Homer's Travels: The Wrath Of Rapa Nui

Saturday, September 03, 2016

The Wrath Of Rapa Nui

This has been a weird week for me.  It was mostly loaded down with medical issues.  I actually hinted at me being sick in an earlier post.  Then it was an excuse for not prepping for the Appalachian Trail (AT).  This week it was even a more prominent reason for not training.

So what are my medical issues?  I will not gross people out ... much ... but it was all related to my Poopy Nui (or Rapa Poopy) that afflicted me after leaving Easter Island.  I took antibiotics in Quito and part of the Galapagos cruise and defeated the Easter Island Bug but, unbeknownst to me I was setting myself up for a failure.  From mid-July to this week I have been combatting some form of mild intestinal distress.  Not enough to ruin my day but enough to slow me down.  That is my medical issue.  That and my allergies are being wicked brutal this week.

This week, by coincidence, I had scheduled a follow up colonoscopy (following up on a benign polyp discovered five years ago).  I passed the colonoscopy with flying colors (and endured the excruciating prep procedures).  A biopsy was taken and it was determined that I have Clostridium Difficile Colitis.

What probably happened is the antibiotic I took in the Galapagos weakened or killed the good gut flora in my intestines allowing the not so good Clostridium Difficile to move in.  I didn't help the situation when, deciding to self treat, took even more of the antibiotic I had on hand.  This is easy to treat and I'm on medication for the next eight days or so.  Hopefully I will be biking and hiking again soon.  I already feel better ... though I do tire easily.

I haven't let this slow down all of my AT prep.  Today I finished up version 2.0 of my proposed AT stages.  I will be updating the Appalachian Trail tab next week along with a post explaining why some of the changes were made.

Have a happy Labor day weekend everyone!

P.S.  I have successfully fought off the urge to post the picture of the inside on my colon that I received after the colonoscopy.  You can thank me later.

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