Somewhat disappointing weigh in

I guess any loss is a good thing, but I weighed 247.6 this morning. That's a loss of only 1.4 pounds for the week. If I didn't obsessively get on the scale every day, I would probably have been happier; however, I know that I had gone down to 246 earlier in the week, then shot up to 249 yesterday. I'm sure this is why Weight Watchers tells you NOT to weigh yourself more than once a week.

When I started trying to lose weight quickly for the hernia surgery, I made Mark hide my scale. That way I could only weigh on Tuesday mornings when he brought the scale out. It just might be time to start that up again.

I wore my compression sleeve yesterday, but halfway through the day I had to take the gauntlet off. It was making my knuckles and fingers swell up terribly. I took the whole thing off around 5:30 p.m. when we finally got to the pool. At least I did not have the big indentation around the wrist or a sore on the inside of the elbow. I think having the gauntlet over the sleeve causes that wrist indentation. I'm seeing the lymphedema therapist today at 4 p.m., and I will be getting wrapped in tight bandages from my fingers to my shoulder. These bandages must remain in place for 48 straight hours, until my next appointment with her on Thursday. At least I won't need to wrestle with this compression sleeve.

I find it incredibly difficult to get this sleeve on. I have had to ask Mark to help me the last two days. This morning I had to start over three times before we got it on. It's a pain in the you-know-what to wrestle with it for 10 minutes and get hot and sweaty while doing it. Maybe I'll get better at it.

On the positive side, I really do like the new bras and breast form. Although the silicone form is heavy, I'm not finding it oppressive or too hot. When I look in the mirror, I really do like the symmetry it gives me. This bra is more comfortable than any I ever bought for myself in the store. I think it also provides the support to the chest that the therapist said I needed since she saw some evidence of breast/chest lymphedema as well. I brought only 2 bras home last week, but on Friday I get to pick up four more. That will be so nice!

I have been doing so much reading online about lymphedema, from just about every website I can find. When half your lymph nodes are surgically removed and then radiation is applied to that area and the whole breast, it would be a miracle to avoid getting it. I need to chill out and learn to co-exist with it. I did read that getting in a hot tub up to the waist or at least keeping the arm out of the tub might be OK. I will ask my therapist that question today. After we swim in the evenings, I get chilled when I get out of the pool, especially lately when the wind has been blowing pretty stiffly. We used to love a quick dip in the hot tub to warm up. I miss that.

Disappointment

I am disappointed this morning. I was so sure I would be down a pound or two. Yesterday I was 246, the weight at which I joined Weight Watchers Online three weeks ago. This morning I was UP two pounds to 248. It is so irritating and disappointing and depressing.

I guess I cannot eat at Q'doba's for lunch anymore. I ordered from the Create 2 Menu, which are smaller sizes of things. I got tortilla soup with no meat and a naked burrito. In the burrito I put half the usual rice, black beans, grilled veggies, a small amount of hot queso cheese, medium hot salsa, and a small shake of shredded cheese on top. The bowl is less than half the size of the bowl used for the usual naked burrito. I estimated that it was about 600 calories, but that is a big rough estimate. I also ate at Denny's for dinner, which I did almost every night for two months back in the summer of 2009, and yet I lost 15 pounds in those two months. We were on vacation driving around the mid-West. I had a salad with no dressing (although there are croutons), the garlic herb toast, the senior portion of grilled tilapia (no sauce), and two sides (both steamed green beans). I have always estimated the calories on this at 750, mostly from the bread and croutons. For breakfast, I ate Mark's low-carb pancakes with three Morningstar sausage links and a sugar free yogurt, my usual Sunday morning. At night I had sugar free jello and a banana, my usual snack. The only other thing I ate was half of a beignet. I estimated 1800 calories for yesterday. That is not enough to lose weight on; in fact it's the amount I should have for maintenance, probably. So why does it cause me to gain TWO pounds?? ARGH!! So frustrating.

Tomorrow is my official weigh-in day. I will be eating exclusively at home today, which is always better. I also plan to walk, swim, and reorganize the garage. If today's weight gain is just fluid from too much sodium in the restaurant food, then perhaps I can knock it out today with all the activity and home cooking. Of course, I will let you know tomorrow.

