jackijayne

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I used to hate to shop for clothes.  Now at least I sort of enjoy it.  I can find clothes that fit without going to Lane Bryant or hitting the Roamans catalog.  Six months ago, hubbies shirts were a bit snug.  I now wear them as night shirts.  I discovered I have collar bones and hip bones...sadly I apparently don't have boobs when not overweight.  guess Mom kept that genetic gem to herself..lol  I went from a 48C to a 40B...but my boobs still stick out further than my belly and that was exciting in and of itself. 
I bought scrubs for work 6 weeks ago and now they are too big...best waste of money ever..lol  Sometimes I look in the mirror and can't believe that is me!  I was mistaken for my daughter last week.  I was so excited I nearly had heart palpitations( Oddly, my daughter wasn't as excited..LOL)
I have run into the problem at work that everyone wants to feed me.  I work in a physicians office..everyone knows I have had surgery..yet they insist on trying to get me to eat things.  Maybe a drawback of working with a staff that is close to Mom's age and they Mother everyone to death.   Or they are trying to drive me insane...jury is still out on that one.
The docs I work for had lots of questions for me about my surgery.  They didn't have a high opinion of it having had several patients that have had surgery and claimed it failed.  The surgery worked, but the patients failed to do their part and take responsibility for their eating and exercise.  People looking for that magic pill I guess. 
Sending my wedding rings off to get re-sized next week.  Even with the ring guards, I nearly lost my rings pulling off a pair of gloves at work...time to put them up til they fit.  makes my hand feel naked.  I appreciated the offer from Hubby for the ring tattoo, but think I'll wait for my diamonds back..lol
Christmas is getting closer..shopping still isn't done.  Only one that is finished is my little guy.  the grown kids are hard to shop for...I think I am gonna do gift cards with a twist..wrap them in weird shaped boxes...cards are just so boring..lol
Happy Holidays, Ya'll...Hope everyone has a wonderful time and gets thru the holiday food with nary a dump or a belly ache. 

WHHHOOOOO  HHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The fair was wonderful..right up until I got sick..the sickest I have ever been in my life.  Went to the doc, got swabbed for flu..spent 9 days getting better and essentially on house arrest..because I had swine flu.  Keeping in mind I work in health care, so no work, no check...can't go around giving flu to all my little patients.

Sadly, my Mom caught it too.  She is immunosuppressed due to medication needed for her fibrocystic lung disease.  She seems to be doing better and her breathing is better.  Thankfully the kids didn't catch it.  My oldest daughter works in a nursing home so they put her on Tamiflu.  It was too late to treat me, but Mom was treated with Tamiflu too and seems like she is getting thru it faster than I could.  Sure did kick my butt.  I am so tired I can hardly go, but have to get back to work tomorrow. 

I still don't want to eat any hing.  Nothing tastes good.  I am getting my fluids down now.  I got a little dry, but am bouncing back.  Highly recommend for everyone to read up about H1N1.  I was amazed by how silly people got and all the misinformation out there.  My mother-in-law was convinced she had flu even though I haven't been near her for months.  She truly does believe that I am the root of all evil...maybe she won't come back to visit anymore...see?  bright point to everything!
I also can't say this enough..if you have flu symptoms..STAY HOME!  If you go to your doc, tell them on the phone you have symptoms..they may want you to come in a back door or take you back right away so you don't contaminate the waiting room.  Some offices will give you a work excuse without you going in...the staff doesn't want the flu either..lol

It has rained for a solid week.  I nearly need scuba gear to get to my jeep and then thankfuly I have 4 wheel drive to get out of the driveway.  My hounds think this is the answer to their doggy prayers..water, mud, and the boy rolling around the yard with them.  If it wasn't so cute, I would scream every time I had to mop the WHITE kichen floor.  White flooring..what were we thinking??

My daughter came home from college after 3 weeks.  the first thing she said was WOW, you lost even more weight..the 2nd?  oh Mom we gotta get you some britches tha fit!  I bought scrubs for work last week.  I went from a 4x/5x to a 2x.  YAY 
I have 2 pair of jeans I can wear, although my daughter says they are too big.  I ahve a really hard time parting with my jeans and I have worn things shapeless for so long I am never sure how they look when I try them on.  I guess that is all part of the process.  I love hat feeling of when you try something on expecting it to still be too snug and it not only fits, but is roomy!

