Health Update

 I had my first medically supervised diet visit with my PCP today. If their scales are the same as my bariatric doctor's, I lost SIX POUNDS in one week! I am stoked! God is so good. My blood sugars have been dropping like crazy, though. Sooooooo... He dropped my insulin TWENTY-SIX UNITS and dropped one thousand milligrams of Metformin! Again,,, STOKED!! I will come back and finish my update when I get my lab results.

UPDATED: All labs were good. A1C was 6.3. 

August A1C Update

 A1C was 6.1 this time! 

Health Update

 After spending a lot of time stressing about my stress test and then the heart cath, everything came back almost clean. I have a 20-30% blockage in one of my arteries which the cardiologist says he is not worried about at this time. 

A1C - 6.2

Weigh-In Month Four Week One

 I started on the 10 mg this week. I also had my first follow up with my doctor. It went well. I am looking forward to seeing what my labs show. 

ETA: Labs were all great. A1C was 6.1!

 

Highest Weight (2012) - 360

Mounjaro Starting Weight - 313.2

Current Weight - 292.6

Goal Weight - 100

November 2023 A1C

 7.5

September a1c

 My a1c was 8.2.

August Health Update

 After an extremely long time without insurance, I was finally able to see the doctor and have blood drawn again. While they drew a lot of things, the only thing I really keep track of on here lately is my a1c and it was 9.1 . That is my update for now. 

Health Update

 So here I am again. I try not to post too much stuff any more because out of sight out of mind. This weekend I wasn't feeling great. Saturday, I was what-I-can-only-describe-as "off." I just wasn't feeling right. I had been extra tired for the last couple weeks (I was coming down from a CFS flare so I didn't think too much about it. Something told me to test my ketones, though. You must toss ketone strips six months after you open them. It was time for a new bottle so I stopped by Walmart on my way out and grabbed more. When I got home I tested and my ketones were measuring high. I have had some super high blood sugars and NEVER tested that high at home. When I was diagnosed with DKA, I hadn't been introduced to ketone strips yet so I do not know what they would have measured at then. So I did what any normal person would do. I felt like a woman who was just surprised by a positive pregnancy test. I took another test...then another. With each test I was sure I just had a bad bottle of test strips. So, for kicks and giggles, I used a strip out of the "old" bottle. Again, same thing. You must read the results at the 15 second mark. These strips were turning "high" before 10 seconds. So I tested my blood sugar. (Yes, I did things backwards.) It was 129. Wait just a minute. "Rules" say I shouldn't even be testing my ketones unless my blood sugar is over 150. If I had tested my blood before my ketones I wouldn't have taken the ketone tests. So I called the on call doctor for my office and they sent me to the ER. I waited in the waiting room almost 5 hours before I saw a doctor. They did bloodwork and gave me fluids. The bloodwork showed that my ketones were measuring at 80 which is the number my home test gave me. It also showed I was dehydrated. The good news was that it wasn't in my blood, though. They sent me home after I had fluids. I did not have I good visit with the ER. Some things can be overlooked. I am well aware that our health care system is strained right now due to COVID, but the ER never even asked what meds I was on or anything. They also had a host of meds on my discharge paperwork that I haven't taken since the last time I was admitted (2 years ago). 

Today I had my follow-up visit with my doctor. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE my doctor. He is awesome. We talked about my blood sugar. He added a new medicine for that to try to help control my levels. I have also "graduated" to the next level of diabetes today. For a while now I have been having nerve issues with my feet and some in my hands as well. I knew what this meant so I ignored it for a very long time before I brought it up. Out of sight out of mind, right? Finally, I wised up and realized that refusing to acknowledge the issues I was having didn't mean they weren't happening (pretty simple, duh!) but I was staying in pain out of my own stubbornness. We talked about things regarding the pain. I have been diagnosed with Diabetic Neuropathy. I am now on a new med to help that pain. I am hoping both of these new meds help get things under control. 

