I'm now on week 2 of my get active campaign. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have this cold still hanging around. I started the Friday before our Spring Break (March 13th) so it's been a good two weeks that this cold has been hanging on. It's funny as it is really the first time since surgery that I've even been sick! I went to my doctors and got some glorified cough medicine and the typical "it's a virus...let it run its course" from her but at least the cough medicine has some nice codeine in it that has put me to sleep every night quite nicely.
The plan for Lisa and I and our training for the marathon is to do some walking on Monday and Thursday nights. I had to bow out of Thursday as I was feeling too haggard...but hope this week that we can do the twice a week thing! I'm ready and excited.
I walked to work and home almost every day this week other than when it rained so I managed to do a good two miles every day which has made me feel really good. It's amazing how much a walk can keep you focused and energized. Great for thinking about my day and reflecting upon situations especially when it comes to work issues! And bonus, I lost a few lbs last week :)
Dawn
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Welcome Spring!
Now that it is officially Spring, I am really looking forward to getting active again outside. During the Winter, I have to admit it - I was very sedentary. I am very out of shape right now compared to a year or two ago. I let work and the cold get in the way and hardly did any walking at all this Winter. Not getting active of course has allowed extra pounds to creep on - so I am looking forward to getting active outside again. I miss getting outside with my sunglasses on and going for incredibly long walks in the sunshine. I just hope that the weather will cooperate enough to get back on track! I can't wait for the sunny months ahead! Until then I resolve to get on my treadmill at least every other day for a half an hour. I also want to start walking back and forth to work again - I miss that too!
I have a lot under my belt right now to be honest. Lots going on! Report cards are due in a few weeks. I have a week of teaching and then will be a mentor to two student teachers for a month at work. I am still doing puppy kindergarten classes. Still training and dealing with a little puppy - who by the way is absolutely awesome - 100% housetrained and we've had her less than 2 months now! I want to also get back to the gym -- my gym membership has been sorely not used.
So here's my Spring goal:
1) Start walking to and from work again except for rainy or busy days
2) Lose some Winter weight
3) Start eliminating the junk food again - it is getting OUT of control
4) Getting hubby on track with HIS eating.
5) Start eating a hypoglycemic diet way
My friend Lisa have made it official. We have registered to participate in the Detroit Free Press Marathon. Being that both of us are not particularly sporty, we entered for the half marathon (13 miles) non competitive walk. That's a good one for us because we can walk or run depending on what level of fitness we reach come October 18th. That's good because we don't know where our exercise will take us.
Lisa has invited me to join her little running club. I guess she has a group of about five people who are starting to meet up to do some serious walking and to build up to running. One of the friends is a real marathoner and she'll be our "trainer". Apparently we are quite a group of walkers who are not really in that great of shape so we are all supposed to be a good match for one another. LOL! I ordered two books on amazon to get me motivated and will now have to think ahead to getting a passport since the marathon goes through both Detroit and Windsor and we have to walk/run over the bridge and through the tunnel. Sounds like it will be an adventure!
Dawn
Dawn
I have a lot under my belt right now to be honest. Lots going on! Report cards are due in a few weeks. I have a week of teaching and then will be a mentor to two student teachers for a month at work. I am still doing puppy kindergarten classes. Still training and dealing with a little puppy - who by the way is absolutely awesome - 100% housetrained and we've had her less than 2 months now! I want to also get back to the gym -- my gym membership has been sorely not used.
So here's my Spring goal:
1) Start walking to and from work again except for rainy or busy days
2) Lose some Winter weight
3) Start eliminating the junk food again - it is getting OUT of control
4) Getting hubby on track with HIS eating.
5) Start eating a hypoglycemic diet way
My friend Lisa have made it official. We have registered to participate in the Detroit Free Press Marathon. Being that both of us are not particularly sporty, we entered for the half marathon (13 miles) non competitive walk. That's a good one for us because we can walk or run depending on what level of fitness we reach come October 18th. That's good because we don't know where our exercise will take us.
Lisa has invited me to join her little running club. I guess she has a group of about five people who are starting to meet up to do some serious walking and to build up to running. One of the friends is a real marathoner and she'll be our "trainer". Apparently we are quite a group of walkers who are not really in that great of shape so we are all supposed to be a good match for one another. LOL! I ordered two books on amazon to get me motivated and will now have to think ahead to getting a passport since the marathon goes through both Detroit and Windsor and we have to walk/run over the bridge and through the tunnel. Sounds like it will be an adventure!
Dawn
Dawn
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
It's Official..
