Just a quick update...so after 2 visits to physiotherapy I have managed to bend my leg 70 degrees...apparently that is pretty good! I am embarrassed and a bit startled by how quickly I lost muscle...to the point that I couldn't make myself able to lift my heel off the table...I literally was turning red with exertion and for whatever reason my leg acted like it didn't have anything below the knee! After several attempts she lifted my leg up for me and told me to hold it there....then it was like the muscle woke up and said, 'oh this is what I'm supposed to do!'. Pathetic LOL! I will tell no lies - I'm sore like I did a full-on training at the gym now. That's good though....sore muscles are muscles that are learning to work again! I will try and video my stretching 'homework'. It must look hilarious! I am lying on my belly with a strap around foot leading over my shoulder for me to pull on to assist stretching out the quad muscle! I felt like giggling while doing it there but thought I should attempt to appear serious while in my head I'm picturing a beached whale trying to do a back bend :-P
Anyway, on a more serious note, my son asked me if I was trying to gain back all my weight and tsk'ed tsk'ed me after catching me eating ice cream...ok actually polishing off the balance of the litre of President's Choice PB&J I bought. It wasn't that I was caught, in fact he knew I'd bought it for myself, it was the very ADULT concern in his voice when he said it which was like a sharp slap to the face for me. I am repentant. Tomorrow dawns a new day of Poon-worthy meals and NO MORE STUPID EMPTY CARBS. I am now on the road to recovery and need my body able to recover as quickly as possible and carting around extra fat is not an option. The End.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
WOW! Where have I been???
I have been a horrible blogger! Apparently status updates in facebook have replaced writing longer blurbs in here and here we are ONE YEAR LATER!!! WTF? Anywho.....I had a read through my last post and realized that so much has happened/changed this year it is too much to cover! LOL!
In a nutshell....the family is moving to the US of A this summer because hubby accepted a transfer within his company. This said, we've just finalized selling our house here (boohoo!) and are now actively looking for our new 'perfect' home.
I have stuck with Dr. Poon's plan (cheating more often recently...will explain in a moment) and although I was down to about 155lbs at my best last summer I've gained back about 10lbs since Christmas (bad bad girl) I have no excuses....little cheats here and there plus almost no exercise due to the knee pain equals falling off the weight loss wagon. I know what I have to do, and hopefully I'll be able to motivate myself back into the phase 1 discipline once again!
Which brings me to the knees! WELL FINALLY after having a new type of x-ray done which shows my bones from waist to ankles it was determined that my leg bowing was more extreme than originally thought and basically the point of weight bearing which should be centred at your kneecap area on my right leg was out in space somewhere not near my leg at all! Dr. Lee opted for something called a 'high tibial osteotomy' which is basically cutting my leg bone and repositioning stuff in there to bring the weight bearing point into the part of my knee which still has some cartilage left to cushion the joint....or something like that!
After 2 1/2 days in hospital I was sent home in full leg cast....
then a week later needed to get a new one because #1 was so loose from swelling coming down...
another week later....new x-rays (a-ok so far) and another new cast because apparently now as well as swelling going down I am rapidly losing muscle mass from immobility...
so here we are a month after surgery....still technically with a 'broken' leg so no weight bearing allowed, but I'm able to scratch and wiggle and moisturize my poor withered leg inside this brace! It is called a 'range of motion' brace and I'm supposed to be able to bend my knee 90 degrees (eventually) but my knee is still so swollen that it feels like something will rip when I try to bend more than 30 degrees....sigh....but hopefully physiotherapy over the next month will fix that and then maybe in June I'll be allowed to start putting some weight on this leg!
The worst part of all of this is not being able to drive. Honestly I am actually losing my mind from boredom. I can't do anything around the house that can't be done without crutches or a walker frame (which is basically nothing). Going for 'walks' is torture, not because I get tired, but my left hip and my wrists/hands from crutching around are killing me after about 10-15 minutes. My hands are so bruised and my side at the bra strap is chaffed raw....perhaps I could go slower, but I have a need for speed LOL! I've relieved some of the boredom with reading vast quantities of books and crocheting my brains out but I really want to just get mobile again!
