So far so good.

So the steroids seem to be working but the best part is that I haven’t had to take any of the antacid meds that my doctor gave me as well.  So far my daily routine is to drink a glass of cranberry/pomegranate juice mixed with some RepairVite and a tbsp of apple cider vinegar.  I drink that along with my bone broth and eat some sort of protein.  Be it left over hamburgers or chicken.  Then I take my 6 Prednisone and wash it down with a banana.  That all seems to be doing the trick!

Last night I felt great! For the first time in like 3 weeks.  I was actually able to get a bunch of work down around the house after I came home from a meeting.  In fact I wasn’t even sure if I was even going to make it to the meeting! I didn’t think I would be able to stay sitting for the couple of hours I needed to.  But in the end I felt pretty ok, and even was up for going to the grocery store.  Which was great because I was so behind on it.  It just isn’t the same having to send your husband out to get the things you know you need but he doesn’t know what brands and stuff, you know?

Maybe it was some of that euphoria that is a side effect of the steroids, who knows but I was able to do a load of laundry, clean the kitchen  load the dishwasher and mop up parts of the kitchen floor (well just with a rag and my foot) and then I still did my stretches and exercises for the day.  I may not have gone to bed until 1am, but it just felt so good to DO something for a change.

This afternoon I have a friend of mine coming over to help watch my daughter.  I think I’m going to take the time to head out to the gym where they have a hot tub and heated pool.  I would just do it here, but I’m locked out the pool area for the next couple of days.  Long story.  And I really felt like the water was helping.

Lower back pain and Prednisone

With my back hurting as much as it does I finally got my MRI and then an appointment to see a neurosurgeon.  According my MRI my L5 nerve is pinched to the left side.  But interestingly it’s my right leg that hurst the most and is the one that feels numb and tingly.  When the neurosurgeon examined me it was also my right leg that showed weakness  So this was challenging for him to decide what to do.  In the end I didn’t mind that he said I didn’t need surgery.  Heck! I didn’t want it in the first place!  But then I was told I would have to wait another 2 weeks to see the Pain management and rehab doctor to even DISCUSS gover etting an epidural steroid shot.

That was when the whole thing was overwhelming for me.  I mean I’ve already dealt with this pain for so long.  I’ve put my life on hold for this pain for over 2 weeks now.  There was NO WAY I could do it for another 2 weeks!  I would go insane!  Thankfully I now have an amazing doctor (she has done more for me in 2 weeks than my doctor on Kaiser ever did in 18 months!) and she took the time to speak with me on the phone after the appointment and try to work out how I am going to cope over the next two weeks.

The result?  Oral steroids. I tried as hard as I could to stay away from those crazy things for as long as I’ve had this back pain but it seems as though they’ve finally caught up with me.  I don’t seem to have any other choice though.  Currently I’m taking Tumeric, reveratrol, 10mg hydro, 1000 acet, and 10gm flexeril. (Man looking at it that way, that’s a lot!) in addition to eating a pretty strict auto immune paleo diet to keep my inflammation down, along with my morning cup of bone broth, my fclo 2x a day.  I’m still averaging out around a 5-6 in pain when I’m trying to lead a normal life.  Yes I can get my pain down to a 1 even a 0 when I’m laying down.  But honestly I can’t live like this much longer.

So starting tomorrow I’m going to be taking Prednisone for 14 days.  It’s quite a crazy and complicated schedule.  I have to take 6 pills for 5 days each and then gradually take less.  I’m not looking forward to the side effects.  They can include weight gain from an increased appetite, insomnia, acne, swelling (which I find funny since it’s an anti inflammatory) and stomach problems which is an issue with me and my IBD.

My doctor also gave me some sort of antacid to take with my Pred but I’d rather not take it so have decided instead to go the ACV route and do a tbsp before each meal and see how I feel. It shouldn’t hurt, and maybe will keep my appetite in check as well.  I intend to make sure I’m getting plenty of protein and calcium.  Since I don’t do dairy my calcium will come from my chicken broth (brewed with egg shells for more calcium!), and my veggies.  I know a lot of the weight gain will come from water retention so I’m going to drink extra water and stay away from take aways (even if they are paleo approved Thai cuisine).

