Well there we go! It took me two weeks to take off the 12lbs I put on during the family crisis. One more week to finish off the round proper. I might increase protein as I really don't need to lose anymore. We'll see. I go by how I feel and right now...Tom is kicking my butt.
Spinach and beef for lunch!
Cheers
CAT
 
Tomorrow marks 2 weeks done on my correction round. So far I feel amazing like round one (I always use r1 as my baseline as it was my best round) and in fact...so far I'm losing at a slightly higher rate. I can't say #s yet as there are bets in what the results will be in the morning :) the crazy thing is that Tom showed up the other day a week early and still I'm losing. It can't last but I'm already happy with where I'm at....just a matter of finishing this right and locking it in again.

On other fronts. I had the most wonderful meeting with the principle at the Montessori school and I feel optimistic that I'll get the kids transferred for fall. It is something I wanted to do since I watched my little Lukas' light start to dim back in K. I'm done letting people talk me out of it...it just feels right!

Damon is not better yet but I think the specialist finally hears us. After 3 weeks of steroids and zero improvement (he's actually been worse the last few days) the doc said he doesn't think the pain is due to his crohns. He is finally being sent for an MRI. Now we just have to hope it doesn't take too long to get in as there is always a waitlist for this sort of thing.

One more week (okay 10 days due to elimination) and I get to try a recipe that I'm dying to share. I refuse to post it without knowing how it tastes first!!!

Cheers
CAT

 
A few weeks back I was pushed over the edge. I won't go into great details but a very unresponsive and impossible to communicate with nurse put me into a state of pure rage. Let me tell you, this isn't an easy task! I mustered up all my strength and as my hands shook uncontrollably I closed my eyes and focused. I didn't care who was looking at me or what others were saying (she was still bellowing something in the background), I simply focused on my body. My heart and breath was racing so I took soothing slow breaths. I opened my eyes and watched my hands slowly shake less and less as I breathed. I refused to talk or anything until my body settled.
Once I was sure I was calm enough I looked to the other nurse who had been watching me in awe. I said plainly, what medications were changed today?
My point is: it is useless to do anything but that which will benefit the moment. I treat my hunger attacks (read emotional binge attacks) the same. Where ever I am when it hits, I stop and feel my body. Is my stomach actually rumbling or is my throat tight? Is it real hunger or emotion? When it is emotion I can say to that inner voice screaming at me: Stop. I refuse to fight with the unreasonable and throwing food at will not solve the problem (though I would have loved to have thrown a pie in that woman's face)!!!
CAT
 
I'm going in circles with all the different diets out there. I'm not talking weight loss (I already found what works for me!) rather, I'm trying to figure out what's best for my hubby.
I started out looking at what others have done to deal with Crohn's and colitis. I quickly realized that they are aimed at stopping the (sorry!! gotta say it!) diarrhea that causes suffers most of the complications.
That's the weird thing about Damon. He doesn't have all the normal symptoms at all. Cutting fibre would cause more problems!!
I feel his ghost pain (they can't see anything wrong where he hurts) is actually the cause of the IBD which came only recently. The pain has been there for over 5 years. Anyway. I digress. I decided to investigate celiac and what diet they follow.
So gluten free research complete but I feel I'm still not quite on track. I took it one step further. What if it's not necessary to eliminate any real food. Can't I just find a balance to reduce inflammation in his system?
Yes, yes I can. I had read up on Kris Carr's ph balancing diet but again she takes away more than I think is necessary. Free will to her to use what works great for her! Then I stumbled on a diet that focuses on balancing the inflammatory and anti inflammatory aspects of all foods. This is great!
I can literally take the healthy choices we already eat and simply balance them in how we combine them in a day. I may still try the gluten free diet on him too but I think this is a good place to start.
I also think that Evelyn Tribole has some other very interesting books.
Check out her site www.evelyntribole.com
For the basics on a diet focused on reducing inflammation: http://nutritiondata.self.com/help/inflammation#system

Cheers
CAT
 
I like to juggle. Do you like to juggle? If I spend all my time waiting for the
right time to come and do something....I'd get nothing done! Don't get me wrong.
I do believe we need to be in the right frame of mind to take on a challenge but
there will always be a reason or something else going on that conflicts. So,
when we need to get something done...the time is now. Here's my list of balls to
juggle right now: a sick hubby who may need to be brought to Vancouver (or may
not), 2 children (5 and 7...enough said), developing my site and group,
bills (normally whatever but with our only income coming from short term
disability...which barely covers moragage...yah...bye bye savings...so glad we
had you), chickens (our pet snail doesn't count...it's too easy and more the
kids 'ball' than mine), water flooding my basement and the insurance company
ignoring us, and now a short round to make sure I don't stress eat my way back
to 253lbs! LOL PHEW!!! I can do this! I can do this! I CAN DO THIS!!!
Cheers
CAT
 
Alrighty! What a whirlwind of events!! Since my last post my husband has endured leaving the hospital only to return the following morning in ambulance and then to be discharged again. Only to have 3 more attacks that day! I insisted we get him into the specialist and after some serious pushing finally got him in to see someone.
Now we have new meds and a new plan! It has been 5 days since he has had a severe attack and while the aching pain remains in his side we are hopefully on the right track. Few more days and we should know more. Might mean taking a trip south for better access to specialists but I'm okay with that.
In the mean time I have taken steps to get myself back on track. I was not prepared for all this chaos at all! In less than 2 weeks I have put 10lbs on. Frustrating but also a learning experience. I'll set it right here!
I started a new closed group on Facebook :) Come join me! I'll be talking about all things in wellness. Shopping, cooking, gardening, coping skills,...anything I feel oh so inclined to chit chat about will land there.
I'll edit this post to include the link the next time I'm at my computer (can't do it from my phone). If you want to search for it though...should be easy to find! I called it 'The Cat's Roar' of course :)
Cheers
CAT
(edited! Link in red)