[fatmad]

Hi friends: not doing very well, and had a binge event. I didn't eat that much, but was shovelling food into my mouth, IN PUBLIC! I was horrified.
It was at a dance party. I could not dance, and just moved my hips and arms, with my cane helping to support me. I was dressed crazy for the 80's.
Not doing well with weight.
DH left for the camp today, so today is a good day to fast. I am sticking close to home with Buddy, who has to wear a cone a lot, and I have to watch like a hawk as he has a "hot spot" that he was licking and became quite damaged. Likely started with a bug bite. It is healing slowly.
Also have to stick close because pain with too much walking, and still having bowel issues. I run between constipation and diarrhea, sometimes in the same day.
I have to plan my eating days against fasting days and get this weight down.
I am doing exercises to prep for surgery as well. Some as simple and pushing myself up with my arms, not legs, from a chair with arms.

Trish: I hope your pain is manageable with your meds, very important.
Carol: I am sure the weight is water, and I hope you can talk with your doc or HCP about what to do for now, like increase your diuretic or something. It is NOT your fault, you are doing your best and eating right.

Have a good week everyone.

[fatmad]

about the knee. Yes, I am using the cane, not because I can't walk without, but because it helps prevent pain for me. I forget it sometimes though. At least shopping with a cart is a little like a walker and I lean on it. Stairs are a problem now. I go one at a time, and even going down backwards helps. I often pack a bag of stuff so I don't have to go up again until bedtime.
I walk Buddy gently in the mornings and he gets a good walk later in the day with our teen dog walker, whom he loves.
She Stayed with him when we went to the dance party on Saturday, so she is a happy kid with making money again.

I have my consult with the surgeon at the end of this month. Just Tylenol for now.
Trish, I am sorry the gabapentin had that negative side effect for you. It really helps the painful neuropathy for me.

[Wannabehealthy]

Mad, I am very sorry to hear you are doing so poorly with your knee. It seems that it got much worse very quickly. I hope you get relief soon. My knee is not very flexible but I don't have much pain. I've been doing stairs one at a time for years, both up and down. Sometimes over eating comes along with not feeling well. I hope you are able to fast while DH is gone.

We had one dog who got hot spots every summer. We bought a product in the pet store that worked well. This was many years ago but I think it was called Sulfodene, a liquid that we dabbed on.


They have increased my diuretic to twice a day but it doesn't seem to be a big difference. I am happy weighing 168. I just don't want the CHF to flare again.

Some of the clothes I have that I was looking forward to wearing are already loose. The size 14 pants are loose, and so are the 2x tops. That makes me happy. I think I'm close to what I weighed when step daughter got married in 1992. It was after that that my weight started to pile on.

diym. Today I woke up starving so I ate my first meal at 7am. Still, I had 3 meals in 9 hours, not too bad, last meal at 4 pm. 900+ calories, 80 carbs, under 1000 mg sodium.

Funny thing today, there were 2 garbage truck crashes in our area today. One lost its brakes.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I'm glad the scale moved down today. I pray you will be able to get the fluid off again without any problems. My cloghes are smaller too. I started wearing house dresses/moomoos around the house. The 2X are too big but can be worn around the house. So I bought a 1X and I had 1X from long ago and they are too big. So I'm going to buy a L next time to see if it will fit the way I want it to fit. I have no idea what size I will weigh when I finally get this fluid off.

Fatmad I am so sorry about your knee. I hope you can get your knee surgery and into therapy so you can get back to your life. I get days when I want to eat and then days I don't want anything at all.

I was disappointed that the gabapatin didn't work for me. The Tramadol works pretty good but I don't want to take a lot of them because even taking one a day makes me want to sleep all day the next day. So my plan is to take one only when I'm in a lot of pain. I will take Tylenol most of the time. Primary care doc told DH he could use Advil or Alieve and save his Tramadol when he needs it. I need to ask oncology about that and if one of them can be taken with my infusion medicine.

I am eating within 7 to 8 hrs most days. I ended up going to the 25 minutes on the bike. I didn't plan on doing it but got to reading something and just kept going. Tonight I had DH move it so I can see the tv when riding it so next week I may go to 30 minutes. That will mean I am back to what I was doing before I found out I had cancer.

