books in the bathroom

Today's confession: reading while on the toilet. I do it and have done it since I was about seven and struck down with some kind of terrible childhood stomach bug. Reading took my mind off the explosion that was happening in my guts and since then a good book in the lav is essential for me.

I went through a phase in my early teens when I was extremely germ phobic and the idea of leaving a book in the bathroom to get covered in poop particles totally grossed me out. I was convinced that I would become ill if I read while on the toilet so I desperately tried to break the habit. It worked for a long time and until I started getting the early symptoms of IBD I pretty much never read while in the bathroom.

Last week I started reading 'Mostly Harmless', the last book in the hitchhikers guide series by Douglas Adams. I finished it this morning. I'm a fast reader and it's not the world's longest book but it still made me feel a little sad that I finished it so quickly, given that I only read it while sitting on the bog. I think the last book is the easiest to read, for me the first ones were like trying to read treacle..just too many words trying to say too many different things! I'm still fairly disappointed by the ending though, it's obvious that the whole book is leading up to that moment and when it comes it's a little flat for me. I wish that he had left it open a little bit.

Now I'm reading 'The Andromeda Strain', which I have never read before but I did see the movie a long time ago and was suitably freaked out. Looking back, it's probably a really terrible b-movie kind of thing but when you're 11 they seem far scarier.

I've been taking the Asacol HD for a month now and if anything, my symptoms are worse, not a lot worse but still worse. I actually ran out of it a couple of days ago and I feel like I'm getting better without it but I have a follow up appt. this weekend to test my theory.