I’m going to try an document how I feel through out the course of the steroids.  I think it will be good for me to look back on and see how they made me feel.  Both for my own personal records and to discuss further treatment with my doctors.  I’m kind of hoping though that it’s just enough to get my disc back in place so I can move on with my life.  Let’s just say I will not be playing volleyball or going on any retreats any time soon!

My new normal

Ok so my back has been KILLING me over the last few weeks.  I’m pretty sure it all started when I went to some retreat with the women from my church.  It was a great experience and all but I realized then that my back is just not cut out for bad bunk beds, hikes, and sitting indian style.  From that weekend onwards there’s always been a bit of pain that I couldn’t seem to shift.  And then WHAM!  One day after seeing my chiropractor it all just gave out and I had to drive my car the 15 min it takes to get home in extreme pain and agony.  Like deep moaning during labor pain.

Well today while I was still in pain and basically can do nothing but lay in bed I realized that actually I’m doing SO MUCH MORE than just laying in bed.  I’m laying there having a complete pity party on myself when my husband stops me and says “What do you call all that downstairs cooking? Because I don’t call that nothing”  And then I realized in spite of all my pain I still managed to cook a beef heart stew, make chicken broth and render down the fat from the heart to get some tallow.  Not to mention I still took the time to soak oatmeal for tomorrow and make more homemade coconut milk kefir…WHAT?!

When did this happen that whipping up a stew with organ meat is so normal to me now that whilst doing it I felt like I was doing nothing!  I mean even just a year ago I swear putting in a Stouffer’s lasagna in the oven was hard work.  Wow I really need to get off my own back and realize the progress I’ve made over the last few years.  So what that the house is a mess?  So what if my daughter is maybe watching one too many Elmo’s since I can’t play with her.  I’m in a season in my life right now where I just have to survive.  And again if I’m surviving off home made organ meats, broth and tallow then I think life is going to be alright.

What is a Diet Bet???

So I’m thinking about joining one of those Diet Bets. Ever heard of them? I hadn’t until today but it seems like something that would be very helpful in keeping up my motivation.  So the way it works is you and everyone else playing, pay in a certain amount of money in to the “pot”.  Then at the end of the 28 days those who made their goal of losing 4% of their weight get to split everything in the pot (minus a 15% fee they charge)  So if for example 10 people each put in $10 but at the end of the challenge only 3 people managed to take the weight off then those three would each get $28.  So they basically just made $18 while losing weight! Win win!

To me, I just wish I had known about it sooner! Before I lost 50lbs.  I could have made a little bit of cash on the side just for doing something I wanted to anyways!  The only bad thing about it all is if you don’t make the 4% well then obviously you don’t get your money back but that also means that the money I would be taking for having made it is those of people who failed.  If I think too hard on it, it does make me a bit sad.  But at the same time they knew what they were getting into and hopefully they can get back on track next time.  I mean heck, maybe that will be me! Who knows?!

 

So in prep for the challenge, tonight I splurged on a special treat A strawberry kefir, banana split with chocolate chips.  Yum!

For those interested I will be doing the PriorFatGirl’s DietBet.  It’s only $20 to join that challenge and at the moment it’s up to 139 players.  That makes the pot $2780!  It starts this Friday (March 1st) so this is going to be a great way to start the month!  Let me know if you’re going sign up so we can help each other out!

I lost the plot

You know you’ve lost the plot when you’re watching Biggest Loser while stuffing your face full of tacos and nachos from taco bell and drinking your daughter’s juice boxes. All while supposedly on some sort of sugar detox.

But that’s what I have this blog so I can keep track of all the times I fall completely off the wagon. I know I need to just get myself back up again but sometimes it can just be so hard.

The journey of her birth

In honor of my daughter’s birthday coming up this Saturday I went back to re-read all the posts I had written up on a forum board I visited often during my pregnancy.  It was really moving to read them and I would love to collate them all in one place and share them with you.