Meanwhile yesterday was a lot of fun. We saw Kung Fu Panda 2, which was much better than the original. We really enjoyed it; in fact, the audience spontaneously applauded when it was over. Cool! That doesn't happen often in movies anymore. Then we went to lunch, perhaps not my wisest choice for the day. After lunch, we drove back to the farthest end of the parking lot out past the Cirque du Soleil building. We walked all the way across from the West Side to the Marketplace, where we boarded the river boat up to Port Orleans. I had been wanting to do this for awhile because you go past the Treehouse Villas. We stayed in them when the kids were younger and with Mark's mom. We stayed 10 days, and it was so much fun!! Then they shut them down for years when the Disney Villa resort became the Disney Institute for about six or seven years. Then that resort reopened recently as Saratoga Springs and the Treehouse Villas got a complete makeover and also reopened. I had looked at the new floor plans for them at the kiosk selling the time shares. They are now part of that, but anyone can also book them. I really wanted to take the boat and cruise past them to see what they look like now. It did not disappoint; they are beautiful in the woods.

When we got to Port Orleans, we walked around the resort for awhile and then ordered the freshly made beignets. You are supposed to get 3 in a serving, but for some reason we got 4. Mark and I cut one in half and shared it and brought the others home. This morning, he said he would just throw them out. Clearly neither one of us needs to eat them. Mark also got extremely lucky in the gift shop. They are the only store in the past year that has had sugar free Mickey chocolate bars. He found them last summer at the Wide World of Sports Complex gift shop and pronounced them the best sugar free chocolate EVER! He has been on a hunt for them ever since. Now that he found them, he bought six bars. The cast member said they regularly have them. Wow! We may be going to Port Orleans every now and then just for these candy bars.

After taking the boat back down the river, we walked all the way back to the car, with just a brief stop in another shop for some Disney coffee. I had to take a short sit-down break on a bench once we got between House of Blues and Cirque du Soleil. My legs were aching. Mark checked the menu at House of Blues because in the past they had nothing we could eat. Fortunately, they have changed the menu and have several fish or vegetarian pasta options that we could eat. I told him we should not go there until I have lost 15 pounds.

I am maintaining my weight now between 246 and 250. Every time I get down a few, I put them right back. I have been in this range since the beginning of 2011. I guess maintenance is better than gaining, but this is NOT a good weight to maintain. I really need to get to 230 before I eat out again, but I don't think that's going to happen. I just don't know what else to do. I'm irritated and disappointed and frustrated.

More about our road trip.

As promised yesterday, here is a little about the rest of our road trip after Katie's graduation. Saturday after graduation we took a nice long walk along a new state park in Farmville. It's built on an old railroad site. Then we drove four hours up to Silver Spring, MD and had dinner out with Saul, Phyllis, and Georganne. It was fun hanging out with them before driving the rest of the way up to Cindy's house.

On Sunday, we took Lowell and Emily out to Camden Yards. The Orioles beat the Nationals in inter-league play, so that was a lot of fun. It was a little chilly at the stadium. We had lunch at the stadium with Lowell and Emily, but they had other plans for the evening. That left Mark and me free to go to David Chu's Kosher Chinese Bistro for dinner. Yum! I only ate half, so Mark and I split it for lunch on Tuesday.

Mark was busy Monday getting the 35 tote bins of comics wrapped and ready for pick up. I drove to Laurel to get the car washed and gassed up, do some shopping, and go to two banks. It felt very ordinary doing errands in Laurel all day. The truck to pick up the comics couldn't come until Wednesday morning, so that left us free to go see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie Tuesday afternoon. It was really good.

One of the best parts of the trip was just hanging out with Cindy again. I really enjoy talking with her over coffee in the morning and sharing Mark's delicious home-cooked dinner with her when she gets home from work. We had a great time with her! Thanks, Cindy, for allowing us to sleep over again. Wednesday and Thursday we had uneventful drives south to our home. Then came my long day yesterday with the lymphedema therapist, which I already wrote all about.

