Don't Eat That

*****Post written in multiple places, be prepared for jumping around…you might even lose weight that way….although I wouldn’t count on it.****

Ok, so I started a post on Education Uncensored and if you want to know how it all came to be about the following, you’ll need to jump over there, read down to the part where it instructs you to jump back to here and then go back there for the grand finale. 

Sound like a major pain in the butt?  Yea, it is but mostly a pain in my jaws….but we’ll get to that. At last week’s tally I had lost 16 pounds and not one soul noticed.  By the end of the week I was down a total of 20 pounds.  This post is late because yesterday when I weight, I had managed to find 4 of those and return those to my body.  Lovely! 

But now, now I”m looking at some bigger issues of how to gain weight, not lose it.  You see, here I am, torn cartilage in my jaws which has rendered me almost as helpless as my broken leg did.  I mean, you can use crutches or a walker (in my case) to get around with a broken bone and generally, you don’t have this feeling in your whole body of just general run over opossum.  And, to answer my cousin’s question, no indeed, I do not smell like road kill.

However, my jaws started to flare up about 2 or 3 months ago and of course everyone chalked it up to tension, stress, gritting and grinding my teeth.  But, I had already paid a small fortune for the diagnosis of a “grinder” and had a mouthpiece made to help with this.  So, now what? 

For 2 months or more, I’ve worn this stinking mouth piece day and night.  I take it out to eat, to brush my teeth and the appliance and to talk on the phone.  Talking in person is not so bad, people can generally make out what I’m saying.  But on the phone, I sound much like one big drug slur. 

And, still, no relief.  I saw an oral surgeon last week.  I had a test run the next day.  I saw him for results today.  And, the diagnosis?  Torn cartilage in my jaws. 

The answer?  There are several but the most obvious place to start is with cortisone shots.  Because hey, I’ve just lost almost 20 pounds, let’s go get some steroids shot up in us and see how long it takes to gain it back.

I am part of a team of EASports folks but because of my broken leg which I not even been given the all clear for major exercises, I’ve only been doing static exercises.  But, it’s amazing what static exercises and a change in diet (regardless of whether you simply decide to watch what you eat or your jaws hurt so bad that you don’t want to bother), the weight will start to dissipate. 

And the proud kicks in.  But, then, you look, 16 pounds gone and not one person has noticed.  How in the heck did that happen?  How do you lose 16 pounds, 20 now and no one notices?  According to my husband, you wear baggy clothes and pj’s all the time and no one can tell.

***************Jump back to the Education Uncensored story and then it will tell you when to come back here and finish!**************

Anyway, back to where I was going with this originally.  I have torn cartilage in my jaws.  Tomorrow, I will be sedated and this horrible steroid shots will be injected into my jaws and I, I hope to be a new woman in a week.  If not, then I get another set of these beauties.  And then, hopefully, I am back to being a chatterbox, verbally, not just with my fingers, and all is well for a period of time.

However, if no results come from these shots that are almost too painful to even think about, I will have jaw surgery.  Hey, that could render me losing some weight.  But….that’s not exactly what I had in mind either.

Now, honestly, I want and need to lose some weight.  And, if you’ve seen a photo of my face, you know that it is is swollen most of the time, here let me show you…

Notice that MY right is much worse than my left.  I have torn cartilage in both places but the right is worse.  And, the oral surgeon confirmed today that some (and of course he couldn’t know for sure) but some of that swelling could be from the torn cartilage.  I mean, duh, you get swelling in your knee’s when you tear cartilage, right?

And, normally, normally as in, in the past, when I have lost weight, my face is the first place to show the loss and the last place to show the gain.  But, this time, no loss was noticeable and possibly we know why now. 

And so the saga continues…2009…there’s just not much left for me to say other than…you suck….

For the remainder of this story, you’ll have to jump back over to Education Uncensored.  Sorry!

Well, I’m no where near ready for photos of me in a swimsuit or anything like that, and to be honest, this week was pretty insignificant since I managed to only hold steady at 209 pounds.  I do think that next week will be my release date for doing more, however, the ortho seems to think that I’ll never get the ankle as strong as I want or expect.

I mean, you know, really, I guess even if it does have a rod, screws and all that, it is probably way stronger than it has been since I was in college and spraining it every few weeks only to go back to the field before it healed properly.  Hey, we might have just figured out why this all happened in the first place, eh?

So, anyway, considering we ate out 3 times last week, holding steady this week is really an accomplishment.  And, well, count that piece of apple pie and you have a recipe for trouble.  So, here we go, a new week ahead and a fridge stocked with ice cold water instead of cans and cans of soda….woot woot!  Go me!

I’m writing this post a day earlier than normal.  I have a couple of reasons why, one being I am going to be extraordinarily busy tomorrow and I have some awesome news. 

I am currently down a total of 16 pounds.  I am still doing static exercises and if you think I’ve lost my mind and that I should just get over it already and do more exercises, you have to know that the bone graft area hasn’t healed an I’ve already fallen once when putting all of my weight on that food while stepping off my porch.  I have to have more strength in the ankle. 

The other reason that I’m writing this today…..is…I’m treating myself to a piece of apple pie.  And, when I say a piece, I honestly mean a tiny minute piece.  This little piece of pie is probably nt even 1/4 of the size I would normally eat.  But, I bought it pre-made and I”m assuming that the folks that marketed it had ever intention of me eating only one serving of it. 

So, as of October 11, 2009, I am down a rockin’ total of 16 pounds….but next week…..let’s just hope the apple pie doesn’t show up….

And, no one even noticed. Not one person has noticed. I finally asked my husband today and he said that I wear my clothes too baggy for him to notice….whatever!

I would like to do a very unscientific idea of how much it cost to educate a child.  I have a spreadsheet that I would like for you to fill out.  If you agree to fill out a survey of the amount of money spent thus far on your child(ren)’s education and/or are willing to ill out a survey once a week to track expenses (for a total of 18 weeks from beginning to end), please fill out this preliminary survey.

Getting started on tracking how much it cost to educate a child

Ok, so, for the first time since this blog went up and I took the challenge of getting some weight off of me, I’m here to tell you that, I have lost one pound.  No kidding. 

If you remember when we last looked in, I was going up 7, down 9, up 10, down 10, up9, down 8 and so forth. But, this is indeed the second week in a row that I have managed to see a lower number on the scales and not a higher one.

Now, I’m don’t think anyone can tell it.  I mean, I’m still wearing my maternity pants and some other pants that I’ve worn for a couple of years but they are baggy.  A small army could move in the backside of most of them.  But, no clothes purchases until I see if I can make something happen.

Two more weeks for rehab and strength building and then, EASports, here I come!