SHOULDER THIRD OPINION - I THINK WE HAVE A WINNER!

Round and round and round she goes, and where she stops, nobody knows!

Opinion #1: I have a little rotator cuff tear, no frozen shoulder and only need PT.

Opinion #2: I have a serious rotator cuff tear, a frozen shoulder and a bone spur that is damaging my tendon, and I need surgery right now or I will never get any better. The surgery would be to sew up the tear and cut the adhesions of the frozen shoulder to release it.

Opinion #3: I have a moderate rotator cuff tear, a frozen shoulder and a tiny bone spur that is not doing any damage, and surgery should only be considered after the frozen shoulder has been completely healed through PT, anti-inflammatory drugs and possible cortisone shots. If that does not heal the frozen shoulder, manipulation under anesthesia would be an option, and surgery would only be a last resort. The torn rotator cuff may never need surgery, but if it does, it could be six months to a year in the future.

Dr. #3 does not understand opinions #1 and #2. He says that surgery like Dr. #2 suggested is risky and I could end up with a frozen shoulder that is even worse than the one I have now.

He said that the post-op treatment for a frozen shoulder is mobilization, and the post-op treatment for a rotator cuff tear is immoblization, so it is not smart to do both of those surgeries at the same time.

I left my new doctor's office and went straight to schedule PT and drop off my prescription at the drug store.   I guess time will tell if this has been the right decision.

By the way, one thing I liked about this doctor is that he has my identical injury on his own right shoulder, and he chose not to have surgery, and healed his frozen shoulder with physical therapy.  If it was good enough for him, maybe it will be good enough for me.

THE ROLLERCOASTER GOES ON - SURGERY AFTER ALL

I saw my new doctor today, and here is what he told me:

arthroscopic rotator cuff repair

subacromial decompression

distal clavicle excision

bicep tenotomy

These are the surgical procedures that need to be done to my right shoulder as soon as possible. Evidently, the jerkk doctor from Monday was also stupid, because he did not even look at the MRI pictures, and barely glanced at the MRI report.

I have an 80% thickness tear of my supraspinatus tendon (part of the rotator cuff), which means the rotator cuff is holding on by a thread and could tear the rest of the way at any time.

I have a bone spur that is sticking into the muscle and causing inflammation and damage to the muscle.

My shoulder is frozen. Scar tissue has fused the top of my arm bone to my shoulder socket.

Because of everything else, my bicep has been damaged and needs repair.

So.... I am scheduling surgery on Monday.

They are going to punch three holes in my arm for a camera and instruments. They are going to shave off the bone spur and carve the bone out underneath it to make more room for the supraspinatus, so it will not be compressed.

They are going to cut off all the torn edges of my rotator cuff, drill into my shoulder bone and put titanium anchors in to stabilize the stitches that will sew my rotator cuff back together.

They will remove my bicep from the spot that it is compressed in and resew it where it will be free to move.

They will cut through all the adhesions in my shoulder socket, releasing the frozen shoulder.

Due to my past history of post-op complications, they are not going to do the surgery in the surgical center, but are going to do it at the hospital, where I might be able to stay overnight if I am having problems.

All in all... gruesome and frightening.

For six weeks after surgery, I have to wear a pillow sling:

For that six weeks, I also have to sleep sitting up in a chair.

For the six weeks after that, I have to wear a regular sling.

Physical therapy starts two weeks after surgery and continues for six months, at which time I hope to regain 85-90% of the use of my shoulder.

SHOULDER DIAGNOSIS - NO SURGERY BUT THE DOCTOR IS A JERK

Good news bad news. Good new first:

NO SURGERY! The tendon tear of the supraspinatus that was there before is still there. There is no obstruction in my shoulder that is keeping it from moving.

Bad news:

The surgeon obviously thinks that I am lying about my pain and immobility. He would not listen to my questions. He was brusque and in a hurry.

I told him that it was my physical therapist that told me there was an obstruction. He talked over me, saying the MRI does not lie.

I asked him why I could not lift my arm, and he took hold of it and tried to force it to go up, which of course caused me pain and I could not do it.

I told him I was confused why it would not go up, and he looked me right in the eye and said, "There is no reason why it can't go up."

