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Weigh In Wednesday: Life is good edition

March 31, 2010 By 6 Comments

Sometimes God completely surprises you

Just a month ago, we found out my Aunt/Godmother had been upgraded to active on the donor registry. Because there are so many people across the country needing a liver, we expected to wait a long time (2-3 years) for her to get a cadaver liver. We wondered how far Janice’s disease might progress while she waited for a liver. When her doctors spoke of the possibility of a living donor transplant, two people stepped forward to be tested to determine if they could donate half their liver to Janice so she wouldn’t have to wait so long.

Then completely out of the blue, the Mayo Clinic called my aunt last night to tell her they had a liver that was a near perfect match for her. The surgery began this morning and was completed by early afternoon. Blood and bile began flowing immediately in the new liver as soon as it was hooked up. The surgeon was very pleased with how well the surgery went. Janice did not even need to receive any units of blood or blood products which is highly unusual. She is still in Transplant ICU but may be transferred to a room in the Transplant wing as soon as tomorrow. As with any transplant patient, the next two days are crucial.

God is GOOD. Our prayers have been answered!!!

In case you were wondering, Janice is one of my family members I’m run/walking a half marathon for in July. Mile 13 is dedicated to her. She has ulcerative colitis plus the degenerative liver disease. Both are autoimmune diseases. I am so thankful God has blessed her and all of us with such a precious gift. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers… as well as for the family of the person who died and ultimately saved her life. If you are not a registered organ donor, I urge you to consider registering and telling your family and friends your wishes. You could help save a life! In Wisconsin, you can now register as an organ donor online.

April is Donate Life month, too! Every year, people across the U.S. make a special effort to celebrate the tremendous generosity of those who have saved lives by becoming organ, tissue, marrow, and blood donors and to encourage more Americans to follow their fine example. Learn more about Donate Life Month here.

Update on my health

I had a checkup with my doctor this week to see where things were with my blood pressure and thyroid counts. The good news? My blood pressure was 128/84! I don’t have to get it checked for another 6 months. The bad news? My thyroid counts went up again so they increased my meds again. I’m honestly not surprised that my counts were high again. I have been feeling crappy again – low energy, cold – lately and I am anxiously waiting for the meds to kick in!

And now… drumroll please…

I gained .2 lbs this week (aka no change)… BUT I lost 5.75 inches in the past 4 weeks. My grand total is 12.8 lbs lost and 18.5 inches lost in 12 weeks! While I’m very happy with those numbers, I’m a little disappointed that I haven’t lost more weight in 12 weeks. I’ve been working out 4-6 days a week and have tried to be smarter with my food choices. I’ll just have to work harder!

Filed Under: Health, Stats Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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The one with the dog attack

March 30, 2010 By 2 Comments

Today was the most bizarre day of my life. First, I got to spend the afternoon with Danny Gokey, taking photos while he had a photo shoot and then shot a commercial for Wisconsin Vision… (see the pix here).

It ended up being almost an 11-hour workday. Whatevs, it happens. So then, I headed off to West Allis to have dinner with my parents and get my walk in for my half marathon training.

I changed into my workout gear and suited the dogs up in their harnesses and leashes and we were off. We kept a good pace going and even ran for a bit (which they LOVED). They were behaving so well. I was so proud of them. And then, it happened.

We were about 2/3 of a mile into the walk and this little french bulldog came barreling out of a house towards my dogs. He sort of tried to smell them and then he went right after Bandit. He had Bandit’s entire lower jaw IN HIS MOUTH. So of course, I’m FREAKING OUT trying to get Bandit out of his grip and keeping Gizmo from beating the shit out of this dog. Seriously, Gizmo looked like he was out to kill. All the while the owner just stood by the garage calling for the dog to come over. Finally I looked up at her and said, “would you come get your damn dog? He’s eating my Bandit!!!” It took both of us to get Bandit out of his grip. I have the battle wounds to prove it. I checked Bandit over and he wasn’t bleeding or anything so I grabbed him up and headed back home. And then I lost it. I called my dad to come meet us. I was sobbing uncontrollably for a few blocks on 84th street just south of Lincoln. My arm hurt so I pushed up my sleeve and I saw a pretty gross looking tooth mark but wasn’t really worried about me.

