Rough Week

Can't believe it's been a week since I last posted. I've been on checking up and reading other blogs.... Trying to get inspired. Up until yesterday I haven't had any energy. I've been laying around resting and not getting much done at all.

Well I weighed in and....... 202.2!
I was hoping to be in one-derland this week but I still had a loss.

I'm feeling really good now. I still have some stomach issues but it's becoming less noticeable. I'm going to start walking on the treadmill. I think that walking will help me rebuild enough strength so I can start adding in other exercises and help me get enough burn going that I'll have a daily calorie loss.

Well more lata
Have a happy and healthy one!
Love Always
Amberly

The verdict is in.....

AND.............

202.6

Still a loss! I've been 202 for a couple of days now. Not too bad at all I haven't been at this weight since July 2009. And I had a bit of an emotional breakdown and went from the 190s to the 220s where I have stayed until now. Well I'd like to forever be out of the 200s.

A change has come over me since I've been out of the hospital. I don't think/crave/worry about food anymore. I'll feel my tummy rumble and then I'm like 'oh let me get something to eat' I get a small something (I don't stuff myself anymore) and then move on to other things. It seems like before all I did was think about food. I also was constantly craving chocolate and ice cream...... It's been a month and I haven't had any candy, cookies, ice cream, chocolate (well I've had sugar free chocolate pudding if that really counts). I still have some stuff in my pantry and I see it but have no feeling or emotion about it. Before if would be like I could already taste it and I would walk out of the kitchen and continue thinking about it until I finally got it. Was I sick or what? Seriously that has to make me an addict or something. I don't want to have a food problem..... I want to enjoy food and move on. Am I cured? Has my hospital visit killed this addiction? I kind of doubt it (don't want to though). I think I'm not craving the sugar because it's been out of my system for so long. I'm going to be watching this and tracking my food.

Hope everyone else is having a great day! Happy and healthy one to all!
Love Always,
Amberly

Couponing

Feeling much better as each day goes by. I am going to start walking since that is the only kind of exercise I can do right now. My stomach is still really tender and I'm still getting winded if I do a little too much than I am ready for. I was so bummed.... On Monday I woke up and I weighed 200.4 and so I figured on Tuesday I would be 199..... well I was 202. I ate a lot more food on Monday than I have been eating though.... Still working on it. I'm still eating a lot less than I use to.... not planning on stretching my stomach out again. I'm excited though.... I'm getting close to the 190's and I haven't been below 192 ever!!! The last two times I got that low... I started gaining.... so my 1st goal is 199.... my second goal 191.... my third goal 180s.

Today I ate 1/2 cup of cherrios with milk and an applesauce. After work I had another applesauce and a chocolate diabetic milkshake (glucerna) and for dinner I had a homemade burger  on a wheat bun and a chicken thigh and leg.

Started watching this show called 'Extreme Couponing' on TLC.... it's such a cool show. I love having coupons when I shop. These people are really extreme. In fact one woman had $1175.00 worth of groceries and after using all her coupons she walked out only paying $51.00. Isn't that awesome. I would do a lot of donating to a food bank with that kind of savings.... because let's face it.... who can eat 50 or 100 boxes of cereal before it expires?!?!?!?! So maybe that's a little extreme but you get the point. It would be nice to not only save a lot of money but to also give to those that need help. I love the idea. Between this and my gardening..... I'll be saving so much money.... and with the weight loss..... I can afford a new wardrobe!!!!

Well that's all for now. Tomorrow is my weigh in day so I will be posting how I've done for the week!
Hope everyone is having a healthy and happy week!
Love Always,
Amberly

Building Strength

Wow.... I just decided to fold some laundry, sort out some loads into piles, and I took one to the washer to get it started and I am winded! Let me say though I have come a long way since I was released from the hospital. When I was released it was hard for me to stay standing for very long. In fact I would get winded trying to sing a song!

So my stomach is doing great. And I'm also still losing weight!! However I have had a throbbing, aching pain in my arm. During my hospital stay they inserted a picc line into my arm. Picc stands for peripherally inserted central catheter. This is so they don't have to keep sticking me for blood work or for my IV line etc... Well my arm has been hurting ever since a few days before it was removed. I started doing research online and let me admit I'm a little scared. There are people complaining of the same pain I have. Some saying they have nerve damage, some have had the pain for years, some have even lost mobility in their arms. My arm today feels like it's better than it's been. I've been trying to rest it as much as possible. Hopefully things will turn out well.