I said, "Well, if the rotator cuff is not torn, and there is no obstruction, then is it just frozen?" He said, "There is nothing wrong with your shoulder."

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

I asked him what the solution is, and he said I have to hit the PT hard for 6 weeks at the least, and if the therapy does not hurt real bad, it is not going to help.

I found myself trying to convince him that I don't want the surgery and that I am relieved but confused. Did he take that to mean that I am some kind of weirdo that seeks out surgery?

After he left the room, I got a copy of the MRI report. I caught up with him and asked him if the tear had improved since the first MRI in December. He looked at me like he was irritated, and said there was no way to tell. And then he said, "It hasn't gotten any worse, if that's what you are trying to find out."

Like he thought I was trying to make more out of it than there was, when the opposite was what I was hoping for. I wanted to at least be encouraged that the tear is healing.

I walked out of that place so angry. What is his problem?

Any way, I just looked up frozen shoulder and it looks like they were writing about me:

What causes frozen shoulder?
There are patients who develop a frozen shoulder after a traumatic injury to the shoulder, but this is not the usual cause. Patients who sustain a shoulder injury, or undergo surgery on the shoulder can develop a frozen shoulder joint.

What are the typical symptoms of a frozen shoulder? Shoulder pain; usually a dull, aching pain, limited movement of the shoulder, difficulty with activities such as brushing hair, putting on shirts/bras and pain when trying to sleep on the affected shoulder.

I have the symptoms of a frozen shoulder, but the doctor looked right at me and said it was not frozen. And I can't imagine why. He is either an idiot or he thinks I am faking.

I wish there had been a secret video camera in my house showing me unable to get dressed, unable to hook my bra, unable to fix my hair and unable to put my own hand on my own stomach when I lie down in bed.

Sorry for the rant. I'm just so mad I could spit.

On a happier note, I have an appointment with a new physical therapist tomorrow morning.

Also, my niece is a PT, and I just got off the phone with her, and she gave me some good advice. She said that if I have pain and immobility, I need to go to a pain clinic and get either shots or pills so that I can do the PT without having pain. She said she does not believe in pushing through the pain with PT, that it will only make the inflammation worse.

She said that since the second injury was three months ago, that it is obvious that I have chronic inflammation in the shoulder joint and am heading for a frozen shoulder.

I guess she knows more than the surgeon.

Okay. Now I blew off steam and I feel better.

NO SURGERY! DOUBLE YAY!

MORE SHOULDER WOES

I went to the doctor yesterday to talk to him about my right shoulder.  He has given me a referral to a shoulder specialist to get surgery.  My appointment is in four weeks.  During that time, my physical therapist wants me to hit the PT hard to see if we can solve the problem and make the surgery unnecessary.  I guess he thinks that there is a 50-50 chance that surgery will not be needed.  Fingers crossed...

My physical therapist is concerned that I have torn a tendon in my shoulder, which is causing it not to operate properly.  I am on my way to a frozen shoulder - I cannot put my arm behind my back at all, I cannot put my hand on my hip and I cannot lift my arm above my head.  Plus, I am having increasing pain - getting dressed and undressed by myself has become more and more of a challenge, and it's not even easy if I have help.

NO SHOULDER SURGERY NEEDED - PT AND DRUGS ONLY

I just saw the orthopedic surgeon and he said that if they can get me 50% better in four weeks, I will get all better in time.

YAY!

He also said that, even though there is a small tendon tear on the top of my shoulder, he thinks the main source of the pain is the pinched nerve in my neck.

I am going back there for my PT evaluation in about an hour.

I asked the doc if I could start lifting again, and he said to ask the PT person. He said they love people who lift weights, and they will be able to tell me exactly what I can and cannot do.

The doctor said that I could go ahead and do cardio, and I told him I don't do traditional cardio - that I only lift weights. He looked at me like my head had just spun around. A woman that does not use the elliptical machine??? Unheard of!

Anyway, I am very relieved and hoping they will let me do some (all?) of my PT at home.

I also was put on an anti-inflammatory for three weeks. He said if it makes me swell up, to stop taking it and do without. I do have a history of swelling up with those drugs. He said this one is better for that. We'll see.

