Weight: 242.5   (gain this week 7.5 lbs)

For those that are interested, last week’s Weighin Week 98 - has a summary of the 48 lb weight gain since week 84 (Dec. 7, 2007) which was my lowest weight 194.5 since starting this health eating plan.

I saw my cardiologist on Friday for my annual check up.  We didn’t even go over my test results from the stress test and echo cardiogram that I had done this past month.  My blood pressure is back up to almost the level it was early spring of last year 159/98, so she double my diuretic medication.  All my previous visits up to now she has been reducing my medication, and my blood pressure had gotten down to around 115/78.

I tried to discuss the weight issue with her, and showed her the rapid gain chart I had - especially the 9 lbs in one night and the 19 lbs the following week, after I had tried to do some major exercise (which for me was about 20 minutes a day) after my general practioner told me I need to do an hour a day to the point of pain and exhaustion. 

Any way, her only advice was to swim every day.  I explained I do not have a pool, I can’t afford to join the YMCA.  Her reply, “well if you want to be healthy you have to be willing to pay for it.”  

After that I just did not have the strength of will or spirit to try and work out a reasonable exercise plan that I could try.   And I couldn’t bring myself to ask her about my a test done for c-protein, (or whatever it’s called) to check my levels that cause chronic inflammation and water retention.

Now that I’ve had a day to think about it, I’m a bit shocked she wasn’t more concerned about the rapid weight gain.  But the I realized - she doesn’t believe me.  In her eyes I’m old and fat, and that is all she sees, so she is never going to dig deeper to find out why my body is reacting this way.   Sure she will give me more diuretic to get the fluid out, but she isn’ t interested in finding the cause.

I was so frustrated, hurt, and distracted at the time of the visit I didn’t even show her my scar.   I have a long scar on my left forearm from an injury 40 years ago - it is completely healed, flat and whitish.   About two months ago it became red and swollen.   I kept ice on it as often as I could for a few days and it finally calmed down a bit, but the tiny circle scars on either side of the cut from the stituches are still red and swollen.  My good friend, Mama Kelly, who is a whiz at finding info. online, looked it up for me - and sure enough - old scars becoming red and swollen is a sign that the body has severe inflammation (something to do with prostaglandins which are similar to horomones, that cause pain and swelling - they are present at very low levels in every cell of a healthy body, but in an unhealthy body or from a trauma or infection, they increase which causes pain and swelling).   

I wish I had been able to think more clearly and not let my emotions get the better of me at the doctor’s office.  Instead of discussing the inflammation issue, I let my emotions take over, had to hold back tears, and just shut down and did the best I could to nod and smile politely to get the heck out of there as quickly as I could.

Well I am now entering Week 100 - can you believe it. It hasn’t been a total waste of time, I started out at 294.5, so I have made some progress. I am DETERMINED to get healthy - no matter what I weigh!

My plan for now is to focus almost exclusively on oatmeal, fresh fruit and veggies for awhile, and double up on the aspirin. I am hopeful the new prescription for double the amount of diruetic will help get rid some of the 48 lbs I gained back. When (not IF) I get back to closer to 200 and I can breathe a bit better, I’ll try doing some gently, slow walking and the stationary bike again. I’ll keep an eye on my knees for swelling and take a lot of apirin. Hopefully, I can find some level of exercise that won’t cause the weight to continue to increase.

Rate:
2.5

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