a good fit for you. You’d be surprised how challenging it is and how much you really sweat! For me, a lot of the benefit of yoga come from the focus on breath, as well as the stress relief it provides. In addition, twisting postures are very detoxifying for the GI tract. If you’re brand new to yoga, going to a live class is the best way to start. If that’s not possible, one of my favorite DVDs is Eoin Finn’s Power Yoga For Happiness. I always feel *so* good after I finish and it’s provides a nice workout, as well. Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/eOc1Mc
By the way, the fact that you’re able to keep your symptoms mild may have to do with your active lifestyle. I’ve heard many GPers say that regular exercise is one of the best symptom management tools for them.
Hope that helps!
Warmly,
Crystal
Thank you, Crystal, for the info on yoga. I might just give it a try!! I really enjoy your website and blog. It has been very helpful. It is so great to find a site that is run by an actual GP patient who knows what we all go through and are feeling. I just bought your book and am looking forward to reading it.
Thank you again……….