Today we went to shul, which was pleasant. Then I watched two episodes of Glee online. Mark took a much-needed two hour nap. When he woke up, we took a 30 minute walk then splashed in the pool for half an hour or so before coming home for dinner tonight and TV. I wore my compression sleeve and gauntlet all day yesterday and all day today. When I took it off to go to the pool, I was unhappy. It is creating a sore inside my elbow, and the squeezing around the wrist is so tight that there are deep indentations. I don't see how this can be a good thing. I'm not supposed to wear tight clothing or tight bracelets or rings. Isn't the compression sleeve basically being that tight bracelet? I'm not supposed to get cuts or insect bites on my skin and yet now I have a round open sore inside my elbow from the compression sleeve rubbing it for two days straight. Also because the gauntlet does not have fingers (I'll be getting the new one with fingers in about a week and a half), the knuckles and fingers of my hand were all swollen. I really think it's doing more harm than good. I don't plan on wearing it again until I can talk to the therapist on Tuesday. I did my five massage exercises four times today. I do believe those help. I also kept to 1100 calories today, 1700 yesterday. I think I should show a nice weight drop in the morning. Unfortunately we are eating lunch tomorrow at a kosher deli, so I'll have to watch myself. We plan to have dinner at Denny's, which is usually OK for me.

I'm going to check my weight in the morning because I feel like I've dropped a little since Tuesday. Tuesday I was 249 again, which is what I weighed three weeks ago when I joined Weight Watchers. The first week on WW I lost 3 pounds; the second week I gained one; the third week I gained two. Voila! Back where I started.

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day Weekend. Stop for a minute and remember the many service men and women who gave their lives for the defense of our country and pray for the many out there still in harm's way.

Breast Cancer: The Gift that Keeps on Giving.

This morning I had my appointment with the lymphedema specialist at the physical therapy clinic. I took my compression sleeve and gauntlet with me. Wow! I learned so much. One thing I learned is that I definitely have lymphedema not only in the left arm but also in the breast.

So here are the things that I need to do:
1. 8 reps of five different massage movements 3-4 times per day, pretty much forever.
2. See the specialist three times a week for three weeks for more training and massage. Next time the arm will be wrapped tightly in bandages which must be worn for 48 hours straight.
3. Wear a tight-fitting bra all day. Fortunately I had an appointment for mastectomy bras and a breast form right after this appointment. I can talk about that later.
4. Stay out of the sun. Wear a long sleeved white shirt when out in the sun. I bought two men's Columbia brand size 2X long sleeved white shirts at Sports Authority. These are designed to be protective and cooling for men doing sporty things outdoors.
5. Never get in a hot tub. This is a huge bummer.
6. Take cooler showers.
7. Drink plenty of water and cranberry juice. I do that already.
8. Wear my compression sleeve all day every day.
9. Get a compression glove with fingers on it to wear all day every day instead of the half-gauntlet I have now. I ordered it today.
10. Don't let my arm be in the sun when driving the car. Don't let my arm dangle at my side for very long.
11. Never lift more than 10 pounds with the left arm.
12. Lose weight. Excess weight puts more of a strain on the system and can cause additional swelling and pain. I'm trying to get as scared about this as I was about the hernia surgery in '09 so that I'll stick to my diet again.

I knew some of these things, but I didn't realize that I already had developed the condition. I was suspecting it a month or so ago because there was some odd sensations in my hand and arm. The therapist who fitted me for the compression sleeve at the end of April said it sounded like I did have lymphedema, but her measurements did not show a difference in size between the two arms. Today there was a significant difference in size between the two hands, wrists, and forearm. As soon as I walked in the room, she immediately said, "Take off those rings right now." I did. My wedding rings are in my purse now.

She also explained in great detail, with colorful charts, graphs, and diagrams, exactly how the lymph system works and how lymphedema develops when the system has been cut by having nodes removed. She said that in that area of the arm there are between 26 and 32 nodes, so about 50% of mine are gone. This is going to be a problem forever.

I'm not going to try to explain everything she said. I'm sure I can't even remember it all. The short version is that all cells in the body excrete things in their normal life, things like minerals, water, protein, and other things. The protein molecules are the biggest and the most problematic. The lymph system should collect this excreted material and funnel it into the nodes. The nodes chew it up into tiny, tiny bits and send it into the circulatory system where it goes through the heart and then through the kidneys where your body excretes it. I hope I got most of that right! Anyway, I have 50% less nodes to do the chewing up, so the unnecessary molecules get stuck in the hand and arm and cause swelling. Massage can physically move it up and out to other places in the body where I do have nodes, like the torso and the other arm pit. I can also "reroute" and "rewire" the lymph system by regular manual manipulation. Whew! That was a lot of new information for me.