I am so frustrated with my body, though. I do not understand why I was throwing ketones with my blood sugar so low. I do not understand why I was dehydrated. I have a mug that I have with me at all times when I am home. It is a huge trucker's mug. It is always filled with ice water and it gets refilled at least 2-3 times a day. I drink well over a gallon of water in a day. When we got home at 7AM on Sunday from the ER, I told John I felt like the only solution was to stop eating anything and to start drinking enough water to give myself water poison. At this point, I hadn't slept since I got up Saturday morning. I'd had lunch at noon Saturday and hadn't eaten since then because I was stuck in the ER forever. I felt helpless and hopeless. After some sleep, I felt a little better emotionally. So here we are... we will see how these new meds help. 

Today's A1C 8.3. It has only went up 0.1 in almost a year. It isn't a good number. It could be better, but at least it is pretty stable so I will take it as a starting point. 

Mama

A1C

In January my A1C was 10.5. I had more bloodwork done yesterday. The nurse called this morning. My A1C was 8.1. I still have more work to do, but I am getting there.

Health Update

This blog is going to be TMI. You have been warned so if you wish to spare yourself, read no further.

About 2 months ago I started having really bad abdominal cramping. It felt like it was around my ovaries. It got to the point that it would take my breath away so I went to see a Gynecologist. He is my best friend's doctor. When I got into see him, he did an exam and said everything "looked good." He wanted to send me for an ultrasound though. His tech wasn't in that day, so I was scheduled. I had to end up rescheduling, though. I had my ultrasound about two weeks ago. I have PCOS so my uterine lining was thicker than they wanted it to be. The tech also found a polyp. The doctor scheduled me for a D&C and a Polypectomy. I had that done on Thursday, July 30th.

The morning of my surgery, I went in and did all of the normal pre-op stuff. I was pretty freaked out. It took two tries to get my IV started. Five days later, both of my hands are still sore. Surgery went well, but the doctor found a second polyp. He told my husband that both of the polyps looked good so he didn't expect cancer out of either of them. He was worried about this prior to surgery, though.

Healing from surgery has been interesting. I still have some tenderness from the surgery. I am extremely tired, but having CFS that is to be expected, I guess. What wasn't expected was that I woke up from surgery with the underside of my left arm completely numb. It stared out in a small spot, but as the day went on, it worked it's way almost completely up my arm. I feel everything on my outer arm, but I don't feel anything on the underside. Most people experience the sleep/pins and needles feeling when they are numb. I feel nothing. I can touch/pinch my arm, but feel nothing.

Friday, I went in for my routine lab work to be done. I talked to him about my arm. He said he wanted to wait until today to make sure it didn't go away. Now, he's scheduling me for an EMG/nerve study. Yeah, that sounds like fun! All of my labs were normal. My A1C has dropped 1.9 points to 6.4. I am pretty proud of myself Yay!!


Blessings,

Mama

Getting Back Up

I don't even remember how long it has been since I blogged last, so bare with  me if I repeat some information. About ten weeks ago, I went to the doctor and found that my diabetes was completely uncontrolled. I had used an at-home A1C kit so I knew what was coming from this appointment. When I arrived at my appointment, I ended up having to see a student before I could see my doctor. He went crazy about my blood sugar levels, went through a complete medical history and then said the word I dreaded - INSULIN. At the time, the word insulin seemed like a death sentence. Worst of all, he hadn't even done labs. He had a very cold bedside manner. I was pressed for time and had to get back to get my kids, so I left that appointment without seeing my doctor or getting labs done. I went back in a couple days later and was able to discuss the situation with my doctor. He said that he wanted to try a couple more medicines before he started insulin. I was to come back in three months. This was in February. My lab results were as follows: A1C 9.0, Fasting  Glucose 290ish, and my cholesterol was elevated. (No, I hadn't been taking care of myself.)

Fast forward to about a month ago, at that point, my blood sugars had come down tremendously, My fasting levels weren't nearly as high on the new medications (Januvia and something else I cannot remember.) Things were looking good, but my numbers were still not "normal." Then, our family got sick. We all got the stomach flu. I ended up in the ER with my youngest daughter because she was so ill. I remember posting to facebook, how surprised I was that even without eating, my numbers were still running high. It was three days before I could eat anything more than broth, but my numbers were consistently high. I had been keeping a log of my blood sugar and I'm so glad I did because it helped me to notice a nasty trend in my blood sugar. No matter what I ate or how early in the evenings I ate, my blood sugar was still coming up way too high. I had switched around my two new diabetes medication to see if that would keep my fasting levels from being so high, but that didn't help either. Finally, I decided that I had had enough and made an appointment (two weeks early) with my doctor. (For those of you who have followed my story, or know me personally, you know that things had to be bad!)

