Friday, June 29, 2007

Loserville and Kneetown! :-)

Okay, so I have been pressured to give an update on weight loss, Mom, and everything else.. :-) So I’ll do my best to do a recap without over doing it on the length of this blog. So my weight loss, I received both my 30 lb bear and my 40 lb bear in my shipment last Monday. Things have just been too busy for me to write about them. So yes.. I have officially lost 41 lbs since starting Nutri System! Yes, My clothes are getting MUCH bigger on me! Last week, I wore my Old Navy pants that I purchased about a month ago, and they swamped me… but I didn’t have anything else to wear. When I got to work, I had to resort to using office supplies to keep my pants up! I used BINDER clips!! Hey, it worked! I didn’t moon anyone so that was a good thing. With Mom in the hospital, I haven’t really “tried” at losing weight and being on plan. One, because it’s difficult to find a convenient place to heat food up and to get all the things you need to get in you, just takes too long, and two, My mind really wasn’t with the diet. HOWEVER, I am Back on plan, and Back into the swing of being a loser again! I’ve been back 100% on plan for this week. I haven’t weighed myself this week, but I will probably Monday morning, and I’ll get back to weighing in every day.
Update on Mom…
Let’s see here… She is HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! We’ve got her home now, which is more comfortable for Mom and Dad Both! She is using the walker, and is able to sit and stand and walk around a little bit. This morning, she used the walker to get into the kitchen and get her medicines herself. We’re trying to get her to practice standing up straight and getting those knees bent. She had been walking differently for so long, that she is basically learning to walk all over again. I hope she sees how big of an improvement we’ve all seen in just under 2 weeks post op. The incisions are healing very nicely, and every day they look better and better. It is still quite painful for her to get around, but she’s a trooper, and she definitely keeps up with it.
After seeing all that the physical therapist has done with Mom, it’s made me start thinking that it may be something I would want to pursue in the future. It’s working with people to help heal them and get them to a better place in their lives. I’ll probably do research on what it takes to get into a program here in Charlotte. I may even ask the PT what they suggest. I’m just afraid of screwing someone up! *YIKES*
Well, I think that is about all for now. I’m introducing “30 Bear”(light blue) and “40 Bear” (green) in the photos below. Pretty soon, I’m going to need a whole shelf to house these darn beanie bears! :-) I’m so proud of those things though. So I display them at work on my desk top to remind me how far I’ve come! :-)
I’ve got to get back to being a loser so I’m off to loserhood! Love to you all!!!


Meet the newest Members "30" and "40"!

The Whole Pound Gang

Monday, June 25, 2007

My 10 Yr High School Reunion!



Well… My 10 Year High School Reunion has come and gone, and I am SO glad that I went. I must admit, I was a little hesitant about it, but once I got dressed and once Alex picked me up, I was ready! Alex took me to a WONDERFUL dinner at Capital Grill. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a steak so flavorful as the one I had there. We also enjoyed a wine that was out of this world. For those of you who know me, I’m not the greatest fan of red wines but Barringer Alluvium Meritage is a wonderful blend of grapes that may smell strong, but the taste is not strong. It is hard to describe the taste of it, other than WOW!
So after Diner, Alex and I went to Rock Bottoms and had a beer and saw a few of our classmates there doing the same thing. From there, we went on over to the Levine Museum of the New South, and we were greeted with a wonderful reception. It was great to see everyone that we graduated with. You can’t help but feel nostalgic when you walk into a room full of people you haven’t seen in ten years. The turnout was great for the event! Thank you to the organizers of the reunion! You all did a phenomenal job in orchestrating such a wonderful event! The after party was at the Ally Cat and everyone seemed to have a blast there. We danced, talked, hung out, and with some it felt like time had not passed. Everyone looked great and all the ladies wore beautiful dresses and outfits. It turned out very well.
I just wanted to share with you all some of the photos from the evening. I will post an update on Mom and weight loss at a later date. For now, enjoy the pictures from the PHS 97 ten year class reunion!

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Mom's Surgery!!

Surgery updates!!

Mom’s surgery on Monday went VERY well!! For those of you who did not know, my mother underwent a bilateral knee replacement in both knees on Monday June 18, 2007. We were at the hospital by 9 am, and in the prep area at 9:15. The surgery was supposed to start around 11 am, but due to some backups, they were unable to start surgery until 1 pm. She was out and in recovery around 4:30ish.
When the doctor came out to talk to us, he said that she definitely wasn’t getting this done too soon. Dr. McCoy is a GREAT knee doctor! He works on those things all the time. So you know he’s seen quite a few knees. Well, he said that on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst he’s ever seen, Mom’s knees were between an 8 and a 9. We all knew that, but Mom wasn’t wanting to admit that. He said that the only thing that could hurt the replacement is if she fell or if she babied them too much. So we’re making sure she doesn’t baby them, and we’ll just have to make sure that for the next few weeks that she doesn’t try to get up without one of us around to help support her. If she follows the exercises and does her therapy like she’s supposed to, he has no reason to believe that there will be any problems.
We were assigned a room around 7:00 pm, and by the time we all made it up to the room, she was already in there and awake… Well…. Awake is a little stretch… Druggy…. I think that’d be the best word to describe it.
So yesterday, Tuesday, they removed her morphine drip, the fluids, and all of the other hook ups she had. She was only getting pain meds via mouth. She had Physical Therapy yesterday morning (they don’t let you rest too much!) with the very basic stretches and exercises, and then the harder stuff. Actually lifting her legs and getting her to the edge of the bed, which may seem minute to people with good legs, but for someone who has essentially two broken legs, it is quite difficult. So after the morning therapy, she was worn out. By the time I got there, Dad and Brian were out to go have lunch and then head home to sleep and shower, etc… During that time, she had another PT session, and this time, they were really going to test her limits. They got her to stand on her legs for 30 seconds!!!!!! I was so proud of her. I know it hurt her like hell, and she hurt like hell afterwards, but I tell you what… For having gone through what her legs have gone through over the past 24 hours, for her to be standing on them for even 5 seconds is great!!!
She was starting to feel less pain last night before I had left for the evening. This morning, dad called to give us an update around 8 am. He stated that they had already done PT this morning, and that she got a great 7-8 hours of sleep (both of them actually did), and that her pain levels were not as bad this morning as they were yesterday. Susan comes home this evening, so I’ll pick her up from the air port, and then head to the hospital.
I have to say… Presbyterian Orthopedic Hospital nurses and doctors are AMAZING people!! They definitely treat patients with the utmost care, concern, and decency. I have yet to meet a nurse or doctor that I wasn’t too pleased with. Everyone has been very accommodating and very nice. Even the housekeeper who knocked on the door said that she was going to be off Wednesday, but that she can’t wait to come in on Thursday to see Mom’s progress! I thought that was very sweet of her.
I will update everyone with the progress every other day or so. Thank you all for your prayers and calls. We all appreciate it!! Momma James is on the mend!!! :-) YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, June 11, 2007

