Full of Life

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I have been soooo bad at this profile thing. I used to keep it up all the time, and now I see it's been months and months. Sorry to anyone who is actually reading this. 

I have been totally HEALTHY for 10 months now!! No problems what so ever. It's awesome to be living a normal, healthy life. I truely am FULL OF LIFE!! 

We now live in OK, moved from Michigan in July. My dh and I are students at Rhema Bible Training Center, preparing for the ministry. Don't know if that will envolve over seas or not but we're just following God's call on our lives. 

I'm a sold size 4. I have some 2's (I call them my vanity clothes) but for the most part I'm a size 4. I still do the protein first eatting. I do supplement with a protein drink almost every day, but not 2 or 3 like I used to have to. I am regularly getting in 100 grams of protein per day. This takes a focused effort on my part, and the biggest struggle right now is to keep the carbs under control. (what an ugly BEAST carbs are). I still don't do hardly any bread. I do a lot of wraps. I buy Tomato Basil wraps from WalMart and they have 8 grams of protein in them and they are low in carbs. I love them. Fill them with turkey, fat free cheese, some lettuce, a dill pickle and ff Thousand Island dressing and I've got an awesome lunch with over 20 grams of protein. 

Life is good, God is GREAT and I'm just enjoying the ride.

Oh my gosh, it's been a half a year since I've posted on here!! WOW. I've been on the boards but just never got on to my own profile. 

I have to go back and reread my profile to see where I was healthwise when I last posted. I'll put a catch up post after I do that. 

I'm doing GREAT!!!! I go to the hematologist next week for a check up on my iron level, but so far the infusion from last November has held and I've needed no other treatment. He did tell me not to bother taking iron supplements as they would do me no good. (I'm not so sure I agree with that though). 

Exactly one month from today my family and I will be moving to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma for my husband and I to attend Bible school. We are soooo very excited about that. God has done GREAT things in our hearts and life in the last six months. (see future check up post for all the details). 

I'm still right on target with my weight. I did get down to 124 but I've been able to bring it back up to 130. I still wear a size 2 - 4. It was pretty cool to get out my shorts from last summer and have them still FIT!!!! (that hasn't happened in many many years).

Yesterday I went to Walmart with my list. UGH, I know I'm not able to get through the entire store but we NEEDED stuff. (and I was out of protein) I made sure that I ate first, so I went there with the most energy possible. My list was fairly short, but over 1/2 of it was non food items. 

After about ten minutes of shopping I knew something wasn't quite right. I couldn't focus, couldn't think clear. I was standing there looking at pencils, I needed new clicky pencils. I could NOT pick one out. I was almost distrought over .5mm or .7mm - it was CRAZY!!!! Finally, I just said - who cares it's dumb pencils and tossed them into the cart. I continued on... 

Just as I got into the grocery side of the store I got very ill. I thought for sure I was going to collapse right there in WalMart. I could hardly push the cart. I was right by the refridgerator stuff so I grabbed pizza for the kids' dinner and made my way to the check out. I must have been absolutely pale as a ghost, because the check out lady was staring at me! I got my groceries in the car and dropped into the front seat. I just sat there, with no energy to turn the car on. 

I looked at the clock - I was in that store 1 1/2 hours (and only spent $75) How could it have takem me THAT long to buy so little????  Then I remembered the undecidedness with the pencils. Was I that way with everything I bought??? I couldn't remember, couldn't think clearly at all. 

I got home left everything in the car (except the pizza) walked in the house and collapsed into bed with my shoes still on!!!!! I slept for two hours, woke up when the kids got home and felt completely "normal" lol

Weird huh????????  And the real bite - I have to go back today and get groceries so we can eat this weekend! UGH

Well Thanksgiving is done and over. We had a nice time in Grand Rapids. The kids loved seeing their cousins again. I've been sick this week. Eatting has become impossible again. I dropped six pounds this week. UGH!! That drops my bmi down to 20.0 I don't like edging towards the "underweight" catagory. Still waiting to hear on U of M - these things seem  to take forever when you're the one waiting. lol 

UGH, yup another trip to the ER. I went to church last Wednesday and had a little "ringing" in my ears. Didn't think much of it really. But part way through church, my whole face went numb and tingely! (now my arms and hands have been this way for weeks) I totally FREAKED out!!!! It was such a scary sensation. I debated on going to ER or not (just like most people do) and decided that since I've met my out of pocket for the year I'd go and get checked out. I really needed to know if I was OK to drive home. 

