I have been busy at work and trying to keep my mind off the pain and by the time I get home I am so tired from the drugs and such....I wish there was another way to manage the pain.  There isn't so I guess I do what I do and when I feel better I will be back at the meetings.  Glad you have Debbie to help you.  She is a good girl.  I would like to know more about the courses you talk about too....is there a seminar you can attend to get more info.  Let me know what you find out.  Take care chickie...pull out the fleece blankets.  I have mine out!

Hugs and Fleece Blankets
Debbie

This sounds interesting....I would be interested.

Dates probably the middle part of June.  End of May is Memorial day....not a good weekend to do something like this.  What would the cost be for this?

Debbie

Hey Joanne,
 
Its been a long time since I've posted or even been on the website but its great to be back. I am sorry to hear that you are having trouble and hope all goes well. I have had some major upsets in my life and I am starting over again to try to regain some sort of control because it all went out the door over a year ago. Hopefully I will see you at the next Victory meeting. Take care and tell Debbie I said "hello".

Carol Pryce

I just came back from my surgeon's office (I go there to get my "official" weight) and I am now 1.2lbs away from losing 100lbs since my highest weight of 430 and I am 84.2lbs down from surgery!! And my 3 month anniversary is tomorrow!!!!

I am just so grateful....I am happy to say that my BMI is now 49.1 down from 63.3....so I went from "Super Obese" to a more slender ""Extremely Obese!" hahaha WHATEVER!!! I just know I feel better and I have a more positive outlook on my future. Just yesterday I went to Wal-Mart and bought myself NEW underwear...it is the little things that make my day, now if I only had a couple pairs of pants that fit me...in time.

I am going to go through everything in my closet and drawers this week and if anyone in the South Jersey/Philly area is interested I would be thrilled to pass along some of the things I can't wear anymore. Most of the stuff is size 3x (30/32) but a few things must be bigger as I know I was bigger than 30/32 in August.  I also am sure I was clothed during that month...although things were starting to fit like sasuage casings. hahaha

I also have a lot of clothing from a friend, who had the RnY, and she had a lot of "business" type clothes. I am more of a sweats and casual type clothing person...cotton as aposed to Rayon and Poly! Just drop me a note and I would be happy to share what I have....otherwise it is just going to go to Goodwill or the Purple Heart. I am willing to drive 60 minutes from my house which is anywhere from Newark, DE to Trenton, NJ and from Atlantic City, NJ out to Coatsville or Perkasie.

New posts are slow in the making around here anymore, and I am just as guilty as anyone else.  I love the Roll Calls though.

I had my pre-op consult with Dr, Moise on Thursday...it's a go  I will have my procedure today and have to be at Beebe at 8:15 a.m.  I'll be glad to get that one over with and get on with it.  I also met Dr. Pando, the rheumatologist on Thursday.  He is very intuitive and basically told me that about 95% of my health issues at this tiime are a direct result of stress, worry, and anxiety.  He asked me what I want him to do for me, and I told him about my fear of losing the use of my hands prematurely.  He said, "Ok.  then stop worrying.  You don't own that anymore.  I will take care of your hands."  I expressed my concern about possibly needing more medications to slow the progression of my arthritis and how my gastric bypass prevents me from being able to use NSAIDS and anything that is controlled release or slow release.  He said, "your medicine is already inside you.  Just let the stress and anxiewty go, at least an hour a day.  Clear your head, meditate, pray, take a bath, listen to music....whatever it takes to block out the turmoil for that one single hour.  Come and see me again in 3 weeks and if you've done this, I will guarantee you will feel and look 100% better."  In summary, he spent over an hour talking with me and yes, he will intervene medically but for the most part, my arthritis pain can be controlled from within myself.  I am being re-tested for Lupus, and he is checking some other blood tests.  He also gave me a final diagnosis for the circulation problem....Raynaud's Disease.  My fingers and toes go "dead" during really emotional times, or when they get just a little cold.  He told me I can't go winter camping anymore.  In extreme cases if my hands and feet stay "dead" for extended periods, I can suffer tissue damage from lack of oxygen, so if it drops below 50 degrees at night or whatever, I have to be extra careful. I hate wearing gloves too.  LOL.

He also told me to get off caffeine and try again to quit smoking.  Both of those cause blood vessels to constrict, making the Raynaud's worse.  I have to start walking for at least 30 minutes a day and try to break a sweat.  My cardiologist doesn't want my heart rate to go above 129 unless I am on a monitor, so that kind of puts a wedge in that one, but any walking is better than none at all.

We started working on Sarah's house this past week.  She and her husband and the 2 babies are living back in Michigan, and we are keeping Karissa.  I went to Georgetown and got the paperwork for Legal Guardianship.  Her mom and dad are leary about Permanent Guardianship though.  It cannot be reversed once it's granted, so I am working on them with that.  They know it is best for her to stay here but are afraid I am "taking her away from them".  In a way I am, but not to the point where they relinquish their parental rights.  Karissa has 3 brothers and a sister and multiple grandparents and tons of other family in Michigan.....I would never take her away from them.  I just can't allow her to move out there where things are so bad and every house is packed with people and dogs and junk.  She would be lost for sure. 

Anyways, the house they lived in here was left in such a condition that I refuse to force Rehoboth Shores to be responsible for all of that mess.  We are cleaning out what we can and bringing usable stuff to my house.  We've bagged up about 20 trash bags of stuff already.  I talked with the management office and explained what was going on, and they don't expect me to clean up after her and were prepared to just go in there and gut the place and haul it all off.  I am glad I went in there.  I found tax papers, birth certificates, social security information, old pictures that can't be replaced...I can't believe they left that all behind.  The place looked like a squatters hole.  It was disgusting and I am embarassed that my daughter was living like that.  But we are almost done, and Rehoboth shores is aware that they will need to have alot of stuff taken out of there...beat up dressers and some old raggedy couches and all the trash bags off the porch.  Once they get it all out, they will only have to do the normal stuff to get it rent-able again.  Needless to say, my daughter will NOT be getting her security deposit back, which I paid.  They are taking her to court for back rent and since she will not be there, they will automatically rule against her.  She is aware of that and just doesn't care.  That's what drugs do to you....you care about nothing else.  Very sad and breaks my heart.  I've let it go though.  I will clean up her mess one last time and she is on her own.