One of the main goals of this challenge was to not be hungry with the limited funds I had. I think that I managed to accomplish this pretty well, but it really hit me today at how much being hungry affects what you are able to accomplish.
I thought I had done pretty well yesterday not being able to eat in preparation for the colonoscopy, but I also had all day today to survive as well starting at 6:00 drinking that awful stuff to clear out your system:
I had hoped to get some work done before my appointment at 2:00 pm, but that quickly turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be. I failed miserably. I was hungry which made it difficult to concentrate and I had a slight headache. I found that I was getting up every 15 minutes to wander around to get something to eat to realize that I wasn't allowed to eat anything. I found myself staring at the computer instead of writing. It's just really difficult to be productive when you don't have enough food in your stomach.
This is part of a continuing challenge to eat well while spending an average of only $1 a day on food. You can find the beginning and the rules of this challenge here
I kept thinking to a commercial that I hear on the radio about summer being the season of hunger for children. A lot of children rely on their meal at school as their only real meal and they lose that during summer vacation and so food banks are trying to stock up to feed these children over the summer holiday so they don't go hungry. It is something that is a shame that still exists in a country that is as wealthy as ours…
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
I also know why they insist that you have someone to drive you home after a colonoscopy. The stuff they give you wipes you out. Even when you think that you can function, you really can't. I thought I would come back home and cook myself something. Ha, that was a good one.
The nurses said that I should start off by eating relatively simple food so when I arrived back at about 4:00 pm, I got myself a bowl of cereal and had a banana. I then thought I would have cook myself a proper meal later at night, went into my room and say down on my bed. I didn't wake up until 11:00 pm. So I made myself a quick peanut butter sandwich and had one of the small cups of ice cream (woohoo) before heading back to bed again.
I'm definitely glad that is over and have my fingers crossed that I don't have to have that done for a long while to come. I will get the results from the test in a couple of weeks…
This is the current list of what I have purchased:
Money Spent $34.27
Money left to spend: $26.73 ($1.51 must be spent at CVS)
Retail Value of everything bought: $754.94
The Beginning ::: Day 41: Costco Is Expensive
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The colonoscopy itself isn’t bad, its the prep. Tell your Dr and the hospital next that the drugs they gave you lasted this long. They shouldn’t, so they will adjust them for next time. Each person and how they handle those drugs is different.
I agree with Elisabeth…the prep is the worst and you need to speak to your doctor about how long the drugs lasted. When I had mine, I woke up, and they gave me some peanut butter crackers and juice and I was ready to go and have lunch.
You are so correct that it is hard to believe that we have hungry children in our country, but we do. Some of the schools I work at have poverty over 80% and when I say poverty, I mean, these kids families depend on the free breakfast and free lunch they get for the bulk of their diet. One of the local food pantries states they give out 100 food boxes a day and for a city of around 80,000 and there are 3-4 food pantries, that says a lot.
Re: children’s school lunches in the summer.
Locally (Salem, OR), the schools continue to offer breakfasts and lunches during the summer for children. Not many people know about the program, but it is open to any child.
Colonoscopies are nasty I ended up so sick when I prepped for mine. Hope the results come out okay.
It is really a shame that summer would be the season of hunger for children. In the midwest, where I live, food is abundant and often free, IF someone knows what to do with it. I try give away garden produce all the time to people and they turn it down because they either don’t know how to fix it or are not interested in learning. It is pretty sad when I put overgrown zucchini and yellow squash into the compost bin!! I have even been turned down at local restaurants and the one food bank!