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One Foot In Front of the Other
Alright, I'll jump. Here's a new thread for our journey to maintenance. Used my baby steps theme of earlier.
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And I'll put an update in on my grandfather. He has something called TTP, which is when a lot of tiny blood clots form in a lot of the small blood vessels. They have done some damage to his kidneys. He had no indication of this condition at his last doctor visit, and none of the typical outward signs that normally manifest. They ran the tests three times they were so surprised. This is why they are doing the plasma cleansing - it is called plasmapheresis and they basically pull the blood out, scrub it, put it back. He also is having dialysis to help the kidneys. The two processes together took about eight hours today. I'm hoping tomorrow will be quicker. He'll have to have it done daily for a few days. He got pretty agitated by the end tonight, it had been a long day and he was worn out.
Birchie - I did have breakfast, a protein shake before we left the house. |
Thank you for starting this new thread, Shannon. Hope your grandfather is having a good night. Yesterday sounds exhausting.
I am having a slow start to the day and thinking about what I'm going to eat. I'm also wondering why I've fallen out of the habit of writing food and exercise down in a notebook. I'll try to start that up again. It only takes a moment, after all. :wave: to everyone else who's reading. Let's really try to focus this weekend. |
Thanks for starting the new thread. Great name! Hope your grandpa is doing better!
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Shannon, thanks for starting the new thread. I hope your grandpa's condition improves steadily.
I'm hanging in there, actually saw the sun for a few minutes yesterday. We've had another 7 inches of rain in the last few weeks, which amounts to nonstop drizzle. Not like what they had in SoCal yesterday - My eating's not been great, I'm back to doing that thing where after a 12 hour workday I come home and stare at the walls, unable to focus on anything, wanting to put sugary things in my mouth and often caving. It's a stress response from way back. Good news is I'm off clinic duty and teaching both for a few weeks so I can "just" manage the research lab and deal with administrative loads. That usually is my recovery time. I'm waiting for the rain to lessen so I can finally go for a run in the woods, because I'm finally not on call this weekend. |
Things look better this morning than they did last night. I've been sitting with him for the last few hours while my mom gets some breakfast and tries to rest a little. The fact that my mom would leave for that long is a good sign, and he looks much better than he did yesterday. He's more hydrated, has had a lot of fluids, some plasma, and now another unit of blood. He's had some morphine this morning, so he is much more settled than he was. We have more dialysis and plasmapheresis this afternoon, which may agitate him again. He's been alternating between fast asleep and popping wide awake and chatty this morning.
I did have fast food breakfast today, as my mom wanted chicken minis. As she hadn't accepted any offering food for two days, I would have gotten her anything she wanted. I had an iced coffee and a chicken, egg and cheese bagel. I have some yogurt in the fridge in the waiting room for later. |
Saturday, and I'm at 156.3. That's the result of two weeks of tension. I will try to unwind myself during this three-day weekend.
I can't believe the temperatures are going into the 60s today, after being in the 30s for much of the week. I walked around after gym-going, half-blinded by sun glare, and it felt good. |
Sunday, up to 156.5, which I knew when I went to bed last night, because my feet were swollen and tight. This is salt and water weight, rather than calories.
I was dragging yesterday, physically tired but pushing myself to get a load of laundry done and another egg bake made, and also to get a bit of work completed. Staff in India will be working on Monday and I want to have a full queue of work for them to pick up and advance. |
Mild and damp here with bulbs coming into flower all over.
I've just had a very good workout: foot exercises, movement-based flexibility, corrective exercises, single legged compound lifting (must try to label all the parts for you), suitcase deadlifts. So good. Just having post workout snack of apple and cheese. Then into the shower. Then small domestic and gardening tasks until my client sends his comments back to me. His mother died a fortnight ago and everything has been turned upside down for him. Our joint deadline is Monday morning. |
I'm back from my mini golf vacation. We had a good time despite the wind and rain on the morning of the tournament. The first five holes were brutally cold but eventually the wind died down and the rain stopped for the rest of the day. We drove home with the rain yesterday. So glad we took our chance with the high desert and the threat of flash floods because the Cajon Pass was horrible--a fire truck fell off the freeway and the lane and shoulder disappeared! We had some torrential downpours at times and a few areas of flooding, but nothing scary.
