Good news & bad news

Well, I am down 61 lbs. That's awesome and I'm very excited; however I've had another set back.

Don got me those handy dandy special nike's and I was going to town with them walking. And I love walking with my ipod. I love taking Hogan or Sophie with me. It's been very enjoyable.

But, the other day, I decided that I missed water aerobics - in part because I thought it would really help to start toning my arms and tummy where I'm getting flabby skin. When I was at almost my heaviest weight - water aerobics was AWESOME for trimming inches and toning!

So, we re-established our membership at Court South and I went to water aerobics last night. The teacher that I love - Anna - she does not teach the Thur night class and that's probably a good thing. I think if I'd taken her class - I might have been back in the hospital.

It was a guy named Alan and I was so bored. The class was small and it was cold so I was in the deep end of the pool. Well, for his class to have been so "boring" ... I could not move this morning.

My pulled abdomen muscle flaired up again and my legs... oh, My, GOODNESS, my legs... I was in so much pain.

AND I CAN'T TAKE MUSCLE RELAXERS!!!!

Well, I woke up this morning at 5am dry heaving BAD!!! I was back in bed by 8:30 and I slept until 1pm when a friend called. I'm back to ice chips, sipping water and cheese toast!

ARGHHH!!!! Just when I feel like I'm back to normal with energy and my body is healed...

I know some of the problem was being in the deep end. Much more force and resistance...

Oh well...One day, I'm sure that I will forget all this and say that I'd do it over again.... maybe?

More later!
LA :)

Friendship is a wonderful thing

"Chin up, chin up / Everybody loves a happy face / Wear it, share it / It'll brighten up the darkest place / Twinkle, sparkle / Let a little sunshine in / You'll be on the right side, looking at the bright side / Up with your chinny-chin-chin." - Charlotte

My best friend Lisa and I took Katie to see Charlotte's Web yesterday. I've always seen portions of the movie but had never seen it all the way through. I totally wasn't prepared to cry. I guess I will cry at anything...lol!

It really got Katie thinking about friendship yesterday afternoon. She was telling me the kind of friend that she wanted to grow up and be as a "grown up friend" someday when she had someone like Lisa. I thought that was very mature of her.

I caved and weighed today! I've got to stick to this Wednesday thing!! I am down 58 lbs total. YAY!!

I so can't wait for Disney!!!

More later!
LA :)

Every day gets better

I posted a few days ago that I thought I'd turned a corner... I definately think I have. Every day, I fell like I have a little more energy and fell better. I am sleeping really well and I wake up every morning by 6:30 on my own - feeling well rested!!

That is a HUGE difference from pre-surgery. I would fall into bed exhausted and Don could barely wake me in the mornings and then when I finally would wake up - I was grumpy and felt more tired than I did when I went to sleep!

Don says that I am hardly even snorning now. He use to wear sound canceling headphones if he watched tv late at night to cover my snoring so he could hear the tv. Isn't that horrible?

MomMom has told me that when she lost so much weight at Weight Watchers - they had her do chin/neck exercises to help with her double chin while loosing weight so I've been walking around doing this (minus pointing...lol).



I just never thought my weight was slowing me down...I was so active - able to do anything I wanted!!! Well, thank goodness for Sunny. She was my gift from heaven to show me that I couldn't do ANYTHING and needed to do something drastic!

More later...
LA :)

It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up

Vince Lombardi once said that. Well, today I definitely "got up". Finally, I think I've turned a corner! :)

My wonderful, loving husband back in early January got on the Nike+ website and custom designed a pair of nike's for me. They are pink and black - my favorite! They even have my name on them. Well, what is so special about these custom designed nike's... they work wirelessly with your iPod.

On top of that - it turns your iPod into a pedometer and an exercise analyzer tracker thing. I couldn't wait to get started!!!

I went on a mile walk in 17 minutes! :) YAY! Go me! I can't wait to go again tomorrow. I've made the coolest workout playlist that has very upbeat music to keep me going and motivated!

This thing is so smart it told me exactly to the minute how long I walked, exactly how far, how many calories I burned (you have to set it up with all your stats) and it will even let you establish goals! It's amazing!

Don't I have the best husband!?

Today was Wednesday Weigh Day! I'm down a total of 56 lbs.

I'm still having a little difficulty with the big vitamins but I'll get there!

More later! :)
LA

A Brand New Day

Well, a lot has happened since my last post one week ago. I apparently pulled a muscle or two in my abdomen. I think I talked about when it happened in a previous post... anyway - I went to my family doctor last Wednesday to get a B12 shot and they mashed and poked around on my abdomen making it much worse. They did an x-ray that didn't show anything... leaving me with the diagnosis of a pulled muscle.

I couldn't take any muscle relaxers or anti-inflammatory meds - I can never take those again. I'm actually suppose to be wearing a medic bracelet stating that I am allergic or CAN NOT have NSAIDS (non steroidal anti inflammatory meds).

Unfortunately, after Wednesday, my pain worsened and worsened. Finally, on Friday after it got so bad that I was getting nauseous again... Dr. Boyce ordered a CT Scan to make sure that I had not developed another abscess.

I went and had the CT Scan and it didn't show anything... so I was back to a pulled muscle but at least mentally - I wasn't worried anymore.

I took Sat & Sun and kept moist heat on it and felt tremendously better by Monday.

The thing that gets discouraging is - I truly feel like I take three steps forward and two steps back. I start to get a little caught up on things and then BAM! and I'm behind again.

