Passing like a kidney stone

Jana Mathia, Whitman County Gazette | Aug 13, 20200

I love food--good food. I think it’s safe to say that all humans like to eat. (Unless you have some other issues, but we’re not going there.)

As humans, we are biologically prone to certain foods like sweets and salty things. Food companies have expounded on this to the point of being unhealthy, but we’re not going there either. There are some really good eats out there, and we all have things we are particularly fond of and it can cause us distress to not eat those things.

While I can eat anything I want today, that has not always been the case. Various health issues have popped up over the years that have forced a change in diet I did not like. Systematic candida infection left me for almost a month restricting all sweets--natural and artificial--and anything white wheat. I ate a lot of eggs, green beans and hamburger. I was counting down the days until I had righted my body and could go back to normal consumption.

Then there have been those annoying incidences of gestational diabetes. The little imps weren’t even born and they were taking away my sweets. Luckily, I love my children, even before birth, and I was able to endure until that time had passed. A box of homemade truffles sat in my freezer for nearly four months, waiting for the day I could savor them.

It wasn’t enough that my last child took away my sweets before she was born. Just in case I had any doubts, my body sent up some red flags that this was the last time near the end of the pregnancy and right after the birth. My blood pressure went up and stayed there when it shouldn’t have. Fortunately, there is an easy fix for that. Just cut out salt. All salt.

Understand, I am an Idaho girl by birth and am very fond of my potatoes. And, potatoes, in almost any form, need some salt. I was quiet happy when my post-natal blood pressure finally came down and I could sprinkle some salt on my spuds again.

Like probably everyone, I’ve been sick at different points and was so miserable. A bad case of the flu kept me recliner-ridden for almost a week. A reaction to medicine during my last pregnancy made it so I would start dry heaving trying to load the laundry machine and later shaking all over while my heart raced. I spent a lot of time miserably laying on my bed because I couldn’t do anything else.

But, you know what, those things passed. I have no dietary restriction, no need for bed rest, none of those issues dragging me down. It was awful.

Now it’s only a memory.

That’s how I feel about wearing masks. It sucks, I don’t really like it, but, you know what, it will pass. Some may dispute that, but I’ve been in worse misery and it passed. This will, too. If I could put off the chocolate and pass on the salt, I can put on a silly little mask. Not because I want to, but because it’s the healthier thing to do right now. And some day I won’t need to. And neither will you.

That will be a really good day.

Jana Mathia,

Gazette Editor