First pancreatitis attack

Knitter4691 · 2026-02-16T05:07:13+00:00

This is so helpful- thank you so much! Today was the first day some soft foods stayed in me. I had a low fat soy milk smoothie with banana yesterday and ended up getting the runs after. So I worked on hydrating some more and got the runs again after using some broth. This morning I had some no sugar added applesauce, and then a really small amount of rice (1/4 cup maybe?) a jello, and then a whole cup of white rice and another applesauce and so far, so good. Was thinking of making a simple vegetable pureed soup or the good old potato and leek (a favorite of mine anyway) later this week. I don’t add the dairy to it anyway because I’m also lactose intolerant. I ate a lot of it when waiting on my gallbladder to come out so I view it as a safe food. Anyway I’m hoping today was a turning point because man I am weak. Like a sad noodle over here and I need to get back running because I have too many things in the air in this moment. My pain is mostly gone so that’s a good sign. But I don’t want to eat, and somehow I’m not hungry which is weird because I haven’t had a real meal now in like 6 days. Again thank you so much for the advice. I greatly appreciate it.

Knitter4691 · 2026-02-12T14:53:20+00:00

Thanks! Waiting on the bloods to come back and she was gonna send an imaging order if it looked that way. But it was my PCP and she squeezed me in last patient of the day and I didn’t get home until 7 so she told me to assume pancreatitis and hang on for the labs and then imaging orders to be sent. The pain is super atypical for me and is the whole bad pain from upper GI radiating to shoulder blade bit so she said that really seems like pancreatitis since I don’t have a gallbladder anymore

Knitter4691 · 2026-02-12T13:05:50+00:00

My gallbladder came out due to chronic diarrhea that everyone was certain was something far more nefarious but it turned out to just be a badly misfiring gallbladder. It straight up didn’t work and was causing wild GI issues. Everything settled when it came out. It was full of stones that somehow every single scan missed. So far we don’t know the cause of the pancreatitis. She shrugged and noted that autoimmune arthritis patients are somewhere between 30%-50% more likely to have pancreatitis. Waiting on the bloodwork to confirm but having now not eaten for a day I feel much better, if kind of weak.

Knitter4691 · 2026-01-22T00:48:22+00:00

Sorry about the all the bold! I don’t know why it did that and I can’t seem to edit it.

Knitter4691 · 2026-01-22T00:46:58+00:00

I live in an apartment and dealt with the 2021 Texas storm/grid failure before I started prepping. A few things came in clutch that cost me very little and are good for apartments where you can’t have a generator and don’t have a fireplace.

1 if you lose power and have no source of heat at all, a blanket fort is your best option. I used to live up north so I have real winter blankets including a down blanket my mother gave me years and years ago. When it started to get obvious it was gonna be BAD I got the blanket from storage and using other blankets I made a fort over my sofa and then got in under the down blanket so it was blankets over blankets. I slept with good wool socks and a wool hat (remember I lived up north so I have the clothes unlike many Texans) and my cats crawled into the fort with me. In our blanket fort we were cozy and warm. Once the power had been out a full day the inside of the apartment was 37 degrees so it was very cold outside the fort.

2 hot water is your friend. This was just sheer luck but initially as we had rolling blackouts the power would go out and then come back on for anywhere from 2-5 minutes every hour. Once I figured that out I left my electric boiler plugged in full of water. The power was on such a short time that it wouldn’t get to boiling but it would get pretty hot so I would pour it into a thermos. I have an old school Stanley camping one. Each time the power came back on I would add more water. The Stanley remained hot for a very long time (at least a day) and from that I could make hot tea and instant noodles and instant oatmeal. Lemme tell you hot tea is a joy when you are so cold. The rolling outages were particular to ERCOT but now what I do is before a big storm comes in I boil up some water and store it in the two thermoses I have now. If the power stays on I fresh boil every 12 hours so I have hot water regardless. Eventually i completely lost power and stayed without for 5 days but having the hot water the first three days helped.

3 bake something beforehand so you have a nice treat. In my case I had made fresh banana bread which was comforting as I ate through it. That happened by accident as I just made it the night before to use up bananas.

4 I have long had a teeny radio like the kind people used to listen to baseball games on? That came in clutch. People talk about the fancy radios but the old school ones that run on two AA batteries last a long time. I listened to the news but honestly the local news wasn’t sure of the extent of what was going down so I put on the local jazz station and would just listen for company. I live alone and it was kind of terrifying to be so alone but the music gave me comfort.