I am trying to stay positive about this. I feel like it is going to change my lifestyle more than the cancer itself. I don't like the idea that this compression sleeve is part of my regular outfit now. It's going to be very hot in the summer here with this on. It's going to be a bummer to walk around Disney World wearing a compression sleeve and a long-sleeved shirt every time. I also had planned to spend a large amount of my retirement time laying by the pool and dipping in the hot tubs. Now she is saying never get in the hot tub and only go to the pool in the early morning or late afternoon/evening. I guess I can do that, but it is a bit of a cramp in my style.

As for the bras, I had not been wearing one regularly since the chemo. It seemed like too much effort when I was sick. Then the radiologist said it was better for the skin not to wear one during the radiation. I was enjoying that freedom! Now I was fitted for special mastectomy bras and a breast form that fits inside the pocket of the bra. My insurance covered six bras and the form 100%, so that was great. I can get six new bras every year, and if I lose some significant weight in that year, I can get six new ones in a smaller size before the year is up. That's a pretty good benefit, I must admit. I took two bras and the breast form home with me today. I'll pick up the other four bras next Friday. I am very pleased with the way they fit and feel. The breast form is a perfect size and shape for me. I'm completely symmetrical again and the form even has a small nipple shape on it, so it really matches well. That's the positives. The down side is that the form is silicone, heavy and hot. I don't know how great it's going to feel walking around in the hot sun at Disney World with a long-sleeved shirt over it! I guess I'll be finding out soon.

The breast form and the compression sleeve have to be gently washed by hand, the breast form every day and the sleeve every other day. So one more thing to add to my daily routine. UGH!

Well, I'm still going to try to stay positive. This is manageable. It's not the end of the world. I should not dwell on what I cannot do; I should dwell on the fact that I'm alive and can go to the pool every day in the evening if I want to. Right? Still this is hard. I knew this was a possibility, but I have lived in my "land of denial" again. It's happy there. Now she forced me to leave that land and go into the real world. This part of the real world really sucks.

I promise that tomorrow I'll write a happy, upbeat blog about all the fun we had on our road trip. It really was a lot of fun, but I've written enough for today.

Graduation was lovely.

We had a great time in Farmville the last two days. We ate a delicious meal in an historic restaurant, Charley's Waterfront Cafe. Then the next day was chock full of fun with my sister Flyn, her husband Jim, and my beautiful niece, Katie. There are some pictures here of everyone.

This morning we are driving to Silver Spring, MD so we can have dinner with some friends. Then tonight we'll be starting the first of four nights back at Cindy's house. We are taking Lowell and Emily to the Oriole game on Sunday, if it doesn't get rained out. The forecast is calling for thunderstorms. Monday, Mark has to pack his comic books safely for the move. I hope to get my car washed, but thunderstorms are predicted for Monday also, so I might not get to do that. The movers are coming on Tuesday to pick up the comics. Then Wednesday we will head back down the road to Florence and then home on Thursday.

I'm summing this all up for a reason. I will not have internet access again until we check in to the EconoLodge on Wednesday night. Mark forgot to pack our wireless router, so we won't be able to use the laptop in Cindy's house. I will be able to see and respond to emails and also check Facebook, but it's really not possible to do this blog on my iPhone. It's just too tedious, so there will be no more blogging for me for a few days.

I hope you are all going to have a wonderful weekend, and maybe I'll read some comments from you when I log back on Wednesday night.

Take care!

Yes, there really is a Farmville.

I am now in Farmville, VA. I put it on Facebook that I was going there today, and I had friends who were surprised that such a place actually exists. If you play games on FB, you'll know what I mean. So to all of them I say, YES, Farmville is a real place. It's the home of Longwood University where my sister Flyn has been a professor for over 25 years. Tomorrow her daughter Katie will graduate high school, so that is why Mark and I are here.

The EconoLodge back in Florence had a "jogging trail." It was a sign in the parking lot that said three times around the entire parking lot oval equaled one mile, so Mark and I walked around it four times for one and one-third miles in 30 minutes. Not a bad start to the day.