THE HOLIDAYS ARE OVER - GETTING BACK ON TRACK

I am so glad that the holidays are over, and I can just eat on plan without always being tempted with candy and cookies and cake and pie!  I was at the mall today, and actually turned around and walked quickly away from the Cinnabon store before I could really start to be tempted.  I said to myself, "Christmas is over.  Today is the day that I get back on track and stop eating holiday foods!"

Since the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving until this morning, the day after Christmas:

I gained 2.1 pounds of fat.  (boo!)
I gained 2.7 pounds of lean mass.  (yay!)
I went from 33.1% body fat to 33.4%.  (not too bad!)
I gained 1/4" around my neck.
I gained 1/8" around my bicep.
I gained 1/4" around my bust.
I gained 1/2" around my midriff.
I gained 1/4" around my waist.
I lost 1/4" around my navel.
I lost 1/4" around my hips.

All in all, not too bad.  I'm not that upset.  I now have around 5 or 6 weeks to be serious before I take off for the vacation that I always gain weight on!

The thing that is bothering me is the fact that my shoulder tendon is torn, and I cannot exercise.  I keep being tempted to do a little, but I remind myself that my doctor appointment is tomorrow, and I can chill out until then, and see if he releases me to start doing a little lifting again.

MRI RESULTS

I just got my report. It says:

Impression:

1. Small interstitial supraspinatus tendon tear and mild supraspinatus peritendinous bursitis. No full thickness retracted tear seen.

2. No labral tear seen. (This is what my doctor was 99.9% sure I had.)

3. Intact biceps pulley tendon mechanism. (He also thought this was messed up.)

So, YAY, basically! According to my PT niece, I am headed for physical therapy and NOT surgery. Of course, the doctor will have to confirm this, but even the medical sites I looked at just now said that you should do PT for 3-6 months before considering surgery.

My appointment is not for another week, so I guess I will just lay low until then and relax and stop thinking about surgery.

By the way, I looked up to see what the PT would be for this, and it was all of the arm exercises and weight lifting that I have been doing as part of my regular workouts - push ups, rows, etc.

ARTHROGRAM MRI - ANOTHER HORRIBLE MEDICAL PROCEDURE TO CHECK OFF MY LIST

Yes, I am evidently on track to have every horrible medical procedure known to man before I die.  I just got back from having my most recent - an Arthrogram MRI of my right shoulder.

I spent about 45 minutes in the open MRI, which is not a problem for me.  I got to listen to Christmas music and I fell asleep a couple of times.  Afterward, I went to another room to get the contrast injection.  I was lying on the table, and saw an x-ray of my shoulder, which was pretty cool.  The technician asked me if I wanted to watch the screen while they inserted the needle into my shoulder joint.  He obviously does not know me.  Here is what they did to me, and just in case you are wondering, the patient in the video is not me:



I know it may look like fun in the video, but it was not.  The first needle going in wasn't bad at all, but when he started injecting the lidocaine, I felt sharp pain not only in my shoulder joint, but shooting up into my chin and down to my fingertips.  It was pretty rough and I yelled a bit.  He said he was done, and that I was numb, and then he started injecting the wonderflonium and guess what!  I was not numb, I yelled a little bit more, and he had to numb me again.  When he did that, I had to yell some more.

By this time, I was pouring sweat, shaking and headed into a mild panic.  He asked if I was prone to panic attacks, and I told him yes, but only when I am having painful medical procedures.  He got me to open my eyes and reassured me that the painful part was over.  He finished the procedure, and there was no more pain.  After the contrast material was in the joint, I went back into the MRI for another 15 minutes.  I just could not relax, due to the stress of having the pain, and I felt myself scowling all the way through it.

I am home now and feeling nervous and I want to binge on carbs.  They gave me a little gift at the MRI place - four Fannie May chocolates in a pretty little box.  I ate three of them and gave one to Bill.  I also ate the box.

They also gave me a disk with 221 photos.  Here are two of them:

Ah!  I see... that I have an arm bone. Aside from the bone, which I definitely have, I have no idea what I am looking at.  In 24 to 48 hours, they are going to fax me the report that will say whether or not I have a torn muscle.

