Update on Molly

We took Molly to the vet yesterday. They said the symptoms sounded like either diabetes or hypothyroidism or something else that I can't remember. Anyway, they took some blood from her and couldn't get any urine (she must have gone before we left). The doctor called me in the afternoon and said she had good news for me. Her glucose was good and the only thing they found wrong was her thyroid wasn't functioning correctly. It has gone into overdrive. She used to be a really fat kitty. When she jumped onto your lap her feet just dug into your thighs and it hurt. Well, she only weighs 5 pounds now. Her metabolism is so speeded up she is hungry all the time and thirsty and she can't keep any weight on. Hubby said he'd like the same problem. LOL So now they are giving her an antibiotic and a gel from the compounding pharmacy that you run on the inside of her ears. On the left ear in the morning and the right in the evening. So I am hoping she gets back to her normal self quickly. I noticed Chloe was favoring her leg again this morning. I am going to give her a little bit of the anti-inflammatory medicine and see if that helps. I should have asked the vet if glucosamine would benefit her since she has arthritis.

Well, I am going to get to the gym this morning since I missed going yesterday due to taking Molly in. Then I think I will go to the Farmers Market. I miss it every Saturday. I always forget it and by the time I venture out and about it is over with. Our temperature is forecasted to be around 89 today. I think the warm weather is definitely on it's way.

Update on Chloe

I got a call from the vet yesterday afternoon. He said he had good news for me. He said the specialist that he sent the xrays to said the problem was arthritis not cancer or a bone infection. He also mentioned the curved bone in her leg. He said the specialist said that was a secondary problem caused by the arthritis. I told him her front legs have always been bowed like that since she was a puppy. Then he mentioned fixing it by cutting the bone and I thought, No way!!! So they will be sending me a bill for the specialists input now.

Now I have to take Molly in today. If it isn't one thing it's another. I think she may be in bad shape. She has gotten so thin over the last year. Poor kitty.

It's one of those days I guess. I went for my one year appointment of LapBand surgery back at the beginning of April. They took my picture from the front and the side. They also took my picture at the 6 month appointment and when I first went to the surgery center and applied for the surgery. Well, in the past they emailed me the pictures for my files. This time I didn't get the pictures. So I called the office and talked to one of the girls at the desk. I explained that I hadn't received my latest pictures from the appointment 3 weeks ago. "Oh, well what is your email address?" I gave it to her and she said she would have it sent to me. I waited a couple more weeks and this time I emailed the person who sent me the last pictures and asked her to send them to me. No response. Rather than make a pest of myself, I waited again. Tuesday I received an email from the nurse at the office reminding me of the support meeting Wednesday night so I thought "ok I'll try her" I emailed her and explained what I had been through before and waited. She emailed me back and said she would have help there on Thursday would have the girl helping send me the pictures. Great, I was happy. Well, this morning I saw an email with an attachment so I quickly downloaded it and couldn't wait to see my latest photos. When I opened the file I couldn't believe what I saw. She sent me the pictures of someone else. She added it to the first two sets of pictures and unless she was totally blind she could tell it wasn't me. I mean, pullleeez I have white hair, they sent me a picture of a woman with brown hair who didn't look anything like me. I guess you just can't get good help these days. I just got another email from the person who sent me the pictures. She said they are looking for the pictures and as soon as they locate them they will send them to me. Grrrrr! Hope you are all having a good day. By the way, Chloe is feeling much better. She isn't limping and is frisky and playful again. I haven't heard anything from the vets office as to what the specialist thinks of the xray they took. I guess we will have to call them so they can charge us another fee. What is going on in this world???

Happy Mother's Day

I wish you all a very blessed, warm and restful Mother's Day. I am hoping I am not forgotten by my own children this special day. It seems that sometimes the day goes by and I am not foremost in their minds. Sad but true. I don't expect much, a phone call and a brief conversation would be very nice. I hope you all are remembered this day by your children and feel special as well.