I ate a perfect breakfast of two hard boiled eggs (140 calories) and a packet of plain instant oatmeal (100 calories). That was equivalent in calories to my normal breakfast. I ate an apple mid-morning in the car for about 80 calories. We found a Subway for lunch in NC. I had my usual (190 for the double turkey salad and 130 for the Baked Lays chips), but I blew it on the Keebler Club Crackers. Sadly they tossed EIGHT packages of crackers on the tray and I ate them all. That was an additional 240 calories. OK, well, that was the same as the pecan log I ate yesterday. I should have stopped, but I didn't. I had bought Key Lime Coconut Patties yesterday at Stuckey's also, and I ate them when we got in the hotel. 300 calories for the two patties. Now I've had a total of 1220 and no dinner yet. Sigh. Why do I do these things?

We are going to a cool sounding restaurant tonight that's just down the road from the Hampton Inn here called Charley's Waterfront Cafe. It's on a river and used to be a pre-Civil War tobacco warehouse. It sounds fun and is rated 2 diamonds by AAA. I'm sure I will eat another 800 calories in there easily even with no bread, no dessert, and no alcohol. So I guess today will end up being around 2300 calories after I eat my bedtime banana. If I had skipped the crackers and coconut patties I could have saved 540 calories, and the day's total would have looked a lot better. Oh, well...

Our drive today was easy and uneventful. I liked it because we got off I-95 around Raleigh, NC and drove the rest of the way on "new" roads. At least that was more entertaining than just slogging up I-95 any farther. I'm getting very bored with that road after so many years of driving up and down the coast. We'll be going up for the Fourth of July weekend to NJ and then on to Boston for Labor Day Weekend. Driving up and down the I-95 corridor is bound to be in my future many more times. Guess I'll just relax and enjoy it.

Heading to Maryland

Yesterday we had an excellent visit with Mark's co-worker Sharon and her husband Gordon. Although he has ALS, he is not letting it dampen his spirits. We talked with the two of them in their home for several hours. It was very inspiring actually.

Today we drove up to Florence, SC on our way to Virginia. My niece will graduate high school on Friday, so that's the first part of the trip. In Florence, we always eat at a restaurant called Fatz. Apparently they have changed the menu since we were here in February. They have added a Lite Menu with calorie counts. I got the Lite Carolina Mahi Mahi, which included steamed broccoli and a little bit of cole slaw and barbeque sauce on top of the grilled fish. The menu said it was 556 calories. I should have stopped at that, but I saw grilled skewered veggies as a side dish and ordered them also. It was two skewers, so I shared with Mark. Delicious. I should have stopped at that, too, but they had something I had never seen on a menu before: deep fried corn on the cob. How could I resist? I wanted to see what that looked like. It was delicious, but it was not what I expected. I thought it was going to be breaded or coated or something like that. Instead it was an average-sized ear of corn that had been dipped in hot oil to cook it quickly then covered all over in seasoned salt. It was spectacular and different. I'm sure that although there were lots of extra calories I did not need from the corn and the oil, it was still less calories than it would have been with breading on it. Right? Sure!

I had 280 calories for breakfast at home and my usual 320 calorie lunch at Subway. With the 556 in the mahi mahi plus an estimated 400 more for the corn and skewered veggies, I have had about 1500 at that point. I should have stopped there, but I also succumbed to the lure of a Stuckey's Stop. I didn't realize there were any Stuckey's left on I-95, but we found one when we stopped for gas. Yikes! The gas at that stop was $4.10 a gallon. We have been seeing it go down in our neighborhood. The going rate there was $3.75 yesterday. Can we say "sticker shock?" Anyway, back to Stuckey's. When I was a little girl and when I was the young mother with children, we always stopped at Stuckey's and got pecan logs as we traveled up and down the I-95 corridor. I haven't done that in years, but today a small pecan log of 240 calories jumped into my hand. Hm...so that brings my total calories to 1740ish. Then I also ate a small plum and a cup of strawberries. That's maybe 140 more calories, and before I go to bed, I'm going to eat a banana. Voila! Today's caloric total is now up to about a smidge over 2,000. Well, at least I didn't eat the bread or dessert or any alcohol in the restaurant. Also, we did do our weight routines at the gym before we drove off. Hopefully, I won't have gained any today. I actually packed my scale, so I will probably check in the morning.

Tomorrow morning we will eat the complimentary breakfast in this Econo Lodge, which we got for free with Mark's Choice Reward points. It's a nice room for free! I will try to eat an appropriate about of calories, no more than 300. We will have the usual Subway lunch and then plan to try a AAA rated restaurant in Farmville, VA tomorrow night. I suspect another 2,000 calorie day is coming tomorrow. Theoretically, I should be able to maintain on that. At least I hope so.