Just in case you are new around here, you can read about my shoulder injury.

SHOULDER INJURY

I went to an orthopedic surgeon today. Two days ago, I evidently tore a muscle in my shoulder. Technically, I did it weight lifting, but not during my regular routine. I picked up a 14 lb. weight (not that heavy) to move it, and I was not careful, and was immediately in big trouble and pain. I put it down quickly, and I have been in hot pain ever since with limited movement and strength.

Based on the 34 painful positions he put my arm in, the doctor suspects a SLAP lesion.

I am scheduled for an x-ray guided contrast injection MRI on Monday evening, the 20th. If it is what the doctor thinks it is, he says I have to have surgery to repair the muscle. He says PT and drugs will not help without surgery first.



I looked it up on the internet, and all of the sites said that most SLAP lesions don't need surgery, and that physical therapy and drugs should always be tried first.

When I looked up the surgery, it said that you cannot use your arm for 6 weeks after the surgery (yes, it is my right arm and, yes, I am right handed) and the time to total recovery is 3-4 months.

I guess I will be getting a second opinion after the MRI results come in. I have my next appointment with the original doctor to discuss the MRI results on December 27th. They said I just have to live with the pain until then, and don't do anything with my arm that causes pain.

Sometimes it seems like two steps forward and ten steps back. I do not want to stop weight lifting. I don't want to lose the muscle I have gained and gain back the fat I have lost. I am just basically a big baby when it comes to surgery, and I don't want to be scarred in a place that shows in a sundress.

I did this to myself. I was careless. I don't want anyone to think that it was sensible weight lifting that did this to me, and avoid lifting, because it is so important to health, especially to women "of a certain age".

Anyway, not happy. Not happy at all.

VISIT TO THE HORMONE DOCTOR - I'M NOT HAPPY!

I went to see my anti-aging doctor today.  His name is Paul Savage, M.D., and his office, Vidabem, is in Chicago.  He is one of the doctors that was interviewed for the book Ageless by Suzanne Somers, the book that got me going in my quest to get my hormones balanced and lose weight.

One of the things that I do each visit is have my body composition checked.  Here are all my results for each time I have had it done:

February 25, 2009
Weight - 158 pounds
Body Fat - 46% - 72.7 pounds
Lean Mass - 54% - 85.3 pounds

April 1, 2009
Weight - 148.6 pounds
Body Fat - 42.9% - 63.7 pounds
Lean Mass - 57.1% - 84.9 pounds

This means that between February 25, 2009 and April 1, 2009, I lost 9 pounds of fat and I also lost 0.4 pounds of lean mass, which would include, muscle, bones, water and anything else that is not fat.

May 15, 2009
Weight - 145 pounds
Body Fat - 41.3% - 59.9 pounds
Lean Mass - 58.7% - 85.1 pounds

This means that between  April 1, 2009 and May 15, 2009, I lost 3.8 pounds of fat and I gained 0.2 pounds of lean mass.

August 21, 2009
Weight - 141.6 pounds
Body Fat - 35.2% - 49.8 pounds
Lean Mass - 64.8% - 91.8 pounds

This means that between  May 15, 2009 and August 21, 2009, I lost 10.1 pounds of fat and I gained 6.7 pounds of lean mass.  This was due to the fact that I had a testosterone implant, and I was working out at the gym, lifting weights.  During this time, I was also doing interval training on the treadmill, and going to Hatha Yoga twice per week.

January 20, 2010
Weight - 142.4 pounds
Body Fat - 38.3% - 54.5 pounds
Lean Mass - 61.7% - 87.9 pounds

This means that between August 21, 2009 and January 20, 2010, I gained 4.7 pounds of fat and I lost 3.9 pounds of lean mass.  This was due to the fact that I had stopped the testosterone implant and had started cream instead, and it did not work for me.  And due to the fact that I was getting no testosterone, I could no longer lift weights at the gym.  My strength was waning so much that I finally gave up all exercise altogether in October 2009.