Thank God I am fortunate enough that we can afford me not working through all of this! I couldn't even imagine the stress of trying to recover quickly to get back to work...I suppose if I worked full time with benefits then disability pay would help but since I only worked part-time that isn't an option. I've resigned my position obviously since it will be several more months recovery, plus we're moving in the summer so that's that.
Anyway, long story longer, I hope that when this leg is back to working again that I can start a work out program again and get back to eating properly. My motivation is very low right now and I find it easier to quickly toast some bread than to cook my usual oven full of roasts or try and stand at the stove to cook my eggs....and building salads is a torture of back and forth to the fridge with ingredients.....but soon, soon!
In a nutshell....the family is moving to the US of A this summer because hubby accepted a transfer within his company. This said, we've just finalized selling our house here (boohoo!) and are now actively looking for our new 'perfect' home.
I have stuck with Dr. Poon's plan (cheating more often recently...will explain in a moment) and although I was down to about 155lbs at my best last summer I've gained back about 10lbs since Christmas (bad bad girl) I have no excuses....little cheats here and there plus almost no exercise due to the knee pain equals falling off the weight loss wagon. I know what I have to do, and hopefully I'll be able to motivate myself back into the phase 1 discipline once again!
Which brings me to the knees! WELL FINALLY after having a new type of x-ray done which shows my bones from waist to ankles it was determined that my leg bowing was more extreme than originally thought and basically the point of weight bearing which should be centred at your kneecap area on my right leg was out in space somewhere not near my leg at all! Dr. Lee opted for something called a 'high tibial osteotomy' which is basically cutting my leg bone and repositioning stuff in there to bring the weight bearing point into the part of my knee which still has some cartilage left to cushion the joint....or something like that!
After 2 1/2 days in hospital I was sent home in full leg cast....
Thank God I am fortunate enough that we can afford me not working through all of this! I couldn't even imagine the stress of trying to recover quickly to get back to work...I suppose if I worked full time with benefits then disability pay would help but since I only worked part-time that isn't an option. I've resigned my position obviously since it will be several more months recovery, plus we're moving in the summer so that's that.
Anyway, long story longer, I hope that when this leg is back to working again that I can start a work out program again and get back to eating properly. My motivation is very low right now and I find it easier to quickly toast some bread than to cook my usual oven full of roasts or try and stand at the stove to cook my eggs....and building salads is a torture of back and forth to the fridge with ingredients.....but soon, soon!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Summer 2011 - Almost here!
Here we are in June, school is a mere few weeks from ending and spring is teasing us with summer-like weather!
I have been plodding along with my Dr. Poon diet since September and haven't done too badly I think! Since doing the Phase 2 for a few months I haven't lost much more additionally but adding the exercise in has helped to tone me some and I'm sure there has to be some muscle weight in there now LOL!
I started back with Phase 1 last month with strange results. Now this could be because I've gotten into some sub-conscious Phase 2 habits, but even with a journal of my food intake I really can't see what's wrong! My last weigh-in had me up by 1/2lb which was really odd since I lost 5lb of fat!!! Apparently I'm retaining huge water that even that time of the month couldn't explain. I don't eat processed foods, and I don't add salt and I drink tons of water....go figure!
Well anyways, when all is said and sifted, I'm at 165lbs at last weigh in (hopefully less next week) and down from size 18 to size 10 or medium just about anywhere I shop!!! It is sooo weird to try stuff on and have to go back for smaller sizes!!! I still want to lose another 15-20lbs.
The bittersweet irony of this weight loss is that it has not helped my knees much. I know, I know, every pound of weight loss equals 4 pounds loss on the joints but seriously I thought that I'd be in a little less pain and have a bit more mobility....NOT. I still can't walk the stairs properly; can't put any weight on the right knee coming downstairs at all. I can't explain properly to the knee surgeon what/where the pain is....just all inside of my knee feels like it is ripping when I put weight on it or move it wrong. I don't think he believes me when I say my pain level is always 7+ in that knee! The x-rays don't show any reason for it except for the inflammation. It is so frustrating because I really want to exercise more but without the brace (which is in the shop being re-sized) and without a cane I am limited to what I can do. Swimming is a great option but I can't fit it into my schedule right now (I wish we had a pool LOL!) I am icing both knees as often as possible but the inflammation just doesn't seem to come down enough for relief. Next step is trying cortisone shots again, but higher doses this time. We'll see.