As for Chloe, so far we haven't heard anything about the specialist who was going to look over the xray of her leg. I am struggling to get the medicine in her each day. She has been on medication several times in her life so she has it down to a science how to avoid the meds. She is on an antibiotic that is in capsule form. The easy way to give it to her would be to open her mouth and pop in the pill and hold her mouth shut until she swallows it. NOT! This dog clamps her mouth shut and there is no opening it. So you have to outsmart her. The first few days were easy and now it's becoming more difficult. Unfortunately, the medicine inside the capsule is vile and bitter. I have been trying to disguise it in foods she loves but she is looking at me with distrust now. Also unfortunately, my husband leaves it up to me to get the medicine in her. She also has a liquid anti-inflammatory that you squirt in her mouth with a syringe (without a needle). It's a small amount and it doesn't taste bad but she now avoids me completely when I call her over to me. So I have to catch her off guard. Why don't they make medicine more palatable for animals? Anyway, she started acting better the first day on the pain killer. She isn't even limping anymore and we are hoping that is a sign that she just had injured the leg and it isn't cancer. I am thinking that once we hear back on the 2nd opinion we will take her to an orthopaedic veterinarian that is in the Portland area. He is supposedly one of the best in his field. As if this isn't enough, now I am going to have to take our oldest cat Molly to the vet. I have been finding little blood spots on the floor in areas that she lays and also in the litter box. She is about 13 years old and has become very thin and I am afraid she is also in trouble. When it rains, it pours.

Well, today we took Chloe to the vet to have her leg checked out. She was not walking on it much and I was having to carry her outside to go potty. We knew she wasn't feeling well since she kept leaving the room and heading for her bed in our bedroom. That is not like her. So this morning I called and made her an appointment.

When we went to the assigned room, the nurse asked a few questions like what we feed her and if she was being treated for heart worm disease and fleas. She took her temperature and said it was normal. Then the doctor came in. He was one I hadn't seen there before. The hospital has a team of veterinarians and I suspect he is fairly new there. We have been taking Chloe there since we moved to this town in 2002. At that time she had to have bladder surgery to remove bladder stones. She was only 2 at the time and they were amazed that such a young dog had stones. They told us that was something usually older dogs got. Anyway, the doctor checked her leg and asked us what had happened. We told him she jumps down off the sofa and off hubby's recliner all the time and since her front legs are so short she sometimes injures them. We've tried to keep her from jumping down but sometimes she is quicker than we are and before we know it she is down. From time to time she limps around for a day or two and then she is okay. He said to put her down so he could watch how she acted when she walked. Of course when he called her to him, she looked at him as if to say "yeah, right!" So I walked over by him and called her to me. Not a limp in sight. Hubby and I looked at each other and said we couldn't believe it. The doctor chalked it up to adrenaline and said he would like to take an xray to rule out a broken bone. We agreed and he whisked her out the door and we sat there and waited. About 10 minutes went by and he brought her back and said he'd be right back after he checked the films.

When he came in he said, "well, it's not a broken bone but I have some bad news for you." He proceeded to put the two xrays in the viewer on the wall. He said he was concerned because the bone in her leg was bowed and also because at the joint where it joined her foot, I guess it's her ankle, the edge of the film looked like it was kind of scalloped and not a smooth line. He said it looked like cancer or a bone infection. We were stunned. We just sat there and listened in a sense of shock from that point on. He suggested putting her on aggressive antibiotics for a couple of weeks and some anti-inflammatory for pain and then check to see if there was improvement. If not he suggested taking a biopsy and possibly amputating her leg and having chemotherapy. Then he said she probably would only last another 6 or 8 months at that time. And if we did nothing it would probably be only 2 months. We couldn't believe what he was saying. I kept waiting for him to say something like, "you've just been punked!" He kept saying he was sorry for having to give us bad news. He suggested having a specialist check the xrays to confirm or deny his diagnosis. We agreed again.

