Sunday Weigh-In October 13, 2019

[Barb135]

Good morning... another week has gone by and every day brings more evidence of fall, even though we're still having pretty warm temperatures.  It has cooled off though - instead of the upper 90's, it's down to the lower 90's and even into the upper 80's  some days, so that's an improvement.  Although the lawn is due for a mowing now, I think we're soon getting to the point at which we'll be able to cut back on the frequency with which we have to mow.  Yay for that.  

There hasn't been a lot going on this past week.  I did see my gastroenterologist on Wednesday and it was one of the most productive appointments I've had with a doctor in some time - well, not counting the one with the dermatologist last week, which was also pretty productive, even if it didn't tie any of my conditions (skin, digestive, etc) together as I believe they should be. Doctors simply don't do that anymore, even though we all know that hypothyroidism and/or food issues can cause itchy skin, hypothyroidism also causes acid reflux and other digestive issues, the medication I take for my digestive issues interferes with metabolism of my thyroid medication - the list goes on and on, but no one is talking about any of these things and if I mention them, I get the stare-down and a comment saying, "your thyroid levels are *fine*" from my pcp and the other doctors simply say they don't want to get involved with my thyroid treatment, meaning they don't want to step on my pcp's toes because he's managing my thyroid - this all leaves me, the patient, in a catch-22.

Anyway, my appointment with the gastroenterologist was productive in that he's willing to order some tests that will "rule out" some things.  Fortunately, it didn't take too long to get things scheduled, so tomorrow, I have a test called a gastric emptying scan.  This is to see if food stays in my stomach too long.  This test involves going to the imaging facility with an empty stomach (presumably, it will be empty since I can't eat anything); they'll give me an egg sandwich with some water and something radioactive to swallow - I'm not sure if it's the sandwich or the water that's radioactive or if there's something additional that I have to swallow.  They will then do imaging at 30 minute intervals to watch this radioactive "thing" move through my system.  They said the test lasts a minimum of 2 hrs so I guess that's how long they expect it to take for this to get through my stomach.  

The other "goody" that got scheduled is the dreaded colonoscopy as well as an appointment with a surgeon to check out the bulge near my navel that no one seems to want to take responsibility for, including the gastroenterologist...  That doesn't necessarily mean I'll be having surgery; he said a surgeon might be able to look at the CT scan and see something the radiologist didn't see in which case they'd be able to determine what the bulge is and they could go from there.

So - there's still nothing definitive and I still have the skin issues to deal with.  The cream the derm gave me for the rash on my leg doesn't seem to be working, so it appears that I'll be having a biopsy on that, plus the spot she suspected is a squamous cell cancer near my nose is becoming more prominent, so she may decide to go ahead and do something with that, as well, whether it be removal or biopsy remains to be seen. My skin is still quite itchy all over, which I believe is a thyroid thing and I'm doing what I can to alleviate that.

Anyway - as you can see, I still have a lot of things going on health-wise, but at least, the ball is rolling and "things" are being done, whether they're the right things or not.  We'll just have to see.

Weight-wise, I've bounced all over the map this week - anywhere from being up a couple of pounds to being down a pound from last week.  I haven't weighed yet this morning - I'll do that later since I've discovered that my weight is typically, higher when I first get up and it takes a while to get rid of fluid collected during the night.  I believe it all has to do with what's going on health-wise, though my pcp tells me to "eat less" - hey, when I'm full after a few bites, I can't do much more!!

I've been trying to get back on a "better" diet, but have to admit that I've had the most horrible cravings for sugar and salt that I've had in a long time.  I'm trying to figure out how to break those cravings.  I'll get there eventually.  

I've also been trying to get back to my evening walk. It's been a while, so my legs/muscles are weaker and get tired easily so I'm starting slowly and will work up gradually.  Hopefully, that will also help with the weight.  

I've started classes in calligraphy and am still doing my woodworking so I need to get my health back to normal, as well as my weight.  I have several pens already sold for Christmas and the possibility of selling more, so I don't have time to dilly dally...

So - that's me... How are you doing?  I hope your week turned out exactly the way you planned.

~~Wishing everyone a wonderful, successful week~~

[AnnieBrooke]

I seem to be down a pound and a quarter from last week, which might have been an anomaly anyway because my weigh-in then was after a large and salty dinner. It might be some real loss, though. In the intervening week, I have taken much more seriously the removal of highly processed foods from what I eat, when I hadn't been attending to that much at all before. If I could wave a magic wand and have exactly what I would like to eat at any time, my diet would be all whole grain, fruit and veggies, fish, poultry and light meat, but it's a hard diet to find or cook when you're busy! (If someone could make a drive-through that affordably serves genuinely natural foods, they would make a killing, I think.) Anyway, this week I've been much more conscious about it. It isn't just the sugar, it's the highly processed stuff, that keeps my waist measurement up, and deep fat in the stomach is apparently a particularly bad location for fat. So I've been getting real.

