Ouch, my ass!!!

Boy am I exhausted. I drove from Savannah back to Atlanta early this morning and so have been up since 4 AM. Yawn! I had such a blast and can NOT wait to get back. I'm still trying to make sense of my lab results. Nothing stands out as bad, but there are some definite changes like I mentioned earlier. My BUN/Creatinine Ratio has gone from 14 in May to 21. My AST has gone from 22 to 33 and my ALT, 18 to 35. TSH from 1.614 to 2.229. Serum Albumin from 3.9 to 4.1. Again, nothing serious, I don't think, but some of the trends, I don't think I like.

After talking about it with someone this weekend who hasn't heard me drone on and on about my issues, she suggested I cut my protein down to 120 max and try to eat a more balanced diet -- incorporate fruits, vegetables, some whole grains. I think that makes the most sense. After eating 220+ grams of protein, my albumin only increased 0.2, plus it seems like my kidneys and liver are getting a workout without any added benefit. I'd rather be safe than sorry so my goal is to eat a more balanced yet still low carb diet -- 100-120g of protein, sub 50g of carbs and something like 100g of fat PLUS a gallon of water a day. I am going to pass my lab results to Dr. M and just confirm my plan with him.

I haven't weighed in 3 days, but my edema has gotten worse, especially after sitting in the car for 5+ hours -- twice -- during that time. We'll see what the morning shows and whether or not this month can be salvaged.

Lab Rat

So, I got my labs done last week and got most of the results back. Unfortunately, I couldn't get them all covered by insurance so I'll have to pay for them myself. Anyway, there were some interesting numbers in the results. First, my cholesterol was a whopping 127. How crazy is that? HDL: 29, VLDL: 16, LDL: 82. Not too bad, I just need to increase my HDL and lower my LDL a tad. Time for fish oil I guess. When I was a hardcore low carber the lowest I ever got was 152. My blood sugar was 85, but then again, it was 84 when I had it last checked, go figure.

I weighed in at 380.2 lbs this morning. Woo-hoo! I've been losing fairly steady for about 10 days. We'll see if that continues.

Picture time! Here is a comparison picture of me over the months. The last picture is kinda bad - taken today with a lowly webcam:

126/82

That, my friends, was my blood pressure yesterday morning! How delightful is that? I had my 6 month checkup yesterday. Needless to say, I was all smiles. I wanted to hug the nurse when she told me that! In fact, when she left, I had to do a little dance all by myself in the exam room. I couldn't help it! My blood pressure is something I've been really looking forward to getting better. The only downer was that I didn't actually get to see my PCP, just the nurse practitioner. Dr. B has been my PCP for like 4-5 years and I just wanted to see her reaction. Nonetheless the practitioner was cool too, I've seen her a few times and I dig her as well. Everyone was really happy for me. My iron is up (12.1) my blood pressure damn near normal and my weight loss is steady. I'm happy.

The other cool thing is that I fit in the lobby chairs. They are those U-shaped chairs that have no give. I used to sit on the edge of the chair because my hips would not fit, but now I can slide all the way back.

Boy, I am certainly on a DS high. I am trying to not get too complacent. The last week or so I haven't been as vigilant as I should be. Time to refocus! Thank God lent is here so I can an extra reason to give up a thing or two.

Pet Project

So I've just completed the first phase of a little project I've been working on. Anyone who frequents the OH DS boards is very familiar with the Lab Rat Data. If you're not, it was basically a spreadsheet that was painstakingly updated by hand that had all kinds of interesting information about the progress of dozens of DS'ers. Recently the project as it was became too big and a change was in order. I volunteered to build a database driven application and I just now finished it. You can find it here:

http://www.epursimuove.com/ds/.

I will eventually get a proper domain name for it, but for now this will do.

I'm pretty excited and I think people like it. I know there will be a Phase II for this thing as you can clearly see how problematic it'll become when the number of profiles starts to creep up. In the meantime, feel free to add a profile and peruse others.

Anyway, a confession I've been holding onto for days: I really, really like my walks. I never thought I would, but I honestly do. It's the one thing I really look forward to doing every day. Can you believe it???