He left the room again and returned with the meds for her. He said he would call us as soon as he heard from the specialist. We just are overwhelmed. Hubby said he didn't even want to consider amputation and chemo was not a good option either if it was only going to extend her life by a few months. I think its an infection only how does one get an infection in the bone? She hasn't had an injury or anything. So I would sure appreciate some prayers for our little girl. She is like the child we never had together. We each have grown children from a previous marriage but she is our child together. I am going to think positively and pray for a miracle outcome myself. Here we were just trying to rule out a broken leg and this is not what we expected at all.

Over the Hump Day

I know I haven't been keeping my posts up lately. I have been fight off a bug the last couple of days. I'm doing pretty well today and plan to go and watch the kids in the nursery at church. In fact, I think I probably picked up this bug from one of them last week. They were all sneezing and coughing and had runny noses. Oh joy!

I am going to have to take Chloe to the vet today. She has been limping the last couple of days and now she is just staying in her bed. I know she must be in a lot of pain. She has short little legs and gets on the sofa or chair and then will jump down. The jump down jars her body and I think that is what is causing her pain. When I see her up on the furniture I try and lift her off before she jumps but sometimes she jumps before I can get there. I am hoping it's not serious. Maybe the vet can give her something for the pain.

We've been having quite a bit of rain this week. They say we need it. I for one, will be glad when it's over with. I am so ready for some spring sunshine.

Do any of you watch The Biggest Loser? Last nights show was so inspirational. The remaining four contestants had to run or walk a full marathon. They all finished and were given checks for charity as a prize. But the journey they all have traveled was played out as they each ran/walked the marathon. Some of the emotions and joys and frustrations were so easy to identify with. I think it was one of the best shows they've done. Next week is the finale. The contestants have lost the largest amounts of weight of any of these shows. They all started out much heavier than the other shows also. I am eager to see who will win. It is on Tuesday at 8pm on NBC if you are interested in watching.

What fat does to your life..........

Doesn't this before picture look scary? Look at the fat around all the organs.

It seems I have been battling this weight loss my whole adult life. I didn't have a weight problem as a kid. After giving birth I had a lot of excess weight and that is where my story begins. I joined Weight Watchers for the first time in 1966. That seems like a hundred years ago to me. But I walked in there with a friend and was all excited to get started and begin losing this "baby fat". Well, the WW plan in 1966 was not so easy to stick with. Although, I was on it for quite a while, off and on I finally reached my goal and became a lifetime member in 1988. I remember crying when I finally reached goal and I got up in front of the group and was given accolades for having achieved my goal at last. I was able to maintain my weight for the next 7 years and then I approached peri-menopause. Between being a newlywed, caring for both my parents who were in failing health and working full time, my willpower went out the door and I begin to eat for comfort. I managed to gain over 100 pounds in about a year. I was so embarrassed. I was ashamed if I ran into someone I knew from when I was thin. I would avoid meeting friends who hadn't seen me in many pounds. Try as I might, I wasn't able to get the pounds rolling off as they had in the past. I had reached the age where my metabolism had slowed down to a crawl and the more I tried, the more I seemed to gain. I felt as though I had been on a diet my whole life and failed miserably. Looking back at photographs taken on vacations or special occasions I had pictures I would look at longingly and think, "wow, I look soooo good here" and others that I though, "I look disgusting in this picture". I was consumed with my weight. Every new diet book that came out, I bought and tried. Every television show that advertised a diet or someone losing weight, I watched. I was obsessed with losing weight and I was such a failure at it. I guess I was hoping the magic pill or secret information to solve my long sought after dream would be just around the corner. I had heard of Gastric Bypass surgery and reading up on it I found it to be "too drastic for me". I didn't want to have my insides changed around. I joined Curves and after working out there for a few months began working as a trainer there. I loved it. It had to be the greatest job I'd ever had. Although it paid next to nothing, it was fun and I could help others and workout for free everyday. A couple of years later I left Curves and began working at a club similar to the Curves workout. After a couple of months I was asked to manage the club. I accepted the job and loved it. I worked out daily and still couldn't seem to lose the weight. In fact I was slowly putting weight on. I was starting to be embarrassed to come to work. Here I am working in a gym and gaining weight. What kind of example am I???

