Outward Growth and Back Again

I've always struggled with weight.  Always!  I love food and enjoy eating vast quantities of it.  Learning self-control is an on-going endeavour.

I have been all over the scale all the way from a high of 215 lbs (before I was pregnant with Nate) down to my current weight and I am not embarrassed to tell.  I weigh 151 lbs.

I lost a ton of weight after Nathan was born simply because my focus turned from eating to taking care of Nathan (and we didn't have a second car...had to walk everywhere!). 

My weight has gone up and down over the years since but had generally stayed between 170 and 180lbs.  Several months before our cruise I decided that I wanted to look svelte on our holiday and was a very determined woman with calorie counting (MyFitnessPal app is awesome for that) and brisk walking most days of the week.  It was successful...I lost a good chunk of weight in six months.  Maintaining the weight loss has been mostly easy because my eating habits  changed.  I enjoyed being physically active most days of the week.  I still love food and will never deprive myself of treats!

Recently, Keith and I embarked on a fairly unheard of eating plan called the 5:2 diet.  The basic premise is that by giving your body a rest from food any two days of the week and eating normally the other five you can achieve great health benefits.  And a side effect of that is weight loss.  On the two days you can eat 500 calories.  It wasn't impossible but a challenge and I gave it three months.  It reshaped my body.  My waist whittled down and my legs got leaner...my wedding rings are slipping off but I only lost 5 lbs.  Keith on the other hand has dropped close to 20 lbs and is looking amazing!  He's got a way to go but I am moving toward just maintaining instead of this crazy struggle to achieve more.  I'm not where I want to be but I feel very healthy, consider myself leaner and have a very great awareness of what true hunger is. 

If I lose another few pounds....great.  If I do not....that's okay too.  And the end of the day I want to be healthy and strong and think I am there.

So, if you see me eating a piece of cheesecake....join me :)

 2012

 

2014

Dr. Google

Perhaps you already knew this but I just discovered something for myself that makes this curious girl very happy.
One can get ALL the juicy details of all BioMed lab test results online.  This means that after they take your blood, pee or whatever sort of bodily fluid you can get your results YOURSELF before you do or (usually) do not hear back from your doctor.
I recently went to my doctor for a check up (this took great courage!).  It had been about 6 years so I knew it was time.  She's a new doctor for me and very thorough.  This is good and somewhat disturbing as I don't like medical exams of any sort.
Anyhow she sent me for routine blood work and I was able to see all my results and subsequently diagnose myself (ha ha ha!) before too long.
Actually the doctor's office just called me the other day to have my blood drawn again to do a more specific test and I was able to see those results in less than 24 hours!  I love this.
Anyhow, the good news is that I am quite healthy....minus the fact I seem to have a solid case of anemia. 
I have a follow up appointment next week and I can guess that I'll have to go on iron pills.  Double blech!
This is also a bit sad because I really wanted to start donating blood with the Red Cross but with my numbers this is not likely to ever happen.

Flub-dump

Good news!  I like good news!

Keith and I applied for life insurance back in February.  We both had some but decided it wasn't enough with our boys now in private school and a bigger mortgage...these weren't factors many years ago to consider.

Keith passed his medical exam with flying colors (I was surprised to be honest) and I failed (and that surprised me more!).  Rejected, failed, not accepted.

This was due to the fact I disclosed in my healthy interview (because I am an honest person!) that I had rheumatic fever as a child and now have a heart murmur.  They retrieved my medical records in storage as my most recent doctor retired but they weren't happy with the information they found which was really nothing.  My previous doctor never did any testing on my heart.  All my testing (EKG and Echocardiogram) was done when I was a teen and that doctor was LONG gone and those records are likely destroyed by now.  I remember the results of those tests being favorable but my verbal say so wasn't good enough for the insurance underwriters.

So an appointment was made to get an echocardiogram.  That was a four month wait but finally was done on Dec 4th.  

Today I went to see my GP to discuss results.  First of all, I have to say that my new doctor is very prompt.  I entered the office at 10:49 am, was called into the room at 10:50 and was out the door to my car by 10:56 am.  Very efficient which is a blessed change from most medical professionals.  Anyhow...the report said that my heart is very healthy in every way.  No valve damage, blood is flowing properly and it's of normal size.  All excellent news in regards to my life insurance hopefully being approved and putting my mind at ease about this 'alleged' heart murmur I thought I had.