This week, we got the curtains for our new house, which (due to the overhanging back yard of the neighbor and his sight lines into our upstairs windows) was the last impediment to us moving in. I'm beginning to like the way our house is shaping up -- despite having a lot of the same furnishings, it looks quite different than the one we sold. The old house was all about blonde woods, pale colored walls and white cabinetry, and the new house is walnut floors and cream walls with charcoal cabinetry. It makes it clear which furnishings (*cough* putty-colored sofa*) need to go, and makes the remaining stuff (especially oriental rugs) look very different. Clearing out what is obviously excess also produces a much more curated bunch of stuff. (My kitchen cabinet no longer contains a hodgepodge of mixed cups, for example. I kept the white dishes from Ikea and sent all the older stuff to the Goodwill. If we have a huge party and need more plates, hey, Ikea is still there.) I think some of my willingness to get rid of the overload is the certainty that if I get rid of something that I figure out later we actually needed, it's not out of our reach to replace that lost thing. But we have so much stuff, thanks to various sources dumping off extra things into our already full house in the past year, it would surprise me if we ever need to replace any of the crapola I'm getting rid of.  lol

Son is doing better in school, and my hat's off to the school for creating a quiet lunch space for some of the kids. It makes a huge difference to him. He still doesn't like middle school much, but no more tears every night. We put him on the list for a smaller public charter school at the beginning of the year, and if he lotteries in there he'll have some deciding to do, but the odds are really slim, like 1 in 100. And my guess is that if he does get in, he'll decide to stick with the middle school where he is. Despite its aggravations, it does have resources.  

Delphie, our puppy, got spayed this last week and is running around with a cone on her head. She is so clunky with it that she has inadvertently weaponized it -- our littler dog Coco has gotten the blunt edge of it several times. My husband loves it because Delphie doesn't dig up the yard when she is wearing it, but she's bruised me with it too -- it's been pretty annoying! Only a few more days and we can get it off her, and finally also give her a bath. She has doggy odor like crazy! Cute little dog wipes don't touch it.

That's about it for news. Cousins in town yesterday, brunch yesterday. Step-siblings and stepmom in town today, brunch today. I'm off to get ready.

[Barb135]

Wow - it's been a busy couple of days, here.   Congratulations on the pound and a quarter down - those large, salty meals seem to get us every time, don't they?  At least, for you, they seem to drop off relatively easily.  I don't seem to be quite so lucky.

I know what you mean about the processed foods... If I eliminate those, it's a lot easier to drop some weight, but I think a lot of that, even is the sodium.  I've found a few things that are reduced or sodium salt free and they don't seem to add the pounds like most processed foods do, but then I know it's not "just" that either; most processed foods have a ton of sugar and other simple carbs, along with extra fat and preservatives we don't need.

I love your idea of waving a magic wand and having whatever I want to eat - or better yet, having a chef to prepare the proper meals at the right times so I had only to sit down and eat.  However, if left to my own devices, eating properly wouldn't be that big a deal because I simply wouldn't bring home all the things I shouldn't be eating.  It's just really hard when there's someone else in the house eating chips, cinnamon rolls and other things that are better not put in my stomach.  Yeah, I know I don't have to eat them, but of course, that's easier said than done when you have someone sitting next to you saying: "Would you like some?", "Are you sure you don't want any of this? It sure is good; you don't know what you're missing..." and on it goes!!  Cruel and inhumane is what I call it... lol  I can only hold out for so long, when I'm craving the junk anyway.  :-(

It sounds like you're getting a lot closer to getting moved into your new house.  I agree with  you about getting rid of things.  I could get rid of a lot of things, but after 52 yrs of marriage a lot of what we have has more sentimental value than anything else.   A lot comes from both sides of our families so I have to figure out what to do with it all because I know I can't keep it, in spite of the sentiment.   Some I just keep because we have it and husband doesn't like to replace things if they're still usable...

I'm really glad to hear the school was able to make some positive changes so your son is able to adapt better have a quiet place to sit for lunch and get some work/study done.  I'm sure that's very helpful to him.  Middle school seems to be a time that a lot of kids simply don't like and have to come to terms with getting through.  Maybe he'll learn to like it  a little bit by the time it's over and hopefully, he'll like high school much better when he gets there.  

Oh those cones they put on dogs can be wicked, can't they?  Hopefully, the puppy is out of it by now (or soon).   I had some stuff in a bottle that I got at PetSmart that worked pretty well to wash down our dog between baths... it was a liquid that I put on damp cloth and rubbed her down with.  It actually left her a little damp (maybe I just got carried away with it because she smelled so bad.  lol).  Anyway, it helped take away her "dog smell" for a couple of days.  lol

[Barb135]

Okay, here I am back to add my weight - it looks like I didn't record my weight in my tracker last week, but I'm exactly the same as I was the week before, so that means I'm down a pound from last week... Yay for me; I wonder if I'll be able to keep that going through the week...