vinesqueen

I almost NEVER go to grarage sales. I did when Spud was a baby, but well, no cause to go now. I think the last one I went to, the first one in ... years was golly! 10 years ago. I bought a book case. A huge solid book case. I paid $25 for it. I thought it was pine, but when I went to move it, I coudln't pick the darn thing up! Shows you what I know about wood... It is 8'x3.5' and it weighs about 70 pounds. Wood, not particle board. My husband thinks it walnut. Or maybe lead.

All I can tell you is that I sure hope for the best, and that it really isn't cancer. I'll be thinking about you, take care!

Capt'n Jack, you know me so well! I've added these shops to my "list of places to go" Yeah, I'm that much of a geek that hardware stores are fun places for me to shop. "oh look! it's a Splinly 3/8" socket! Cool!" :help: I wonder if there is some sort of intervention for folks like me... Gosh, I sure hope not.

Good luck with that Babs... that no one knowing you or caring about you... Not gonna happen, You SB YOU!!!!! Oh, but no one knows me either...

well, yesterday I drove to Portland and got a Mid-line... Today I had a massage and a nap. Then I grilled some shrimp and stole some plants from my neighbor. Well, it isn't really stealing if you ask first... I was very careful, and when I was done you couldn't even see where I'd ravaged their garden.. but they had some sedum that I haven't seen before, and I want it for MY rock garden. Tomorrow I pack up and make sure I have enough toys to keep me entertained while I wait for various appointments. We head down to Portland super early Monday morning, like 4 am so I'm there in time for my 8 am appointment. Because I'm so High, I full of energy and I'm going to see if Mike will take me to Home depot so I can get some hinges and some paint so I can make a deviders from the bi-fold doors I just scored. I need to get several sets of hinges and have Mike drill them and attach them and then I'll paint them. I figure I'll use them on one side of my car-port as a break. Wheee!

Oh yeah! Sumber party at Nana~'s Woot! Just make sure you have enough energy to make Breakfast in the morning!

Only if you show up in your speedo!

Miper, you are telling my story, you know that, right? I was so frustrated that I couldn't lose weight that I was too tight for a month, and lost a whopping 1.5 pound in a month. You've been diagnosed with PCOS and that garbage syndrome X. I call it garbage because I think so many doctors see PCOS and your other symptoms and instad of trying to figure out what is really the problem, they create a syndrome. And if it's one thing doctors can't cure, it's a syndrom. Miper, it's time to start demanding answers. I mean, real answers. Not you have a syndrome (and if it's one thing doctors can't cure...) Please start researching Cushing's. One of the main symptoms of Cushing's is obesity.

I watched my mother wait her whole life, it was one long "we'll go do X when I've lost Y pounds." I decided that I would never let my size or weight stop me from doing anything. The only time I let it stop me if if I phsycally can not do something because I dont' fit the saftey requirements. courage and strength!

And as a tool, just make sure you are getting the right tool for the job. Just as a hammer is useless when you need a screwdriver, the band minght not work if you have something else causing your weight problems. I was banded, but didn't lose weight to speak of, 20 pounds is hardly a loss. But if I hadn't been banded, I am convinced that my brain tumor would have never been found.

Hurray! Hurray! I'm so very happy everything has gone so well for you Diane! I've been thinking about you, hoping everything is going well. I'm sooo sorry you are on so much steroids. :faint: I personally HATE it when I have to be one them, but that's me... I've been thinking about how you don't want this to affect your kids. I just wanted to let you know how my situtation has affected my boy-ohs. I've had some serious health episodes all my life, all my son's life. And it really has affected him. He's always been a sensitive boy, but I think my health issues were part of that. I think because I've been so sick, my son has gained a greater sense of empathy. A sense of needing to be sensitive to the needs of other people. All my boy-ohs have developed a greater sense of empathy. And by my boy-ohs, I mean all the teen boys that hung out at my place, before they all grew up and became adult men. I sure hope that made sense. I'm on a raging steroid High and my headache is particularly bad this morning. I pray that you have had a complete recovery and a cure!