Hope your grandfather continues to do well, Shannon. As to my weight, here we are, over half-way through February and I'm still where I was at New Years. I'm not at all happy with it. |
Checking in both to say hi and to get the new thread emailed to me daily.
Shannon, I hope the TTP responds quickly. If plasma exchange doesn't work (it usually does) they can do something else called IV Ig, which is another way of overpowering the "bad" antibodies with "good" ones. Your grandfather should make a good recovery from this. Allison, I too am at the same weight (possibly even 1-2 pounds higher) than I was at New Year's. Can't imagine playing golf in the wind and rain; around here, golf is played for only about 3 months of the year, and no one ventures out on the green if the weather isn't great. Saef, we too had temps in the 60s both yesterday and today. It seems almost too good to be true; I feel like we're definitely going to "pay" for this with a miserably wet spring, or a late cold snap that will kill all the bulb flowers. OTOH, it was a joy to be outside today. |
Monday, and I'm at 156.6, which, again, was what I thought would happen.
I went shopping yesterday, which rarely happens these days. By shopping, I mean going to a store that is not a grocery store. To a real store, the kind you have to drive to. Then I made a new recipe for chicken and tried to get some more work done. |
Allison - we saw the firetruck falling into the sinkhole on the news this weekend. Scary!
Andrea - it seems to be responding. He's had two of the plasma treatments and has gone from platalets at 26k Thursday night to 53k yesterday morning, and say the TTP activity is decreasing. They are going to do another round of the dialysis and the plasmapheresis today. For some reason, the dialysis doesn't bother him but the plasmapheresis freaks him out and he gets very agitated and angry. Maybe because they have started it at 7:30pm both times and he is worn out, don't know. Tonight they need to give him some kind of medication before it, he's been very hard to handle during it. So, on top of the stuff with my grandfather going on, my mom was out sick with what was probably the flu all last week and their 15 years old Chihuahua is in congestive heart failure and going to die any minute. My dad took her to the vet yesterday and is giving her IV lasix and has her on oxygen. I ended up driving my mom home yesterday afternoon to see her, shower and pack a new bag. We didn't get out of the hospital until 3, so with the 2 hour drive didn't get back until almost 10. I got back to my house about 11. After getting called back out on Saturday at 9pm when he freaked out over the plasma and not getting home then until close to midnight I'm worn out. Mom told me not to come over today, but I know she's tired too and don't want to leave her by herself. I'm taking DSS back to his mom after breakfast, I'll decide then I guess. Hope everyone is doing well. |
Hope you get some rest, Shannon so you don't get sick! Too much to deal with! Hugs!
We have terrible rains here. Dh usually has almost zero commute but today he has a long commute to meetings. I'll be worried about him all day. I have the day off and plan on being productive.... exercising, seeing a friend, doing stuff around the house.... |
Just written my afternoon snack of a few nuts and a cup of tea in my black book. Baby steps towards writing everything in it. And then starting to weigh myself again.
Good luck with today's challenges, everyone. :grouphug: |
Rough night at the hospital last night, so I'm here giving my mother a break. My dad had the dog put to sleep this morning, and my mom is pretty broken. We are a hot mess in here.
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Oh Shannon, I'm so sorry. It sounds like a snowstorm of emotional and physical struggles for your family right now. My heart goes out to your parents for the loss of their dog. Continued best wishes and thoughts for your grandpa.
I've tried to embrace the weather; went running and hiking in the rain and wind this weekend, and have yet to miss a day of walking or bicycling to work. Today it was a monsoon and I had to hold my umbrella sideways to protect my laptop the whole way here. After 5 months of this, I've come to essentially live in Goretex and rainboots. On the plus side, I finally weighed myself and it was better than I expected after months of non-monitoring. Apparently I hit that tipping point where I'm at work long enough each day that there's not enough time to overeat once at home. A mixed blessing. |
Originally Posted by Shannon in ATL: |
So sorry, Shannon.
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Tuesday morning, and I was relieved to be at a neutral, same-weight-as-yesterday 156.6.
Shannon, so much loss and pain and fear. I am so sorry. |
Shannon, great big virtual hugs to all of you. That is a lot to swallow in one small timeframe. And thank you for starting the new thread! Baby steps it is.
