Friday, June 10, 2016

A BUSY WEEK, AND SOME DISAPPOINTING NEWS


Well here we are to Friday already and seriously I've just had the first opportunity I have had ALL week to sit down at my sewing machine this morning.  I enjoyed my time on Monday with Katie.  We lunched out, caught an afternoon matinee [which always screams summertime to me!] and had LOTS of "girly" conversations. I honestly really enjoy that age. After I dropped her off I grabbed something to eat real quick and headed over to get a pedicure.  It was REALLY necessary and sooo relaxing. After that I stopped at the cleaners and picked up hubby's shirts, and then swirled into the grocery store and picked up a few things.  By the time I got home that day was pretty well gone.

  And then on Tues I got up and scurried around as I had to be at my oldest son's house by 9 am as little Jeffie was graduating from the sixth grade.  Goodness, HOW can that possibly be?  He is 12 years old I know, but getting glimpses of him in his little world let me know just how old he has really gotten. The kids put on a little concert show before the graduation and Jeffie participated as one of the MC's. It was soo much fun to see him in action, and hear how well he speaks in public, and realize he has joined some of his uncles in his ability to entertain and be funny.  I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.  After the program I ran my his older sister Lindsey to school.  She had stayed home to attend the graduation.  It's only about a 15 to 20 minute drive, but it did give us a chance to chat and catch up a bit too.  She has done SOOO well with her freshman year at Ontario Christian, that honestly I just couldn't be prouder of her.   On Wednesday I got up early and headed out to Irvine to see the new orthopedic doctor by 9 am.  It did make me SOO glad that I am not usually on the freeways that time of day as the traffic was really heavy for sure.  The doc, while very nice, did not really have much to say to encourage me.  First he examined my knees by pretty much swirling them around in the same positions my old doc did, and pressing here and there and asking me what hurt.  Truthfully, NOTHING hurt at all, and he was sooo amazed at my "range of motion" that honestly he kind of went on and on about it.  Which is exactly what my old doc did as well.  I guess it must be kind of phenomenal.  But he said pretty much the same thing my old doc did too.  "Your x-rays are SOOO bad I expected to see someone who can barely move at all and is in pain ALL the time.  WHAT are you taking or doing?  Do you get injections?"  I told him I take nothing but an occasional Tylenol, and while I have tried injections they have done nothing at all to help me.  He told me that he wasn't surprised that injections don't help because seriously I am WAY too far gone and bad for that.  He pressed on and then said, "do you take any kind of supplements or arthritis aids?"  And I told him I do take Shaklee's joint Relief supplements, and had for several years now.  He said, "well they must work really well for you."  I also told him I do stretch exercises twice a day. He said, well those will definitely help too, but it's GOT to be the supplements that allow such movement.  I did tell him that the second I put my weight on my knees is when I feel it, and that walking just from one room to the next, let alone anything else, is REALLY bad.  And he said, well, I am sure it is based on those x-rays, but you have to be grateful that you can do what you do.  Then!!!!  He went on to say that there is NO WAY he will do the knee replacement surgery until I lose 50 pounds!  Now don't get me wrong, I KNOW of course I am overweight, and that losing weight will help all the way around.  I get it I do.  But dieting for me has become SOOO difficult because every time I cut my carbs back too much and eat mainly veggies, some fruits, and proteins, my IBS acts up SOOO badly I'd really rather be crippled and fat.  And yet, honestly I just don't eat any where near what you might think I would in order to weigh what I do.  I am sure it is because I am sooo inactive, but again, MOVING around much at all is a nightmare of pain with my knees.  It is a vicious circle.  I guess I was hoping I'd fix my knees, and then be able to get out and exercise and losing some weight might happen better for me that way.  My other orthopedic docs I have seen in the past have NEVER refused to do the surgery, and I don't weigh anymore now then I did then.  It was REALLY disappointing as I have just been waiting until I was finally ready to face the surgery, and now that I am, I am going to a doc who refuses to do it.  Soooooooooo needless to say I will be giving it my best shot to lose weight, without hopefully messing up my IBS and hope I can do it.  But seriously 50 pounds is going to take a while and be LOTS AND LOTS of work.  But it is the old, it is what it is.  I have struggled with my weight since I was in my early 40's, and trust me know everything I need to know about eating right.  In the past exercising helped me keep my weight where it belonged, but with these knees I just can't do it. This will be interesting to say the least.  After I got back home I did get Claire's out fit cut out, and the laundry done, and the front porch plants watered and the porch furniture cleaned.  At that point that day was gone too. Then yesterday, I left here EARLY again, [just as my cleaning woman pulled up,lol] and headed out to the quilt store to get more of the fabric I had chosen to make Claire's outfit as I did not buy enough.  I browsed for a while and bought a couple of fat quarters and a mini charm pack.  Not sure what I am going to do with them, but I am sure I will figure it out, lol.  After that I ran by Joannes and picked up some zippers, some buttons, some elastic, and some thread.  I felt I needed to congratulate myself though as I didn't buy ANY fabric, lol  After that I grabbed a salad at subway and then headed over to Victoria Gardens.
LOVE THIS MALL

 I LOVE this out door mall, but seriously I don't go there much at all anymore as I don't "do" malls at all with these knees.  Plus honestly Melody and I used to spend soo much time there before she married and moved away, that it can put me in a down mood if I let it.  But I had decided I was going to go back to a place she and I used to go to all the time and get my eyebrows threaded.  Now I will tell you I would have NEVER done such a thing in the first place if it hadn't been for my daughter encouraging me to do so.  I have had them waxed MANY MANY times, but I don't really like doing that either as it pulls soo much skin off at the same time, and the older I have gotten the more sensitive my skin is, and the more I hate it, lol.  But on the other hand, the alternative, which is just plucking them myself, has also become more and more difficult.  I can't see well up close without my contacts out, and yet with them out it is difficult as well.  I do have a magnifying mirror which helps, but it is still difficult to see well, and they just have not looked just right for a while.  Sometimes I can get them waxed and then keep them looking good myself for quite a while, but it was time to address this issue once again.  I guess I should mention that I have pretty thick, somewhat bushy eyebrows, and they MUST be maintained, lol.

