|
|
I am sure some of you have been wondering! 
I have been overwhelmed at work and home and am just coming out of it.
First, my mom is sick again. She now has been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and is scared and overwhelmed. She already has high blood pressure and severe sleep apnea, so she is batting 3 for 3 right now. She lives in California and won’t let me come visit to help her. I told her that I would look into a “new way of living” for her (read: diet/excercise plan) and with the guidence of my doctor (since she can’t get into a dietician for at least 3 months) I have decided to do the South Beach Diet along with my mom so she can get her eating on track. She has been eating nothing but pizza and chinese for the past 2 years so I think eating “real” food will help put her on the right track. She is currently only on the diabetes pills right now (no shots, thank God) and will have to start testing her blood regularly. I am stressed out that I cannot go see her, but atleast I have her trying to get healthy. The SBD is very close to WW CORE, so after the initial 2 weeks of no fruit and bread, I will actually be following CORE and not SBD, but will tell my mom I an following SBD so she will not feel alone. the good thing about this is we are sharing our daily food logs via email so I will FINALLY have a reason to start posting them here again! YIPPEE!
I FINALLY found a WW meeting close to work/home that I will begin going to on Tuesday nights. SO HAPPY!
I have not gained or lost the past month, which is good and bad. I think eating better with my mom will help me begin to lose again. I am currently at the weight my body wants to stay at, so it will take another jump start to get going again. I hope CORE will do it.
Work is crazy-busy: I have been working on a proposal with another colleague and it is finally done. Whew! I started a new job in January and it has been kicking my butt.
Mr More has been happily eating hard boiled egg yokes at home and is fat n’ happy. If I have time, I will post a few new photos.
We cannot get out of the snow/freezing cold/thaw/snow/repeat weather pattern to save our lives in the Midwest. I cannot wait for spring to come. It is really time for the snow to end. Because of the crazy thaw/freeze pattern, we have GIGANTIC pottholes to deal with. More cars are having severe alignment and tire damage than the city has seen in 20 years. They cannot fill them fast enough. Thank GOD I drive very rarely.
Invisalign update: I am only 1 tray away from being finished with my bottom teeth! They are super straight and when I think of it, I will post the “before” and “after” pics. I am 1/2 done with my top teeth. I should be totally done by the end of July 2008. I can’t believe how fast time flies!
Anyway, off to work! I have plans to get updated on all of your lives today at lunch and tonight (since I have live 300 posts to read). I hope you are all doing well and I can’t wait to catch up!
AJ
Do you have any life changing sayings that made your life different?
My best friend is going through crappy (evil, really) work stuff right now and she mentioned that something she saw on my email signature- “This too shall pass” -really helped her out. Also the one about God opening a door when he closes a window. When we were talking via email today, I wrote this:
Yes- everybody needs down days! And you obviously needed a down day yesterday… This Too Shall Pass is my favorite saying still, though it is SOOOO hard to say it sometimes, especially when I want to throw someone through a window (or want to stay in bed for 12 days straight).
The other ones I like are (and are not relevant right now at all, but oh well) ”is the juice worth the squeeze” and “is this the hill you want to die on” and “going to have a ‘come to jesus’ meeting”. My mom recently introduced me to all of these. Not sure if they are West Coast sayings or what, but they help me through alot of crap.
Are there any sayings that have helped you out of a dark place or made you think twice?
Do you have any life changing sayings that made your life different?
My best friend is going through crappy (evil, really) work stuff right now and she mentioned that something she saw on my email signature- “This too shall pass” -really helped her out. Also the one about God opening a door when he closes a window. When we were talking via email today, I wrote this:
Yes- everybody needs down days! And you obviously needed a down day yesterday… This Too Shall Pass is my favorite saying still, though it is SOOOO hard to say it sometimes, especially when I want to throw someone through a window (or want to stay in bed for 12 days straight).
The other ones I like are (and are not relevant right now at all, but oh well) ”is the juice worth the squeeze” and “is this the hill you want to die on” and “going to have a ‘come to jesus’ meeting”. My mom recently introduced me to all of these. Not sure if they are West Coast sayings or what, but they help me through alot of crap.
Are there any sayings that have helped you out of a dark place or made you think twice?
SO, a week or so ago my mom emailed me about a rash she had on her forearm that looked like it was a whole bunch of blisters in a circle. I coached her through taking a cell phone pic and sending it to me- ick. I itched all day.
ETA: The picture. Sorry it is so hard to see- it is a cell photo. The black circle is to show you where the rash is/was. 
We both thought it was probably ringworm and I told her to see a Dr if she could (we all remember her month and 1/2 Lock Jaw incident/debacle and the inability to get in to see a Dr or to get a Dr to listen to her, right? If not look here, here and here for a recap)
Well, they actually (color me shocked) got her in after only a week wait on Friday. Come to find out she has FREAKING LYME DISEASE!!! Yes, you read right, LYME DISEASE!!! You could have knocked me over with a damn feather when she called to tell me. Thank goodness they found it early because it can be nasty if you don’t catch it right away.
She is on a strong antibiotic and has to go in for a check up in a few weeks. The pills she took should clear it up in a few weeks.
