I had a doctor several years ago who saw walk in patients from 7A-8:30A M-F, had regular office hours 9-5 M-f, then saw walk in Sat from 7:30A-noon. And he was there every hour they were open, and often there late during the week if appointments ran late. I used to feel bad for him.

Dammit, will I ever get over the binge mentality? It has been at least 2 months since my last binge. So long that I was convinced I had finally kicked the habit. HAH. 2 nights ago, dinner segued directly into snacks, then into indiscriminate grazing until I was good and overfull. Probably more calories than I had at Thanksgiving. I got back on track yesterday - the whole evening seems surreal now - but I feel utterly demoralized because I know that the habit is still alive and well, just waiting for an excuse to re-emerge. I will ask DH to resume evening oversight.

Sorry for that, Andrea... truly... no use beating yourself up though...
What does DH do for his oversight duties?

Stands near me as long as I'm in the kitchen so I can't put food in my mouth without being seen by him, and stopped from doing so. Mostly, he chases me out of the kitchen and keeps me out.

Ugh all this talk of doctors reminds me I really need to get a new GP and an OB/GYN. It's tough because I was without insurance for almost 10 years. When I finally got coverage again I saw an optometrist first (checked out, no new prescription, yay!) and then headed to the dentist.

I need quite a bit of dental work done. I'm in need of a cleaning right now and I think 3 more fillings (already had 2 done) but all that got pushed back because I had a tooth break and needed a root canal. I've so far gotten the root canal and had the post fitted yesterday. In January I'll have to get the crown put on and then take care of the rest of the fillings after that.

Even with solid dental coverage, it costs a lot - I paid $450 out of pocket for the root canal - and I have to miss some work for it usually, so I don't feel like I can handle adding more doctors to my schedule until after all the dental crap is finished.

Dental work is by far the worst! Yuck!

I need to see the eye doc too but I'm waiting till next year as dh *thinks* our vision insurance will be better??

My ears are somewhat better-- I'm starting to be able to hear again.

Back is still crap and now my stomach is unhappy. Could be antibiotics for ears, or anti-inflammatories for back.... I've put a heat patch on my back as I've iced it to death with no relief.

UGH....

Food trap today is a Nacho feast provided for staff.... I will be avoiding that like the plague.

Just went in the break room and there is homemade banana bread with chocolate chips-- la la la... I don't see it!
Nor did I see the email promising cookies and cocoa for Monday. Oh! I just remembered that I'm going in late Monday as I'm seeing the doc that morning. Maybe I'll dodge that proverbial bullet!

My problem is that the days are so long and so uneventful that my feeding times loom as important moments and markers of successfully having gotten through difficult parts of the day.

I want to go back to work, to occupy my mind, but my mother doesn't think that should happen until I'm fully ambulatory. That would be months away.

saef, others have asked whether you can work at home, and I think the answer must be yes, given that you've posted in the past about working on weekends. That surely isn't months out.

I'm sure you would like to get back to the office itself, but you really do need to be more ambulatory before you attempt that. I've known others who have tried to go back too soon, and are exhausted after a few hours (and stuck at work).

We got back from our brief excursion to the south. I guess it was OK to get away for a couple of days, but it's left us both feeling tired out.

Oh well--it's time to go to Tai Chi class this morning.

I stepped on the scale this morning and was met with a pleasant surprise - just under my red line. :

The reason I'm feeling so "fat" is that I've had to stop the weights (aggravating too many injuries to count) and my body looks very different without the muscle definition they provided. It is hard to imagine that three 20 minute sessions per week with hand weights and an inflatable ball would make such a difference but it does.

I am earmarking money for the chiropractor for the new year. I aim to go once a week for 2 months if I can swing it financially. She is really good - my right shoulder felt much better after one session. I'm hoping she can repair enough things that I can start using the weights again.

I would also like to continue indefinitely with her once a month to just loosen up my neck a bit. It is a "steel cable" - DH's term - again and I'm thinking everything else would probably align a bit better if my necK were looser.

And doing something (which feels like pampering) for 40 minutes for my health is something I really enjoy. I get no other breaks from the daily grind so this is my bit of heaven.

Dagmar

Dagmar, that sounds like a good plan; I hope you can swing it. Since you've had good luck with your chiropractor, you probably don't want to switch things up, but my daughter has had good luck with a massage therapist for fencing-related issues.

Saef, boredom definitely contributes to making it harder for me to manage my weight at times (as does stress, kindof the opposite). I like JayEll's idea of trying to do some work from home on a reduced schedule.

So many folks dealing with health issues... Saef, Dagmar, Michele, UA... hope things all heal as soon as possible.

Right now, everyone in my family seems pretty healthy but I am in stress mode myself, which throws off my sleep schedule. I started my day today at 2:30 AM (!). On the brighter side, I weighed in at 138.2 when I stepped on the scale.

I was 124 even on Saturday (official weigh-in day), despite my no-holds-barred binge on Tuesday. I can't believe how much difference the low-carb days make, and how relatively painless it is to eat that way when I know I can have carbs the other 4 days.

Dagmar, why not spend the money on some 1-hour massages instead of the chiro? Lasts longer and makes you feel better (at least, it makes me feel better) without any x-rays or attempts to sell you nonsensical "wholistic" remedies.

Saef, you haven't replied about what's stopping you from working from home via computer. Is it your mom?

Massage is wonderful. But it's twice the price of the chiro and has no lasting benefit for me. After the chiro worked on my shoulder, neck, and hip I was pain free for 3-4 days.

And the chiro is open in the evenings and on Saturday, times that are convenient for me.

I have seen chiropractors that claim to do everything including curing cancer. The woman I'm going to makes no wonderful claims. She just does work that helps me.

Dagmar

Andrea, yes, it's my mother who's been fighting with me about going back to work. And about other stuff.

Yesterday she was angry because I was following a recipe that called for reducing 1 1/2 cups of broth down to 3/4 cup before adding it to a pot. "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard of," she said. "Why not just add 3/4 cup right away and save the rest?" I should mention that my mother is not much of a cook, and even with these endless, dull, eventless days that we're enduring, doesn't like recipes that she perceives as "too much trouble."

She also has told me that the really hates grocery shopping, and finds it very troublesome to go to the grocery store every two days or so for fresh produce -- something that I do automatically and stopped thinking of, long ago. I'm starting to wonder about paying for grocery delivery, even if I go on disability pay.

I find these two behaviors of cooking for myself and shopping for produce to be a cornerstone of my continued health and keeping off my weight, and her getting annoyed with them worries me. I hate that she has this much power over my life.

By "going back to work," I thought you meant physically going into the office, saef. Your mother should have no say over whether you work on your computer from home.

Sounds like it's about time to have A Talk with mom... About what really helping you entails... Not that that will solve it forever, of course. You're not really at her mercy--it just seems that way because the alternatives are harder (arranging home care, transportation, etc.).

Maintainers staying on target: I've decided to join you all in trying to lower my weight. Even though it's stable, it's too high. I mean, way too high. Really, it means going back to weight loss in some way or another, but I wanted to state it "out loud" here.

Saef- I second what JayEll said, both about working from home, and about getting your life back by sending mom home and getting a home health aide (many insurances will pay for this service for a specific length of time).

Dagmar, wow, our chiropractors charge ~$80-100/visit while massage therapists charge $50-60/hr, which is more than twice as long as the chiro visit (I've tried both :>)). This may be because many insurances pay for chiropractic care here in MI, while none pay for massage (more's the pity). Glad to know yours isn't touting the healing benefits of arnica, SAM-e or megadoses of B vitamins.