It is official - I am confirmed as being hypoglycemic. The funny thing is that the two hour test usually isn't enough to confirm it as most people find that their reactive hypoglycemia takes longer to "kick in" - so often you have to go for the five hour test. But my doctor said that I'm pretty severe and so it totally was revealed through the two hour test. She said the usual stuff which I already knew - the small meal thing, watch simple carbs and of course, keep candies or juice around in the purse etc. All the stuff which I've read incessantly already. I just wanted it confirmed (I pretty much diagnosed it myself but wanted to medically confirm it before I put it into my MedicAlert information).
But I wonder how many people out there have it and don't know it? I see it all the time, post wls'ers complaining that some time certain foods make them tired and grumpy etc, etc. I'm going to make it my mission now in the wls community to make sure that people know about it as many don't seem to know. Thank goodness I have a diabetic husband around with a blood sugar monitor so that I could have found out what it was the first day I had a reaction. How many people wait and wait? I went down to 1.1 which could have easily have made me pass out or had a seizure. How many people will not know and have to deal with THAT? I knew of reactive hypoglycemia before I got it - how many people don't know? That's what I find is scary.
Running a support group that has probably hundreds of members by now, I have seen people with various levels of understanding and education on weight loss surgery. I hate to say it but there are a frightening amount of uneducated people. So I think this will be a story for me to tell at an upcoming meeting. It will be my story to tell and educate people.
Dawn
But I wonder how many people out there have it and don't know it? I see it all the time, post wls'ers complaining that some time certain foods make them tired and grumpy etc, etc. I'm going to make it my mission now in the wls community to make sure that people know about it as many don't seem to know. Thank goodness I have a diabetic husband around with a blood sugar monitor so that I could have found out what it was the first day I had a reaction. How many people wait and wait? I went down to 1.1 which could have easily have made me pass out or had a seizure. How many people will not know and have to deal with THAT? I knew of reactive hypoglycemia before I got it - how many people don't know? That's what I find is scary.
Running a support group that has probably hundreds of members by now, I have seen people with various levels of understanding and education on weight loss surgery. I hate to say it but there are a frightening amount of uneducated people. So I think this will be a story for me to tell at an upcoming meeting. It will be my story to tell and educate people.
Dawn
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Complications
If you are pre op and considering having weight loss surgery, I don't mean to scare you. This is the fact though that people need to deal with: more than likely every one at some time that has had a form of weight loss surgery is going to have complications down the road. This is reality and when you are reconfiguring your body and one of it's major processes, you need to realize that more than likely you are going to have issues down the road. If not now, probably later. It could be a year out, two years out, five years or more.
I really hate it when I see people online bragging about how they have had no complications because trust me, you pretty much have to expect it. Complications do not have to be a terrible, near death experience. A complication does not mean an issue that will be fatal - but rather you are going to have issues, deficiencies, problems that do crop up because you have permanently altered your digestive tract. I say this not to alarm anyone but rather to accept that fact, to be prepared for that fact and to be proactive.
If you feel exceptionally tired after surgery, get your bloodwork done. If you are dealing with constant nausea, call your surgeon. If anything at any point feels off or not right, call your surgeon. Expect bumps in the road. Be ready for them. Be positive.
I consider myself a pretty "lucky" case over all with my surgery and yet I've had complications too. While having surgery, I had an artery bleed that was repaired within a few minutes but made me lose more blood than an average person. Three months out, I became temporarily anemic. A year out, I developed osteopenia. Now I am pretty sure that I'm dealing with the latest in my complications as a post gastric wls.
It all began in February one night after dinner. For dinner, we'd had some cabbage rolls that we bought at the local church famous for the pierogies and cabbage roll dinners. The cabbage rolls were a let down mostly consisting of rice. About a half an hour later, I had some reisen's chocolate candies as a little dessert.
I was feeling funny the next hour. My eyes were bugging me so I took my contacts off and put my glasses on. After a while, I couldn't stand it and called hubby over and said that something was wrong. I was watching an episode of Friends and was getting really irritated because my eyes were playing tricks on me to the point that the people on the television had "no chins" (this has become a little laugh with my coworkers). I was very irritated and asked hubby if he could get his diabetes tester and test me because maybe I was having "dumping syndrome" or something.
When he took my reading, he was shocked. Rather than being high, I was crashing at 1.8 or something like that. He called his mother immediately (she deals with bloodsugar issues all the time) and she told him to give me some juice). Within a half an hour my bloodsugar was up to a normal reading of 8 or so.
I seem to be dealing with reactive hypoglycemia these days. My body is overproducing insulin when I eat sugary things and so it makes so much insulin that it brings my bloodsugars down but it brings them down TOO low. A few weeks ago, it got as low as 1.1. (Let's just say that I could have been having seizures or gone unconscious with that number).