Don did the sweetest thing... he got me those nike walking shoes that tie in with your ipod for valentines. They are awesome!! They are pink and black and have my name on them. Totally customized! He's always being so thoughtful. They came today and I was like "yikes, what am I gonna get him for valentines day?"

And, I just realized - it was 17 years ago tonight that Don and I met on a blind date at Hamburger Hamlet in Bethesda, Maryland. That is just crazy to me! We never ordered food and we were there when they closed the place... we just sat there talking and drinking diet coke.

Katie has been very focused on being with me and staying with me since this whole ordeal began.

We had the best time this afternoon working on her valentines cards for her class party tomorrow. It was so neat seeing her be so careful to pick the right valentine card for the right friend and then be like "eh, whatever" for the the few that maybe aren't so much friends.

Anyway... tomorrow I weigh! Here's hoping there is some encouraging news from the tanita scale!

More later!
LA :)

Three steps forward - two steps back

Well, I make progress in one area and then another area goes backwards. *sigh*

I have now lost 53 lbs. I am taking anti-anxiety medicine that has helped drastically with my gagging. I've now been able to start taking my BIG vitamins (except the chewable calcium) and I've been continuing to broaden my scope of foods I can try.

I went to the farm this past Saturday and worked with Belle and spent some time with Sunny. Things appeared to be on the upswing...

Then I was doing something as simple as sorting laundry Sunday afternoon and I leaned over and *WHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA* an excruciating sharp pain through the left side of my abdomen.

The sharp pain immediately went away but the dull soreness has remained and last night and today got worse. Dr. Boyce thinks that I pulled a muscle. My abdomen muscles that were cut and not used for over a month are going to be tender and I've got to go slow getting them built back up.

Who would have thought sorting laundry....?

Outside of that - it's all about labels now. Priority is sugar, then carbs, then protein. I have to have at least 60g of protein, 60g of carbs and try to keep the sugars as low as possible.

I've had a really hard time finding software or nutritional analysis devices that include sugars... that's so frustrating!

More later!
LA :)

WOW, She's a jumper!!

I had a rough time toward the end of last week. The problem that I was experiencing with my gag reflex and dry heaves continued to get worse and it was zapping me and also getting me down.

I saw Dr. Boyce on Friday. Everyone was very excited about my weight loss. He cautioned me that I would not continue to loose AS fast - it was so fast in the beginning because my BMI was so high. My BMI is down 10 points. He and Kelly (exercise physiologist) both estimated that my weight loss would average 12-14 lbs a month for the next 6 months. That would be approximately 72 lbs and that added to my 51 - that would be 120+ lbs in 7 months. If I can manage that - I will be VERY HAPPY!!!

Anyway - he put me on anti-anxiety meds for a month to see if that will help me get over this gagging thing. He thinks that I developed a food aversion... he thinks I probably had a tendency for that to happen anyway and then what happened to me with the abscess and leak - the pain, etc... that just cinched it. If the anti-anxiety meds don't make progress in two weeks, he wants me to see a therapist.

OK... I've seen therapists to help me deal with Katie better, to help me through grief and loss... but this would be different. "Yes, doctor, I open the refrigerator and I start gagging...". Not sure how that's going to help.

My jackets that wouldn't close - zip or button before - now have room to hid a cat. I have four pairs of jeans that I should no longer be wearing. I went to the grocery store yesterday after going to the farm... it took me almost 2 hours and I had a very organized list. It just takes sooooo long to read and analyze the labels!!! I have to ensure the SUGARS first, then the carbs and then the fat. Sugars will make me sick... so sick, I would wish I was dead. That is what I have heard.... so SUGARS - BAD!!!!

I had my first orange juice this morning. It was diluted 1/3 and it was oj that was already 1/2 the sugar and 1/2 the calories. But let me tell you - I felt like I was transported to a tropical paradise where I was getting a luxury like none other!! It was so yummy!!! I had to go very slow with it though... because it still had like 5gs of sugar and I wanted to be sure it wasn't going to make me sick.

ANYWAY, speaking of the farm a few paragraphs back... BELLE! She is awesome! Already settling in... flirting with all the stallions and geldings. She's beautiful and she teases them because she knows they already love her.

She had shoes that were like WAY too small and Mary and Amy finally got them off of her. Randy, the ferrier, didn't come this week due to the weather but Belle had been laying down a lot so Mary wanted those shoes off her.

After I got her groomed and they got the shoes off - we took her down to the arena and ran her through her gaits. Boy, does she put on a show! Well, Bree (Mary's Australian Shepard) was running her and Belle kept slightly bucking at her. Finally, Bree got on her nerves so bad - she went to kick her and down she went. It was like it happened in slow motion... her feet just all came out from under her. She just rolled over and got right up - acted like a cat... "that DID NOT just happen". She went over to the corner and starred out the pasture as if that was erasing what just happened.

Well then, she was really going at it - beautiful canter and then BAM - over the fence she went! Mary stood there for a second in disbelief and screamed "wow, she's a jumper!!!"

I had to run/walk down to the bottom of the road/driveway to close the gate. Mary and Amy corralled her back into her paddock.

Mary being a champion hunter jumper - immediately found a great big spot for Belle in her heart! :)

I spent some time with Sunny too - which she was very glad of. She gets mare maintenance grain now and she LOVES it!!!

Don and I are bundling up in the morning and going down. Can't wait... I love time when he and I are down there together.

Oh yeah... go COLTS! I sure hope Peyton doesn't choke... he's such a great guy! I'm really gonna be rooting for ya'!

More later...
LA :)