A Look Back at 2010

I felt for certain that this year had to be a vast improvement over 2009. After my car wreck in Feb 2009 and subsequent physical problems, I had hoped that I would have a more physically healthy year. Of course it's much easier to remember the second half of the year as it is more recent...

I did get some major projects taken care of this year that I am really proud of. I got the kitchen painted and updated a bit with new hardware. It definitely looks much fresher and less dated than it did, especially when we moved in. We also got a new water efficient toilet and a new vanity for the bathroom this year. The rest of the bathroom will hopefully be finished in 2011. We rearranged the whole house and wound up with a dining room, separate living room, and a library/study of sorts with a fireplace.

I completed all three graduate classes that I needed to finish for licensure this year. I took the first one in the spring semester, and it was relatively easy to complete. I only had to drive to Quincy four times over the semester. I took the other two classes this fall and they were much more time intensive and difficult. I drove to Quincy twice a week and had class three hours at a time each night. Add that to all the homework and papers we had assigned and I am not surprised that I was so stressed out. And to say that I was stressed out is probably putting it lightly. I did get an A in both of my classes and felt pretty good about that!

Health-wise, this was another tough year for me. I think I did pretty well the beginning of the year, just the normal colds and such things. But about half way through my fall semester of classes, I started experiencing pretty bad pain in my stomach, abdomen, and sides. When I finally broke down and went to the ER, they said it could be my gall bladder or an ulcer. Then when I went to my doc, he said pretty much the same thing. The gall bladder ultrasound came back normal though so they ruled that out. Finally after dealing with it too long, I called a GI doctor and got in there. He was pretty sure that it was actually muscle pain probably exacerbated by stress. That had no more than really stopped hurting and one day I suddenly had double vision. It really came on that fast. After it didn't go away for a week, I went to my eye doctor who then called my regular doctor to order an MRI. There were spots on the MRI that suggested some problems so the eye doctor referred me to a neurologist. The neurologist ordered an EEG and a lumbar puncture. The EEG was fine and easy. The lumbar puncture however, that is a whole other story. The nurse warned me of a potential spinal headache which results if the spinal fluid continues to leak after the LP. Well, I had that horrible headache for six days. I went to the ER here in town after four days and all they did was load me up on Demerol (seriously, I was slurring they gave me so much) and gave me a script for pain meds that didn't help. Finally, the sixth day, I tried going back to work but felt so horrible that I couldn't make it and called the neurologist begging for a blood patch. Thankfully he ordered it and I went up immediately and got the blood patch to stop the leaking spinal fluid. It worked and I was soooo glad. I haven't gotten any results yet, I don't go back to the doctor until Jan 4th. They are currently trying to rule out multiple sclerosis (MS) and I am really praying that I don't have it.

Regarding health, I did lose a lot of weight this year. I have obviously been chronicling it on here so if you have been following you can see where I am currently at. I gained a little bit back over Christmas but am looking forward to losing that an more. I have gotten up to losing like 42 pounds but am currently at about 38 I think. Am still doing weight watchers though we haven't been walking for awhile. My classes were so stressful that I just didn't feel like walking and then of course it got cold outside. That makes it a lot more difficult too. I have grand plans of starting that back up again and I know my husband would really like that.

I had a lovely Christmas with lots of running around like normal. Nice presents from the family and my husband. We are taking a mini vacation this week to spend some time together and shop with our Christmas gift cards. I am very much looking forward to relaxing and getting to spend time with just my hubby. I am seriously considering turning off my phone while we are gone!

So, that's a bit of a look back at the year 2010. Some really good things (weight loss) and some not so good things (health crap) but over all, I am still hanging in there!

Week 36 AKA the week of Christmas!

So I have gained a bit the last couple of weeks. I wasn't too worried about it because I have been so stressed out lately that I have kind of loosened up on myself regarding food. Probably not the greatest of ideas but it made me feel a little less stressed. So this week, I actually wasn't doing too badly foodwise until Christmas day. Because I had been doing pretty well, I thought I would loosen up a little more for one more day. Not a great idea either because I went back for seconds (a big no-no for me) at both meals. So this week is one of the biggest gains I have had since I started this whole journey. But, I am owning up to it and starting over today back on the plan. My husband and I have a date night planned for Thursday so I am going to save up my weekly extra points for that evening, but I am still going to be careful. We aren't sure yet what we are doing for New Year's but I can guarentee that it will not involve snacking like we usually do. If we do go to a friend's house, I will probably take something I won't mind eating with me and stay away from the snacks that are sure to be bad for my waistline. I recieved a gift card for Christmas to two stores that I like buying clothes from. So after I get back down to the lowest weight I have reached (will have to lose 3.6lbs) I will treat myself to a new clothing item. I shouldn't have too hard of a time achieving that at least - until I just calculated it, I thought it was closer to five pounds.

