Lost blogger

Hello! My name is Debra and I am a lost blogger. I had good intentions of blogging daily which switch to weekly but now is just non-existant. I would like to say that I have been super busy but that is not the case. I just have not being feeling "GOOD.Basicall, my allergies are driving me CRAZY. Before lapband, I would take allergy medication and still have mucus production. Enter lapband--mucus production, taking allergy medication and no eating. I have been on every allergy medication known with NO relief. Every doctor that I see tells me I have a sinus infection from dentist to pedicurist. I will be soo happy when this seasonal bit is over!!

Long Over Due Blog

I'm back (finally). I had made it through the holidays, my shoulder surgery, the start of aggressive physical therapy and  my first root canal. OH MY!! It has been a rough month--just saying.

January came in with a bang on the 5th with my shoulder surgery. It was very painful. I went to sleep with the doctors talking about the other being "genetically superior"  and laughing to the worse pain possible. I know that I mentioned earlier that I needed shoulder surgery--it was an arthroscope. I had three little battle scars and some awesome pictures of the inside of my shoulder (most people have pictures of their children--I have pictures of my shoulder) During surgery, it was found out that I had a small tear on my rotator cuff which set in motion my shoulder problems (bursitis and frozen shoulder syndrome). Muscle pain was worse pain I have ever felt though. When I woke up from surgery, I asked the nurse for pain medication. She nicely told me that she would give me Lora tab--knowing how big the pills are, I ask for liquid so it would not get stuck. She quickly told me that the only reason I wanted liquid was so it would work quicker.  HELLO!! Read my chart...I had lap band and big pills can get stuck and I definitely did not need that today. Boy, did she make me mad. They quickly shoved me out since it was closing time and we went toward home. Since I live in a small community, we stopped at the Rite Aid to get my medications. While we were there my husband's truck battery decided to die. He had to flag down a poor man so we wouldn't get robbed by the druggies who were hanging out at Rite Aid. Finally, we made it home and I did not sleep at all due to the pain. I went to physical therapy the next day as instructed by my physician and all they did was put ice on my shoulder. When the doc called on and found out that he only put ice on the shoulder and did not do aggressive physical therapy, I had to change therapy locations immediately. Within a week, I had a great deal of range of motion back in my shoulder. It has been rough but made me stronger--RIGHT! I am still in physical therapy but only 2 times a week instead of 5 times a week--and it is still no fun but it is making my shoulder usable :)

Next hurdle--tooth ache! I have been battling a tooth ache since the middle of December. My dentist put a filling in where I lost one and I thought that it would be the end--WRONG!! I called my dentist to tell him that the tooth was still bothering me. He told me I had a sinus infection (over the phone) and called in antibiotics. Finally, I decided to go to a different dentist. He was going to put a temporary filling over the area and in a few weeks change it to a permanent filling. Once he got in there, he found out why it was hurting so much. My previous dentist put a filling on my nerve. So I had to have an immediate root canal.

It has been a CRAZY month!! Weight loss wise, I have stayed at 247lbs. I have an appointment with my lap band surgeon on Tuesday. Hopefully, I will get a few CCs for my band and some encouraging words as well.

Till Next Time
Debra

Shoulder Surgery?

January 5 is the day for my shoulder surgery. Oh! you say didn't know I had problems with my shoulder. Well here is the story. I began working out about 6 weeks after I had lap-band surgery. It started out with Walk Away the Pounds. I would work out 3 times a weeks. In May, the local pools offered water aerobics and I managed to do that on everyday but Sunday. Then school started and summer ended so I went back to Walk Away the Pounds and occasional Zumba (when the instructor wasn't sick). When I am exercising, I notice that I had some pain in my shoulder. Not bad just pain that would be taken care of with a tylenol. September came and the pain began to get worse. In October, at my PCP appointment, I mentioned it to him. He said that I had bursitis and needed physical therapy. In my physical therapy evaluation, it was determined that I had frozen shoulder syndrome which in my case is caused by diabetes. I began physical therapy and had about 8 sessions but my shoulder was not getting better. It actually felt worse. So I made an appointment with an orthopedic doctor thinking I could get a steriod shot as all the other teachers with frozen shoulder have received. Of course not--that would be too simple. I need surgery! Apparently 2 years ago when I fell out of bed, I injured my shoulder which caused scar tissue to build up and created bursitis. UGGHHH!!!Why can things not be simple for me? Until next time.....

Needle in a Haystack

Lap band issues or stomach virus?
Sometimes trying to figure out what is going on with me is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I teach school and my little gremlins are always sharing their goodies with me like stomach viruses. I had lapband surgery so eating sometimes can be challenging,too. So Wednesday when I felt sick almost instantly when I ate lunch, knowing the difference was hard. I think I may have the answer--stomach virus. A few Zofran and 24 hours later, I feel like human again.

Peanut Butter

My name is Debra and I have an addiciton. I am addicted to peanut butter. I love peanut butter. I could eat it everyday. Now that my addiction is out in the open, I will be fine. The news reports that the prices of peanut butter will go up 40%. WOW! That's at least 80 cents a jar. I will go broke. What will I do....

Something is not right!

Have you ever had that feeling that something is not right? I have that feeling every time that I eat. I am swallowing slowly. Since my last fill (Sept 27), I have a slow drain. Not clogged--just slow. I am not sick, I am not stuck but just slow. I can't explain it and I don't want to call the doctor but I am afraid that I am going to have to. I keep waiting for this to get better but it is not getting better. I have read about esophageal dilatation but that doesn't sound like me. I know if I call the doctor, I will have to have the dreaded tests... Maybe it will work itself out and my drain will speed up or maybe I will call the doctor :(

256....256...256

Are the scales ever going to move??? Everyday I wake up (feeling like P Diddy--of course) and weigh myself. I don't know why I weigh myself every morning but I hope that the scales record something different but for the last two weeks 256 is the lowest that they will go. Is that the lowest that I will see, I hope not because I have about another 100 lbs to loose. I guess it will happen.  I suffered a plateau in June because it takes a while for your body to catch up with your weight loss. I began obsessing over calories to the OCD point. So I had to just let the band guide me through that period. So here I am again wondering if I am going through another plateau. I started a new exercise routine, so maybe I am making muscle again. There is nothing wrong with that just the scales don't move.

In other news, my primary care physcian appointment went well. He was sooo impressed with my weight loss even suggested in a year getting a tummy tuck for all the extra skin. Of course, he wanted me to have weight loss surgery for years before I agreed. So I will have time to think about it. My numbers were awesome. He even lowered my insulin. Not sure if I mentioned that I am type 1 diabetic who used 300-500 units daily before lap-band. Now I am using about 60 units a day. If I don't lose another pound that non-scale victory gets me through the day.