So, if I can get ahold of my doctor today, it looks like I"ll be in surgery next week. But this will just be the first of hopefully, just one more surgery to remove the tumor. This first surgery will be a CSS, a cavernous sinus sampling, where they thread a cathiter up through my entire body, from groin to brain, gathering samples along the way. http://abclocal.<wbr>go.com/wjrt/<wbr>story?section=<wbr>healthfirst&<wbr>id=4511973 is a link to a news broadcast of one woman's experience with Cushing's. I met the woman in the story on Tuesday, she's lost about 60 pounds since this video segment was filmed.

One of the things I've learned because of having Cushing's is that I only have so many spoons to go around. It's called The Spoon Theory. Every day, you are given a random number of spoons, but every activity you have will cost you a spoon. When you are out of spoons, you are done for the day. Things like take a shower, get dressed, cook a meal, go grocery shopping, talk on the phone, mow the lawn or go to work or think about complicated issues or projects all take a certian amount of energy or spoons. If you only have 25 different activieds that all require a spoon, but you only have 10 spoons to spend, what do you do? What do you do if you don't know how many spoons you get each day? There are so many important cheriable organizations out there, but you only have so much energy and resources to spend. You only have so many spoons. I think it is wonderful that your organization is focused where it is, but if they are asking for spoons you don't have, you don't have them. But car washes are good excersize... Oh la la charity carwash girls...

I met with Dr. L down in OHSU yesterday. I have enough high UFCs, which DR. L says are the tough ones to get. I just need the high other numbers. I will be going down again for the full round of tests, since my last time there I was on a Low. Instead of going on their schedule, I'll be going on my schedule. I'm not sure when my next High will hit. I've been on a terrible Low for over two weeks now, or at least I think it's been two weeks, I don't remember going on a good raging High in the last couple of weeks. I might, but my brain isn't working on all cylinders lately. So, when I start heading High again, I need to call Dr. L that I'm coming down. I'll be doing the full week's work-up, including the 32-hour blood draws (every 4 hours), and a CSS with Dr. D. "Cavernous sinus sampling (CSS) is highly accurate in distinguishing Cushing's disease from the ectopic adrenocorticotropin syndrome and in predicting intrapituitary tumor location." So basically, the CSS will tell the surgeons where to look for the tumor. I met Jamie and Mars and Mars' mom for Lunch. It was really great to meet y'all, and you really helped me. I was such a basket case because, well, I was/am Low, and I think anyone would be more than a little emotional just before a big appointment. But the key is to get High. Anyway, I just wanted to give y'all a heads up. Oh, and this morning I got a call from the lab for the local Endo (the one who put me on the Mediterainian diet because I need to lose weight. You remember him...) they did the tests on one of the UFCs WRONG. I have no idea what they did wrong, but there you go. I told the lab tech that I'd be in when I'm High, and not before. She was kind of taken aback, but there is no point in doing a UFC when I'm not High. At least not for that Endo... Oh, after sleeping today until 11 am, then drinking two giant cups of strong coffee and faling asleep in the middle of drinking one of them... I slept for another couple of hours. Then I went to my husband's company picnic and rode my first ever Jet ski! It was a blast, and I went fast enough that I thought my glasses would fly off! It was so much fun, and I'm gonna do that as soon as I can! Of course, when I got back, the first thing I did was change into my jammies and bed where I napped abit.