I approached my doctor who made me go for testing. A test where you have to drink dextrose and then sit around for 2 hours. After about 15 minutes of drinking the stuff I started to faint in the waiting room....they had to put ice packs on me! I managed to sit for the two hours though after hubby came to monitor me after that incident. I'm waiting for the results back when I see my doctor on Tuesday ...but I pretty much feel that I know what I am dealing with after reading oodles about it.
So at 2 1/2 years out, yet another issue...but you know what. I can deal with it. I can deal with anything. I have always expected these things to crop up now and again so it's nothing that can devastate me. Still worth it a hundred times over.
Dawn
I really hate it when I see people online bragging about how they have had no complications because trust me, you pretty much have to expect it. Complications do not have to be a terrible, near death experience. A complication does not mean an issue that will be fatal - but rather you are going to have issues, deficiencies, problems that do crop up because you have permanently altered your digestive tract. I say this not to alarm anyone but rather to accept that fact, to be prepared for that fact and to be proactive.
If you feel exceptionally tired after surgery, get your bloodwork done. If you are dealing with constant nausea, call your surgeon. If anything at any point feels off or not right, call your surgeon. Expect bumps in the road. Be ready for them. Be positive.
I consider myself a pretty "lucky" case over all with my surgery and yet I've had complications too. While having surgery, I had an artery bleed that was repaired within a few minutes but made me lose more blood than an average person. Three months out, I became temporarily anemic. A year out, I developed osteopenia. Now I am pretty sure that I'm dealing with the latest in my complications as a post gastric wls.
It all began in February one night after dinner. For dinner, we'd had some cabbage rolls that we bought at the local church famous for the pierogies and cabbage roll dinners. The cabbage rolls were a let down mostly consisting of rice. About a half an hour later, I had some reisen's chocolate candies as a little dessert.
I was feeling funny the next hour. My eyes were bugging me so I took my contacts off and put my glasses on. After a while, I couldn't stand it and called hubby over and said that something was wrong. I was watching an episode of Friends and was getting really irritated because my eyes were playing tricks on me to the point that the people on the television had "no chins" (this has become a little laugh with my coworkers). I was very irritated and asked hubby if he could get his diabetes tester and test me because maybe I was having "dumping syndrome" or something.
When he took my reading, he was shocked. Rather than being high, I was crashing at 1.8 or something like that. He called his mother immediately (she deals with bloodsugar issues all the time) and she told him to give me some juice). Within a half an hour my bloodsugar was up to a normal reading of 8 or so.
I seem to be dealing with reactive hypoglycemia these days. My body is overproducing insulin when I eat sugary things and so it makes so much insulin that it brings my bloodsugars down but it brings them down TOO low. A few weeks ago, it got as low as 1.1. (Let's just say that I could have been having seizures or gone unconscious with that number).
I approached my doctor who made me go for testing. A test where you have to drink dextrose and then sit around for 2 hours. After about 15 minutes of drinking the stuff I started to faint in the waiting room....they had to put ice packs on me! I managed to sit for the two hours though after hubby came to monitor me after that incident. I'm waiting for the results back when I see my doctor on Tuesday ...but I pretty much feel that I know what I am dealing with after reading oodles about it.
So at 2 1/2 years out, yet another issue...but you know what. I can deal with it. I can deal with anything. I have always expected these things to crop up now and again so it's nothing that can devastate me. Still worth it a hundred times over.
Dawn
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Facts
The Facts:
1. I do not do protein powders. There is no reason. I get more than enough protein through foods. I did do protein powders religiously throughout my first year but not now. They pretty much gross me out altogether now.
2. I can eat very normal amounts. A 6 inch subway sub is quite tasty and enjoyable. This is a normal amount of food. I can do a big mac or pretty much any burger. A happy meal is a nice treat now and then. I have it as a treat but try not to make it a habit.
3. If I really want to have something I will. Sometimes I indulge too much and need to smack myself up the head but nothing is off limits.
4. I do not feel deprived of anything. There is nothing off limits. I try and do moderation. I eat normal foods.
5. I need to get back to exercise. I feel more tired and blah without it but I've slacked off this year with being so busy. This is the reason for me having my bounceback I am sure. I miss exercise. I hate being lazy and sedentary. I want to get back to exercise. I really, really miss my walking.
6. I believe in supplements in moderation. I am glad I don't have a ton of vitamins to take every day. I am quite forgetful at times about this. I do think that vitamins are a necessity. I do not want to wait til I have deficiencies.
7. I've slacked off my water but have learned that much of the water thing is a myth so I'm not obsessed about it either.
8. The cold wintry weather sucks. I miss walking and can't wait until I can start my walks around the city again. I really do miss it...and spring!
9. Low carb products do not give you a free pass. I see too many people eating junkfood early out just because it is labeled "low carb". I think you should try to avoid the junk food early out. why set yourself up for trouble?
