And we come up towards the end of 2014. Time really does fly doesn't it? How many years has it been since I installed what my friends call this 'after market add on?" How many years have I been a mother? How many years since the weekend I met a bunch of crazy lap band ladies in Chicago? How many years?
This year has been a struggle health-wise. One of the benefits of running a yarn store is all of the ladies who come in. They come in all shapes, forms ages and personalities and overall this diversity makes me grateful for my life. Some are suffering some have already been through this hell that my menopause has become for me. They are supportive and sometimes trying :) but overall wonderful to know and learn from.
I went in for another run at blood tests. My records have all been sent to the new primary care doctor. Fingers crossed something changes for 2015 health wise.
In the mean time I plan on re-attacking my health in the ways I do have some control over. Eating right, vitamins, exercise. Bring it on.
xxoo
Living with a lapband after seeing goal is just as much work as getting there. This blog chronicles my journey to qualify for band surgery, my work to goal weight and now living with the band long term. Weight will always be an issue but there is a whole lot of living to be done.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
A big catch up-Problems but better.
I like lists so this is coming as a list:
1. I have had several once every two week fills. I am up to somewhere around 8cc's again. Finally this last one I have real restriction again and the scale has stopped its upwards spiral and has turned down again. I have been here before and had it all fade away in a couple of weeks but..my top weight was 222 at my last visit. I am as of today down to 218. This regain SUCKS and no matter how good I feel like I am being with the food the weight has come on. I am assuming that just one or two bites different per meal has meant the difference in daily calories.
With this new fill I am finally back to feeling very little hunger. I had my morning coffee yesterday (and it has been WAYY scaled back to a late with coconut milk) and felt no hunger until 2pm. Can I hear a whoopppp whoop! :) I had a small yogurt and a small dinner (plain old beef and one slice of cheese) and I was good for the rest of the evening.
2. I have had an iron infusion, a B-12 shot and am finally feeling energetic again. No periods so apparently the menopause is (cross your fingers) complete. Now I am battling the hand pain and weakness only. I have had two massages. The second one with a new guy helped a whole bunch! I had a day with just a small amount of hand pain and I took no pain meds all day. I could not get back into this particular massage therapist until after Christmas so I have to sit out and wait now. I finally called again because I developed this back pain that felt like my head was being pulled down into my shoulder. I do not know if the back thing is causing the hand thing or the hand thing has caused the back thing or if they are unrelated. In either case the result was totally worth it.
3. I had some questions about the nature of the pain-my hands are mostly painful at night. I wake up and they throb with my finger joints swelled up and painful to bend. During the day my finger joints loosen up but the pain moves into my wrists. I cannot open most jars or bottles and I cannot use my hands to pull up or push up when I get in and out of chairs. Shaking hands with someone is sometimes agonizing. So much so that I sometimes just have to say no..I cannot. I have changed how I brush my hair holding the brush and moving my whole arm. Hence my question as to whether the hands caused the back pain or vice-versa.
4. I went to a rheumatologist about the hand pain. He did all of the blood tests gave me a different 750mg NSAID drug that had little effect. It worked no better really than the aleive. He took blood. When i did the 30 day follow up visit (I hate the f-ing waiting by the way). nothing really had changed and he found nothing in the blood work. I was so annoyed..it feels like at times that doctors are lazy or they are just not as good as I build them up to be. If there is nothing in a blood test they have no f-ing clue and send you away for another waiting period. This time he said go home take your alieve for 2 months and come back. I so wanted to tell him where to shove it.
5. I have changed General doctors. She is my neighbor and I have up until how held off changing my medical care to a person I drink/socialize with. We had a Christmas party and had a chat about the medical thing (yeah I know we had one of those get treatment advice for free conversations!) I hate it when that happens-policemen always get the I hate cops and I had this bastard give me a ticket. Doctors get the I have this pain and math teachers get the traumatic math story. Well..I did that..(shaking my head in shame). Well...anyhow she said to come in and that it was ridiculous that I should just put up with the pain and there must be something. A few days later she then walked up to me at the bar ( our neighboring watering hold and social center) and grabbed my back and said..you are wayyy tight. (I could tell she was working on the problem even after hours). Well..I have come to the conclusion that I want a doctor that is invested enough in my health to think about it beyond the 5 minutes I am sitting in her office. So I changed.
6. A doc left a message on this blog about a Thiamine deficiency after my previous post. I will ask or check out my blood stats and see.