 Feb 14th, 2011, 05:37 AM
Welp ladies this is it. I’m so sorry to jump the line Lucky but my waters went tonight around 4am. I thought I was peeing myself until I realized I had no control! hahaha. I smacked hubby to get up cause he wasn’t waking up when I said his name like 5 times,  So he got me a towel and I waddled the best I could to the bathroom. I thought I left most in bed, turns out half was on the towel and even more in the toilet! No real contractions as of yet. I’ve got hubby to blow up the pool but I don’t know about filling it up yet. It does take like 3 hours though.

Feb 14th, 2011, 09:04 AM
MW [midwife] here as around 7:30 I was having them around 3min apart. She’s checked me and everything looks fine. Still haven’t done an internal as things aren’t exactly regular so I’ve opted to wait a bit longer. They are coming in quite strong though. WOO!

Feb 15th, 2011, 18:13 PM
Hey ladies! Just sitting here part way naked with a hot water bottle being held on my back by MiL while trying to munch down a sandwich. Or in other words, still in labour! So far it’s not exactly what I though it would be like. I started having contractions about 3 min apart after an hour after my waters broke which didn’t let up so we called the midwife in. Long story short I was ready for the pool my body at only 1cm was not. And later on while they were still coming at 3 min sometimes 2 I was ready for pool my body was not at 2cm. Distress insued and a transfer to the hospital happened around 3pm. I cried the whole way. I felt like a failure.

Got to the hospital was told I could get into the bath to which I got a bit snippy and said I wanted to get in the pool in my own what the heck was the difference?! So laboured in the bath for 3 hours. I must say it was the best part of the whole day. While being at home the midwife was constantly on top of me, monitoring Babs and my heart rate. Taking my blood pressure. But it was JUST me and hubby in the room while I was in the bath from 3 hours and it was bliss. I sucked on my gas and air while the contractions still made their way and thought I was going to enjoy my birth again.

That was until everything STOPPED once I got out of the pool. Like seriously went from at least 5 6 min apart at the most to 2 an hour. So I slept over in the hospital since it was so late by this point. But when I got up in the morning wanted to go home, which worked out well as they were super full and wanted to get rid of me! hahaha. BTW For a hospital that wanted rid of me they sure did take their sweet time dischargin me, geez! Was told at 6am I was to go home didn’t leave till like 10.

So she did one final internal at my request (How weird it was to actually fight for my right to an internal. This whole time I thought it would be the opposite!) To which I was still only 2cm

So I’m back home ladies *sigh* Just over 37 hours since everything started and only getting contractions very sporadically. I’m due in tomorrow morning for antibiotics which I agreed to but said I won’t be getting induced if me and babs are fine, but they seemed ok with that. Unless of course I go tonight *fingers crossed*

The crazy thing is my sister flies in tomorrow at 2:30 after all this joking around she may actually make it to see the birth! hahaha.

 Feb 15th, 2011, 22:07 PM
You ladies are amazing!!! Me and my new best friend Gas and Air love you all to bits!

 Feb 20th, 2011, 15:49 PM
Hi ladies I’m here. So after 62 hours and the worst day of my life the thing living inside of me is now out. Not sure how I feel about it. Still processing a lot of emotions. Obviously didn’t get my home birth in the end. Wound up on the operating table for over 2 hours while put under. I have to take a break from here for a while. After reading a few things and even with how amazing you all are I only feel anger and jealousy. Thank you so much for every thing you’ve done I guess my body is just useless.

Valentines Day Date

So today I went out on a date tonight with hubby.  It was something we both really needed so I was so glad to be doing it.  A local church was having a drop off where for only $2! we could drop off our kids from 5:30-8:30.  3 hours for only $2!  We ended up just giving them a $5 bill and told them to keep it.  Probably should have given them more though they’re so amazing.

Hubby and I went to Dave and Busters for dinner and then spent about an hour playing on all the arcade games there.  Ever been to D&B’s?  It’s like chuck e cheese for grown ups.  Seriously so much fun.

For dinner I had a surprisingly healthy entree.  Salmon, spinach and rice.  Can’t get much better than that?  Sometimes it pains me to eat out though because I know the Salmon has been farmed, the spinach is loaded with pesticide and everything has been cooked in some sort of vegetable oil.  But I realize it’s a special occasion and to do the best I can.  I definitely had something that is a BIG 21 Day Sugar Detox.  Sangria! hahaha.  What can I say?  It was our valentines day date. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.