I got a response from the radiation oncologist today. They said it was no problem to have the CT scan of my head. I also got them to fax permission to the new dentist's office saying it was ok to have dental x-rays. I forgot to mention one thing about yesterday that annoyed me. I had blood drawn yesterday at the cancer center as ordered by the medical oncologist in preparation for my visit with her on June 3. I had had blood drawn there in February when I saw her and CIGNA covered it in full, so I assumed that would happen yesterday. NOT! It was covered when it was part of an office visit, but when I just came in for the blood draw, I was charged $10.35. What an odd amount. I was told I was paying for the nurse's time. I told them that I would never drive 40 minutes to get blood drawn there again and pay for it when Quest is 10 minutes from my house and completely covered by CIGNA. Next time they can just write me a prescription to take to Quest. I still can't get over the oddities of the charges at this place. Shame on me for not asking in advance.

D23 Convention

D23 is a very special Disney fan club. Mark is a charter member, so he took me as his guest to their convention at The Contemporary Resort this weekend. It was truly amazing. We heard lots of speakers, ate delicious food, and heard Richard Sherman perform a lot of his hit songs, written with his brother Roger. What a great weekend! If you have never heard of Richard and Roger Sherman, get the documentary The Boys and watch it. You won't be disappointed.

Today we slept in until 9 a.m., so the day flew by. We had our follow up appointments with our new family doctor. We had been turned off by him on our first visit in March, but both Mark and I agreed that he was more personable this time. He was pleased that I had lost about four pounds in the last two months, so I was pleased with that, too. I have been having some spells of feeling light-headed, off balance, as if I might pass out or fall. These have been happening a lot in the last two or three weeks, so when I mentioned them to him, he took it very seriously. He checked my strength in my arms and legs and checked my ears. Nothing wrong there. He wants me to have a CT scan of my head and see him in a month. I have no problem with doing that. He wants to be sure there is nothing seriously wrong inside before deciding how to deal with it. I have been thinking it is low blood pressure, so when it happens, sometimes I drink more water and try to eat a salty snack. My BP when the nurse took it the first time was my usual 114/69, very normal. Then the nurse took it lying down, 134/79 and then standing up, 147/85. I was actually surprised that it kept going up, so I guess my idea of low BP might be wrong. Anyway I will be scheduling a head CT scan soon and see him again on July 7. I'll also be telling my rad onc and med onc that this is happening when I see them on June 1 and 3.

We did a few other errands and also managed to get our weight lifting in. We had a lovely Facetime iphone conversation with our friends Bev and John in VA, although sadly they called to tell us the bad news that John's brother had been killed in a motorcycle accident. Mark also made a delicious HG dinner of little sliders with broccoli and salad. My calories today are excellent, just about 1,000 for the day. Nice.

Tomorrow we are driving to the Tampa area for a visit with Mark's former co-worker and her husband. It will be a bittersweet visit because her husband is suffering with Lou Gehrig's disease. We plan to take them a little "Disney magic."

Busy, busy, busy

This blogger page was having a problem the last two days, so it has not been possible to post a new entry. Finally, this morning things look like they are back to normal. I'm in a bit of a hurry this morning, and I have two days of activities to cover. I'm just warning you that this could be a very boring blog, full of "we did this and we did that," and not full of anything really interesting to anyone else. Read on at your own risk! LOL

Thursday we had a most wonderful day, doing everything we planned to do. I went to my cancer support group in the morning. There were only 3 other ladies, but we were a congenial group and had an hour of pleasant conversation. Then we took our first BJs run. Solivita offered a good deal to join, so we did. Back in Maryland we never belonged to those kinds of club stores because we never would buy in bulk. Still it seemed like too good a deal to pass up. We got a few "staples" in large quantities and wrote down some prices of other things to make a comparison for next time. I also splurged and bought myself an iHome, a clock/radio and docking station/player for the iPod and iPhone. My old clock/radio had sort of died, so this looked like a great new toy. I haven't set it up yet, but hopefully I'll have the time on Monday. We followed this "strenuous" hour of wandering the big aisles in BJs by an hour of splashing in the pool and then dinner at Lakeside for free wine. I had pan seared grouper, steamed broccoli, and a side salad with no dressing. Pretty low calories, I think. We also had met another couple from Solivita while I was getting my mani/pedi Wednesday afternoon. I invited her and her husband to join us for dinner, and they did! Turns out they are both retired federal employees, so Mark enjoyed their company very much.

