some ups some downs

Jan 30, 2012

 So yet another trip completed! we went last week, jan 22 to the 24th we left early on the 22nd and arrived in edmonton around 8, we went directly to the hotel and were too early to check in. they sent us for breakfast upstairs and discovered they were now open daily for breakfast, not just on the weekend. it was yummy, but you could tell the dude was new at this, i had no idea that my breakfast burrito could come on a wholewheat tortilla until it was too late. not only that but they brought it out with white toast! with real butter!!! i cannot even tell you when the last time i had either of those. so... yeah, i indulged. we checked in, and i crashed almost immediatly. we had stayed up all night the night before so we wouldnt miss our flight, seeing as how we had to leave the house at 4 a.m.
  monday a.m. i had my apt with the dr. now im really not sure if she was a gp or an internist. or are they the same thing? dont know, what i do know is that she was awesome! very positive, she told me my honesty about my psychiatric and abuse history was a "breath of fresh air", i dont get called that often! lol she asked me questions and was relieved at my responses. she wants me to see the head psychiatrist there. which was kind of disapointing because i had thought my letter from my psychiatrist here had given me the psychiatric clearance. she was so positive about everything, saying she would go to bat for me, cuz she knows "im gunning for surgery"
  after that apt. we had to go out to spruce grove for another module. the ride there was kinda funny, our cab driver missed the turn, so he cut across 3 lanes of traffic, cutting off a cop, so we got pulled over! man, i think we are ginxed with these cab drivers! lol. the module was the same info weve learned in the other modules, so it ticked us off that we paid $100 to get there and back. did learn that they are no longer calling them modules now. as of 2012 they are now refered to as workshops. which makes a boat load of sense to me, modules?.... really? lol. 
  tuesday was the big day. 4 apts. i walked in feeling so good about it all, still vibeing on dr modis words(the internist/gp?) my 1st apt was with my case manager. yeah... she totally poo pooed on my good vibe! she made very sure to tell me that i may not even get surgery, that my sleep and inactivity is a major concern, that im not showing improvement with my activity. she even commented that i have until im 60, so dont worry cuz im young! seriously! if i wait till im 60, i will be dead! no exagerating, my genes have it all laid out for me! so if not dead, then ill have a stroke at 53 like my dad. gggrrrrr. if they only knew where i was a year ago, and just how far i really have come! why do we always think of a million things we should have said once its too late? really she needs to know how much better i am now. maybe at our next apt... in spite of that i still have complete faith that i will get the surgery.
  my next apt was with my dietician, suneet. i really like her, shes straight forward but not negitive. she was very pleased with my diet, portions and content! so we set a few goals , 1 no more diet pop, or any carbonation, 2 aim for more then 3000 steps a day. so that means keeping on wearing the pedometer( which btw, i am on my 4th one. im spending a small fortune on the stinkin things! lol) 3 continue with previous goals, 3 meals a day with 1-2 snacks, and 1600-1700 calories a day. and 4 im only allowed to weigh myself 1-2 times a week. i usually hop on that thing every morn. i'm glad to report ive done well with those goals. well except the one night we ate at olive garden,, man that was bad! my meal, breadstix, salad, pasta and i split a dessert with my hubby, was 2200! well thats the last time i eat there! lol. i did say that was one of the places i wanted to have a last meal at, so i guess that was it!
 my 3rd apt was with the occupational therapist, gotta tell you , if nothing else, this program is thorough. her name is minh. she was nice, very informative. lots of good ideas, like getting elastic shoelaces, so i can wear something other then slip on shoes, and using a grabber/reacher tool to pick up toys, ect. she also gave me a write up on skin care. it said something which i was already doing, and that is to use anti-perspirant on your folds. i started doing that when i was at my heaviest and was getting really smelly rashes(tmi?,lol). then we set some goals, and i had to rein her in. she had me doing all the house work, cooking meals, and working out everyday! so what we settled on was swim/aquacise once a week. excercise 20-30 mins while james makes supper, do batch cooking and freeze leftovers. and lastly, have mom,james or friend give me a wake up call at 9 am, to start getting me up earlier. i always sleep through my alarm, so hopefully this will help. she also said i should nap for 30-45 min after lunch, which i tried, but i have such a hard time waking up after that short of time, i dont think napping is an option for me right now.
after a 4 hour wait between apts, my last apt was with donna, a super nice lady. oh... and shes the physiotherapist. she understood. she knows im starting at 0, that i used to have frozen shoulder and that i have fibromyalgia and sufer from chronic neck and shoulder pain. she talked about starting out slowly, doing 5-10 mins on the bike at a time. to do stretches to keep limber and chair excercises if my knees hurt to much. she assessed me and aside from low back/hips i have pretty good range, which was nice to hear. she talked a bit about how im stuck in the mind set of when i couldnt do anything, that i have to work past that and start moving. which i might add a very good friend of mine pointed out to me after aswell. there was a time i needed james to bathe me at the sink, that i couldnt make it up the stairs to sleep or bathe. there was a time that i slept 20 hours a day, sometimes id even sleep for 3 days straight only waking to pee. we set some goals aswell, she wants me to check out fibromoves or waterworks thru the arthritis society. chair excercises called sit and be fit, possibly go to the library and borrow chair or sitting excercise dvds, to take short walks on days that we dont go shopping to get more steps in, try biking for 5-10 min at a time and to stop locking my knees when i stand.
so lots to work on, huh? all good though, most ive been incorporating already. i go again tomorrow jan 31-feb 2,for 2 modules a body scan and the big apt with the head psychiatrist then again feb 29-mar 2 for 3 modules and 5 more apts. i look forward to not having to spend every spare cent on these trips, maybe we can start swimming as a family on the weekends. oh, lol, i bought a dance workout dvd, thinking it would be difficult but i could go at my own pace... um, nope! i couldnt even get thru the warm up! lol. gonna file that one away for skinnier times.what i really want is some ricard simmons dvds, but ive never seen them on dvd. his videos rock! i have some vcr tapes of his packed away somewhere, but instead of spending a week going thru every box we have, id prefer to have them on dvd aswell. so if anyone knows where i can find some, please let me know.
i also did a level 3 home sleep study on the 26th, so thats one more thing accomplished. i see dr corne for a follow up in feb.      

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