Over my life most doctors have said they can't hear my murmur and a few have said they can hear a soft one.  Today my doctor took a listen and said she 'thought' she could hear something.  But the report says 'no murmur' so I am going with that!

Slowly But Surely

Down 15 lbs.

25 lbs to go.

Can I do it by Spring Break?
That is the goal!

Life Changing

As you probably know my longest and most bestest friends are Keri and Kori.  We have been fast friends since we were 13 years old.  I know them very well.  I know their family very well.  As a teen I ate at their dinner table, slept over at their house and went on numerous adventures with them.  They are the closest things I have to sisters.
My friends are hurting right now.  Their older sister Kristin is battling cancer and has a very big surgery coming up on Wednesday to remove her kidney. 
Could you please remember her in prayer?  She needs lots of prayer, her husband, four children and entire family need to be covered in peace as they begin this overwhelming journey.

Thank you.

Kristin is a self confessed 'word' girl and you can follow her thoughts, feelings and progress on her personal blog.

http://canadiankristinconnected.blogspot.ca/

Slow Speed Blogging

I've lost my blogging mojo.

It's been a heavy few weeks. 

I'll hope to be posting a bit more regularly.

Here's just a bit of an update.

 

 We've been doing family walks to enjoy the beautiful fall colors whenever there's a dry weekend.  Almost all the leaves are down now.  It's such a short but brilliantly gorgeous time!

 

 I made my first ever batch of homemade chicken soup.  Thank you Kori for the recipe.  It was so delicious.  The family just raved and raved about it!

 Liam's having some chest issues and is on two puffers right now.  Sadly his cough is crackly and his breathing is too rapid and shallow.  He's also on an antibiotic just in case of infection.  We received some excellent care at our local clinic and very speedy service at the x-ray department of the hospital last night.  He's been perky through it all which is a bonus.  I think that starting preschool has been a bit of an onslaught on his immune system.  Lots of new germs to fight off!

 These running shoes have had a LOT of kilometers put on them since late August.  I have been walking either on the treadmill or outside 6 days a week!  I can walk very fast now and Keith doesn't really like walking with me so much because he says I go too fast.  Since mid-July I have lost 13 lbs so the weight is coming off VERY slowly but that's okay.  I am committed and not going to give up. 

Nothing magical about it.  Basically, the formula has been 'move more, eat less'. 

 Which leads to me to trying to avoid the last of Liam's Halloween candy!

 

 

Today at work I had to make sure that Marci's skirt was regulation length!  Happily it was exactly 10 cm above the knee and she didn't have to go home and change.  All in a day's work!

 

Sick

Last night.

Every hour from 11 pm to 7 am.

This was interspersed with episodes from the other end of the spectrum as well.

Let's just say it was a pretty bad night.

Thank goodness for Keith who is a very helpful and sympathetic nurse.  I could not have got through it alone.

A Reluctant Soccer Player

Chad plays soccer each week. Chad doesn't LOVE soccer. Chad doesn't LOVE anything that requires moving his body in a quick motion! It's always been the case. Chad peters out from work or tasks quite quickly. He loses motivation and it just becomes painful for everyone involved. After almost 10 years of knowing this kid I've positive it's nature NOT nuture. This will most likely be Chad's last year of soccer. There is no point for Keith and I to be paying the fees and spending a load of time on the pitch for something Chad doesn't really enjoy. What I have told Chad is that he must find some alternative activity. It just won't do to have a child play Lego in his room 24/7 as he would be happy to do! What activities or programs do your kids enjoy? Perhaps we'll be inspired!

At least the boys play at a really nice field with beautiful views. That's been great.

I think we might have a soccer player in Liam. He just loves dribbling that ball around and shooting nets!

A Parenting Story

I've had quite a week so far. Of course, with Keith being gone what would be minor problems are amplified as I deal with them on my own.