What many people do not know is that in the absence of testosterone, muscle cannot be increased, and will decrease over time.  And the less muscle you have to burn energy, the more fat you will store.  So having low testosterone makes you lose muscle and gain fat, even if your weight is staying the same.  I can remember many times in the past when I have joined gyms and worked out like crazy, and tried to lift weights, and never got any results.  Now I know why that happened.  The lower my testosterone got, the more muscle I lost and the more fat I gained.

Here are my results for today, which is why I am so unhappy:

May 25, 2010

Weight - 139 pounds
Body Fat - 40.1% - 55.7 pounds
Lean Mass - 59.9% - 83.3 pounds

This means that between January 20, 2010 and May 25, 2010, I gained 1.2 pounds of fat and I lost 4.6 pounds of lean mass.

In this time span, I have only gone to the gym six times, and that was in the first two weeks of March.  I had gotten my testosterone implant again in January, but I went on vacation soon after that, and as soon as I got back, I started going to the gym again.  But in the third week of March, I became very ill and ended up having surgery on April 13, 2010, and I have been recovering since then.  I am just now at the point in my recovery where I can go back and start lifting weights again, which I plan to do next week, when my incision is healed.

I asked the doctor why I lost so much muscle recently, and he said it was because of the surgery and having done no activity for four months.  He said that even with the surgery itself, the trauma of it and the narcotics will eat up muscle.  Basically, the body starts canabalizing itself, conserving fat and burning muscle for fuel.

So between the time I started on February 25, 2009 and today, I have lost 17 pounds of fat and 2 pounds of lean mass.  So although I have lost fat, and that's good, all the muscle that I gained last summer is gone, and I have to start all over again.

My doctor wants me to weight 123.7 pounds and have 23% body fat.  My personal goals are not that low - if I can get down to 130 pounds with 25% body fat, I will be happy.  But in order to accomplish that goal, I will have to:

Lose 23.2 more pounds of fat and gain 14.2 pounds of muscle.

This seems like a pretty big undertaking for me.  I am very discouraged.  Even if I could lose the fat, putting on 14.2 pounds of muscle will take 10 months at the shortest, at 1.5 pounds of muscle per month, and could take 14 months or longer, putting on 1 pound or less per month.

I guess I have to just commit myself to getting the exercise I need, and take it a week at a time.  Starting this Friday, when I am healed from my implant, I will go back to the gym three times per week.  I go back to the doctor on October 5th, so we will see how much progress I have made.

On the bright side, all of my hormone tests came back good.  My testosterone level is good, and so are my symptoms, so no change in dosage there. The progesterone is a little high if anything, and my symptoms are good, so the doctor wants to keep that dosage the same, and may even reduce it a little bit next time, based on new test results and my symptoms.  I am still hypothyroid, with a low body temperature and slow weight loss, so he has increased my thyroid dosage.  I will be curious to see if that changes anything, as far as weight loss goes.

On a personal note, Dr. Savage wants to display something in his office that says I am one of the success stories in the new Atkins book, and he also wants to put my morphing weight loss Youtube video on his new website.  That will be cool!  I told him I would mention him on Jimmy Moore's show next week.

All in all, not a great visit.  After I left there, I went shopping, and the store had samples of mini chocolate cupcakes.  I was so mad, I ate one!  Of course, I regretted it after the first bite, but I finished it anyway.

MAY 16 - WEEK 61 REPORT

This week I lost 2.4 pounds.
Beginning weight – 141.8 pounds
Ending weight – 139.4 pounds

Here is a guess of my daily food intake for this past week, because I did not tracking, and only ate 2 meals per day on most days:

1360 Calories
100g Fat (64.3%)
80g Protein
35g Carbs
12g Fiber
23g net carbs, of which 12.5g came from veggies

Today is my weekly measuring day. I lost a total of 4" just this past week!

In the past 7 days:

I lost 1/2” from my bust
I lost 1/4" from by midriff
I lost 1/4" from my waist
I lost 1-1/2” around my navel
I lost 1/2” around my hips
I lost 1/4" around my thighs
I lost 1/4” around my calves

I am now the smallest I have been since starting Atkins. My total loss of inches is 24.5. I set new records for smallness in my bust, navel and calf.