Friday we decided to do our Sunday routine since we won't be able to do it Sunday. We started off at 9 a.m. with our weight lifting routine, then went to see the new movie, Thor, at Downtown Disney. I highly recommend it! It was better than I expected. After that, we had a delicious lunch at the nearby Qdoba. Mark had not been to this Qdoba yet, so he had fun. I chose from the "Create 2" menu, which are two things in smaller portions. I got tortilla soup and a naked burrito with very little rice. I hope the calories weren't too bad. Then we headed to Epcot for the final concert of the Flower Power series, Herman's Hermits. They were amazing! The place was packed. I might have insisted on staying for the other two shows last night except that it was Shabbat, so we needed to get home. On the way out, we stopped at the Pixar exhibit and saw some interesting facts about the movies and lots of characters posing for pictures. It started to rain as we got to the tram, so it was good that we were heading out, tired but happy.

Today and tomorrow we are going to the Contemporary Resort near the Magic Kingdom for the D23 convention. D23 is a special Disney Fan Club that Mark joined as a charter member. This is the first time we have been able to attend the annual convention, so he is especially excited about it this morning. Like any convention, there will be lectures, panels, vendors, movies, and special guests. It should be a fascinating weekend. I guess I'll let you know next time.

Before we go this morning, I have to put some canned food in a bag and hang it on the mailbox. The postal department is going to pick it up and give it to local food banks. I hope all of you are doing the same wherever you are. I'm pretty sure this is a national event.

Enjoy your weekend no matter what you are doing. In fact, why not post a comment and tell me what you are doing!

Tied a Record

Central Florida tied a record for heat yesterday at 94 degrees, and yet Mark and I did not feel that it was that hot because the humidity was reasonable and there was a light breeze all the time. I didn't know it was that hot until the news this morning. We did everything we planned to do yesterday, and Mark beat me REALLY badly at golf. I couldn't get that ball in the hole for NOTHING yesterday. And best of all, the Democratic Club had delicious veggie burgers. They also had delicious cole slaw and potato salad, and best of all, we didn't even go over to the dessert table. Mark enjoyed the speaker, but I started to doze off. He was on SKYPE! Then he put up a lot of slides through power point so he was just an invisible voice, and the print was so small that I couldn't read any of it from our table in the back. Oh, well...Still we enjoyed the food and the company at the table. The couple who joined us were interesting to talk to.

I was up every hour going to the bathroom. I feel tired and sluggish this morning because of the lack of solid sleep, but I was consoling myself with the thought that there should be a HUGE weight drop on the scale this morning. Well, that didn't happen. I stayed exactly the same at 246 again. I guess I just drank a lot of water and coffee yesterday. I hope to have another pretty good day today with food, even though we will be eating dinner out tonight. It's free wine Thursday, but I'm getting good at that restaurant for sending away the bread basket, not ordering dessert, and asking for steamed veggies with the grilled fish. I hope to do that again tonight!

I have time in the blog today to discuss another of those four topics. So far I explained Weight Watchers and Younger Next Year. Today I'll write a little about being a cancer survivor. When I first got my diagnosis last July, some people started calling me a survivor. I couldn't do that for myself. I felt like a victim at first and then like a patient. I felt like I could call myself a survivor the day I finished radiation treatment. Even though there were still weeks of home treatment to do with creams and avoiding pools and sun, I was no longer going to the cancer center everyday. I felt great about that. Then I read online that a doctor told his patient that she could not call herself a survivor until the one year anniversary of her surgery. What? I never heard that before. Interesting. His philosophy was that there are a percentage of women who have a recurrence in the first year, so until you got through that stage you should not consider yourself a survivor. Each year that you go without a recurrence, the less likely you will get a recurrence, but I guess the chances are the highest in the first year. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm feeling very good, nearly back to my full control over food, getting stronger with exercise, and loving life. I want to call myself a survivor NOW!! What are your thoughts on this?

Line Dancing!!