Monday afternoon Liam started up with a high fever. We had a restless night. Tuesday his fever raged on and his appetite vanished. That evening I decided to pop into the clinc to make sure his throat and ears were clear. Check. All systems go there which is good BUT then it's called a 'virus' and there's not much to be done for that.

Tuesday night was equally restless and long with some throwing up involved and extra messy diapers. At least now I knew he had the flu.

Wednesday was my day off so I was able to take care of Liam here at home and give him lots of TLC. He was beside himself with crankiness and couldn't seem to doze for more than 30 minutes at a time even though he was exhausted. I was able to get him to drink a bit but eating wasn't something he wanted to do. Around dinner time my toilet decided to plug up and keep running and running......I didn't noticed the SPLASHING sound until the bathroom was well flooded and there was water pouring into the basement bathroom via the ceiling. I used every single towel in my linen closet to mop up the mess and put in an emotional email to Keith. As this was happening Liam fell on top of Chad in the livingroom and split lip inside his mouth. Lotsa blood, lotsa tears and lots of (I'm ashamed to say) yelling on my part as this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Keith phoned me from Spokane and calmly brought me back down to earth. Then that massive nasty storm came and our lights flickered on and off. I don't like power outages and storms when I'm home alone. I am SUCH a baby. But we made it through the night.

Thurday.....I stayed home from work, bathroom is now dry, our power didn't go out, Liam's mouth is fine and he's been having a nap for the past 2 hours. He seems to be on the mend, thank God!

As for me, I am counting the hours until Keith gets home Friday night so I can relinquish my parenting responsiblities until I am physically and emotionally ready to go at it again!

Cozy & Warm

I received a most lovely gift from my mom when I went to pick up Liam after work today. A brand new 'bean bag'. Even though I call it a bean bag it isn't filled with beans...it's filled with wheat or barley. Warm it up for 3 minutes in the microwave and you can say bye bye to icy feet in bed. It's my best friend in winter! My exisiting bag was very old and somewhat worn out so my mom made each of us one of our very own. Thank you Mom!!!

Onto the health report. Keith, Nathan and Chad all had the flu (regular variety) this weekend. I played nurse and did my best to keep myself and Liam healthy. Nate and Chad should go to school tomorrow I think. Their eyes still have that ill look but I'm hoping a good night's sleep tonight with erase that. Keith will also head back to work tomorrow. It hit him the hardest as he was sick for almost a full week. It's a wicked flu.

Keep healthy out there blogger-friends...wash your hands lots!

Owies

Liam's facial scratch is a by-product of a crazy time at our house yesterday!

The ambulance had arrived and in all the commotion, Chad was left to supervise Liam. Liam fell off the couch and landed on a toy...face first.

I should back up and tell you why there was an ambulance in our driveway!

On Monday night Keith was investigating a big barn fire. To make a long story short he hurt his back moving a charged fire hose. At the time it was just a twinge and he thought nothing of it. Tuesday and Wednesday it was bugging him but nothing debilitating. Thursday it seized and by Friday he was completely incapacitated. There was no way to get him down our stairs to take him to ER...he was close to passing out from the pain when he tried to stand up.

To summarize the saga, he was taken to the hospital, given an appreciated shot of Demoral and x-rayed. The doctor was able to give us the good news that nothing was broken nor was there any sort of herniated disk. Diagnosis....torn muscle. He got a lecture on not coming to seek medical attention sooner and was sent home with several prescriptions for T3 and anti-inflammatories.

Today he is somewhat better. He is very slowly pacing around the house as he was ordered to keep moving and not lay about.

I let my inner Blogger down by not taking pictures in the ER but I was understandably distracted with all the hub-bub.

So....it's been quite an interesting Labour Day weekend so far. I don't need anymore excitement of this variety!

PS. A special thank you to Andrew for taking Nate to his grade six orientation, my mom for babysitting in a pinch and Murray for accompanying Keith to and from the hospital. We've got good families!

Little Chip

On Monday evening as we were doing the bedtime routine a most interesting thing happened.

Chad was flossing his teeth and the floss was a little hard to pull through his molar. So he gave it a good tug and out flew a piece of his tooth! It bled, he freaked, and well, Keith and I didn't know WHAT to do! We'd never heard of this before. I gathered up his little tooth fragment and we inspected his molar. It definitely was missing the corner but since it was a baby tooth we figured it should be okay.

Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon. Chad comes home from school to tell me that his mouth hurt when he ate his lunch. All my thoughts of leaving this issue alone were put aside and I promptly called the dentist. We were told to come over right away and so I dashed off leaving Nathan to babysit Liam for the first time!

We got to the office and were ushered into an exam room right away with our little 'chip' in a ziplock back. The dentist took a look and decided to quickly fill the little hole right there and then. Chad wasn't pleased to have to get a filling but he endured and was brave. His dentist told me that his tooth probably already had a chip ( from crunching hard candy I bet!) and the floss snagged it and when Chad tugged out the floss it broke the weak point of the tooth and out it came.

Next time your kids floss watch for flying teeth!

Feeling Better But NOT Better

March 11 ~ an evil bug attacks me and I am feverish, achey and having the worst sore throat I can ever remember

March 13 ~ go to Doctor to get a swab done to test for Strep

March 20 ~ FINALLY feeling like myself again and happy that no news is probably good news in regards to swab test

March 23 ~ Dr's office calls to have me come in to 'discuss' test results

March 24 ~ Indeed it was strep and I am now on antibiotics for seven days!

Gotta love the efficiency of the Canadian Health Care system!!!

How We Are

Being sick is the pits.

I had some sort of virus attack me Wednesday afternoon. It completely wiped me out all of Thursday. It was so bad that Keith had to stay home from work to take care of Liam...I was useless. My throat felt like I was swallowing a golf ball with razor blades. The aches, chills and fever made me want to die. Today the fever is gone but I feel quite weak still. The throat still hurts something fierce and I did go to the doctor to get a swab done to test for strep. The only good thing is that I can't really eat solids so I have dropped a few pounds. Bonus.

So much for doing something fun with the kids this weekend! Not only am I not up to it, Liam is still needing his treatments every four hours so we need to stick close to home. The doctor also checked Liam today and he is improving. What isn't so good is that she feels he could possibly have asthma. She has referred us to a pediatrician to sort out Liam's breathing issues. That appt. isn't until the end of April so until then we'll just hang tight.

I am not often sick so I feel like this winter was particularly bad with one cold, one flu and now this whatever I have. We are so much looking forward to a warm and healthy summer!

Relapse

Oh Liam why do you do this to us?!

Liam caught a mild cold in the first half of February. It ran it's course and we thought that was the end of it. For the second half of February until now he's had a bit of a rattle or wheeze you could say. You know how it sounds when you need to clear your throat. Liam would cough a time or two and it would clear up. It wasn't anything serious....at least that's what my mother's intuition told me. My mother's inutition is apparently defective.

Today he was raspy all day. It was very phlegmy sounding when he breathed. I still was dithering on what to do about it because in all other respects he appeared completely healthy. Robust, hungry, rosy-cheeked, smiling, squealing and all that delicious baby behaviour. Keith came home from work tonight, heard him breathing and made an immediate decision to take him to the local walk-in. I was skeptical because we haven't had much luck with walk-in clinic doctors. But this time we lucked-out with a great doctor. The doctor on duty was our regular GP's associate. I've met her a few times in the past and have a great feeling about her. She got Liam's history, listened to his chest and sent Keith with a referral letter straight to ER for x-rays. Once Keith got to the ER he was fast tracked through triage and saw the attending physician very quickly. The x-ray wasn't great but it wasn't bad enough to admit him. Thank-you God! He's was given a prescription for the same meds he was on back in January. Also, the doctor gave strict instructions for the future. When Liam gets any sort of cough, wheeze, rattle etc to take him to the doctor pronto. That way we can get the Ventalin and treat him before it gets worse. We will need to invest in a nebulizer since this is going to probably be Liam's weak point in his health for a few years at least.

When Keith got home with Liam you should have heard the squeals of delight from that baby! One wouldn't think a 5 month old would miss his mom and brothers so much but if you could have seen him...it was a sight to see.