40 lbs lighter with a darn good Tan!!!





















I’m back from the beach and am now 40 lbs lighter than I was on February 26, 2007!!! I can hardly believe it!!! I thought for sure that I was going to gain some weight while down at the beach last week… However, I did stay on plan during the day and the only time I went off was for dinner each night. Even with the dinner cheating, I kept my meals proportionate and if we went out, I asked them to bring me my meal with half already in a to go box. If I don’t see it, I’m not tempted to eat it. Carribean Jacks (a restaurant in Daytona Beach) they were very considerate and did what they could to accommodate me. I was very pleased with the service we received there.
I also had some drinks while I was down there, but I didn’t go overboard. Nothing that would totally throw me over the edge. The only time I think I REALLY wanted something I know I should have was on our way home, I didn’t have my NS meal readily available, so we stopped at Wendy’s for lunch. They always say to stick with the hamburger (without cheese!!) and a drink. So I got a hamburger and a junior frosty. As disgusting as this sounds, I REALLY wanted some Wendy’s fries with my frosty!! I snagged a few from Susan, but not enough to be considered crazy. It was just enough to quench my fried potato thirst.

We had a BEATIFUL time down on the beach. It was great to see everyone in the family. Aunt Sharyn got her first hole in one on a course in Daytona! CONGRATS SHARYN!!! For those of you who don't know, that is VERY hard to do!!!! It was also Talan's first beach trip!!



There were three things missing though.. The most important was Mom.. Mom wasn’t able to come to the beach this year because it was her last week of work. She also had doctors appointments to get her ready for her surgery on June 18. It’s not the same without her there… I think we all (immediate family) agreed that if there comes a time when Mom can’t make it, we’d all just rather stay home.. We missed her like crazy!!
We also missed Michelle and Bre's husband Ed! It was Talan's first beach trip! The beach wasn't too friendly for the little guy, but it was friendly long enough to get some cute pictures!!Michelle's son Cohen was down there, but Michelle just started a new job and was unable to make it this year. I know it killed her to not be there. She is such a beach girl!!! Cohen had a blast and we took lots of pictures so Michelle could see her handsome boy playing in the sand. He reminds me so much of Michelle with his love of the ocean and the sand! I think Michelle could be completely happy if she were to live by the sea. So would Cohen!
We missed Jeff, Heather, Ethan, Jake, and baby girl Howard. Heather is due to give birth to their third child, a girl, in July. We know that they would have come down, and may be able to make it next year. We hope they will be able to! We had fun, but it just wasn’t the same without you all there!!!

We came home early from the beach, because Susan, Dad, Brian, and Lauren all had to work on Thursday. I had taken the whole week off to enjoy my “vacation”. Thursday I got to spend time with Chris, Jesse, Konrad and baby Maya! All are doing well, and adjusting to life as a family of four. Konrad is such a great big brother and he’s such a fantastic little boy! Maya is sooo tiny :-) We were trying to get some good pictures of her for her birth announcement. Also, we wanted to get some photos of Konrad for Fathers day… The series of pictures that I took turned out to fit his personality PERFECT!!! I loved them all!!!

Friday, I left the house at 9:00 and went to get my NC drivers license and get the NC tag as well as the title transfer for my car. I didn’t get home until 4:30 Friday afternoon from doing all of that. Talk about frustrating!! I have a new found respect for my Duddy for doing that for us all of these years. I had no idea that’s what he had to go through every time we needed it done. *YIKES*

I ended my vacation with a trip to the Lake. Susan and I went out there Saturday morning, along with the Bella girl. We got some cleaning done, got some more sunshine, and had a good ole time. We rented movies, ate popcorn, and took care of the cleaning at the lake house. We also brought back one of the twin beds from the lake house to use when mom gets home from the hospital. She won’t be able to go up and down stairs for a while after the surgery.

Well, I’ll end this blog with a happy note… I’m DOWN FOURTY POUNDS!!!! I’m hoping to get TWO bears in my next shipment of food!!!! 30 pounder and 40 pounder!!! YAHOOOOOOOO!!!! I also have a tan!! YAY FOR ME!!! :-)

On another note, please keep Carri’s family in your prayers. Her father is going through a rough time with Cancer, and is going through Chemo. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers! Thank you!!!!