December 8, 2025
Hi Friends,
Well, you are not going to believe what happened to me!
If you read last week’s newsletter, you know that my chronic tsunami of diarrhea turned out to be “overflow diarrhea” caused by constipation. The nurse practitioner who works for my pancreatologist (you know you’re seeing way too many doctors when you have a pancreatologist 🤣) recommended I do a “bowel cleanse” because both the abdominal X-ray and the CT scan showed I was constipated and had a large stool burden.
She told me to take half a bottle (117 g) of MiraLAX mixed into 32 ounces of coconut water.
What she didn’t tell me is that I was supposed to sip it over four hours.
So of course, I just slugged it down… and oh boy, did I get sick! Who knew you could actually overdose on MiraLAX?
The odd thing is, it really wasn’t very effective, and there was NO WAY I was going to repeat the cleanse the next day.
This may be TMI for some of you, but I’m telling you this because I’m actually proud of myself. I didn’t freak out the way I usually do when medical stuff goes awry. I was able to maintain a sense of humor about it the entire time, knowing “this too shall pass” (figuratively AND literally)
With the approval of my PCP, I did a colonic—and boy, do I feel better! So the moral of the story is:
Never underestimate the power of a good 💩!!!
My colon is so clean now my grandmother could invite people over. 😂
Meanwhile, in Medicare Land…
Other than that little snafu, it’s been a great week.
On December 1, we celebrated Charles getting Medicare. Now he can go anywhere he wants, including Stanford, to get his much-needed cardiac ablation.
I honestly don’t know how anyone affords health insurance anymore. Because we’re self-employed, for years we were paying $3,300 a month for not-very-good insurance. Now, for just a few hundred dollars a month, we can go anywhere—so being old does have some perks. 🤣
Lung Cancer Update
On Thursday, I saw the thoracic surgeon at Stanford.
The bottom line is that no one at Stanford is willing to do my surgery without intubation and general anesthesia. I found 13 articles in the medical literature showing that it can be done without intubation, and there are places in China and Italy that do it this way, but they said no.
When I met with the preoperative anesthesia clinic at Stanford, they tried to reassure me that anesthesia is safer now. Unfortunately, back in the day they only kept medical records for seven years, so there’s no way to know exactly what caused my two allergic reactions to anesthesia in the past.
So that’s where we are: gathering information, asking questions, and looking for the safest possible path forward.
A Quick 24-Hour Jaunt to LA
The highlight of my week was a quick 24-hour jaunt to LA to do an in-person workshop with my improvisational comedy guru, Patrick Bristow.
Patrick will be directing a group of well known improvisational comedy actors at next year’s Plant Powered Party. You can get your Early Bird tickets here: https://theplantpoweredparty.com/
Spending time with him always fills my creative tank and reminds me there is life beyond doctor’s appointments, scans, and bathroom adventures.
A Picture Worth 1,000 Words
In closing, they say a picture is worth 1,000 words, so a special thank you to Elizabeth for sharing this beautiful photo to remind us all of the immortal words from the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:
“Everything will be all right in the end. If it’s not all right, it’s not the end.”
✨If things are still painful, unresolved, or frightening… the story isn’t finished yet.
✨There is more healing, more hope, more help, and more life still to unfold.
It’s a reminder to all of us not to judge our entire future by our current struggles.
If YOU are able to read this, then YOU ARE GOING TO BE OKAY.
With more love & gratitude than you’ll ever know,
💜 Chef AJ