This week is out county fair.  Not a big deal to some folks, but in this rural area, everyone goes to the fair..all the 4-H shows, FFA, FHA< Scouts..everyone has projects to show.  Around here, family that lives away comes home for Fair even if they don't come home for holidays.  I will see family and friends that didn't know I had surgery or haven't seen me since surgery.  I am excited and nervous all at the same time.  My hubby used to plan his week around what he was gonna eat a he fair...this year is all different.  This year we eat before we go and settle back to enjoy the horse shows and tractor pulls and never need to get up to go hunting for the Italian sausage booth...lol

Ya gotta love small town America.  I wouldn't trade this little corner for anything.  My girls used to say they couldn't wait to leave this one horse town, but my oldest lives less than 5 miles from us.  This might very well be hillbilly paradise.  We have more dogs than kids, we own 2 4x4 trucks, and 4-H and marching band consumed most of our time growing up, when we weren't pitching out the barn, or feeding animals.  We put in tobacco, baled hay, and painted barns.  Our kids don't even know what work is anymore. 

OK..so we have safely delivered our little girl to college.  I am pretty sure we lost brain cells the moment we hit the campus.  I was pretty impressed that I could keep up with her while we were hiking all over the place getting things done.  I couldn't have done that 4 months ago.  She thought it was pretty cool too..lol

So, my 2nd daughter left for school, our bank account is now empty, and we are down to one 8 year old son left.  My daughters have left me home in testosterone hell.  I shall never got hold of the remote again...or sit down to a dinner without reminding someone to take off a hat or put on a shirt..lol 

All things considered, things have been pretty good.  I'll be painting bedrooms next week, as we are doing some rearranging.  Brett gets Kait's old room since it is bigger and Kait and I are gonna share the little bedroom as a combination crash pad and craft room..lol  I have been having some nausea issues lately, but I think it is because I have been trying new things and some of them don't sit well.. BEEF makes my pouch grouchy.  And OMG what I wouldn't have given for a sandwich this week.  I miss bread some days more than others.  Those are the trade offs to get healthy.  I have lost so much weight already, but still have only gone down 1 pant size...but 3 top sizes..I sort of miss having boobs too..lol

I asked hubby if it was weird for him that my body is constantly changing shape/firmness/size.  He said it never mattered what I looked like no matter how big how small or in between, he always loved me for me and as long as he looked ino my eyes, it was all good.  I knew he was a keeper..lol  Don't know what I would have done without him all these years. When I started having trouble with the FMS and all the muscle spasms, he took massage classes and joined a support group on line to learn all he could to help me.  When i started having all the ortho trouble and had to keep having surgeries on various limbs, he altered he house and rearranged everything to accomodate the braces, wheelchair, walker..etc.  Never once did he complain about how hard it was for him or how it affected him.  Only asked what he could do for me.  Somedays i wonder how I was so blessed to find such a wonderful man! 
We were out on the motorcycle yesterday.  It was so nice to have a little us time.   He put on a new sissy bar for me and it has this big pad on it that makes it so much more comfortable to ride...no hip pain..no back pain...oh yeah.  Life is good.

OK..I have been big all of my life.  There are some things I just never tried to do.  Horseback riding would be one of them.  Now having grown up on a farm and being around animals all of my life, one would think I would have hefted my big butt up on a horse one time or another.  Nope...too afraid, I couldn't get on the horse or was too heavy for the horse...or would fall off the horse.  Now I am taking riding lessons...who'd have thunk?  lol
My hubby is joining a riding group for the Shriner's.  He is being inducted into the Shriner's and now is doing the riding thing in parades.  His buddies that are in the group and have the horses invited the families to the farm to ride and the other wives are gonna teach me to ride.  Amazing. For once I just said OK and didn't worry about if I was too big..for once I didn't say no or Maybe..just OK and jumped in with both feet (same said feet which now no longer require wide size shoes..lol)

I weeded the flower bed this evening..by myself and didn't have to stop because I was winded or my back hurt.  I was doing a happy dance about that but hubby thought I was flirting and then we got sidetracked and the other flowerbeds didn't get weeded..LOL
Goddess Bless life is GOOD! 