ER was a BAD experience!! The doctor was a young, full of himself idiot. After going over my history(including wls and the complications I've had) he says to me, "You've had a lot of really strange things happen to you for someone your age." I shrugged my shoulders and said, "yup, if it CAN happen it seems to fall on me". He then proceeded to aske me, "so are you SURE you didn't lose the weight by doing cocaine?" OMGSH - I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was instantly PO'd. He also questioned my stroke and I quickly replied that it happened in THIS hospital so I guess you can go look it up on the computer. This guy was a JERK!! Then he starts asking me some psyc questions... so I'm either on drugs or just plain nuts in his eyes!  Boy was I glad to be done with him. After the tests came back he came in the room and said, "well, you're not going to DIE tonight so you can go and follow up with your pcp." What a bedside manner this chap has. 

So I got home and to bed about 1:00am. A couple of hours later I wake up and the numb/tingely feeling has now gone down both mylegs and into my feet as well. I was scared to death, my husband was freaked out. He was begging me to go to the ER again, but I said there was no way I was going back to an ER. I knew I had an apt. with my pcp at 9:00am so I just waited it out. 

PCP said I shouldn't ever tolerate being treated that way by any doctor and the next time I am I'm to point my finger at him/her and say, "These are REAL problems and if you don't deal with them I'm going to SUE you."  (good advice)  

So I now have peripherial neuropathy in all extermeties. He's confindent that it is metabolic in nature, which means he thinks I'm safe to function and drive and what not without worrying about passing out or something. He's sure that I've GOT to get the malabsorbtion delt with and delt with soon, until it is I'll continue to have symptoms occuring. He's working to get me into U of M hospital to see a specialist there for a possible reversal of my wls. 

I'm not too thrilled about ANY surgery at this point. But it doesn't look like there is another option. My eating has gone right down the tubes this week. Yesterday's lunch was a 1/2 cup of potato soup. Today it's lunch time and all I've had so far is a cup of hot chocolate with protein powder in it. I make something take a couple of bites and have that I can't take another bite feeling. UGH!!! But I guess I don't have to worry about overeatting my thanksgiving dinner this way. lol

Wow, things have happened quickly this week. I went to the hematologist and he said I needed the iron infusion. The nurse said she'd call and set it up and let me know. By the time I got home, she had called and set it up for the next morning. So I had to scramble and get things in order for that. 

It was a VERY long day. 7 1/2 hours at the hospital. They did a test to see if i was allergic to the iron and when that was fine then they plugged it in. My IV bag said: Iron Dextran Cinfed/Imferon 1500 mg. So I guess that's what I had. The hospital was good and they offered me a breakfast tray and a lunch tray while I was there. Now I wait a month and get retested and then we'll go from there.

I'm in LOVE with my new pcp!! lol (just kidding) I spent 1 1/2 hours in the office with the PA today. He asked a billion questions and wanted to know EVERY problem, symptom, or pain. He was incredibly thorough.  Here's his basic run down on me. 

1. My iron is at an EMERGENCY level. He was glad that I had an appointment with the hematologist already scheduled for today. 
2. My vitamin and nutritional levels are in the toilet. We're going to try switching things around again, but he said he honestly didn't think it would work. If it doesn't work then my next step will be a trip to U of M for a possible revision. (to unbypass part of the intestine so I can absorb more)
3. My hematologist apt. was interesting as well. He said that I definately have an issue here that needs to be addressed. (HA - my surgeon was WAY wrong on my iron, they said there was no problem even though my ferritin is 8) He gave me the choice of a series of injections in the muscle or an infusion through IV.... being the smart woman I am, I took the less painful route and went with the infusion. 