Will keep y'all in my prayers. Good night.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, you are going to be able to ride your bike so much longer while watching tv. This is how I can exercise so long when I finally get myself off my butt to exercise. I do it while there's a show I like and it makes the time go faster. I can't read when I'm exercising for some reason. There was a woman on the low carb forum who worked on her computer while riding her bike. She rode for 6 hours per day, however slowly. Do you remember the book we read about the woman who walked on a treadmill while she worked on her computer? Exercise machines,can be so boring otherwise.

My weight stayed the same today. I slept for 10 hours last night! I went to bed early to watch TV because DH was watching something I didn't want to watch. I fell asleep watching. I woke up at 5 am but it was too early to get up so I read on my Kindle. Then I fell back to sleep until 8:30. My day will be all screwed up now.

Tramadol never made me sleep. I took it when my feet hurt and took Tylenol Arthritis with it.

Last night I cooked pork chops, potatoes and peas. I want to try making salmon patties but I don't know if DH will eat them. My mother used to make them and I loved them. If not I will make grilled chicken. He will eat chicken but its not his favorite.

I think you will get a very low,scale number after the fluid is gone.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I'm glad you slept well and you didn't have a gain. DH won't eat Salmon patties because they fed that to him so much wheb he was in school growing up.

I agree watching tv while using the bike makes it so much easier to exercise. I don't always feel like exercise but I believe it is so important to keep moving because I don't want to have to live in a wheelchair. So I keep doing the things I know to do.

I've been reading today about biotin and foods that have it in them. It is supposed to help with the nervous system. I'm leary of taking the supplements because it can enterfere with the blood tests and give false readings. So I want to get what I can in my food. It is in eggs, avocados, meat, liver and sweet potatoes just to name a few foods. I'm beginning to think that I need to be patient because neuropathy can be reversed but it takes time. In the meantime I really believe that I need to follow the Low Carb for Dummies woe so I can eat the foods DH likes as well as the foods I need to eat to keep the fluid off and reverse the neuropathy.

I get an infusion tomorrow morning around 10ish. I have to be there by 9 am and get blood drawn and then see more my team nurse before the infusion. Then DH and I will go to Sam's and the local store. DH has decided that we will have Chinese food. So tomorrow will be busy day.

Have a good nights sleep. Good night.

[Wannabehealthy]

Scale stayed the same today. I slept pretty good again. I have been sleeping better and no racing heart as long as I control blood sugar. I make sure it is below 120 or lower when I go to bed. As far as I can tell, that's what affects it.

Trish, I haven't been exercising as much as you but I'm getting there. My reason is because I don't see a day when I will live somewhere else and I will have to continue dealing with stairs. Part of me was very disappointed when DH would not move to that house without stairs. But on the other hand, having to navigate these stairs on a regular basis should keep me able to do it. If you don't use it you lose it. My BIL lived in that 3 story house for the first 60 years of his oife, and his room was on the 3rd floor. Up and down those flights of stairs throughout the day and also more stairs to go to the basement. Even their mother did that until she died at 85. Now BIL lives in a one floor mobile home. He can't even walk to the mail box.

I was reading my instructions for after the TAVR procedure. It says no stairs for 1 week after coming home. I wonder how DH is going to feel about that.

I did not make the salmon patties. I made chicken tenderloins. DH said he wanted McDonalds. He went to the hardware store for supplies to work on our plumbing but when he came home, no McDonalds. He said he changed his mind and would eat chicken. I wonder if he forgot to go to McDonalds or if he really changed his mind. This grew up eating salmon patties. I have not had them since because DH never wanted them. I'm tired of going without things because he doesn't like them. For years I've eaten what he likes to keep peace. Maybe I will make them and tell him he can go to McDonalds. Or I can cook a hamburger for him.

DH is fixing the toilet. He took it off, and now he says he doesn't know if he can put it back on. I took a fluid pill!!! I guess I will have to use the toilet downstairs! The is where he could use his son to help him but he will never ask for help. Stubborn. He has always done all the household repairs, but he has not always been 80 years old.

_________________

He got it done! Yay!!

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue You must be getting yourself healthier for the TAVR. That is good. My FBG is usually around 110 or less bu always below 120. Eating healthier should help you to come through the procedure much better.