I sat on the sidewalk and cried and tried to tweet what happened (see above). My hands were shaking so much and my heart was racing (at least I got a decent heart rate going on my walk, right?). My parents came and then my mom took the dogs and my dad walked back with me to the house to get the owner’s info. The dog is fully vetted and she’s going to send me the paperwork to prove it tomorrow. The owner had the BALLS to ask me how I knew it was HER dog that bit me. I replied, “BECAUSE YOUR DOG HAD MY DOG IN HIS MOUTH.” Bitch.

I don’t need stitches or anything so I’m not calling the cops. If Bandit would have been bleeding or I needed stitches, I so would have busted her butt for the incident.

Hopefully tomorrow’s workout will be less eventful.

oh, so after this all happened, I cleaned up my wounds, my parents took me to Subway (we WERE going to grill chicken)… and then I went to Rodiez’s Running Store for a shoe clinic with Team Challenge. As I was headed home I got the most amazing phone call. My aunt is on the way to Mayo Clinic. They found her a liver!!! EEEEEK! Our prayers have been answered!

Filed Under: Emotions, exercise Tagged With: , ,
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Sleep Study: The results

March 29, 2010 By 1 Comment

Last week I got the results from my sleep study and I just realized that I never updated y’all on what happened. As you see above, I took a few pictures when I was at the Sleep Wellness Institute.

  1. The morning after. Gentlemen, eat your hearts out. (PS I’m wearing a Teecycle shirt!)
  2. The bed.
  3. The monitor. Each one of those li’l circles had a cord plugged into it and the other end was somewhere on my face, head, chest, or legs.
  4. Sleep number bed controls
  5. Eagle Eye

The study was fine I guess. I was treated nicely by the sleep tech… it was just weird to have all those cords on me and to have someone watching me sleep all night long. Apparently I only went into REM sleep once, which isn’t surprising because it was so hard to try to sleep. I kept waking up! Because of all the goop on my face/scalp, I ended up washing my hair almost 10 times before I was free of the goop.

Last week I got a call from my doctor’s office with the results. I only had a few “apneas” during the night… and was told that it doesn’t need to be treated!!! Basically, I have what I’ll call “baby apnea” and Dr. H says if I lose another 10 pounds it won’t be a problem at all!  WOOHOO!

I’m very happy that I don’t have sleep apnea – No need for a CPAP machine!!! EEEK!!!!

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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Weigh In Wednesday, Pants-on-the-ground edition

March 24, 2010 By 1 Comment

These are my jeans. My go-to jeans. My “wear-almost-every-day-of-the-week” jeans. Even washing them every few days doesn’t keep them small enough anymore. Do you see what I’m dealing with people? Saggy butt jeans. They are officially retired (at least until I get them to a seamstress or something). I was getting lunch at work today and quickly ran across the street. In the process, my pants fell almost all the way off my ass. In the middle of Brown Deer Road. At noon. The sun may have been shining but some drivers got a nice view of the full moon.

Obviously, I need some new jeans.

But I digress.

I weighed in this morning at 261.2, down 2 pounds from last week for a total of 13 pounds in 11 weeks. I can’t wait to take measurements next Wednesday to see where I’m at with that. Last time I measured, I was down a total of 13 inches overall, so next week has the potential of being epic.

A few other notes:

  • I’ve had two coworkers in the past 3 days tell me my face is looking thinner.
  • I’ve also had a couple of people say my calves are looking toned.
  • I turned down dessert. Twice.
  • Together, we have raised $930.60 for Crohn’s and Colitis research. Just another $2869.40 and I’ll stop bugging y’all for donations! So, if you want me to stop blogging about it, you should donate. You should also tell your family and friends to donate. What’s $25 in the grand scheme of things? If 115 people donated $25, I would meet my goal. :) #justsayin So, visit my fundraising site: http://tinyurl.com/napa2010.
Filed Under: Fotos, Funny, Stats Tagged With: , , , ,
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Hello, waist! It’s been awhile

March 24, 2010 By 1 Comment

I stopped at Kohl’s yesterday because I wanted to treat myself to some new workout clothes. I got some great deals – the two trek tanks you see above, plus the pants and a sports bra – for less than $60 total. And, when I was trying things on I saw something I haven’t seen in years… my waist. I’m getting my girlish figure back! EEEEK!!!

And yes, those are TIGHT WORKOUT PANTS. They’re basically capri running tights, but they’re slimming in a SPANX sort of way.

Yesterday was a good day.

Coming up later: Weigh In Wednesday!!!

Filed Under: goals Tagged With: , , ,
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