Here are my measurements today:

12.5" - neck
12" - bicep
9" - forearm
35.5" - bust
29.75" - midriff
29.25" - waist
32.5" - navel
38.5" - hips
22" - thighs
13.5" - calves

I am also happy to report that I have lost weight this morning - 0.4 pounds - and this week - 2.4 pounds!

According to the scale, I lost 0.4 pounds yesterday.
According to my 1-week average, I lost 0.4 pounds yesterday.
According to my 4-week average, I lost 0.3 pounds yesterday.

According to the scale, I lost 2.4 pounds in the last 7 days.
According to my 1-week average, I lost 1.5 pounds in the last 7 days.
According to my 4-week average, I lost 1.4 pounds in the last 7 days.

According to the scale, I lost 8.6 pounds in the last 4 weeks.
According to my 1-week average, I lost 5.7 pounds in the last 4 weeks.
According to my 4-week average, I lost 1.3 pounds in the last 4 weeks.

141.8 - 05/09
142.4 - 05/10
142.0 - 05/11
141.2 - 05/12
140.6 - 05/13
141.0 - 05/14
139.8 - 05/15
139.4 - 05/16

If I continue to lose weight at the same rate that I have in the past 28 days, I will reach my goal of 130 pounds in 31 days on June 16, 2010.

That's not accurate, though, because 28 days ago, I was still 6 pounds up due to surgery. In another 6 days, that surgery weight will be out of the equation, and then I will have a clearer idea of a goal date.

I didn't think I could do it, but I stuck to my decision not to use fitday to track my food this past week! It was hard at first, but then it got easier each day. Of course, if I had been gaining instead of losing, it would not have been easy...

This is my plan for this week: I am going to continue to eat the way I have been this past 7 days, and I am going to keep a written journal of what I eat, including weights and measurements of the food. At the end of the week, I am going to take the time to put it all on fitday and see how I come out, and I will report here.

I am going to use my appetite as a gauge of what and when to eat. After a year of low carb, I think my appetite is finally under control and can be trusted. A year ago, it definitely could not be trusted!

This past week has been really low stress on eating. Generally, I ate breakfast around 8 a.m. and dinner around 6-7 p.m., and on a couple of the days, I had either a light snack or a light lunch at midday. I know that going 10 hours between meals is not the recommendation from Atkins, although it does say somewhere in the new book that some people do better eating only 2 meals per day. It seems to be working for me, and I'm going to stick with it for the time being.

Eating twice a day has taken stress off of me, in that I only have to plan and prepare one less meal, and I don't have to drop what I am doing out in the world to run home and cook a meal from scratch and eat. It has also relieved the stress of having to think about food all day long. I have my breakfast, take something out of the freezer for dinner, and then I don't have to think about food for the rest of the day until dinner time. I'm liking this.

I do get a little hungry before dinner, but it's okay. I'm not ravenous - I can just feel in my tummy that it is getting to be time to eat. And if I get really hungry in the middle of the day, I grab a handful of almonds or some raw veggies and it takes the edge off until dinner.

Since Thursday evening, I have been in almost constant pain. I was pain free when I woke up this morning, but as soon as I started moving around, it came back. I wonder how many more days of this until I can be up and around again. This is a pain in the womb, and I am sick of lying around on drugs. I guess I should be thankful that the pain is less than it was before surgery. Back then, it was a 9 out of 10, and now, at its worst, it is a 5 out of 10. Progress, right?

I just realized that I forgot to post what I ate yesterday.

Breakfast, 3 scrambled eggs in butter, 4 slices bacon and 4 large cherry tomatoes.

Snacks throughout the day, a handful of almonds, some raw green pepper and some full fat Fage yogurt with stevia and vanilla extract.

Dinner, baked salmon with butter and parmesan cheese, and a large salad with romaine, avocado and tomato with my homemade dressing.

Dessert, 4 oz. of fresh strawberries.

I know my veggies are low. If I continue to lose this coming week, I'm going to try to increase them.

I know that it is "politically correct" to eat 3 meals a day, and I have even seen people here tell people to eat 6 times a day in order to lose weight. Someone mentioned that Dr. Oz (and we know that HE is always right about everything!) said that if you go for more than 4 hours without eating, your metabolism drops by 40%, or something like that.

