It’s time for a parting of ways…

Remember when I started my DS blog on Blogger? Then I tried merging all of my blogs into one at Known by Name?  The goal was to live a less fragmented life and so I was combining a couple of my more active blogs into one – this one!
 
Here’s the thing…
 
It’s just not working out.
 
When I feel the desire/need/thought to post about my weight loss surgery – or the technical stuff that goes with being a WLS post-op – or pre-op who is still researching – I feel myself go through this jumble of emotions…
 
…is it appropriate? I mean, how does it mesh with the garden? The chickens? The other stuff? Yeah, some of it works… some of it not so much.

…if I get too technical – well, there are a bunch of people who will wonder what the heck I’m talking about!

…if I post too many posts about WLS or the DS – it’ll seem kinda weird and out of balance…

So I’ve made a decision. I’m keeping the DS-related stuff here – but I’ve created a NEW Living the DS Life on WordPress (cause it so kicks butt) – right here.
 
I’ll copy over posts from here that pertain to my DS – but all new DS- and WLS-related posts – they’re going over to the new blog:
 
http://livingthedslife.wordpress.com/
 
In case you didn’t know – a really easy and great way to stay current on topics – on ANY blog – is to subscribe. I use the RSS feed subscription (that’s the funky little orange block up there) – and I love it. I have it set up to actually download new posts from blogs that I’ve subscribed to into a content specific folder in Microsoft Outlook. It’s so easy to manage that way!
 
Anyway – thanks! Thanks for putting up with my little experiment. Thanks for the congrats when I had my 7 year anniversary. 

It’s been a great ride so far – I’m looking forward to decades more posts about Living the DS Life.

Woo Hoo!!!

Happy Anniversary to me!

Wow – when you’re a pre-op all you can think about is how stinking eternal the wait is for surgery.

 

Now – on the 7 year post-op side, all I can think is that the time since has gone in a heartbeat.

 

If you’d like to read my musings on my anniversary, you can see them here:

 

http://knownbyname.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/%e2%80%a6and-7-years-ago%e2%80%a6/

 

Blessings,

 

dina

If you're looking for updates, let me send you to my Blogger address:

www.livingthedslife.blogspot.com

If you aren't following stuff, I had a revision recently, and you can learn more about it at my blog above.

Blessings,

dina

I was horribly anemic before my DS.  I know my numbers were always marginally low due to extremely heavy menstrual bleeding for – well – decades!  But they went way south when William was born via emergency c-section – his head was so stuck in my pelvis they had a hard time getting the kid out, and I lost 9 units of blood in the process.  For over 5 years before my DS I was *always* battling anemia.  Tried all sorts of iron supplements, but my doctors didn’t feel like anything horrible was happening because of my anemia.  So I accepted it for what my normal would be.

Had my DS.  Started taking different iron, and lo and behold – my iron numbers finally came up in the normal ranges – and stayed that way for over 5 years!

The past year or so my H & H were kinda wacky, so when I went in for my hip replacement in August my surgeon felt strongly that I needed a 10-day course of Procrit injections to get me ready for my surgery.  He went majorly to bat with my insurance company – finally talking them into covering the injections.  (Which is good, because even with great insurance coverage, our co-pay was still over $500!)  So – had the injections.

The day of my hip replacement surgery I remember waking up in recovery and seeing a bag of blood hung and being given to me.  I asked the nurse about it and she told me that they’d harvested my own blood and were giving it back to me.  (I’d been told beforehand that hip replacement is a very bloody surgery.)

So, I go on with recovery – nicely, I might add.  Did notice some kind of different things going on over the past few months – some insomnia, some itchy skin, some little owies that took AGES to heal, and then this big need to consume sour stuff (was keeping Smartees in business!).  Went in for my labs at the end of December and the next business day I got a call and letter – both – from my PCP notifying me that my ferritin level was 10!  Good grief!  It had been fine in August!

So, it was determined that I needed to see a hematologist and pursue iron infusions.  Saw the hematologist on Monday of this week.  His opinion was that the Procrit injections, combined with the hip replacement is what finally did my ferritin levels in.  They scheduled me for an iron infusion – had it on Thursday, actually.

Had iron dextrose given – which can sometimes cause an allergic response, and being that I’m the queen of the allergic response, they proceeded cautiously.  I was given 50 mg of Benadryl via IV and then given a test dose of the iron.  No reaction – woo hoo!  So, I got cozy in my comfy recliner, and slept through the 4 hour infusion!

I'm pretty amazed at the changes that I've noticed since the infusion:

I've slept through the night both nights - I've not slept through the night in over a year - before the hip replacement it was from hip pain, since then, from anemia!

I haven't had a single sour candy - don't want them, don't care about them.  Amazing!

I'm not as cold.  It was taking four quilts and a heating pad on my side of the bed with me wearing flannel PJ's and 45 minutes to get me warm enough to fall asleep.  I love that I'm warmer!

I feel more satisfied with what I've eaten...  I don't know if that's the right way to say it - but it seems that I'm not as hungry or something.

Just a few things.  So far - only positives from the experience.  I'm so thankful for a proactive PCP, a really educated hematologist, and the wonderful care I received during my infusion!

Blessings,

dina

Okay - not since the last post, but since I had my right hip replacement.  I am AMAZED at my recovery thus far.  I can't believe that it's only been that long!

I went for my *almost* two week post-op appointment last Wednesday, the surgeon took one look at me and said, "You look more like a 4 week post-op, not an almost two week post-op!  Amazing!"  and then he immediately upgraded me to a cane from my walker.  Cool!

So - interestingly enough, while I was still in the hospital, one of the pharmacists at the hospital came to talk vitamins with me (ha!) and try to understand all that I take and why...  We got into a talk about how smoothly my surgery and recovery had gone thus far.  He said the first thing, of course, was having a fabulous surgeon, and the other he felt was diet.  He asked if I'd had any diet changes of late.  I said no, not much - well, except I'd given up High Fructose Corn Syrup May 29th and that I hadn't had any sodas since then.  HIs eyebrows raised and he said, "Interesting!  I was just reading about how folks who abstained from carbonated beverages healed up faster!  I wonder if you'll be my first in real life confirmation of the theorum?!"  VERY interesting, huh?!

So - I'm walker free.  Have the cutest cane - it's white with little blue flowers all over it.  (The little old ladies at the memory care facility where my Mom lives want it!)  Not only am I getting proficient with the cane, but I can actually walk a little bit without it.  AMAZING!  I'm still getting used to the fact that my right leg is now 5 mm longer than the left - a little wild how that feels.  But, it seems to all be easing into place, and I'm feeling more and more "normal."  Hooray!

Interestingly enough, since my hip replacement surgery, I've actually lost some weight.  I've lost about 10 pounds.  I'm not eating less.  I'm not eating much differently from what I would normally eat.  BUT - walking does take a lot more work...  Who knows.  But it's kinda fun! 

Hugs,

dina