I've pretty much made an easy menu for how I want to eat each day. Especially when I'm not eating out or take out. I plan to make it simple as well. I will eat oats and yogurt and fruit in the mornings. Then I will cook a healthy meal with meat, salad and veggies. I plan to start eating some of the veggies that have B vitamis in them especially get some greens. To DH veggies are fries and corn... easy things. If you have to slice dice etc he doesn't want to do it. But I give him credit because he has had to learn to do a lot but not really healthy combos. I will keep some kind of salad made with tuna, salmon or chicken. I made a tuna salad last night and made a sandwich made with it last night and it tasted good so I gues my taste was off when I couldn't eat it before. I had an apple with that. Later when DH eats his carrots with Ranch dressing I will finish my day with some of that only if I'm hungry.

Weight today at oncology was 162.2. They said that my labs had improved. I'll get the reports in a day or two. I looking forward to seeing what my CA 125 will be. DASH diet says keep sodium between 1500 to 2300 mg so I will start back to using MFP tomorrow to keep up with that. That is another reason I need to start cooking again.

I'm tired today and I didn't even get out at the store mainly because there were so many people there and their vehicles were so big and we couldn't get a parking space close to store so I told DH it was too dangerous for us to drive one of the electric carts back and forth. I realized today that the reason I'm so tired is that I am still anemic from the chemo. It hemoglovin has finally gotten up to 9.9 without a blood transfusion. I want to start eating liver at least once a week. I wanted some chicken livers to snack on, but DH said they didn't have any but he probably didn't know where to look. Typical man he won't ask. I need to do the rest of my exercises but not sure I will. There is still time even if I take a nap.

Have a nice evening everyone. Fatmad I hope you are doing well and the pain is manageable.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, my FBG is usually good but I check throughout the day and want it to be low at bedtime too. I think that's what is making me sleep better.

Did your DH stop eating cauliflower and switch to carrots? I cannot eat raw carrots, only cooked.

I'm glad your labs are improving and your weight is great!! I also hope your CA 125 has improved. I think the exercise is really helping you. Keep up the good work!

I haven't heard back from the dentist so I guess I have to make some calls tomorrow and find out what's going on.

____________________________
​​Friday

I left a message at the doctor's office so I wait for a call back.

Scale is down slightly. It sure goes up faster than down. I was hungry last next but and got out of bed to eat cauliflower and cheese. Talking about your DH, Trish,did that to me. I slept very good after that. That cauliflower tasted really good!

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue It is strange how power of suggestion hits us when we talk about something. Yes DH still eats cauliflower. I wonder if God will have cauliflower in heaven for him. LOL Hope your doc calls back soon.

I slept good last night even neuropathy is better. I doubled the dosage of the ALA like the reviews suggested and I believe I can feel some improvement all ready. This all an experiment so will see how things go.

BBL
__________________________________________
DH had dinner ready and he isn't patient when he is ready to serve it. We ate and then I decided to do the recumbent bike while watching one of the Star Trek series we watch. I ended up doing 31 minutes trying to get to 2 months but it may have gotten stuck on 1.97 miles distance. At least I am now at my max amount of time of almost an hour of exercise eact day. I used to do 3 miles on the bike within 30 minutes and hope I will get there again in time. but won't push it. I'm just thankful that I can do it. I now am doing a total of almost an hour of exercise spread over the day and have done all of it today. Now I am ready for a nap.

Oh the carrots are raw with Ranch dressing to dip it in. He eats it every night, but I don't.

[Wannabehealthy]

I don't like to eat raw vegetables, except for salad vegetables. And celery. And bell peppers. So I guess I do like some vegetables raw!

Trish, you are inspiring me to get back to exercise. I used to do 45-60 minutes most days and I felt so much better. But I will do strengthening exercise, not cardio. I don't want to stress my heart right now with the valve almost closed up. They did not tell me not to exercise. They didn't mention exercise at all. I have been doing exercises to strengthen my legs and arms and I am noticing a difference. I can feel the muscle in the back of my legs. They say that people who are the most out of shape show the most improvement, and they have a picture of me as an example.

The doctors office did not call back. I called the cell phone of the nurse coordinator who is handling my case and I probably should have called the main phone and talked to whoever answered. She may have had a day off. If she does not call me on Monday I will call the main office number.I am trying to be patient about this and not get upset, but I know how quickly my condition can change. I need to trust God. He is handling this. I keep doing deep breathing and doing the breathing incentive exerciser they gave me to make sure I can still breathe well. And I check my oxygen to be sure it stays over 90.

I found out that cheese is high in sodium so no more cheese on my cauliflower!! Big bummer!