I met with Dr. L down in OHSU yesterday. I have enough high UFCs, which DR. L says are the tough ones to get. I just need the high other numbers. I will be going down again for the full round of tests, since my last time there I was on a Low. Instead of going on their schedule, I'll be going on my schedule. I'm not sure when my next High will hit. I've been on a terrible Low for over two weeks now, or at least I think it's been two weeks, I don't remember going on a good raging High in the last couple of weeks. I might, but my brain isn't working on all cylinders lately. So, when I start heading High again, I need to call Dr. L that I'm coming down. I'll be doing the full week's work-up, including the 32-hour blood draws (every 4 hours), and a CSS with Dr. D. "Cavernous sinus sampling (CSS) is highly accurate in distinguishing Cushing's disease from the ectopic adrenocorticotropin syndrome and in predicting intrapituitary tumor location." So basically, the CSS will tell the surgeons where to look for the tumor. I met Jamie and Mars and Mars' mom for Lunch. It was really great to meet y'all, and you really helped me. I was such a basket case because, well, I was/am Low, and I think anyone would be more than a little emotional just before a big appointment. But the key is to get High. Anyway, I just wanted to give y'all a heads up. Oh, and this morning I got a call from the lab for the local Endo (the one who put me on the Mediterainian diet because I need to lose weight. You remember him...) they did the tests on one of the UFCs WRONG. I have no idea what they did wrong, but there you go. I told the lab tech that I'd be in when I'm High, and not before. She was kind of taken aback, but there is no point in doing a UFC when I'm not High. At least not for that Endo... Oh, after sleeping today until 11 am, then drinking two giant cups of strong coffee and faling asleep in the middle of drinking one of them... I slept for another couple of hours. Then I went to my husband's company picnic and rode my first ever Jet ski! It was a blast, and I went fast enough that I thought my glasses would fly off! It was so much fun, and I'm gonna do that as soon as I can! Of course, when I got back, the first thing I did was change into my jammies and bed where I napped abit.

Isn't that funny? I dont' consider asparagus a low-cal (code for diet) food, it's an indulgence... Funny, that even though no WLs is going to help me lose weight, I would have the band again if it meant that it would find my Cushing's

Tomorrow I go see Dr. L at OHSU again. A couple of weeks ago Lynne called me and told me that they want to see me. That I didn’t need to test any more. I guess when they tell you that it’s because they have all the data they need or want. Part of me is so afraid that he’s calling me down to tell me that there is nothing they can do for me. That I don’t need to test any more because there is nothing wrong, at least nothing wrong that losing weight won’t fix. Oh sure, if only I could lose weight. My husband said that I shouldn’t worry, that they wouldn’t have us drive 3 hours plus each way, just to tell me that there is nothing more to do. He figures that Dr. L would just dump me over the phone, like any bad relationship. My son asks me every day when are they going to take this thing out of my head. And then he either punches me in the arm or bitch-slaps me, or attempts to anyway. That’s one way he can tell if I’m High or Low… if I’m High there is no way he’s going to count coup on me, no way. But when I’m Low on the other hand… well, he knows that I’m going to be moving in slow motion, tai chi slow… He’s got a long way to go before he counts enough coups on me, that’s for sure; I’m so far ahead on the coup count he will never catch up. Last week was really rough for me. I was very, very Low, and my headaches were beyond reasonable. I was temped to go to the ER a couple of time, but it wasn’t until Friday night when I was throwing up that I went. I’d taken two phengren during the day, but by 8:00 pm I was throwing up, or at least I was giving it the old collage try. After the fifth dry heave session I gave up and had Mike drive me to the ER. I didn’t’ want to go, but I couldn’t’ stop heaving, and I couldn’t keep anything down. We had to wait for over an hour in the waiting room, so many sic people on a Friday night. The doc thought it was another migraine, but this time I didn’t have the weakness, so I could explain exactly what the headache felt like. These headaches are nothing like migraine, but something more. I can only hope that when I finally do have the pit surgery they will go away. Anyway, it took the nurse three tries before she was able to start the line. But she used lidocane, and besides, my head was in so much pain I don’t know that I would have even noticed the IV going in. Yeah, that bad. The doc wasn’t convinced that I’m not having “atypical migraines” so she wanted to try a combination of phenegren and benidryl. She said that was a sure fire way to knock out a migraine. Well, like I said, it wasn’t a migraine, and no it didn’t work. So she ordered a large dose of the narcotic for me. She said they were done pussy-footing around. On previous trips to the ER they gave me the usual small amounts, then had to repeat several times before I was beyond the pain. The last time they gave me a double dose, but again, had to keep repeating the dosage of the medication. This time they just game me a large syringe of the good stuff, lowered my bed and put me on oxygen. I have no idea how long I was knocked out, but it worked. I didn’t have a head ache the next morning. You have no idea how wonderful it is to wake up without a headache. If you do know, you have my deepest sympathies. Before she gave me the injection, we talked about pain management. She sent me home with a prescription for the highest dose percacet they make, a big bottle. She wants me to keep on top of the pain, and to not let it get away from me. So, now I don’t let the headaches get to far into the really bad range before I start managing the pain. No more “riding it out.” No more being the tough girl. She also had the radiology department make a CD of my CT scan from last week. We thought I was having a stroke or a TIA because the right side of my face was melting. I see the neurologist in a couple of weeks, but tomorrow I go to OHSU to see Dr. L. Back to that worry. And now for something completely different… The chinchillas are my husband's pets, but I've been training them to get used to being handled, so they will willingly come to me in their cage, because they know I always have a treat for them. Tonight I decided that I'd start working on them to see going in their balls as a happy thing, so I put treats in them, and let it be their decision to go in the ball, or not. Usually my husband stuffs them in there so he can clean their cages, very high adrenaline stuff... I was able to coax them into their balls and they had a good roll-around. Now I have these basketball sized balls roaming freely around my house. One of the chinchillas is really adventuresome, while the other got himself stuck between some pillows and boy shoes...Chilly got out of his ball, and it didn't take much effort to catch him. Spud, my son, scared him under my Chase lounge then I had him turn on the light, and I got one of the millet sprays to try to coax in from under it. Instead, he just crawled up between my arms as I was kneeled beside the chase Chilly let me pick him up without any fight or struggle. He wasn't interested in the millet, he just wanted me. He didn't struggle at all while we walked to the cage, all the while I was telling him what a good boy he was. Then he stretched out on one of the platforms, like they do when they are hot.

