MY HEALTH SITCH (LONG AND SAD)

I guess I'll get this out of the way. This post is going to be kind of a drag so feel free to skip it unless this is an area of particular interest to you. I am writing it for future reference when I refer to things I am doing health and diet-wise and you wonder what the heck I am thinking;) Here is a general summary of my health problems and what I am doing to live with or overcome them, as the case may be. At any rate trying to postpone dying from them for a while.

I have been overweight most of my life. That is an underlying cause of many of my health problems, I am sure. It is not THE PROBLEM. For example, I would have MG even if I wasn't overweight but it would undoubtedly be easier to manage if my body weren't already overtaxed with this weight. I desperately need to lose weight because it is most certainly an aggravating factor in many of my conditions.

First, I have a blood clotting problem. I have been hospitalized several times with major, huge, fugly blood clots - most recently in April of this year. Three times in my right leg (from groin to back of knee, actually) and once with one that broke off and traveled to my lung. The severity of the clots in my leg has permanently damaged the veins. My right leg is weaker than the left, significantly larger and hurts all the time. I have to keep it elevated for several hours a day or else it swell to the point that I can't wear my pants. I have been told that it will probably have to be amputated eventually if I don't stay on my blood thinners and lose weight.

I also have degenerative disc disease in my back. I have ruptured discs twice and have a compressed disc (or two) now. The doctors refuse to do surgery on my back because of the blood clotting disorder.

Alert: those with non God based worldviews may find this part annoying but oh well. I knows what I knows. The doctor told me after the second ruptured disc that I would not walk again. And that I would not sit or stand without a lot of pain. He gave me perscriptions for enough pain meds to fell an ox and sent me home. On the way home, I stopped at friends from church (my church is Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and they gave me a priesthood blessing. They said my Father in Heaven wanted me to be able to raise my children and that our family would be a light in a darkened world. Believe what you will but I went home, took a pain pill and cried myself to sleep wondering how I could fulfill that vision for my life if I couldn't be conscious without pain. When I woke up, it was as if it never happened. God as my witness, literally. I am cautious with my back - I don't rollerskate or go bowling any more but for day to day activities, it has never since been a significant problem. If I find my back getting tired and aching, I lie down for a while and it is fine. So there you go.

A few years ago, I started having some disturbing symptoms: dizzy spells, extreme fatigue, blurred vision, difficulty swallowing, my body wouldn't adjust to changing temperatures and my entire body became overly sensitive to pain. My baby sitting on my lap could bring me to tears with a misplaced elbow. My lovely doctor, one of the few I have ever, in my life, liked, ran all kinds of tests. I was very active and pretty darn fit at the time even though I was overweight. We were homesteading and I could work my ashie off all day long until this started. She really thought it was going to be MS, then she really thought it was going to be Lupus. And on and on. We were still investigating with no clear understanding of anything when she left her practice to take over an intern program at a nearby hospital! The traitor. We also moved to Oklahoma from Missouri around this time. I just learned to live with it, basically.

Then one summer, three years ago, the symptoms got a LOT worse. We were homeless at the time (more on that in another post) and living at the lake in a tent. The stress and the heat triggered the worst attack I have had to date. I couldn't walk, could barely swallow, my vision became very blurry. I could barely hold my head up at times and was having difficulty breathing and chest pain. My doctor found a tumor in my thymus gland which is a big indicator for Myasthenia Gravis. He sent me to a surgeon to see if he could remove it because often, removing the tumor relieves the symptoms to a great degree - they don't really know why. The surgeon said he would do it if the neurologist would recommend it. When you have blood clots, nobody wants to cut you - everyone is busily trying to cover their little ashies. Well, long story short and lots of tests later, the neurologist said that I had all the symptoms of MG as well as the tumor but my insurance company (don't even get me started) require a positive result on one certain test - you guessed it, the only one I didn't have a definitive positive on. He said I could appeal it etc etc but they would fight having to pay for the treatment or the surgery. The treatment he was referring to was steroids and immune system suppressants. Damn, I think I'll take the disease, thank you very much. He also didn't believe that the surgery to remove the tumor was worth my high risk unless it grew to a certain size. It grew some but has yet to get that big, thank the Lord.

I have a very rebellious bone when it comes to doctors. Finding a doctor you can really relate to and trust and who listens to you is such a rare thing. Not to mention many seem to think their name is spelled g-o-d. I basically just told em all to shove off and I've just been trying to find ways to deal. This past April, though, the blood clots reared their fugly heads again so I am back on blood thinners. The doctor is trying to put me on several other things as well but I am going to try diet and supplements to see if I can't get a better report from him on my anemia, cholesterol etc at my next visit.

So.... what a sad, sorry tale, eh? Now you see why it is critical that I find a way to lose some weight even though I can barely leave my house in the summer, much less work out. The doc recommends swimming but I can't be outside in the heat and I haven't been able to find an indoor pool in my area. I often can't stand long enough to cook a meal so I am looking for really healthy meals that are very simple to prepare with the help of my willing and sweet 11 year old, Ginibug.

It is also important to me to get my weight and eating habits healthy and under control because my best friend/mother died a little over a year ago from kidney failure as a result of diabetes. She was blind and in a wheel chair from the diabetes as well by the time she died. It was a horrible way to end a brave, strong woman's life. I don't want my kids to have to live through that twice.

I am thinking of making this thread available to registered friends only. Don't want to depress the public at large, now do we. Hmmm. I'll decide later.

Natalie
Have a great day... or don't - it's up to you.