I've been researching this on the web, and it is not necessarily so. As with everything else, there always seems to be 2 conflicting sets of research on any subject. We just have to read everything and then make our own decisions.

I have decided that I believe the evidence that says there is no evidence to support eating 6 times per day, and I believe that our evolutionary model for eating is that you eat when food is available, and not according to a schedule. I think that the human body was designed to be able to maintain homeostasis even when food is sporadic.

LOTS OF POST-SURGERY PAIN

It was a pretty rough night last night. The pain was severe and the pain medicine took an hour to start working. But after about 40 minutes, I started getting restless legs so bad I thought I would scream. I then remembered that, while I was in the hospital, I was having that problem, too, where the agitation was so bad in my right leg that it was jumping about every 30 seconds all by itself. The only thing in common with then and now was that pain medication.

I called the pharmacy, and it turns out that a side effect of this drug is excitability and agitation. I guess I won't be taking any more of it.

I am pain free this morning, but groggy and nauseated from the drug. I hope this is over soon!
Supposedly, it takes a few months for all the pain and other stuff to go away, and it gets better each month as the tumor gets smaller and smaller.

The Tramadol I took yesterday is not the best, but I also have some Norco left, plus I have extra strength Tylenol which is prescription strength. I took one of those an hour ago, but it did not help that I can tell. Next time I'll try two of them.

I spent a very painful day lying down on the recliner, feeling so nauseated that if I turned my head from one side to the other, I would feel like I was going to vomit. Finally, around 10, I had to call my husband home from work to cook me some breakfast. I had gotten up to take some Pepto Bismol, and got so sick I had to lie down quickly.

Extra Strength Tylenol helped take the edge off the pain, but that's all.

So I had scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast and a handful of almonds. At lunch time I had a few bites of leftover chicken salad and leftover salad, and at dinner I had two grilled chicken legs and more salad, and a few bites of leftover asparagus and Brussels sprouts with butter. We also had some cheese chips made with parmesan and romano cheese. For dessert, a few ounces of fresh strawberries.

It's only 8 pm here, but I've had a rough day, and I think I'll go ahead and go to bed and read until I get sleepy. I think I'll take a couple of the Tylenol to ward off the middle of the night pain.

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day! At least I don't have to work or have any other commitments for the next few days.

APRIL 30, 2010 - MONTH END REPORT

Wouldn't it have been nice to round off the month still in the 130s? But, alas, I jumped back up a pound this morning to 140.6. No doubt water weight. I wonder why I am retaining water? When I was sick, I was not drinking my normal 72 oz. each day, and yesterday, for the first time since surgery, I did. Possibly my body is not used to it anymore, and it needs to readjust.

No nausea this morning. And no pain. A little groggy from a short night of sleep - around 5.5 hours. Now and then I go through periods of insomnia. This has gone on for a few days now, so I hope I can nip it in the bud. It's a hormonal imbalance. Women with very low progesterone, like myself, cannot sleep naturally, and while I was sick, I was off my BHRT. I'm back on now, so hopefully, I'll get back on track soon.

Work today! I never thought I would be happy about going to work! I'm going stir crazy in this house. I was even thinking about going back the the gym, if nothing else, to do my PACE routine on the treadmill. I'll ask the doctor if it is too soon to start lifting weights again.

Since this is the last day of the month, I'm going to be really obnoxious and post all kinds of stats, just for my own amusement. If anyone is reading this, feel free to allow your eyes to glaze over, or maybe just drift away to sleep.

According to the scale, I have lost 5.4 pounds in the past 7 days.
According to my 1-week average, I have lost 6.1 pounds in the past 7 days.
According to my 4-week average, I have lost 0.3 pounds in the past 7 days.