Weight gain this week: +2.4 lbs
Total Weight loss: -38.6lbs

Week 35

I am feeling much better this week, thank goodness. I can't believe how badly my back hurt after that blood patch was done! I can even put my own socks on again which is a good thing. My food choices weren't great this week but I managed to save it from being a total wreck. If I can just get through this week of Christmas, it should be a lot easier and much less tempting to eat the "bad stuff". I am also hoping we will get walking again, though I hate the idea of walking in this cold weather. I need to really find some layers to put on and some better fitting sweatpants to keep me warmer. I have lots of baking to do this week....that should be interesting.

Weight gain this week: +0.6lbs
Total weight loss: -41.0 lbs

Spinal taps and blood patches

Those two things, spinal taps and blood patches, are the only two things I have been able to think about lately. I had such a horrible spinal headache and the sadist doctor wanted to wait over the weekend to see if it would magically go away. It sure didn't. So Monday I called back up there and he ordered a blood patch, thank God. Basically they reinserted a needle into my lower back and injected 20cc's of blood in the space so that it would clot and close up the leaking hole. This time around, I felt the needle go in (not pain, just the feeling of it being inserted). It was the absolute strangest feeling in the whole world. He hit one of my vertebrae and I could feel it in my jaw, very strange sensation. I then spent the rest of the day laying on my back to ensure that the clot wouldn't break lose.

I feel now like someone hit me over the lower back with a baseball bat. I am using a pillow behind my back at work to ease it a bit...it helps a little. Mostly I am just thankful that my head no longer hurts. I made it through a shopping trip to Walmart last night though I hurt pretty badly by the time we got home. I hope that my lower back pain eases up so I can get all the stuff done that I didn't get done over the six days I laid on the couch with the spinal headache. I have some gifts to get done for my coworkers, though I have all the ingredients, I just need to find the stamina to stand in the kitchen that long to get them done. I am hopeful that I will get it done this weekend. Thankfully I am done with classes so I don't have to worry about homework anymore.

Then next week is Christmas! I feel like I missed a whole week in there, which I guess I did. So it has snuck up on me a bit. I did manage to get all my Christmas cards out. I haven't received many yet so everyone else must be getting them out a bit later this year. At any rate, I am feeling better finally, back in the land of the living and grateful!

Week 34

Today ends one of probably the worst weeks in my life. My classes ended which was a good thing, though I had four papers to finish before the classes ended. That was a lot of stress last weekend. Monday I had an Evoked Potential EEG to determine if my optic nerves were translating information to my brain correctly. I think that went okay, from what the technologist said after I got done. Then Wednesday morning I had to have the lumbar puncture done. The procedure itself did not hurt at all, but good heavens, the after effects were horrible. I did what I was supposed to do and pushed fluids and laid on my back for a long time. The day after it still hurt so I stayed home from work, but I was hopeful that it would end by that day. Friday the headache was horrendous. There was no way I was going to be able to go to work so I had to call in yet again. I called the neurologist on Friday and he called in a pain med that didn't do jack to help my actual pain. They told me to go to the ER if it got worse. So Saturday, it got worse and I went to the ER. They gave me two shots of demerol. I told the ER doc that I couldn't have vicoden so guess what he gave me to fill at the pharmacy....yep, vicoden. So I was in Walgreens, freaking high on demerol, trying to get them to understand the mistake. I ended up having to call the ER and the doc called in something else. This morning I was able to get up and get to church but about couldn't make it all the way through. Steve did the grocery shopping today, thank goodness. There is no way I could have made it through Walmart today. I took a nap this afternoon and woke up about an hour before I was due to take my next dose of pain meds. I waited because I felt okay and my head didn't hurt. Well I am still waiting about six hours later and it's good so far. I am hoping that I have survived this and my CSF has no replenished and everything is doing what it is supposed to be doing. I am mildly terrified that it will start hurting again. My head has never hurt like that before.

Because I couldn't stand up for more than like five minutes without my head practically exploding, I didn't do so great eating this week. I had just a small gain thankfully. I am praying this week will be better.

Weight change this week: +0.6
Total weight loss: -41.6 lbs

Week 33

This was another great week weight wise. I can really tell the difference in the new program that Weight Watchers launched. This week is one fully of medical tests so at least I will have a day of rest tomorrow...after my lumbar puncture, yuck. Yesterday I had an Evoked Potential EEG to see if my optic nerves were communicating correctly with the visual center of my brain. The technologist said everything looked good, so that was a huge plus. I have the lumbar puncture (spinal tap) tomorrow morning at 9am. I was told I will have to lay on my back for 24 hours afterwards. I am collecting movies that I want to watch during this time. It will be nice to rest for a bit after this crazy semester. I had my last actual in-class night of class last night. Tonight I just have to take an online quiz and that class will also be completed. I didn't do great with my eating plan yesterday but I tracked all of it and I have a week to make up what I messed up, thankfully.

Weight loss this week: -1.4lbs
Total weight loss: -42.2 lbs