Love at its Purest

Today, I think I’ll reflect on the journey of my flare thus far.

Back in November in NYC, I was in a show.  I was Little Red Riding Hood in “Into The Woods.” During the show, I started an Ulcerative Colitis flare.  Literally by the grace of God I was able to make it through the show from such a debilitated state.

Little Red (sans-cape) with the Wolf

It was hard. I wasn’t eating any solid food, and was living on fresh green juice. During the final weeks of rehearsal, my mom knew how bad my health was getting, so she flew out and stayed with me through the show, as well as several weeks after the show when she moved me into a new apartment with a kitchen.  I had been living in student housing without a kitchen. My room was probably 6 1/2 ft by 12 ft and I’m not even joking. It was TINY, and my mom was on a cot in my room. You had to fold up the cot if you wanted to get into the bathroom or open the door.

New Studio in NYC

So anyways, we moved into an adorable studio apartment, accepted the furniture deliveries, and then flew home because my health was going down hill fast. Because of the new dosage of medicine, I overdosed on Asacol and was having 104 fevers every night, and back, head, neck, jaw and joint pain, as well as your “normal” UC symptoms.

Luckily, when we stopped the extra dose of Asacol, the overdose symptoms *slowly* tapered off. And I am doing a bit better since then.  However, I am going about this the natural way now: drinking chlorophyll, aloe vera, amino acids, probiotics, fish oil, other anti inflamitories as well as other “potions.”

But, while we were in New York, we ate literally every dinner (because I had no kitchen) at this amazing gluten free vegan restaurant in the East Village called Angelica’s Kitchen. We even ate Thanksgiving dinner there. It was such a cozy little place and we got to personally know the wait staff and they became like family.

Dinner at Angelica's Kitchen

But I guess I wanted to take this post to just thank my mom for being with me every step of the way through this flare. And my dad too, researching organic this, and anti-inflamitory that.  I am so blessed to have you both in my life.

Christmas with my mom

And I guess now for a quick recipe: Artichoke Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta.

Artichoke Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

I found this recipe from The Gluten Free Vegan. It was pretty darn good. It wasn’t the pesto, but it was satisfying and very tasty. I served it with roasted veggies and everyone cleaned their plates!

Bon Appetit!