10. I don't go on the boards too often any more. I just get tired of some people's attitudes...but I still enjoy email :)
Dawn
1. I do not do protein powders. There is no reason. I get more than enough protein through foods. I did do protein powders religiously throughout my first year but not now. They pretty much gross me out altogether now.
2. I can eat very normal amounts. A 6 inch subway sub is quite tasty and enjoyable. This is a normal amount of food. I can do a big mac or pretty much any burger. A happy meal is a nice treat now and then. I have it as a treat but try not to make it a habit.
3. If I really want to have something I will. Sometimes I indulge too much and need to smack myself up the head but nothing is off limits.
4. I do not feel deprived of anything. There is nothing off limits. I try and do moderation. I eat normal foods.
5. I need to get back to exercise. I feel more tired and blah without it but I've slacked off this year with being so busy. This is the reason for me having my bounceback I am sure. I miss exercise. I hate being lazy and sedentary. I want to get back to exercise. I really, really miss my walking.
6. I believe in supplements in moderation. I am glad I don't have a ton of vitamins to take every day. I am quite forgetful at times about this. I do think that vitamins are a necessity. I do not want to wait til I have deficiencies.
7. I've slacked off my water but have learned that much of the water thing is a myth so I'm not obsessed about it either.
8. The cold wintry weather sucks. I miss walking and can't wait until I can start my walks around the city again. I really do miss it...and spring!
9. Low carb products do not give you a free pass. I see too many people eating junkfood early out just because it is labeled "low carb". I think you should try to avoid the junk food early out. why set yourself up for trouble?
10. I don't go on the boards too often any more. I just get tired of some people's attitudes...but I still enjoy email :)
Dawn
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Maggie: March 17, 2001 to January 6th, 2009I know that this is extremely off topic but I have to post this. I feel like I must somehow pay a little tribute to the loved one that I lost yesterday. Maggie was our 7 1/2 furry child, golden retriever who was taken from us much too soon. Our world revolved around here. She was fiesty, smart, very comical, lovable, food obsessed, pool and swimming obsessed and just the bright spot of our lives.
A few days after Christmas she started with these spells of lethargy and what we almost thought was sadness. The first time it happened, she laid down in the backyard in the pouring rain refusing to move. She could barely lift her head. We took her to the vet only to have her recover in the waiting room and therefore, the vet couldn't see anything wrong with her as there were no obvious signs. We were sent home basically told that it would be "blind testing" as he couldn't see any physical signs of anything - no smoking gun.
The next time it happened, again she laid out in the snow this time, four days after the last episode, extremely tired and unable to move. Again, in an hour or two she was fine.
The last time it happened she could not snap out of it, and it lasted more than 12 hours. We brought her in, she was put on i.v. and they did literally test after test after test. The ultrasound finally showed that she had tumours in her spleen (and possibly other organs) called hemangiosarcoma. The prognosis was not good. Basically every episode she'd had previously was a tumour rupturing, her bleeding out and then somehow the blood stopped on its own. This time, she was just bleeding internally and it was not stopping. It is an extremely bad form of cancer for dogs - even with surgery the prognosis is something like 59 more days out the dog (while putting it through all the pain of surgery). It was so hard to make that decision yesterday but we had to put her down. It was not fair to her to make her go through the labour of surgery when in the end she'd at most get a few more days or weeks. If it was years, we would have done it in a heart beat...we would have extended our baby's life in a heartbeat.
We are in complete and utter mourning.
Dawn
A few days after Christmas she started with these spells of lethargy and what we almost thought was sadness. The first time it happened, she laid down in the backyard in the pouring rain refusing to move. She could barely lift her head. We took her to the vet only to have her recover in the waiting room and therefore, the vet couldn't see anything wrong with her as there were no obvious signs. We were sent home basically told that it would be "blind testing" as he couldn't see any physical signs of anything - no smoking gun.
The next time it happened, again she laid out in the snow this time, four days after the last episode, extremely tired and unable to move. Again, in an hour or two she was fine.
The last time it happened she could not snap out of it, and it lasted more than 12 hours. We brought her in, she was put on i.v. and they did literally test after test after test. The ultrasound finally showed that she had tumours in her spleen (and possibly other organs) called hemangiosarcoma. The prognosis was not good. Basically every episode she'd had previously was a tumour rupturing, her bleeding out and then somehow the blood stopped on its own. This time, she was just bleeding internally and it was not stopping. It is an extremely bad form of cancer for dogs - even with surgery the prognosis is something like 59 more days out the dog (while putting it through all the pain of surgery). It was so hard to make that decision yesterday but we had to put her down. It was not fair to her to make her go through the labour of surgery when in the end she'd at most get a few more days or weeks. If it was years, we would have done it in a heart beat...we would have extended our baby's life in a heartbeat.
We are in complete and utter mourning.
Dawn
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