I got to my appointment (last Wednesday) knowing I would walk out on insulin. There was just no way around it. I didn't WANT to be on insulin, but I was tired of feeling so bad. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), so I am used to being tired all the time. This was different, though. I would fall asleep after every meal. I had all of the tell-tale signs of diabetes. My doctor sat down with me, and in his normally kind manner told me that he felt that we had to do insulin. I had him to look through my past levels to see what my insulin level was in February. At this point, I'd never asked about this level. As expected, my level was extremely low. My body is still making insulin, but VERY little. I left with a sample insulin pen and  prescriptions for insulin, needles, and diet pills (per my request).

The doctor started me on 12 units of insulin and said to call every two days with my blood sugar readings so we could increase my insulin. They knew that 12 units wouldn't be enough, but they wanted to make sure they didn't overdose me with too much insulin. Friday, we increased my insulin to 16 units. Judging from my levels, I will be increasing again on Monday. My fasting levels are usually my highest one of the day. We eat dinner early (around 5) so it's weird that after not eating anything for over 12 hours that it's running so high. My body is so stubborn, it can't do anything by the book. Not eating makes me run high, but eating ice cream would cause  my blood sugar to run in the mid 100s. Eating low carb stuff makes me run high also.

I was my mama's primary care giver when she was alive. She had diabetes for almost 20 years so I knew a lot from taking care of her. I fussed at her for not taking care of herself, but I went into this denial phase when I was diagnosed. Insulin was sort of my come-to-Jesus moment that made me realize what I was doing to my body and to the lives of my children. I don't want to put them through what I was put through because of Mom's selfish choices. Up to this point, I had justified my own choices, but let's just call it what it is. I was following in my mama's footsteps and ten - twenty years earlier at that. All my life she had said that her goal was to live long enough to raise me. There are still some days I don't feel completely "raised." I still need my Mama. She had made her goal. I was 25 when she died. I will not settle for that. I don't want to live to see my kids grown or even my grand kids. I want to live to see my great-grandchildren. Now, I am a Christian and I believe that God already knows when my time to go will be, BUT I want to live a healthy life while I am here. I don't want heart surgery and amputations. I believe that God has better things in store for me if I choose to allow Him to give them to me. So here we go again. Let's do this.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Blessings,

Mama

February A1C 9.0
April A1C 8.3

April HDL 120

A1C - November 2012

Confession Time

My healthy eating has went out the window for the past couple months.  I knew I was doing it.  I cared more than I would have a year ago but not enough to stop.  I thought as long as I ate one meal a day that I could eat whatever I wanted.  That worked fine as long as I was eating healthy 99 % of the time.  My weight has went up and down and up again.  I do not want to be a yo-yoer any longer.


Sam came out of my room a few minutes ago and brought me one of my at-home a1c kits. I tested it and it was 6.0.  It is still relatively good for a diabetic, but it isn't near as good as what I had when I went to the doctor last time.  I won't be going back to the doctor until January.  I am due to go back in December, but why waste the deductible? Due to me forgetting my meds, I will have enough to get me through.


That brings me to my next point.  I cannot remember to take my medicine to save my life.  Before I got my new phone, I had a reminder to take my medicine each night.  Now I keep forgetting to set my reminder. Ironic, huh? Alright I stopped long enough to set my alarm to take my meds.  I should be good to go.


Here we go again!!

Lab Work Update..And Other Random Stuff

So I am driving down the road Wednesday morning on my way to clinic.  I was talking to the lady who did our family pictures to see if they were in yet.  She confirmed they were.  As we were ending our call I had another phone call come through.  It was the doctor's office calling with my lab work.  I rushed off the phone with the photographer and answered the nurse's call. 


I said hello.  She said  "Is this Lisa? This is soandso from dr soandso's office.  I have the results of your lab work. Are you sitting down?"  At this point, I am wondering whether I should pull over for the news she was about to gived me.  They only did two tests - the A1C (to check my diabetes) and a CMP which checks a little bit of everything.  She started out by saying the CMP was great.  Everything looked wonderful.  Metformin can effect your liver so they wanted to make sure my numbers were good before we continued the medication.