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I find some medical offices aren't too quick to call back. I have a problem getting the hospital online to work for me. I tried to go there and set up a once a month payment plan so it comes out automatically. So I tried to called the lady who was supposed to be my representative in the beginning which is the only financial person I have the name of. I called her Wednesday and had to leave a message for her to call me back and why. I still haven't heard from her. Like you I decided that Monday that I will call the main office and see if I can get someone else to help me. I could set it up myself, but it never gives me a spot to put in the amount I want to pay each month.

There are a lot of other raw veggies I would eat and will eat again when I can do the shopping and preparing meals. DH will only do so much before he gets upset because I think he feels overwhelmed if cooking becomes complicated to him. He just isn't comfortable cooking. I will be so happy when I can feel comfortable cooking whole meals again.

We are having chipped beef today. I was worried about the sodium, but I went on MFP and planned my meals for today and I cooked a serving of elbow noodles to put a serving (1/2 c) of the chipped beef. This way I skip the biscuits that would make the meal high sodium. With the noodles it becomes a low sodium meal. I'll have my salad as well. For supper I will have 1/2 avocado and a crab cake I bought the last time I went to local store. Since I had a protein shake this morning, my calories stay under 1600 calories and sodium is under 2300 mg. My carbs I have to count according to Low Carb for Dummies, I am even low on that as well. So I am OP today. I am learning this can be done with a little bit of work and planning without DH having to give up foods he likes. In fact, that goes for both of us as long as we are careful to eat reasonable portions.

Hope everyone has a blessed day.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, your food today sounds good, and healthy the way you fixed it up.


DH got McDonalds. He likes to get the special they have, 2 Big Macs and a basket of fries. I took the middle bun off, and scraped off the cheese and special sauce, so I ended up with a double burger that had a bit of taste of the sauce, and I liked it. No fries. That satisfied me and ended my eating for the day at 4:00.

My cell phone isn't working right. I reset it a couple times and deleted a lot of pictures. I don't know if that will help. I hate learning how to use a new phone.

[Wannabehealthy]

I slept ok. Scale went down 1.2 lb, so some fluid came back off.

I got tired of fighting with my phone so I set it on the counter and went to bed. Today it is fine, back to normal. Good thing because I don't really have the money for a new one, nor do I want a new one. Maybe the reset "took" overnight.

I did 2 loads of clothes so far and have one more to do. I have a big pile to go to Goodwill. I also want to pack up my bigger jeans and put them away just in case I gain. I don't want to have to buy bigger pants. I have no intention of gaining but will wait til spring to donate them. I found some tops that I had packed away labeled "too small" but I think they might fit now.

Back to the laundry room.

First load done and put away. 2nd load in the dryer and 3rd load in a basket waiting to go in the dryer. We have a big dryer but I didn't want to overload it.

While I was waiting I went into my exercise room for a while. I didn't have my knee brace on so I didn't want to do a lot. I did my vibration platform. I have this old thing that you sit on and use your body weight to push yourself up to almost standing position. I did 30 pushes. The last time I did it I was probably 190+. I was amazed at how much easier it was to do it at 167! And i was wondering if i would be able to do it at all after all this time! Then I did some squats. Thats all for today without my knee support. I think I will buy another knee brace so I have one to leave down there.

I'm defrosting a beef roast to put in the pressure cooker. Its not completely defrosted but you can put it in there still frozen.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I'm glad your cell phone reset and is working good. I hate getting new cell phones. I loved the one I had before they made me upgrade because my old one wasn't going to work because they were changing some thing. That one announced who was calling and read my texts to me and this one doesn't. It has a lot of new stuff but I don't want to voice activate it etc.

You are doing great. I think it is probably okay for you to do some exercises but I wouldn't overdo it. Of course, I could be wrong. You can ask the nurse when you get to talk to her.

I am feeling better. I am going to cook dinner today or at least help DH cook. We will have chicken breasts smothered in Heinz Chicken gravy. I had a low carb breakfast this morning of 2 sl bacon, 2 eggs and half a small avocado and cup of coffee. I will make this a lower carb day.

Got my lab report last night and there was protein in urine again. I haven't had that for a while so I looked it up on line to see why it would happen this time. It can be caused by dehydration, stress or even chemo treatment among other things. I also found that I am on the low end of it so I am safe as long as it doesn't go higher. Knowing me. I probably need to be sure I hydrated and I need to be sure I eat more vegetables and fruits. I didn't go in the store this week so didn't get the fruit I need to eat, but I do have veggies. So I might start eating an evening meal or snack of veggies only.

Have a blessed Sunday.