I've taken enough baby steps to maintain the post-sickness loss. Over the last few weeks I have taken up semi-regular visits to the track at lunchtime for about 45 minutes of walking at a good clip. Often I have a coworker with me, but I am enjoying the time with music just as much. Yesterday I also got back in the pool for a baby-steps first "real" workout of 2300 yards. Work sucks. It doesn't, actually - it's my disconnect with it and constant desire to be somewhere else, doing something else. |
Wednesday morning, and I'm at 156.5, and reminding myself about chemistry, that ingesting more potassium than sodium is what makes the water drain away. Ankles still swollen up, but I am now avoiding the roasted pepper-and-salt chickpeas that were not a good salad topping for me.
I think I've hit the peak of that work project that I was pulled on to salvage, though I did work on it through my three-day weekend. |
Hmmm... never heard or thought about trying to have more potassium than sodium....
Dh had a bad day at work yesterday and cooked last night. Very yummy but tasted salty to me. He swore he didn't use salt but it was on the counter with everything else he used. So.... I didn't fuss but I'm not surprised my weight is up some today. Younger dd comes home tonight for a long weekend. Looking forward to seeing her but I know it will throw off my regular schedules. I'm glad she'll get to see Charlotte (our kitty with kidney disease) again as she is her baby and it may be the last time. |
So potassium? I need to check that out.
I got my mom out of the hospital for a few hours last night - my dad came up and sat with grandaddy, so I took her to my house. She slept for about 4 hours, took a shower, ate some dinner. We couldn't get her to stay and sleep overnight, took her back about 10:30. He then kept her up all night. He is grouchy at night. They picked him up for dialysis at 8 this morning, so he'll be gone until at least noon. I had them put a do not disturb on the door and we put her phone on airplane so it won't be binging with text messages all morning and she's trying to sleep. I came to work for a few hours, as all I was doing was keeping her up and focused on me. The TTP is responding well to treatment, platelet count is back up to 144,000. His kidney numbers were a little better yesterday and a little more better today. Continuing dialysis. He popped up with a heart arrythmia after the dialysis on Monday, so they will start treating that today. Apparently the arrythymia can cause blood clots if left untreated. When we told him that he said "aren't blood clots what I have already?" Well. Yeah. We still don't know where this all came from, but there is a theory floating that he was exposed to the flu - as my mom had it last week, it makes sense. One of the hematologists told us the flu can cause spontaneous TTP in the elderly in his experience. We haven't heard that anywhere else, so who knows. We'll likely never know what caused it. I'm tired. And congested with allergy season starting. And fat and bloated and grouchy. On the fat and bloated, my mother says I look noticeably different this week than I did when she saw me Superbowl Sunday, and looked different then from two weeks before. Once this settles, she wants me to see a doctor. She thinks something is off kilter - she theorized thyroid, blood pressure, or hormones. She says I look noticeably bloated with visible changes daily, a little off color, and even with the diet I've described (she looked at my food log, and I'm honest on it even when it sucks) that I shouldn't have gained as much as it looks like I have in just a couple of weeks. She also said it could be stress and tension, or depression. I'm going to go get a blood workup next week and start the process. I don't know if she is right, or if she is trying to make me feel better. We've had a complicated relationship with weight my mom and I over the years, and she often has made me feel bad. This time her tone sounds concerned. |
Michele - I just absorbed the bit about Charlotte. Not doing well?
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I'm a potassium tracker, and I can tell you it is hard to get the recommended daily amount of 4700 mg. I eat lots of veggies and I also put a packet of "nu salt" in my smoothie. That provides an extra 500 mg and I can't really taste it. It definitely helps with water retention and blood pressure. Before I started being aware of potassium a couple of years ago, my bp was getting up there, like 140 over 80. Now it is more like 114 over 68.
My weight fluctuates a couple of pounds regardless of salt, fluid intake and anything else I can pinpoint. I just have to live with it and trust that what goes up must come down if my behavior remains good. This week my weight has gone between 122.5 and 125 and I can't really tell you why. What is maddening is when you go to bed hungry and the scale is higher in the morning anyway! Sending gentle white light to all ailing animal friends and human friends! |
Just ordered some Magnesium to add to my daily supplements. I'll see if I see any results.