Anyway, in techie news, I broke my e-reader! Yes I did! Stupid me put it too close to the edge of a table and it fell off and landed screen down on the wood floor. SMASHHHHHH! Garbage....I emailed the manufacturer to see if the screen could be repaired/replaced and they advised it would cost as much to fix as to buy a new one! Hmmmm. So now the hunt begins anew for a replacement, sigh. Thankfully in the interim I can use my laptop to access my e-books library, but seriously a laptop is not a comfortable portable reading device LOL!
My Nintendo DS Lite is finally falling apart too. Apparently I'm rough on my electronic toys (insert rim-shot here) and keep your mind out of the gutter LOL! I am loathe to replace it since I've got my card thingy for downloading games from the Internet and I don't think I can use it on the newfangled DS systems out now. The Boy really wants the DS-3D, The Big Boy is intrigued by the new Sony PSP Vita I think it's called, and I'm more interested in finding a Nintendo DS system that I can load my e-books onto (do they already have that? I'll have to look into it!)
Well, I'm getting set for summer which means I'll likely not post again for months judging by my track record, but I'll try to remember!
I have been plodding along with my Dr. Poon diet since September and haven't done too badly I think! Since doing the Phase 2 for a few months I haven't lost much more additionally but adding the exercise in has helped to tone me some and I'm sure there has to be some muscle weight in there now LOL!
I started back with Phase 1 last month with strange results. Now this could be because I've gotten into some sub-conscious Phase 2 habits, but even with a journal of my food intake I really can't see what's wrong! My last weigh-in had me up by 1/2lb which was really odd since I lost 5lb of fat!!! Apparently I'm retaining huge water that even that time of the month couldn't explain. I don't eat processed foods, and I don't add salt and I drink tons of water....go figure!
Well anyways, when all is said and sifted, I'm at 165lbs at last weigh in (hopefully less next week) and down from size 18 to size 10 or medium just about anywhere I shop!!! It is sooo weird to try stuff on and have to go back for smaller sizes!!! I still want to lose another 15-20lbs.
The bittersweet irony of this weight loss is that it has not helped my knees much. I know, I know, every pound of weight loss equals 4 pounds loss on the joints but seriously I thought that I'd be in a little less pain and have a bit more mobility....NOT. I still can't walk the stairs properly; can't put any weight on the right knee coming downstairs at all. I can't explain properly to the knee surgeon what/where the pain is....just all inside of my knee feels like it is ripping when I put weight on it or move it wrong. I don't think he believes me when I say my pain level is always 7+ in that knee! The x-rays don't show any reason for it except for the inflammation. It is so frustrating because I really want to exercise more but without the brace (which is in the shop being re-sized) and without a cane I am limited to what I can do. Swimming is a great option but I can't fit it into my schedule right now (I wish we had a pool LOL!) I am icing both knees as often as possible but the inflammation just doesn't seem to come down enough for relief. Next step is trying cortisone shots again, but higher doses this time. We'll see.
Anyway, in techie news, I broke my e-reader! Yes I did! Stupid me put it too close to the edge of a table and it fell off and landed screen down on the wood floor. SMASHHHHHH! Garbage....I emailed the manufacturer to see if the screen could be repaired/replaced and they advised it would cost as much to fix as to buy a new one! Hmmmm. So now the hunt begins anew for a replacement, sigh. Thankfully in the interim I can use my laptop to access my e-books library, but seriously a laptop is not a comfortable portable reading device LOL!
