Friday check in

Good Friday Afternoon Everyone!

It is COLLD and WINDY out there today!  I went to work at 7 am as usual and was able to come home at 8:45am.  Yea!  While at work I took 1 phone call and did online Christmas shopping.  I paid for those items when I got home and did some more shopping.  I have all but 2 peoples presents bought.  Not bad!  I found some fantastic buys online so I am happy.  

Randy, I hope Cheryl does not drag you all over creation today.  Stay warm!

Karen I can relate to houses with no insulation.  The wind does cut through no matter what your heat is set at.  I am so thankful that I finally could afford to add insulation and replace windows.  A HUGE difference.  Stay warm.

Chris, happy decorating.  I bet your snow figurines are beautiful.  What a wonderful collection!  It should be fun to get it out and see it again. 

Dawn, sending you BIG   I think David needs a reality check.  I would inform him that this is HIS life you are talking about and that you CANNOT plan his future.  That is something only HE can decide.  If he CHOOSES to do nothing then he will have nothing including food to eat and a place to live.  His choices are his responsibility and the consequences that come from those choices are HIS ALONE .  He cannot place the blame on anyone else.  Sorry, that is what being an adult is all about.  IF he would like to be a child again and live by rules and regulations and have an authoritarian figure that tells him what to do, then he is welcome home but HAS to listen and do everything that is requested of him.  If that is not a choice, then HE needs to create a Plan B.  

I am so sorry you are having to deal with this.  Be firm.  I cant imagine how hard it must be.but at this point in his life he should be making his own decisions.    Good Luck! 

Connie have a wonder ful day!

Crystal, I am glad you had a good day yesterday.  What a ridiculous thing to have to deal with your ex.  I think you handled it very well.  

Everyone have a great day!

Hi All, It has been a long time, I am the "one" chris mentioned.   SHe also thought maybe i should come back to the board for some guidance, I have had multiple health issues , in the last 3 months i had a foot reconstructed, scoped both ends, a partial knee revised to a total knee replacement and now gallbladder surgery on wed am, in the middle  of all this it became very obvious that my PCP  whom i trusted with my labs has been telling me they are fine,,,,,, iron 65,   d 22, I get it,,,, normal for "normal" people but not normal for RNY, i told chris, i am so confused as how to go about this, i thought go back to him with my current labs, with a copy from vitalady to let him see where i should be??I really  dont want to try to do this alone, i know to high of D can be fatal, and i hate to appear  debbie downer but my luck sure has not been to good ! Many say dont bother going back to the surgeon, he is the cutter not the  follow up guy? i know the surgeries back to back are a lot of the probs but the low levels  have to be a huge part of the exhausted, depressed, bla, bla, feelings, any help would be great:) Denise

Welcome back, as the youngest of three I have been able to avoid some problems but not all.  I am likely not being as diligent as I could be with my new digestive system.  Just cannot live in the cocoon.  So I too look forward to this conversation.  I have had the labs and the normal but have not even thought that normal for normal might not be normal for RNY since at that point past the digestive tract I thought we were still normal except for the times we put things in that pass right by and cause the rest of our system to think we have eaten large amounts of something our digestive tracts no longer process.  What does Vitalady have to say on this?  I guess I should go look and follow up with folks.  My surgeon retired after my surgery but Northwestern surgeons do not want to follow up with me even though I have surgical issues to address in the future.  I was in the hospital five months ago with internal bleeding that has not completely resolved but with taking iron and it slowing and most of the time stopping my blood counts are "normal" but sometimes maybe not but I cannot again be in that cocoon where a blood test to see if now that is due to excess iron or bleeding.  I am going to repost this as my first Saturday post.

LAB TARGETS   VITALADY





This is NOT medical advice, just my own targets for the main blood levels I watch.



Protein: 7's

Albumin: 4's

Pre-Albumin: 20-30's



Iron: 80-100

Ferritin: 200-300

HGB: 12+

HCT: 36+



Vit A: 60- 80

Vit D: 80-120



Calcium: 9.0-9.4

PTH: 20-40



Vit B1: Mid to top of range

Vit B6: Mid to top of range

Magnesium: Mid range (but also go by if we have leg/foot cramping)

Zinc: Mid range



Vit B12: 1000 +

Folate: Top of range



AST (sgot): Below 40

ALT (sgpt): Below 40



We usually want to "meet or beat" pre-op levels. In some cases, higher is better, and in other cases (Cholesterol, PTH for example), lower is better.



The only things *I* don't mind being on the high end of out of range are Ferritin and B12. But that applies to ME.