 Anyway, I will never forget the first time I had this done.  OH MY GOODNESS it hurt.  I had tears running down my face and I wasn't crying, lol.  It just made my eyes water and my nose run.  It was kind of a nightmare, but my daughter assured me that it only hurt that way the first time and after that it was not bad at all to maintain.  She was right.  The second time was MUCH better, and by the third it was a non event. Needless to say considering I haven't had this done in years I was sure I was in for some real pain, lol. But I was pleasantly surprised.  It hurt, but not too bad at all.  So I decided I would go ahead and do my chin as well.  Now I guess I should say here [no idea why you are getting all this information, lol] that I really only have a very occasional hair on my chin that needs to be plucked, and this only happened after my hysterectomy.  I knew there was some VERY VERY light hair on my chin and honestly I didn't think it would be too bad as there wasn't much, and I figured I was there and I might as well get it done.  OH MY GOODNESS!!  I couldn't believe it.  It was HORRIBLE, lol.  Hurt SOOOOO much! lol.   Don't know if I will be doing the chin again.  But the eyebrows were not bad pain wise at all, and looked the best they have looked in years.  Have you ever thought about how much maintenance it takes to keep yourself looking decent, and yet the sad part is anymore it's not that good even when I get done, lol.   I found a little video for those of you who might be interested in how they "thread" your eyebrows, lol



 After the threading shop I headed back towards home [I was a GOOD 45 minutes away still] and swung into Kaiser to re-do my UTI  infection test for the 3rd time. Yes, you heard me right....3 times!  So far all I can say is I am not that impressed with Kaiser, and the orthopedic's thoughts only made it worse...sigh.  By the time I finished up there and got home, it was late once again.  This morning I did get started on Claire's outfit, and honestly so far I am finding it a little more fiddly and difficult then I had hoped for.  I stopped and ate my lunch and decided I would put this up before heading back to the machine.  We don't have a lot on our agenda for this week-end, but we do have quite a few more people that are planning on attending the new bible study fellowship, and I am looking forward to that.  Hope you all have a GOOD week-end, and are enjoying these early days of summer. Many blessings to you all!  Debbie

MIKE AND MELODY CELEBRATED YESTERDAY

TELLA WAS AWARDED COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR AT SCHOOL THIS YEAR

SAM AND LUKE....LOVE THEIR LITTLE BOND

PRETTY SOPHIA ROSE!



8 comments:

  1. Wow Debbie! You have had a busy week. I have a little trick about UTI's I was having them almost constantly. I would finish antibiotics and have another one. I got online and found that if you drink a lemon juice or lime juice with a 1/4 of a teaspoon of baking soda, it will make it stop happening. It is something to do with the acid in our system. I haven't had one on almost a year. But I do have to drink tons of water now. Anyway, I thought I would share that. I just love how happy the kids all look. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too.

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  2. I am over weight too, and my Ortho doc did my knee replacement, it did great and is doing well, so maybe a second opinion is in order.

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  3. bless your heart, totally understand about weight. praying for you dear.

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  4. My goodness! What a week you've had. I have considered the threading, but I just pluck my eyebrows myself. The chin hairs ... Yuck. I'm so sorry about the knees and the weight thing. You have beautiful kids and I know you are very proud of him. Weight watchers worked for me, but I guess you've probably tried everything since you are so aware of proper eating. The iBS is no d luck with all of it. Have a good weekend.

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  5. Well, Debbie, I know soooo many over weight people who have had successful knee replacement and losing weight was never even mentioned. Bless your heart! That is likely just his personal preference. Thinking of you and sending you a hug!

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  6. I'd be moving on asap from that doctor. A dear friend of mine just had the surgery done this winter and is doing ever so much better. No weight loss required for her either. If so, I would have thought it a new protocol for this type of surgery according to the new guidelines from you know who care.

    You remain a busy woman. I was quite intrigued by all the good care you are taking of yourself. That eyebrow threading looks gruesome. Ha!

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  7. I'm sorry about your knees and the surgery dilemma. Have you ever tried water aerobics? They are gentle on the joints but still good exercise, particularly if you do the deep water aerobics. Just a thought. I do know for me if I'm not exercising it doesn't matter what I eat. Movement and diet combined are the key. I will be keeping you in my prayers.

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  8. Blessings busy and beautiful woman. As for facial hair...I now grow a better beard than my husband! It is a full time job keeping those hairs under control! LOL Prayers for you on all your decisions with your health. Hugs...and cute pictures of everyone. Your life is full and blessed.

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I am so glad that you would take the time to comment on my thoughts and feelings, it is such a blessing to me!