My Nintendo DS Lite is finally falling apart too. Apparently I'm rough on my electronic toys (insert rim-shot here) and keep your mind out of the gutter LOL! I am loathe to replace it since I've got my card thingy for downloading games from the Internet and I don't think I can use it on the newfangled DS systems out now. The Boy really wants the DS-3D, The Big Boy is intrigued by the new Sony PSP Vita I think it's called, and I'm more interested in finding a Nintendo DS system that I can load my e-books onto (do they already have that? I'll have to look into it!)
Well, I'm getting set for summer which means I'll likely not post again for months judging by my track record, but I'll try to remember!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
WOW! What have I been doing????
We just celebrated the little man's 9th birthday on Valentines Day....where has this past year gone? To be honest I forgot that I'd started this blog.....after I accidentally deleted my original blog I was so frustrated that I just stopped writing in the new one.....dummy!
Well, since last time I've finally had an MRI on the knees and they discovered that my right knee has lost most of the cartilage and the left is about half gone. I KNEW I wasn't being a cry-baby when I'd complain on walks! My right leg is bowed now as well...I don't know if that is because of the loss of cartilage or what. I found out that the bones are grinding against each other and fracturing little bits of the bone off every time I walk. Yuck! (Hence the pain, duh) I have a lovely green fiberglass knee brace now ($1400.00 later) which helps to hold the bones apart. I'll do anything to avoid surgery at this point. It is eventual, however.
So, on my quest to avoid surgery and minimize the pounding my poor knees take lugging me around everyday I asked my GP to recommend me to a metabolic doctor to put me on a strict diet...no more messing around with Weight Watchers, etc., I want a doctor to yell at me! The beautiful part of this is that it is covered by OHIP entirely! I started in September, 2010 weighing in at a hefty 208lbs (MOOOO) but so far have lost 40lbs. I'm about to start with my physiotherapy/trainer person to set me on a modified exercise regime suitable for my bad knees! This thankfully is 80% covered by our health plan so it fits into the budget.
I haven't felt so optimistic is a very very long time. I've come to the conclusion that perhaps I was suffering from depression last year....it felt like I was spiralling out of control and everything hurt so I didn't want to do anything and nothing fit....vicious circle. I know I still have quite a ways to go before my body is "healthy" but I'm certainly in a better mental state to deal with getting there!
Well, since last time I've finally had an MRI on the knees and they discovered that my right knee has lost most of the cartilage and the left is about half gone. I KNEW I wasn't being a cry-baby when I'd complain on walks! My right leg is bowed now as well...I don't know if that is because of the loss of cartilage or what. I found out that the bones are grinding against each other and fracturing little bits of the bone off every time I walk. Yuck! (Hence the pain, duh) I have a lovely green fiberglass knee brace now ($1400.00 later) which helps to hold the bones apart. I'll do anything to avoid surgery at this point. It is eventual, however.
So, on my quest to avoid surgery and minimize the pounding my poor knees take lugging me around everyday I asked my GP to recommend me to a metabolic doctor to put me on a strict diet...no more messing around with Weight Watchers, etc., I want a doctor to yell at me! The beautiful part of this is that it is covered by OHIP entirely! I started in September, 2010 weighing in at a hefty 208lbs (MOOOO) but so far have lost 40lbs. I'm about to start with my physiotherapy/trainer person to set me on a modified exercise regime suitable for my bad knees! This thankfully is 80% covered by our health plan so it fits into the budget.
I haven't felt so optimistic is a very very long time. I've come to the conclusion that perhaps I was suffering from depression last year....it felt like I was spiralling out of control and everything hurt so I didn't want to do anything and nothing fit....vicious circle. I know I still have quite a ways to go before my body is "healthy" but I'm certainly in a better mental state to deal with getting there!
Friday, February 5, 2010
SICK DAYS
I want to know how we survived being sick as children? Seriously, my almost 8 year old has been off school for the past 3 days, and if it wasn't for my personal saviour, Nintendo, I think things could have gotten ugly!
Thinking back, when I was home sick I was confined to my bedroom with no TV, computer, video games, ipods, etc. It was just me, my stuffed toys, perhaps a few books and a box of tissues. I could not wait to get better and get out of my room! I honestly don't know how my mum kept her sanity with nothing to distract the sick child. ('mummy I'm thirsty', 'mummy I'm bored') I'm sure if there was anything else except soap operas on during the day I would have had access to TV, however, back then there was no 24 hour cartoon channels, and no VCR's or DVD's to watch movies.