As she tells me the results I am now in panic mode thinking that my diabetes is completely out of control.  Why else would I need to sit down? She said "That just leaves the results of your A1C. They were <insert dramatic pause by nurse> PHENOMINAL! Your A1C was 4.9!!! Good work. The doctor said to continue doing what you're doing."  Wait one minute!!! What did she just say?  Can numbers even go that low?  I immediately called my husband...I texted my sister who asked what the number should be. She later texted me the info she found on google that said the number should be between 4.0 and 6.0.  I just searched for a chart that went that low.  Believe it or not, that really took some digging to find a chart that went that low.  The results is that an A1C of 4.9 is equivalent of an average blood sugar of 97.


I finally made it to clinic to get my shot.  I shared the good news with them.  They cheered me on.  It feels so great to know I am doing the right things and having proof of it.  My body is changing.  My diabetes is completely under control.  I have exercised 4 days this week and will go back again tomorrow.


It still hurts to walk out of the house each day.  I miss my babies like crazy when I am not here.  I feel a lot of mommy guilt.  I was getting ready to leave yesterday.  I had kissed everyone except for Isaiah.  As I was walking toward the door, he went to stand in front of it.  I bent down and kissed him and told him I was going to the gym. "No!" Yes, Mommy has to go to the gym. I love you and I will be back soon. "Noooo!" Please move so Mama can leave. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"  Daddy picked him up and I left with both of us in tears.  I had to remind myself the whole way to the gym that my kids are the reason I am doing this.  The momentary seperation we experience while I am at the gym isn't nearly as painful as the seperation we will experience if I don't take care of myself. 


Yesterday my older "baby" brother celebrated his *bleeeeep* anniversary of his 19th birthday.  He has always said that he is 19.  I am so glad I got to celebrate with him.  We all spent the evening laughing and arguing over a picture my sister had given me for my photo album for Dad.  She swore it was me...I don't think it is. Neither of us won the other over, but it was so fun. LOL


Speaking of Dad:  My heart is really torn at the moment.  I constantly struggle with giving him enough space and not wanting him to think I don't care.  I would love to spend Father's Day in church with him.  I am not sure this is something I will be brave enough to push though.  He hasn't asked me to join him and I have to wonder if it's because he isn't ready for that.  When we changed our vacation plans to do something closer to home, my first thought was that I would be close enough to home should things work out for me to live out my dream.  Now I need to add that I haven't asked him...he hasn't given me a reason to think he wouldn't want me there.  I just tend to over-analyze things.  Hey, it's what I do.  Please pray that God will give me the courage to do whatever HIS plan is for me concerning all of this.  Thank you.


Blessings,

Weight Loss Mama

What A Difference A Year Makes

April 2011 was my heaviest recorded weight mark at 360 lbs. My diabetes was completely out of control even in September 2011 with my levels running well into the mid to upper 300s most of the time. My A1C level was 12.5-13.0. I was sad, depressed and hopeless. In the midst of my adoption with the youngest two, I was discussing my wishes for my kids when I was gone. I was at such a low point and it just seemed to keep getting worse. I felt like I was too far gone and the more I thought about it the worse I felt.

I am about to complete month 4 of my weight loss journey and I am completely amazed what 4 months will do. February I did my first A1C in years. It was 6.0. I couldnt believe it. The home tests come in packs of two so I did the second test tonight. It's only been 2 months (thought it had been 3) and my levels have dropped again.

I got everything out of the box and sat there for a good two minutes before I could bring myself to poke my finger. I still have horrible needle-phobia. I finally poked my finger and collected the blood, put the sample in the container and shook it for 5 seconds. Then I placed the test disk into the machine. I waited until it told me it was ready for the sample. I placed the sample on the disk and waited...it seemed like it took forever to give me the results. Once they showed I just sat there and stared at them. I know I am working hard and making changes to my lifestyle, but to see results still leaves me scratching my head saying "how'd that happen? SURELY, that's not what I seen!" Ten minutes later I placed everything in the box to throw away.....

