"The tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach."

"The tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach." --Benjamin Mays


Day 35 AS

Another exciting milestone on this 5 week anniversary of my weight loss surgery: I have "officially" lost 100 pounds since my high weight in April - roughly 60 pre-op and 40 post-op. Woohoo!

I saw my internist this morning for a follow-up and she seemed very pleased. Even after cutting my blood pressure in medicine in half I'm still running low -- 100/70 today. I have to monitor it twice a day and if it stays here I'll have to cut it in half again... what an amazing thing. Now if only my blood sugar would follow suit -- my endocrinologist and I haven't quite gotten that where it belongs yet. It's lower than it was a couple of weeks ago with the addition of an oral med, but higher than I like it to be. I see him again in two weeks and we'll see what magic he can pull out of his hat then if it's not better. This seems crazy to me as I'm eating so very little, but it is what it is.

My walking's suffered over the last week due to a sore foot joint, so my internist looked at that today. She pondered whether to send me to a foot doctor for a cortisone injection or to try that amazing prednisone for 3 days again and decided to start with the latter. As soon as I eat lunch today day 1 will start. I remember taking this a couple of weeks before surgery and I felt great -- it eliminated all pain in my body for over a week. Hopefully it will do the same again, and by then clear up the inflammation in this joint altogether and I can dodge the cortisone injection bullet -- I hate those!!

The other slightly nagging issue out there was my last set of liver function tests. We're all assuming that it was just a post-op anomaly, but just in case, my internist had me retest that today too. Fingers crossed they come back normal this time...

This is one of those two outing days... late this afternoon is support group. A couple of plastic surgeons are coming to chat with us about that challenge. I'm more than a year away from that, but it doesn't hurt to get the information so I will attend.

My 100 pound "reward" (aside from the health improvements of course) is a Wii system and a Wii-fit plus game. Hopefully this foot will stop being so annoying and I will find the games somewhat motivational. Exercise remains my greatest challenge.

Showering still isn't perfectly normal, but for the second time in a row at least I didn't feel like throwing up after getting out of the shower today -- yay. Still exhausting, but better that than both. As for the nausea I felt every time I brushed my teeth, the good news is that switching back to an old-fashioned manual toothbrush has helped tremendously. Brushing my teeth is a pleasure once again. Ok, that may be an exaggeration of sorts -- at least it's a non-event now and I don't dread doing it.

Ending on a positive note, I had a lovely afternoon Sunday visiting with two of my colleagues. It was great seeing them and catching up on office and personal going-ons. I really appreciate both of them making the time to come over and say hi! I return to work next Thursday -- six weeks after surgery. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the great people I work with -- and hoping by then I won't be so darn tired all the time.