My number one question is where the HELL my almost home-bound mother was in contact with a deer tick? She only goes outside to get in her car to go to work, and she is at home the rest of the time. She has an indoor cat that never goes even near the door, and her windows are closed tight. CRAZY!
Anyway, please send healing thoughts to my mom if you have a few minutes.
Crazy.
AJ
Soory I have been slacking a bit. I have not been feeling well, so I have not been eating much. Yesterday was the first time since Sunday night I actually felt like eating anything. I had 1/2 a turkey burger and some blueberries, and that was way too much. I think I am still feeling the effects of the stomach flu. I am still really not hungry today, and probably will force myself to eat something (soup?) later this afternoon.
Mom update: she is now on her 5th round of antibiotics. Grrrr. She still cannot open her mouth, though she is squeezing food in as she can. The swelling is down, and she is feeling a bit better but still no mouth opening. She has pormised to see an internist next week if it does not open by then.
She just left the dentist- they forced her mouth open (um, ouch) and pulled out a cracked back molar on her right side. He said it will swell up again like last time and she may need to be admitted to the hospital if the swelling and pain are as bad as they was before. (…but we all know what happened last time when she tried to be admitted) He gave her more antibiotics and pain medicine and wants to see her again next week after the swelling goes back down. Though they forced her mouth open, she STILL cannot open her mouth because of the swell and pain—they will address that at the next doctor visit. She feels OK (all drugged up right now) and hopes to go back to work on Friday.
Thanks again for all the concern, well wishes and understanding you have had with me the past few weeks. It is stressful being so far away, but I hope they have FINALLY found the cause of this weird swelling and pain.
AJ
I am home from work today – did not sleep at all last night and am having a hard time functioning today. The update on my mom is that after waiting at the county hospital emergency room for 5 hours yesterday (will no pain meds because they thought she was going to have to have emergency surgery), they told her to come back at 8 AM to have the surgery instead. She went back this morning, only to have the oral surgeon on call (different guy than the night before – this is now 5 different oral surgeons and 2 different dentists she has seen) tell her – “why did you go to the emergency room? I have seen worse than this- go home, take the antibiotics and rest.” Seriously, that is what they told her. She still cannot open her mouth, and she is not eating much at all. I am so SICK of these “doctors”: they STILL can’t tell her what is causing all the pain, swelling and causing her mouth to open only a 1/4 of an inch.
I am tired, crabby and feel useless (and can only imagine how she feels) since her insurance only covers one hospital and a handful of dentists/oral surgeons in her area that she is authorized to see. She is changing insurances come open enrollment time, after this fiasco.
I am still not sure if I am flying there to help her this week – I will make the decision later tonight.
I weighed in this morning: 213.4. I am up 2lbs, I think, but much less than I thought I would be with all this stress eating and TOM from last week. I congratulate myself for at least walking and swimming to help keep some of the lbs off.
More of an update later. Thanks for all your kind comments and emails- I am sorry that I have not responded to you each personally- I hope you understand. I miss reading your blogs and hope to catch up with them this weekend.
OH! And, I am getting my invisalign braces tomorrow!! I totally forgot! That is one happy thing going on right now – I am excited to get them on and excited to finally have straighter teeth!
AJ
My mom is really sick and over 3000 miles away and she won’t (yet) let me fly to see her.
She called me last night to tell me she has a baseball sized lump on her lower jaw on the right side. She went to both the dentist and the oral surgeon who told her they think she has a gland that is infected and the infection has has moved to her jaw bone. She cannot open her mouth wide enough to get even a cotton ball in, and she is having problems swallowing. She is not eating and not drinking (much) since it hurts too bad to do so. They have her on antibiotics (but the d&^m oral surgeon’s office FORGOT to call in the stronger stuff after her second visit today) and the dentist is urging my mom to go to the hospital for IV treatment. Of course she is balking. I am so worried about her. Really worried. She does not take care of her self normally, and she has no one there to make sure she will eat or drink or take her meds. I have been calling her every hour to make sure she is OK.
As you can tell, I am just SICK about all of this. I did not sleep last night and had a hellish day at work — not only because I had TONS of work to do (including writing my Annual Performance Appraisal) but also making and getting calls from my mom all day. Oh, and my TOM started today. Perfect ending to a perfect day.
Let’s just say I ate HORRIBLY today. Slim Fast for breakfast, cheeseburger and Fries for lunch, and OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE cheese fries for dinner. And a Diet Coke. I would not say it was a binge, per se, since I did know what I was putting in my mouth at all times and did stop short of eating the Blooming Onion I also ordered, but I also have a bit of an addictive personality. When I am stressed out, I either eat or shop (thank god I don’t like alcohol much or I would be a RAGING drunk). I went shopping today too- at Payless Shoe Source (BOGO, you know) the PetSmart (cat food and litter please) and the grocery store. Yep, I went to the grocery store for WW low point foods, then called Outback and got Curbside takeaway. Yeah, I did it. I am not proud of it, but i did it. I know I did not spend hundreds of dollars shopping, but I spent more than I should of.
I am tired, I am EXTRA full, and I am scared for my mom. She is in pain and there is nothing I can do for her from my house 3000 miles away.
I am sorry to put this on all of you, but I am sad and am in need of some cheering up/comments/whatever. Tell me a joke. Anything. Please.
Thanks.
AJ
|
|