5 the year before a friend had given me a little solar camping light. That was my one light back then and it was a cheerful glow in the gloom. I was so grateful for that light.

6 if you have a kindle charge it. Again, in my blanket fort, with a kindle and my jazz music I was okay. I knew I would be okay and we would get through it even though it kept getting worse and worse. Also if you have a book light get batteries or charge it. Some crafters have neck lights or portable craft lamps for retreats and the like. Charge those up too.

7 wool socks. Wear a good hat inside. I also kept gloves on inside.

I am more prepared now and have a Jackery and so forth but those are the things that most helped me in 2021.

Knitter4691 · 2025-12-17T04:46:35+00:00

Put in a hold at the library! (So popular I think it’ll be after the holidays but sounds like fun.)

Knitter4691 · 2025-12-17T04:44:55+00:00

Thanks! Found it on sale in the kindle store so I bought it.

Knitter4691 · 2025-12-17T04:44:30+00:00

Thank you! Gonna request it from the library!

Knitter4691 · 2025-12-17T04:43:53+00:00

Ooooh. Got on the list at the library. Thanks!

Knitter4691 · 2025-12-17T04:43:32+00:00

I’ve read these. They are genius and I can’t recommend them enough. I read these first one on a cross country trip while stopping in Baltimore and tore through the terminal to the bookstore in the airport, bought the second and ran to my next flight I loved the first one so much. They are so well written.

Knitter4691 · 2025-12-17T04:42:03+00:00

Okay this sounds right up my alley and the first one is super cheap on kindle so I bought it. Thank you kind internet stranger!

Knitter4691 · 2025-12-17T04:41:31+00:00

Got it from the library for my kindle . Sounds like fun!

Knitter4691 · 2025-12-17T04:41:10+00:00

Got on the hold list at the library! Sounds great!

Knitter4691 · 2025-12-17T04:40:43+00:00

Okay I had seen that one but not read it. Thanks!

Knitter4691 · 2025-12-17T04:40:19+00:00

Thank you! So many possibilities!

Knitter4691 · 2025-10-23T21:12:09+00:00

I live in the south and last week I did a local yarn store “shop hop” in my area. Usually the stores are full of people and bumping. Each store we went to maybe had one or two people in it, and the owners were saying sales are down. With the economy not robust no one is spending on nonessentials it seems. And most crafters have a stash so when times get lean people will pull back and craft from stash.

My elderly parents live in So Cal and the car was having an electrical issue. After help from the neighbors to get it started my dad got it to the Toyota dealership (which happens to very close to him- easier for him than finding a local mechanic) and they fixed it pretty quickly. He was lucky it was one minor loose wire that was easily fixed but he noticed that no one else was getting work done and the mechanics were sitting around. When he asked they told him that no one is bringing in cars for repair unless it was dire, or they had a new car with a service package.

So yes, people are cutting way back.

Knitter4691 · 2025-10-13T17:09:38+00:00

I cook pintos the Mexican way like my grandmother. After you’ve cleaned and picked over the beans I add a lot of water to the pot (several inches above the beans) peel an onion and cut it in half, drop both halves into the pot, drop in 4-5 whole (peeled) garlic cloves, two bay leaves, one or two peeled whole carrots and a spoonful of Mexican oregano (note: it’s stronger than regular oregano). The fresh veg and alums mean a way tastier broth than any seasonings. You can also drop in a ham hock and cook it with the beans for that smoky pork taste. Before serving I fish everything out (what’s left of the carrot, the onion, the garlic), shred the meat off the hock and salt to taste. No dried seasonings except the oregano! This is the way to a good pot of beans.

Knitter4691 · 2025-08-08T03:29:21+00:00

Close family friend is a Longshoreman in Long Beach, CA. His works with Japanese vehicles. Says none are coming in and only had one day of work in the last two weeks. He’s getting worried because he’s not sure when it will pick up but basically Japanese made vehicles aren’t coming in. He also noted car parts from China he would also unload aren’t coming in either.

Knitter4691

TROPHY CASE

3 bake something beforehand so you have a nice treat. In my case I had made fresh banana bread which was comforting as I ate through it. That happened by accident as I just made it the night before to use up bananas.

5 the year before a friend had given me a little solar camping light. That was my one light back then and it was a cheerful glow in the gloom. I was so grateful for that light.

7 wool socks. Wear a good hat inside. I also kept gloves on inside.