Will wonders never cease? Hubby (A+ secretor) is migrating to a more vegetarian diet after about five years of being an Atkins-type eater. He has not been feeling well for awhile. He suffered from a bout of shingles in December. He has had the flu. And he was complaining of pains around the stomach area. One of our employees is going in for gall bladder surgery tomorrow, and when he talked to her about her symptoms, he realized a lot of his symptoms were the same. So, he's been surfing the 'net learning about what to eat and what not to eat. He's trying to eliminate the animal fat. He even switched from coffee and is drinking my green tea! (He thought it was black tea, because I store my bags in a tin that used to contain black tea). I think he is going to go back to coffee, though. He just doesn't want to put the half-n-half in it. So, I am pleased that he is finally coming around to a diet better suited for his blood type. (I think he is a Warrior.)

I've been slogging along with this recovery bit. The surgeon thinks the numbness in my right leg and trunk is from the C7 nerve getting excited and bothering the spinal cord. So, it may be a bit swollen. I'm slowly getting feeling back. But it is painful. At this point my leg burns constantly. I have to take a couple pills at night so I can sleep. I try not to take them during the day, as I have a life to live and they make me dopey. I usually give in around 4 or 5 PM. The left hand gets really achy around then, too.

I'm trying to get back on to the Explorer diet. This is my third day without coffee, again. We had to make two pots of green tea this morning. Hubby knows the beans that are avoid for me. He still thinks I'm crazy to follow this way of eating. That's another blog. The hard part is staying away from the black dot avoids. As I've said before, they were my B nonnie comfort foods. And I have a few pounds to lose, since I've been on activity restriction since the surgery. Next week I get to start Pilates again. I can't wait. And I'm determined to use the exercise bike more. It makes my leg burn more, but I'm tired of being fluffy.

On a happy note, our barbershop chorus went to the regional competition last weekend and we got third place! We were excited about that. (I think that's where I really picked up a couple pounds)

Hi,

Just testing the new blogosphere software. I'm afraid all my computer savvy was lost when DOS went away. Would you believe we still have two 386 machines running in our stores? Their days are numbered, but we don't need them to do alot.

Still quite a bit of nerve pain. I'm trying not to take the pain pills during the evening, but it does get tempting.

I got into my jeans and was able to zip them up and button them yesterday, so there is progress. For some reason my belly just swelled up after the surgery. It looked like my intestines were all twisted.

Anyway, we'll see if this posts okay.

Well, I had surgery on March 5. It was a double discectomy and fusion between C5-6 and C6-7. There were some complications. The C6-7 nerve was so excited about being released from the pressure that it ‘fired’ for quite a few minutes after the spur was eliminated. Then, as they were suturing me up, it fired again for about five minutes. As the surgeon said the next day, “I’ve never seen anything like it!!” And she’s been doing neck and brain surgeries for 18 years.

So, anyway, back to the recovery room. When I woke up, my left hand was completely paralyzed. There was nothing I could do to make my fingers move. That was pretty scary. It reminded me of maybe how a stroke victim feels. The next day I could move my fingers a little bit, so we knew things were on their way back. At this point, one month later, I can type a little with my left hand. It still hurts, and two fingers are still numb. But, I keep exercising it. And I’m functioning. I’m driving. I’m getting to work. I can get myself to singing rehearsal. Hey! I can still sing! I asked them to be careful with the tubes they were going to put down my throat before the surgery. They did a good job. I was able to sing the day after the surgery, and it was a couple days before I could swallow solid foods without gagging. I also have a kind of neuropathy on my right side. Can’t feel pain or temperature. At this point I don’t know if it’s from the nerve thingy, or the medications I’m still taking. My physical therapist has a call in to the surgeon to see what might be going on.

So, diet-wise……..hmmmmm. I can’t say I’ve been very diligent. It seems that I’ve reverted back to a mostly B-nonnie diet. A lot of black dot avoids have come back. Eggs, yogurt, bananas, walnuts, almonds. Easy comfort foods for me. And, I’ve slipped back into coffee. It is such a help in getting things moving in the morning. I promise I’ll quit again. As soon as I’m off the pain meds. I promise!

It’s been quite a long month. Patience isn’t one of my strengths. It looks like I’ll be having some sort of surgery on my neck. I see a surgeon next week and will find out for sure. But, that’s the way the neurologist is leaning. Once I had gone through the prednisone series and the effects had all worn off, the pain came back just the same.

I’m getting more signs that I’m really an Explorer. I had my annual blood test done last week, and the experiment with shitake extract for lowering my cholesterol didn’t work. Total cholesterol was 265, Triglycerides = 176, HDL = 69, LDL = 161. The ratio comes out to 3.8. Shitake is a beneficial for B nonnies and a toxin for Explorers. Red Yeast Rice does keep my lipids in check, but my naturopath doesn’t just want to suppress the symptoms, she wants to cure it. She suggested the Fat Flush diet. But, I’m not sure I want to do that. I guess I’ll have to get the book first. From what I hear, it’s not much fun.

At this point, I’m not feeling any difference between the BTD and GTD. I’m probably ingesting enough toxins (i.e. the acetaminophen in the pain pills) that it may be a long time before I can get any benefits. I’m trying very hard to stay away from the black dot avoids. Most of them were staples during my BTD days. I am mostly proud that I was able to quit the coffee. It was avoid on BTD, but somehow I just couldn’t shake the habit. It took a change in diet.