Mini Progress Report

WEIGHT

April 2011 - 360
December 2012 - 326
January 2012 - 315
February 2012 - 308
March 2012 - 302
April 2012 - 298


DIABETES / A1C LEVELS

September 2011 - 12.5 - 13.0 (basing this on my blood sugar levels) / average level in upper 300s
February 2012 - 6.0 / average level being 120 ish
April 2012 - 5.3 / average level 92ish


I am still in awe of what happens when you decide to make changes. I praise God for those who have helped me along the way. This isn't the end, or even the middle point, but I am very impressed. I can see body changes without even trying to find them now. I look slimmer. My "rolls" are more like mini-rolls now. ;-) I will post April pics soon.

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. - Jeremiah 29:12-13 NKJV

Blessings,

Weight Loss Mama

Trials and Triumphs

Trials and Triumphs

The past month I have been dealing with a lot of stuff. From Jeremiah's death to some other personal stuff going on. I have lost weight like I wanted to. I go back to clinic and I'm hovering around 2-5 pounds depending on the day. A loss is still a loss, but I know I can do better. I had so many goals for this month and I've failed miserably. Still, today is a new day. I will not live in yesterday, but will focus on today because TODAY is what I can change.


I have diabetes. It took me years to admit that. It took me years to stop rationalizing that. Growing up and in my early twenties I was "a very healthy obese person." I didn't have diabetes. My cholesterol was picture perfect. My blood pressure couldn't be better. I was a walking contradiction because I WAS very healthy despite being obese. I took that for granted. I abused my body. After mom died I stopped caring at all. I turned to food for comfort. Then issues with birth parents, GAL, adoption stuff made me turn to food even more. I was eating to cope. My coping skills were killing me.

In September I checked my blood sugar for the first time in ages. I still wasn't taking my meds. I nearly passed out when I looked at the machine and seen the numbers 368. I consistently checked it fasting never got out of the 200s. Post prandials (sp?) were never out of the 300s. I was so scared because I KNEW what this all meant. I was too scared to die, but too scared to change.

Since Mom passed away I have been very angry at her lifestyle choices. She could've chosen to lose weight but she didn't. She could've chosen to stop smoking, but she didn't until she'd done so much damage that it could never be reversed. She could've chosen life so that my kids could've had more time with their Grammie. She could've chosen life so that I wouldn't have been an orphan at 25.

I was such a hypocrite. Here I was getting so upset with Mama for the horrible choices she made that caused me to live without my mama were the exact same choices that I was making now. Worse still was the fact that I not only knew what SHE went through and the demons she struggled with to live healthy, but I KNEW what I would be putting my children through after I died.

Fast forward to December 28th when my life changed forever. 326 lbs and determined to get healthy. Between September and December my eating habits didn't change at all unless they moved in a more negative direction. While I didn't check my blood sugar then I'm sure it hadn't changed any.

Here I am at the 7 week mark. This morning I went to Walmart and purchased a new blood sugar machine. I also found that they had started making an at home A1C test. For those of you who don't know what that is it is a blood test that averages the last 3 months of blood sugar levels. This test is the reason I was glad to avoid going to the doctor for the last 3 years. I purchased the test and finished my shopping. When I got home I tested my blood sugar and then took the test. The past two months my eating habits have changed DRASTICALLY. This morning my kids wanted Krystals so I stopped and got a 12 pack. I had one with them. the A1C test is supposed to be fasting.

My results weren't what I expected at all. I opened everything and checked my blood sugar. It was 87. Ok so I hadn't done too bad with the Krystal. Then I prepared myself for the number that I was going to see on the other test and I took the plunge. When I called my sister Kathy to tell her the results I looked up a chart online to see what my result averaged out to. Looking at the chart my blood sugar levels in September were equivalentant to an A1C level of 12.5-13.0. Today my A1C level was 6.0. That means my average blood sugar is around 136. I have done well enough in the last 7 weeks to drop my A1C 7 points.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO proud of myself. I am glad to see the weight coming off. It's not coming off nearly as fast as I would like to see it, but it IS coming off. However, the A1C tells me more about my progress than the scale EVER will. I AM getting healthier. This was the reward, the pay off for all of my hard work the last 7 weeks. I did this. WoW!!!

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11

Blessings,

Weight Loss Mama