Today I took a bubble bath.  AND got out of the tub by myself!  Most folks take that for granted, but between my size and my arthritis that has not been possible for quite sometime.  I was so excited that I just stood in the bathroom and cried.  When I was done with the, I called my Mom and cried some more...lol
For once in my adult life I don't have any clothes I can wear because they are all TOO BIG instead of too tight.  YAY
Interestingly enough, I find it hard to get rid of all the too big clothes.  Like I am afraid I might need them again.   Crazy crazy.
My hubby is still doing the pre-op diet and has lost about 30 lbs.  he isn't scheduled for surgery, but is doing well on the diet so is sticking too it.  He started out doing it to help me pre-op.  My hubby so totally rocks!  YAY for him.  Now we are working out together and reconnecting on a whole new level.  He is even more amazing than he was when we married.  Now that we are down to just one kid left at home, we have even more time for each other and actually feel like spending it doing something and not just vegetating.  I have lost 67 lbs!!  That is like giving birth to a 7 year old..LOL
OK...time to get to work, I have soap to make and bath salts to finish and more packing o help my 18 year old wondergirl o do before she leaves for college.  Sigh.  Is life good or what?!

OK..so I went to my family doc and also my part time employer for the first time since surgery and got weighed and oohed and aahhed over.  Made me feel pretty good.  I am down to 2 prescriptions from the 7 or so I was on 2 months ago...YAY again.  All of my FMS symptoms are gone...hopefully for good.  My arthritis is some better but not much to do to fix that.  I cleaned 2 big garbage bags of clothes out of my dresser/closet and sent to my Mom.  She said it will encourage her to lose weight to get into my old stuff.  A friend sent me a huge box of clothes she cleaned out of her closet that is too small for her and it mostly fit me..YAY more!
Most everyone has been great thru this whole thing.  There are always those that have something snarky to say.  My hubby has been uber-wonderful.  I did notice that my boobs were the first thing to start shrinking...sad..the one hing I couldn't afford to lose..lol  Oh well...we'll work in the boob job beween the tummy tuck and the bat flap fix in a few years!!  

Hard to believe it has been a month already.  Things have been so hectic around here.  Hubby had two deaths in his family and then I caught some kind of stomach bug...way not cool.  Thankfully things are better now.  I don't feel hungry a good bit of the time, so some days it is a struggle to get all my protein in and somedays it just doesn't happen.  syntha 6 from GNC has been my life line lately, but I am so getting burned out on chocolate anything!

I bagged up a bunch of clothes yesterday that are too big.  It was exciting, but my brain still wanted to store them in case i needed them later.  I see the numbers dropping on the scale but still hard for me to see the difference everyone else is seeing.  I guess that will come with time. 

I did get back into an old swimsuit I found in my close...That really tickled me!  I haven't been in the pool near as much as I would like...it hs been too chilly and rainy.  Some days I really really miss my Celebrex!!  All tthe rain has about kicked my butt without any NSAIDS.  My arthritis has been flared pretty good here lately, but I try and keep plugging along.  Ortho says when he is sure my sugars will stay normal we will look at doing a steroid injection in my hips again...YAY for steroids!  for a short time I feel like wonder woman!  I knew my pain wouldn't be completely better with the weight loss, but it helps and besides, the days it gets really bad and I can't walk, then I will be lighter for hubby to carry me.  It's like a 2 for 1 deal...I lose weight and save both of our backs!!

Life is good and even the crummy days could be worse.

YAY  I can get in the pool again!  Stitches came out, everything looked good.  Nutritionist patted me on the head and said I was doin fine and in 2 weeks we would work up to pureed foods...sigh.  Not that the whole modified full liquid diet isn't grand, but my God is it boring..lol MEAT...I crave meat...I was eyeing the dog like he might be tasty but I am feeling better now.

No nausea, no vomiting, no pain.  Life is good.  I was on the motorcycle yesterday and back in the pool today.  already my hips didn't hurt on the bike.  I was amazed and stuck between smiling and wanting to cry for joy.  I have never ridden that my hips didn't hurt.  My fibromyalgia symptoms are so much better with the high protein diet.  I am off most of my meds. This was the best decision I ever made and I am so thankful that my wunnerful hubby and kids have been so supportive.  ( At least they do the McDonalds run while I am sleeping and get rid of the evidence before I wake up.)