Tomorrow I go see Dr. L at OHSU again. A couple of weeks ago Lynne called me and told me that they want to see me. That I didn’t need to test any more. I guess when they tell you that it’s because they have all the data they need or want. Part of me is so afraid that he’s calling me down to tell me that there is nothing they can do for me. That I don’t need to test any more because there is nothing wrong, at least nothing wrong that losing weight won’t fix. Oh sure, if only I could lose weight. My husband said that I shouldn’t worry, that they wouldn’t have us drive 3 hours plus each way, just to tell me that there is nothing more to do. He figures that Dr. L would just dump me over the phone, like any bad relationship. My son asks me every day when are they going to take this thing out of my head. And then he either punches me in the arm or bitch-slaps me, or attempts to anyway. That’s one way he can tell if I’m High or Low… if I’m High there is no way he’s going to count coup on me, no way. But when I’m Low on the other hand… well, he knows that I’m going to be moving in slow motion, tai chi slow… He’s got a long way to go before he counts enough coups on me, that’s for sure; I’m so far ahead on the coup count he will never catch up. Last week was really rough for me. I was very, very Low, and my headaches were beyond reasonable. I was temped to go to the ER a couple of time, but it wasn’t until Friday night when I was throwing up that I went. I’d taken two phengren during the day, but by 8:00 pm I was throwing up, or at least I was giving it the old collage try. After the fifth dry heave session I gave up and had Mike drive me to the ER. I didn’t’ want to go, but I couldn’t’ stop heaving, and I couldn’t keep anything down. We had to wait for over an hour in the waiting room, so many sic people on a Friday night. The doc thought it was another migraine, but this time I didn’t have the weakness, so I could explain exactly what the headache felt like. These headaches are nothing like migraine, but something more. I can only hope that when I finally do have the pit surgery they will go away. Anyway, it took the nurse three tries before she was able to start the line. But she used lidocane, and besides, my head was in so much pain I don’t know that I would have even noticed the IV going in. Yeah, that bad. The doc wasn’t convinced that I’m not having “atypical migraines” so she wanted to try a combination of phenegren and benidryl. She said that was a sure fire way to knock out a migraine. Well, like I said, it wasn’t a migraine, and no it didn’t work. So she ordered a large dose of the narcotic for me. She said they were done pussy-footing around. On previous trips to the ER they gave me the usual small amounts, then had to repeat several times before I was beyond the pain. The last time they gave me a double dose, but again, had to keep repeating the dosage of the medication. This time they just game me a large syringe of the good stuff, lowered my bed and put me on oxygen. I have no idea how long I was knocked out, but it worked. I didn’t have a head ache the next morning. You have no idea how wonderful it is to wake up without a headache. If you do know, you have my deepest sympathies. Before she gave me the injection, we talked about pain management. She sent me home with a prescription for the highest dose percacet they make, a big bottle. She wants me to keep on top of the pain, and to not let it get away from me. So, now I don’t let the headaches get to far into the really bad range before I start managing the pain. No more “riding it out.” No more being the tough girl. She also had the radiology department make a CD of my CT scan from last week. We thought I was having a stroke or a TIA because the right side of my face was melting. I see the neurologist in a couple of weeks, but tomorrow I go to OHSU to see Dr. L. Back to that worry. And now for something completely different… The chinchillas are my husband's pets, but I've been training them to get used to being handled, so they will willingly come to me in their cage, because they know I always have a treat for them. Tonight I decided that I'd start working on them to see going in their balls as a happy thing, so I put treats in them, and let it be their decision to go in the ball, or not. Usually my husband stuffs them in there so he can clean their cages, very high adrenaline stuff... I was able to coax them into their balls and they had a good roll-around. Now I have these basketball sized balls roaming freely around my house. One of the chinchillas is really adventuresome, while the other got himself stuck between some pillows and boy shoes...Chilly got out of his ball, and it didn't take much effort to catch him. Spud, my son, scared him under my Chase lounge then I had him turn on the light, and I got one of the millet sprays to try to coax in from under it. Instead, he just crawled up between my arms as I was kneeled beside the chase Chilly let me pick him up without any fight or struggle. He wasn't interested in the millet, he just wanted me. He didn't struggle at all while we walked to the cage, all the while I was telling him what a good boy he was. Then he stretched out on one of the platforms, like they do when they are hot.