He...I Mean 'We' Made It

Liam's shots went really well. I'm pretty sure he wasn't too impressed but was quickly comforted after each of the three jabs. He's been a bit cranky but there hasn't been any fever or other reactions so far. Phew!

He's weighing in at 17 lbs 12 oz (clothes) which puts him in the 90th percentile. He's a robust lad!

I Need Calm

Liam is getting his first set of shots tomorrow. We have delayed it but not giving up on immunizations altogether. I researched them the best I could and we have a plan that we think we can live with.

That being said I am nervous.

Please pray that Liam doesn't have any adverse reactions and that his body can handle them with minimal pain and fever.

Thank-you.

Our Boy is Home

Well....that was not something I'd like to repeat anytime soon. But what matters most is that Liam is home and on the mend. I've typed out a few of the details of the past few days at the bottom of this post. Like I've said before this blog also acts as my personal journal (and I will print the whole darn thing one day) so it's for posterity!

At home, safe in Mummy's arms.
Loving his puppy.

The hospital room was a tad chilly, hence the coat!

Keith administering the ventalin treatment. We are to do them at home now for 10 days.

He was such a trooper!

On Dec 24th he started with what seemed like an innocent cold which was probably passed along from his older brothers. Each day the cold got just a little worse. Mainly it was the coughing fits that really concerned us. We researched our books and the internet to find that there is nothing to be done for a cold in an infant except humidifier, saline nose drops and lots of TLC. On Dec 27th we decided to take Liam to the walk-in clinic to have him evaluated since his chest sounded a little raspy. The doctor there (with whom I was not impressed) basically told us it was a cold and layed a guilt trip on me for not breast-feeding. Not a fun experience but we were relieved and went our merry way. The night of the 27th Liam grew dramatically worse. He would not settle down and was coughing to the point of gagging and we would tell he was in pain from a raw throat. It just was heart breaking but beyond that really frightening. We decided to call the nurses 24 hour hotline to see what we should do! After relaying all his symptoms to her she told us to get to ER to be assessed right away. So we made one of those dreaded 'middle of the night' phone calls to Keith's brother (THANK YOU MURRAY!!!!) who rushed over to stay with our other children (who were blissfully unaware of any of this night time drama) so we could go to the hospital. This was around 4:00 am.
We made the right decision for sure as we were fast tracked into ER with no wait (unheard of!) and Liam had x-rays and a swab of his nose to test for RSV. The results for RSV proved negative and the pediatrician told us he had a very nasty virus that caused bronchiolitis (sp?) and pneumonia on one lung. And here we thought it was just a cold! We were so upset but at the same time very relieved we were in the hospital now where he could have the proper treatment. He was admitted to pediatrics and has been receiving ventalin, IV, oxygen and antibiotics. Through this entire experience our sweet baby has not fussed or been a cranky sort. Yes he screamed murder through the x-ray, IV and blood test but otherwise he smiles at the staff and basically has had the most lovely disposition. We are emotionally spent and at the same time so utterly grateful for the support of our friends, family. Keith is my hero...he stayed both nights with Liam and let me go home to sleep the night at home. The first time I had uninterrupted 8 hours of sleep since probably early summer and yes...it was fabulous!

Adventures in Living

I am posting from the bedside of my sick baby Liam at Abbotsford General Hospital. There is so much to catch my readers up on! I will just let you know that there will be full details of the holidays and lots of pictures as soon as we are settled back home.
Liam should be discharged tomorrow! His x-ray today showed much improved lungs. If you hadn't heard by now, he came down with a very nasty virus in his airways and caught a bit of pneumonia.
But I will leave you with this....never listen to a clinic doctor when he tells you your baby has 'just a cold' when your gut tells you otherwise. Your gut is ALWAYS right!

Busted

Yesterday I got quite a scare. My body told me in not so many words that something was quite wrong.

I was at the doctor's this morning and was assured I am okay but need to slow down a bit.

I was going full throttle much too soon. It's so hard for me to take it easy.

My doctor completely understood once Keith told him I was Mennonite. He said...'Aha! I married a Mennonite woman too. They are from good stock...hard workers.'

So I am going to attempt to tone it down this week. I think I'd better hit the library and stock up on some good reads!