I ate a half a cup of cherios with some milk and a half a cup of cinnamon applesauce. I was so full!!!! I love this smaller stomach thing. Its great!
Tomorrow I'm suppose to go out with a friend. She mentioned going to one of my favorite restaurants called Don Pablos. Now Mexican food...... Enchiladas in particular won't go with my stomach anymore. I've been really careful to have nothing fried or nothing too fattening. So I've already decided that I would get the fajitas minus the tortillas. I'm proud of myself.

Thought I would give you guys an update, more lata.
Have a happy and healthy weekend!
Love Always
Amberly

Free!!!

Good news they have released me! Let's face it I was starting to feel like a resident there and I can't afford their rent! In fact if I had to stay any longer I was going to ask for an application.... After 15 days I'm sure I would make a great nurse.

So I have been home for two days now. My stomach is great, no pain and I'm processing food almost perfectly...... On the other hand my right arm hurts and aches like crazy. Since I was in the hospital so long they inserted what's called a picc line which is 3 IV ports connected to one line that went inside my arm (between my elbow and armpit) in my vein all the way over to my heart. I thought it was the smartest thing in the world because everytime they needed to take blood work (daily) or give me pain meds (several times daily) and also my IV solution to keep me from dehydration (24/7) I already had the line and they didn't have to stick me a million and a half times. However the last two days it was in, my arm was getting sore..... And now..... It's the only reason I'm still taking any kind of pain medication. I'm watching it closely because I'm ready to go and get it checked out if I need to (I've got this fear it could be a blood clot in my arm).

So more good news........ During my hospital stay I was mostly on no food at all while my pancreas healed. I was on a liquid diet for about 4 days and I was on real food for about 4 days...... Well my stomach shrunk. You know how you hear the gurus tell you that your stomach is the size of your fist..... Well mine is!!! I am being ever so careful not to stretch it out. I don't want to sit down and eat half a pound of food.... Let's face it if I want more of something good I can always wait 3 hours and eat more. I've been doing good too for dinner I had a grilled chicken breast with mushrooms and a little cheese and a sweet potato. For breakfast I had scrambled eggs and 3 bites of pancakes and 1 bite of a sausage link (my husband went out and got Dennys). Yesterday my husband made me a chicken noodle soup Caribbean style and I couldn't even eat a half a cup!

Can you stand for anymore good news? I weighed myself yesterday morning and I weighed 205! And baby I'm going down from here...... I can taste the 100s. I'm already fitting into some shirts that I couldn't a few weeks ago. I don't wanna go back.

Well that is all for now. Thanks for all the supportive comments.
Take care and everyone have a healthy and happy one!
Love Always,
Amberly

Day 13

Well I'm still here at the hospital. They started me on a liquid diet yesterday and they may start me on food tomorrow. Once I have food they will monitor me for a few days and then send me home :o)

In the past 13 days I have had less than a cup of food. Besides getting better, the only other nice thing is that I know that I have definitely lost weight. For the next few weeks my diet needs to be liquids, soups, and very low fat foods. What a way to get me a head start lol.

Thanks for the comments
I'll keep ya posted.
Have a healthy and happy day!
Love Always
Amberly

A really sick girl.

Today marks 10 days........ Of being in the hospital. I went in to the ER for abdominal pain and I knew from past experience that I probably had pancreatitis. Sure enough, and that was the most painful night of my life. Any meds they were able to give me wasn't strong enough and didn't last long enough. I was so dehydrated that I thought I was going to die of thirst. They refused to give me anything except pain meds and an IV. They admitted me immediately and I was sent straight to the intensive care unit (ICU). I was pretty much only conscious when my pain meds wore off. They verified that it was my pancreas and that my blood work up showed that my triglycerides were over 7000. That's not a typo. according to the information I've researched these are triglycerides levels:

Normal - Less than 150 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL)

Borderline high - 150 to 199 mg/dL

High - 200 to 499 mg/dL

Very high - 500 mg/dL or above

I was extremely dangerously high. In fact I think I shocked many of my doctors. Someone with that high of triglycerides normally means that have a problem with alcohol. That isn't me though. I may have an occasional drink (once a month) but nothing nearly to send my triglycerides high or off the charts as they are.

The doctors recommended that I go through with a procedure called Plasmapheresis. Basically it's just like dialysis, they filtered and cleaned my blood through a machine and put it back in my body. They redid my blood work and found my triglycerides had dropped to just above 300.

I've been in recovery and have had a bit of a set back. I was stomach pain again. My abdomen has a few liquids pockets, but there isn't anything they can do. They are going to continue watching me so that my pancreas doesn't relapse.

This is my third time in 4 years. I've been doing some mad research trying to find out how I got this way and how to prevent it from happening again. Diet and exercise of course, but I've already been doing those things. So more research to do.

Sorry that I haven't been around much. I'm still hanging in there though.
Have a happy and healthy day!
Love always
Amberly