It’s A Process

Coffee cup, French Press coffee pot, Mr Coffee pot, and Hot Chocolate mix

I found the cure to my coffee woes. As a result, I’m spending more time making my coffee than drinking it.

I find that kind of hilarious.

To recap my struggles, I have trouble tasting things. I taste TOO much sometimes, and it triggers my stomach not to accept those things. Back when I was young, I loved food. Everything tasted wonderful. Now, not so much.

I’ve always had stomach problems. Chronic heartburn started at age 16. As a child, it seemed like I would get stomach flu a lot. One year can be attributed to when I had Valley Fever. The aftereffects of that can last a long time. I was never taken to the doctor, as my parents thought it was “just the 3 day measles”. When I got the Measles, everyone assumed the mystery illness had to have been Scarlet Fever. No. I had what my grandmother died of in 1929. I found out at age 58 my lungs had the telltale scars. Mystery illness solved.

Anyway…

I’ve always carried my stress in my stomach. That was the easiest place to hide my fear, anger, and frustration. So, over the years, my stomach slowly shut down.

Two years after my husband died, I was diagnosed with Gastroparesis. Short explanation, my stomach doesn’t process food correctly anymore. Depending on what I eat, it can take 6 to 8 hours to digest. There’s a long list of things I’m not supposed to eat…