Then about two years ago I saw a blurp on television about something called LapBand Surgery. I was hooked, I had to find out everything there was to know about this. I went online and searched every website I could find. I read up and found an online forum where the patients themselves would write in on message boards that covered every possible scenario concerning the band and any problems, questions, success stories and even failures. I decided to look further and see where the closest surgery center for this surgery was. I found one 70 miles north of home. They were having an informational meeting on weight loss surgery at a hotel in our town in a few weeks. I talked to my husband about wanting to go and hear about this surgery. He agreed to come with me. I led him to believe I just wanted to know what it was all about and yet, I was pretty convinced that it sounded like the answer to my prayers. After the meeting I was pretty excited. I filled out my application and sent it in. It took me almost 6 months before I had my surgery. We had a couple of long vacations planned that interfered with having it any sooner. So the whole time that is all I thought about. I went to LapBandTalk.com everyday and read all the newest posts. Finally, I had insurance approval and a surgery date. I went for my pre-op appointment after having to jump through hoops to lose an extra 9 pounds I had gained over a 2 month trip. The doctor said he wanted me to lose between 5 and 10 pounds before pre-op. I was informed that if I didn't lose that required weight the surgery would be cancelled until I did. Great! Now I had to lose an additional 9 pounds. So I went on a liquid diet for 3 weeks and managed to lose 18 pounds by the time my pre-op appointment came. I was stoked. I had my surgery March 26, 2008 and now I was on my way. The surgery was considered an outpatient surgery but if you wanted you could stay one night in the hospital. I opted to stay because I had tremendous pain in my shoulders and neck. In fact I still had the pain for weeks afterward. I went for my 6 week checkup and told the doctor I still was suffering from this neck pain and had to sleep sitting up and he said, "hmm let me see, "Oh I repaired a Hiatal Hernia on you. That would be the cause of the pain" Why couldn't he have told me the day of the surgery? He came to see me a few hours afterward. Oh well. I finally recovered from that and began to lose my weight slowly.

I have managed to lose about a pound a week. Pretty slow, but I'll take it. I have lost 78 pounds thus far and I go to the YMCA in my town 5 to 6 days a week. I have become so much stronger and my blood pressure is much lower, my resting heart rate is much lower and I feel great. I still have a ways to go but I am not ashamed when I see people I know anymore. I was hoping my husband would want to follow in my footsteps but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. He has diabetes and I can't get him to the gym with me or to watch what he eats. He watched my Mother lose her eyesight due to diabetes and eventually lose her life due to the effects of the disease. I am terrified of getting it myself and that is part of why I workout so much. I can't make him change, I can only change myself. I just hope he will want to start taking care of his health before it's too late.

I only have one issue and that is reflux. I have been having to take Prilosec every day and I still have problems sometimes with acid at night. I sometimes end up sleeping in my recliner when it gets too bad. I wish I had someone I knew here in town who had the surgery so we could compare notes but at least I can check the forum message boards. I try to eat no later than 6pm and don't eat anything after dinner. But sometimes it doesn't matter. I have heard it could be the band is adjusted too tightly but the doctor doesn't seem to think that is the case. I have a 4cc band and I am filled to 2.2cc's. That is only a bit more than half. I am thinking maybe I should have my big meal at the lunchtime and just a small meal at dinner time. Maybe that will help too. Not that I eat that much. But all in all I would do this again in a heartbeat. It has made the difference in my being able to do things I wasn't able to do in years. I watch the toddlers at the nursery at our church on Wednesday mornings while their mothers have a bible study class. I get down on the floor and play with these kids and I could never have done that before. My life has changed so much and I am so grateful to my husband for his love and support and my surgeon for giving me my life back.