Shannon-- Charlotte is hanging in there for now. Her days are obviously numbered though. Just not sure how many numbers there are left! We are giving her Sub-Q fluids 2 out of 3 nights and it has made her perkier-- no vomiting and she is urinating less so I think her kidneys are functioning more efficiently. She is just getting tiny. She was always 9.5-10 pounds. Her brother, Wilbur, is a chunky 14 pounds and she is 6 on a fat day. |
Originally Posted by traveling michele: Dagmar :dizzy: |
Originally Posted by Mudpie: |
Thursday, up to 157.5. No, I'm not pleased about that.
I worked till late and then watched a little bit of "My 600-lb Life" on TV and related so much to the bedridden woman who still couldn't stop eating. I felt like her. I had to look down at my body to remind myself that I am not her. It helps me when I achieve a balance between working from home and driving to CT. Too much working from home means burrowing in and I eat more and move less. |
When I started BP meds, my doctor said that while magnesium supplements aren't bad, they aren't well absorbed and kind of unnecessary. I stopped taking them when they didn't help with my high BP. I do try to eat a lot of magnesium rich foods (I use a lot of recipes from the DASH diet), but you're right--it is hard to reach a high intake. I bought the salt stuff and can't stand the taste.
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I was talking about potassium, not magnesium. It seems to be pretty easy to get enough magnesium from my food, at least compared to potassium. Yeah, the potassium salt has a more metallic taste. I try to disguise the taste if I use it.
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Michelle, somewhat ironically given this conversation, another thing besides SQ fluids that often helps kitties in this phase of renal disease is potassium supplementation. Have you talked to your vet about this? There is a nutritional supplement called Tumil K (or generic equivalent = potassium gluconate) that can be given as a flavored gel either in the cat's wet food or directly into the mouth. If administered appropriately, there is little chance of adverse effects even if Charlotte's whole-body potassium levels are normal (unlikely). Often the general weakness/lethargy of cats in chronic renal failure is partly due to potassium deficiency, and supplementation can improve it (and appetite too).
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Originally Posted by JayZeeJay: |
Friday, down a little to 156.5.
Still amazed by how I've overeaten during two stressful weeks, and without particularly enjoying myself. No splurges, no pleasure. Just larger portions of so-called "healthy" foods. |
Creeping ever so slowly downward; 157.6. It's not because of great control and discipline - it's because I've been really busy this week and out of the house in the evening. Getting past the mindless evening snacks and extra glass of adult beverage continues to be my biggest hurdle.
I will be curious to see if the weather predictions for Quid are anywhere near accurate for our area. Strong winds are forecast and maybe a severe thunderstorm. It's been a glorious warm week and this will make a return to "normal" weather seem especially punitive. I need to remember that most years by the end of February, I'm crawling the walls sick of winter! |
Today/ tonight will be challenging to my "routines". In past years, my school has held a dinner fundraising auction but it doesn't really fit our demographics as most of our families are from India (with a few from Asia) and they don't typically leave their kids with sitters, so it's been poorly attended. This year they are trying something new and I'm very curious how/if it will work. It is a family bingo night (with auction) at our school. I've committed to coming since half of my salary is paid for by the parent funds. Dh will come and I've bought dd a ticket but I'm not sure if we can drag her there or not. It will mess with my schedule as it starts at 6 pm and we will have to grab dinner before, which will nullify any gym plans. So, I'm going to try my best to get my steps in at work and with a dog walk after school.
Dh hasn't been traveling which has been wonderful, but not so much to my weight loss plans. I feel much less guilty exercising, etc when he's gone. I still do it when he's here, but just not as much. He'll be going out of town in mid- March so I can hit it hard then, but it will only be 2 weeks before our cruise, so I need to be realistic about how much I could possibly lose then. |
Originally Posted by traveling michele: |
Thanks again, JayZeeJay, for the advice. And sorry to others for hijacking the thread with my kitty's kidney disease. So, are you saying she will urinate less with this? Her urination has already subsided with the SQ fluids treatment-- she was urinating profusely but now back to normal amounts for her.
My vet isn't a proponent of supplements so I looked online and just ordered the generic from Amazon. Thanks again!!! |
Saturday morning, in remarkably springlike weather, down to 155.4.
I'd be happy to reach 153 again. I hate that this will be another working weekend. |
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