7. Yarn shop--has been Busy! I have two employees now and sub out payroll and taxes to a accountant firm. I am also getting a volunteer bookkeeper (thank goodness for nice knitters) for next year to help me organize myself.
8. Oh..on the health front again--The iron and B-12 shots helped but slowly. I felt somewhat better right away but last night for the first time in a long time I really felt great. Sure my hands hurt but I have my energy back and that spring in my step that I developed when the weight came off came back last night. I was beginning to despair that this had all gone down the tubes and I was just going to be an old tired old lady. I think there is a little life in here yet ;)
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Good New Year and all that :)
xxoo
1. I have had several once every two week fills. I am up to somewhere around 8cc's again. Finally this last one I have real restriction again and the scale has stopped its upwards spiral and has turned down again. I have been here before and had it all fade away in a couple of weeks but..my top weight was 222 at my last visit. I am as of today down to 218. This regain SUCKS and no matter how good I feel like I am being with the food the weight has come on. I am assuming that just one or two bites different per meal has meant the difference in daily calories.
With this new fill I am finally back to feeling very little hunger. I had my morning coffee yesterday (and it has been WAYY scaled back to a late with coconut milk) and felt no hunger until 2pm. Can I hear a whoopppp whoop! :) I had a small yogurt and a small dinner (plain old beef and one slice of cheese) and I was good for the rest of the evening.
2. I have had an iron infusion, a B-12 shot and am finally feeling energetic again. No periods so apparently the menopause is (cross your fingers) complete. Now I am battling the hand pain and weakness only. I have had two massages. The second one with a new guy helped a whole bunch! I had a day with just a small amount of hand pain and I took no pain meds all day. I could not get back into this particular massage therapist until after Christmas so I have to sit out and wait now. I finally called again because I developed this back pain that felt like my head was being pulled down into my shoulder. I do not know if the back thing is causing the hand thing or the hand thing has caused the back thing or if they are unrelated. In either case the result was totally worth it.
3. I had some questions about the nature of the pain-my hands are mostly painful at night. I wake up and they throb with my finger joints swelled up and painful to bend. During the day my finger joints loosen up but the pain moves into my wrists. I cannot open most jars or bottles and I cannot use my hands to pull up or push up when I get in and out of chairs. Shaking hands with someone is sometimes agonizing. So much so that I sometimes just have to say no..I cannot. I have changed how I brush my hair holding the brush and moving my whole arm. Hence my question as to whether the hands caused the back pain or vice-versa.
4. I went to a rheumatologist about the hand pain. He did all of the blood tests gave me a different 750mg NSAID drug that had little effect. It worked no better really than the aleive. He took blood. When i did the 30 day follow up visit (I hate the f-ing waiting by the way). nothing really had changed and he found nothing in the blood work. I was so annoyed..it feels like at times that doctors are lazy or they are just not as good as I build them up to be. If there is nothing in a blood test they have no f-ing clue and send you away for another waiting period. This time he said go home take your alieve for 2 months and come back. I so wanted to tell him where to shove it.
5. I have changed General doctors. She is my neighbor and I have up until how held off changing my medical care to a person I drink/socialize with. We had a Christmas party and had a chat about the medical thing (yeah I know we had one of those get treatment advice for free conversations!) I hate it when that happens-policemen always get the I hate cops and I had this bastard give me a ticket. Doctors get the I have this pain and math teachers get the traumatic math story. Well..I did that..(shaking my head in shame). Well...anyhow she said to come in and that it was ridiculous that I should just put up with the pain and there must be something. A few days later she then walked up to me at the bar ( our neighboring watering hold and social center) and grabbed my back and said..you are wayyy tight. (I could tell she was working on the problem even after hours). Well..I have come to the conclusion that I want a doctor that is invested enough in my health to think about it beyond the 5 minutes I am sitting in her office. So I changed.
6. A doc left a message on this blog about a Thiamine deficiency after my previous post. I will ask or check out my blood stats and see.
7. Yarn shop--has been Busy! I have two employees now and sub out payroll and taxes to a accountant firm. I am also getting a volunteer bookkeeper (thank goodness for nice knitters) for next year to help me organize myself.
8. Oh..on the health front again--The iron and B-12 shots helped but slowly. I felt somewhat better right away but last night for the first time in a long time I really felt great. Sure my hands hurt but I have my energy back and that spring in my step that I developed when the weight came off came back last night. I was beginning to despair that this had all gone down the tubes and I was just going to be an old tired old lady. I think there is a little life in here yet ;)
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Good New Year and all that :)
xxoo
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