I was kinda thrown by the If you do this, you don't need surgery" thing too. Did he mean that if you do his special diet you won't need surgery, or if you have surgery you won't need surgery???

Well, I'm convinced that if you are not losing weight on a reasonable amount of calories, (or even unreasonably small numbers of calories) then you need to start screaming and demanding answers. If you are not losing at any calorie amount, then there is something else the matter. I let the band almost drive me into an eating disorder because I couldn't lose weight. It didn't matter if I at 1600 calories or 600 calories, I still couldn't lose weight. Push for answers. Do not let the doctors push back. You deserve answers why the band doesn't work for you. Demand the truth. Oh sure, it isn't easy, not by a long shot. But if I hadn't demanded answers I would still be sitting here with a about 20 loss and not knowing why. If the doctor tells you he doesn't know why you don't lose weight, ask for a referal to see someone else. Fight for answers, your health could be at stake.

Hurray! Yes, you would be seeing a "skinny" woman in the mirror. Congrats on this NSV. Is your ticker up-to-date? have you lost 72 pounds already?

My grandfather ran himself over too. He didn't break anything, but he was lucky... And Funny, I wasn't saying that you shouldn't have posted everything you did, it was just a confusion on my part. My "last few years" haven't even been weird, at least not for me. ... For instance, I was not killed by Lenard Lake nor his buddy Charles Ng. (here's the long story... http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/ng/call_1.html) Sure, lots of people were not killed by them, but I have to wonder how many people did Lenard invite to his cabin who didn't go? As soon as he touched me, as he put his hand on the small of my back, I knew there was something terribly, terribly wrong with this man, and I was in great danger.

As soon as I saw the thread about teen nudity, I knew the site would be down for awhile. Bad mojo there.

yes, it is time to get serious. You've coasted to victory so far, now it's time to get to work.

Is about the only thing in this that I can see Robin Williams saying. I believe that the reason we don't have English as our National Language is because it was one of the terms of the Spanish-American war, where we got California and most of the South West. But I have my e-mail filter set really high, white list actually, so I don't get crap like this. As always ToM, love ya!