146.0 - 04/23
142.0 - 04/24
142.0 - 04/25
141.8 - 04/26
140.0 - 04/27
140.0 - 04/28
139.6 - 04/29
140.6 - 04/30

One of the things I track is the average weight for each calendar month. It is not a moving average - I just take my scale weight each day of the month, add them together and divide by the number of days in the month. It gives me an idea of the overall trend. Here are my monthly average weights since I started tracking in February 2009:

155.0 - February 2009
150.9 - March 2009 - lost 4.1 pounds
148.3 - April 2009 - lost 2.6 pounds
145.8 - May 2009 - lost 2.5 pounds
142.6 - June 2009 - lost 3.2 pounds
141.5 - July 2009 - lost 1.1 pounds
141.6 - August 2009 - gained 0.1 pounds (the start of my plateau)
141.9 - September 2009 - gained 0.3 pounds
141.7 - October 2009 - lost 0.2 pounds
140.5 - November 2009 - lost 1.2 pounds
141.2 - December 2009 - gained 0.7 pounds
141.4 - January 2010 - gained 0.2 pounds
143.9 - February 2010 - gained 2.5 pounds
143.8 - March 2010 - lost 0.1 pounds
143.6 - April 2010 - lost 0.2 pounds

APRIL 29, 2010 - DAILY REPORT AND FEELING BETTER

To round off my eating yesterday, I had 6 oz. of roast pork with 1 Tbs. butter and sea salt, 8 oz. (raw weight) of oven roasted broccoli with olive oil, cumin, marjoram and sea salt, 3.4 oz. canned pumpkin with heavy cream and Stevia, and 2 Tbs. full milk Greek yogurt with 1.2 oz. strawberries and Stevia.

I ate so light early in the day that I had to make up for it with a gigantic dinner. I just need to keep my nutrition up. But I was still so sick to my stomach, I had Pepto Bismol 3 times yesterday.

And even though I went to bed with a book and melatonin at 9:30, I could not fall asleep, and I woke up in the middle of the night when I had fallen asleep. Not a good night!

From the time I got up yesterday until the time I got up today, I have lost 0.4 pounds. Here is what I ate yesterday:

1971 calories
149.4g fat (68.2%)
117.9g protein
38.8g total carbs
13.8g fiber
25g net carbs, of which 14.9g came from veggies

According to the scale, I have lost 6.8 pounds in the past 7 days.
According to my 1-week average, I have lost 5.8 pounds in the past 7 days.
According to my 4-week average, I have lost 0.1 pounds in the past 7 days.

146.4 - 04/22
146.0 - 04/23
142.0 - 04/24
142.0 - 04/25
141.8 - 04/26
140.0 - 04/27
140.0 - 04/28
139.6 - 04/29

I am happy to report that I have taken no more Pepto since this morning and my tummy is fine!

I took a walk today, around the block twice, pushing a stroller with a wonderful 9-month old grandboy in it, and did not die! I was very winded and had to lie down for awhile, but not too bad. It was my first time out of the house or hospital in 16 days!

I then took a half block walk later with the same wonderful grandboy and also a wonderful 3 year old grandgirl. Got winded again, but not too bad.

I am pain free and have eaten all my food so far today. I still have absolutely no appetite, and at the moment I am going to try to force down dinner, but generally speaking, I think I am recovering nicely.

I'm even going to work tomorrow for a few hours! YAY!

Well, it's been an interesting day - I seem to have done a significant amount of recovery! I've eaten well, taken two walks and I'm feeling very well this evening. :0}

Bill was here for breakfast and lunch, but he was gone for dinner and I took the opportunity to "scrounge" - eating a little of this and little of that, whatever seemed tasty and would fulfill my nutrition needs, no matter how odd!

Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast
2 scrambled eggs, 1 Tbs. cream, 1/8 tsp. sea salt, 1/8 tsp. ground turmeric, cooked in 1 Tbs. butter
5.5 oz. raw cauliflower
1/2 Tbs. brick cheese

Lunch
4 oz. (cooked weight) pork roast with sea salt and 1 tsp. butter
Salad - romaine lettuce, green pepper, avocado, parmesan cheese, with my homemade olive oil/live juice/crushed garlic salad dressing
1 oz. raw almonds

Dinner (kinda weird)
1 can sardines
1 large blueberry flaxmeal pancake with butter and SF maple syrup
6 oz. raw green pepper

2034 calories
150.1g fat (66.4%)
113.8g protein
57g carbs
28g fiber
4g sugar alcohols
25 net carbs, of which 14.6 were from veggies (all raw today)