I've spent the last year doing EVERYTHING possible to keep my levels up and stay off of TPN. I have taken so much heat from the boards that I don't really discuss my issues there anymore. Someone told me outright that I just wasn't following the rules, to that I now publicly say Screw You!!!!! I have followed the rules, I've done whatever my surgeon told me to do and I'm in WORSE shape today because of it. Everyone reacts differently to this surgery. Some people absorb too much and they don't get to goal. Other's dont absorb enough and they get deathly ill (mostly because doctors ignore them until it's too late). There is NO one "RIGHT" way for everyone and for someone to pass judgment on everyone based on what worked for him/her is just plain WRONG!!!!!!!!! 
Please learn from my pain. Don't let a doctor (of any kind) blow you off and ignore your problems! Find another doctor. It's hard, I know, I've searched since January of this year. But you've got to do whatever it takes for you to be healthy. If you've be one to "judge" people success based on what worked for you - please STOP it!!! If you've been judge in this manner, know that you're not alone and these pompus wind bags dont know anything about you!!!

Well, I'm feeling pretty much like crap. I know that its from this darn low iron but dang, I can't seem to get anything done. I went away this past weekend and my suitcases are still sitting there waiting to be unpacked (and today is Wednesday).  I need to get a ton of laundry done - not happening. This week, I've slept 12 - 15 hours a day. UGH, I was hoping the getting a b12 shot last Friday would give me a little kick, but I'm noticing no difference what so ever.  I've got 8 more days until I see the hematologist. I'm pretty nervous about my appointment. I called my surgeon's office this week regarding my labs. Told the nurse that my Iron is 39, Ferritin is 8, hematocrit is 33.9 and hemoglobin is 11.9...... ALL she heard was hemoglobin was 11.9!!! She said that I'm "barely low" and that they wont treat it unless it falls down to 5 or 6. HELLO - ferritin is the iron stores and my shelves are empty.  Why or why don't they listen to the WHOLE STORY!!!!! They've just got preconceived ideas and the've got your answer before you're even done telling them what's wrong. Well, my pcp is worried about the levels. I called him and told him that surgeon's office wont deal with it so he got me the apt. with hematologist.  In the mean time I'm still malnurished (even though I'm eatting six meals per day and sometimes eight) My protein level is good though!!! (Thanks to those protein drinks) My Vit D is low, B12 is low. B6 is back in the normal again and my zinc is back up in the normal. So, some have come up... and others have gone down..... OH to be a "stable woman" would be sooooo wonderful!!!  LOL

This is my first entry on the new blog system. I've copied and pasted my old profile and it's archived here too. I'm currently holding about 129 lbs. I'm happy here, just want to maintain. I am 99% a size 4 with the exception of one pair of jeans from Old Navy that are a size 2!! (Gotta love those vanity sizes)

I have some poor labs that I'm trying to work through. It sure isn't easy for me. Some people can take two Flintstones per day and have perfect labs, I have my own personal pharmacy full of vits and I'm still having problems. Iron is my biggest problem and I'm calling my pcp tomorrow to request a referral to a hematologist. Hopefully that will help me.

Wow, time just flies so fast. Fall is upon us and I'm back to being Freazing cold again!!! I've got the long underwear out and I'm using them.  I doing great now from tt. Swelling is FINALLY gone. I was getting so bloated looking it was scaring me. I wore my binder very very faithfully for over 5 months but still was having problems. Well, I cut out a couple of foods from my diet and the swelling has gone completely away. So, stay away from bagels. Even the "healthy" kinds. I was eating the whole grain ones, they have good fiber in them. No more bagels and no more english muffins. I absolutely love an english muffin (whole wheat) with peanut butter on it!!! But obviously it doesn't love me so they're gone too.

 I'm just hanging steady. No real ups or downs right now, just sitting at the same spot. I eat about the same thing week after week though and it's starting to get a little boring to me. I went to a support group meeting in my area and we had a potluck. I had this awesome dessert.

CARMEL APPLE SALAD

8 oz fat free cool whip
8 oz can crushed pineapple in natural juices
2 sm pkgs sugar free butterscotch pudding
1 cup spanish peanuts or walnuts
3 cups chopped Granny Smith Apples

Mix the dry pudding with cool whip and the crushed pineapple until well blended. Then add apples and nuts.  (I set aside just enough nuts to garnish the top of the salad with too)

Very very good salad, and my kids loved it too!! I'm looking for some good receipes to make for the entire family and this one is definately a keeper.