Without the lovely Nintendo DS and the Wii I would have lost my mind on the first day! LOL! So I send my heartfelt thanks to the Nintendo company for keeping my sick child happy while he recovered from his cold!
PS - on further thought, the cough and cold medicines back in my day were 90% alcohol and I'm sure I was passed out most of the time so that my mum could survive being stuck at home with a sick child!
Thinking back, when I was home sick I was confined to my bedroom with no TV, computer, video games, ipods, etc. It was just me, my stuffed toys, perhaps a few books and a box of tissues. I could not wait to get better and get out of my room! I honestly don't know how my mum kept her sanity with nothing to distract the sick child. ('mummy I'm thirsty', 'mummy I'm bored') I'm sure if there was anything else except soap operas on during the day I would have had access to TV, however, back then there was no 24 hour cartoon channels, and no VCR's or DVD's to watch movies.
Without the lovely Nintendo DS and the Wii I would have lost my mind on the first day! LOL! So I send my heartfelt thanks to the Nintendo company for keeping my sick child happy while he recovered from his cold!
PS - on further thought, the cough and cold medicines back in my day were 90% alcohol and I'm sure I was passed out most of the time so that my mum could survive being stuck at home with a sick child!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
En Français
Pepé Le Pew.
Almost all of the french that I remember I learned from him. Years and years of french classes in school (joyously abandoned in 10th grade) and you'd think I'd remember something more than; "bonjour, mon nom est Chandler." "Où est la salle de bains ?" "une pomme de terre avec du beurre." "excusez-moi ?"
I can still watch the cartoons and understand everything without subtitles! This I've been able to do since before I was forced to take french lessons!
So I say, what's the harm in letting the kiddies watch cartoons? Now adays it is Diego and Dora teaching Spanish and Kai-Lan teaching Chinese! Maybe if school language classes were a little more cartoon-like we'd all be multi-lingual now! LOL!
Almost all of the french that I remember I learned from him. Years and years of french classes in school (joyously abandoned in 10th grade) and you'd think I'd remember something more than; "bonjour, mon nom est Chandler." "Où est la salle de bains ?" "une pomme de terre avec du beurre." "excusez-moi ?"
I can still watch the cartoons and understand everything without subtitles! This I've been able to do since before I was forced to take french lessons!
So I say, what's the harm in letting the kiddies watch cartoons? Now adays it is Diego and Dora teaching Spanish and Kai-Lan teaching Chinese! Maybe if school language classes were a little more cartoon-like we'd all be multi-lingual now! LOL!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
OMG...A 'Silence of the Lambs' Moment
Just a quick one...The Boy is just so hillarious I had to write this down before forgetting it!
He's all ready for bed and comes into my room to inform me of this news bulletin. I notice he's doing the usual boy thing and tugging away at 'his privacy' so I said "what are you doing that for?" He then proceeds to 'tuck his junk' back between his legs, laughing all the while. Of course I said stop doing that you'll hurt yourself or something to that effect when he says....
"Mummy, my weiner is getting BOLD, you know when it gets all big and the wrinkles come out? It's bugging me so if I push it back like this it will go back to being floppy and wrinkly again so that it stops bugging me!"
BOLD?? Is that what the kids call it now??
Needless to say, I peed my pants laughing.
He's all ready for bed and comes into my room to inform me of this news bulletin. I notice he's doing the usual boy thing and tugging away at 'his privacy' so I said "what are you doing that for?" He then proceeds to 'tuck his junk' back between his legs, laughing all the while. Of course I said stop doing that you'll hurt yourself or something to that effect when he says....
"Mummy, my weiner is getting BOLD, you know when it gets all big and the wrinkles come out? It's bugging me so if I push it back like this it will go back to being floppy and wrinkly again so that it stops bugging me!"
BOLD?? Is that what the kids call it now??
Needless to say, I peed my pants laughing.
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