We finally made it to the line dancing class at 12:30 yesterday afternoon. Whew! What a workout!! We met another couple who were there for their first time, so the four of us hung in the back of the room and did the best we could. I never realized I could sweat that much and still live to tell about it. It was a LOT of fun and a huge aerobic workout, at least for me. All of the music was lots of fun to dance to, but some of the steps were easier to remember than others. It reminded me of the days when I used to go to the John Jacobson Choral Workshops sponsored by the Hal Leonard Corporation. He would have us up dancing all day long. Of course, no one cared if you sat down and watched in those workshops! Anyway, we liked it well enough to come back, but our schedule is so crazy that we don't have another open Tuesday until May 31. I hope I remember anything we did by then!

We also spent about three hours at the pool. It was only the second time I have been in the pool since the radiation. I feel muscles down the left side and into my back that I never feel any other time except doing swimming strokes. I did it a little more and a little better this time than last time, so obviously just by keeping at it I can strengthen those muscles.

According to the Younger Next Year program, we should do weight training two days a week for 30 minutes and aerobic training four days a week for 30 to 60 minutes, then take one day off per week. Mark likes to do weights three days a week, so that means we do weights and aerobic together at least one day. That day will be today. We try to do weights Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when the schedule allows. Wednesday is now going to be mini-golf day, too, and I found it to be pretty aerobic for me last week because this course included lots of stairs to go up or down from hole to hole. So far we are only up to about 22 minutes of weights and that is doing 9 exercises. I really don't know if I can stretch that out much more. In June they are bringing in some new exercise programs with some new "toys" that will count as strength training. We plan to go try them when they start. For aerobics, when I just walk, I usually poop out about 30 to 35 minutes, but I can golf or line dance for an hour. These are ultimate goals and not something we need to worry about that we don't meet those minutes right now. I'm still feeling very good about what we do here. Obviously for successful weight loss, the aerobic exercise is the most important part, but the calories are also very important. I really need to keep trying to get those calories counts down to the 1200 range most days of the week, or 31 points on Weight Watchers. Like I said earlier, I had 35 points yesterday because of the slushy.

My calories yesterday were very good, but I went over my WW points by 4. I guess that wasn't too bad. Essentially, it was the bourbon slushy I got at the bar by the pool. I estimated it at 7 points! Oooo, but it was soooo good!! Today will be a good breakfast and lunch, but we have no idea what is going to be served at the dinner we are attending tonight. The Solivita Democratic Club has a dinner and a lecturer tonight at the Palms. We paid $32 for the two of us to attend, but as far as we know they are having burgers, hot dogs, cole slaw, and baked beans. Unless one of those burgers is a veggie, it looks like dinner will be cole slaw because we expect the beans to have meat in them. I'll let you know tomorrow, I guess.

Younger Next Year

First things first: I lost 3 pounds this week! I am happy with that. I went from 249 last week to 246 this morning. Considering the meals I had Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night, I am very pleased. I did have a few excellent days, including yesterday, and lots of walking. I guess that did it. I have been alternately enjoying and getting frustrated with the Weight Watchers program. It's often hard to find the exact type of food that I ate to put in the points. I do like the part where you can plug in the nutritional facts for a recipe and it will calculate the points. Mark made a super hot and spicy Hungry Girl chicken recipe last night, and I was able to put in the protein, fat, and carbs and find out that one serving was six points. That's pretty cool. I was also very excited to program in this morning's weight and see the little chart draw a downward line. I know today's calories will be good.

Last Tuesday I said we were going line dancing at 12:30, but Mark didn't get back from shopping in time for us to go. We walked in the indoor track instead. Today, Mark has just left for shopping, so we're going to try again to get to the line dancing. We are both hoping it will be lots of fun. He is also going to his Solivita Diabetic Support Group for the first time this afternoon. I hope he enjoys it as much as I enjoy the cancer support group.

Today I mainly want to tell you about the Younger Next Year Community initiative that Solivita has started. The community has partnered with the authors of the book, Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy until 80 and Beyond. Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry Lodge wrote a series of books about health for seniors. Our community decided to take up this charge. It is a four-prong approach: diet, exercise, socialization, and finances. New exercise programs and classes will be instituted beginning June 1; new menus have already appeared in the restaurants. Chris Crowley came to give a lecture here when Frank visited, so we took him to hear it. In addition, the woman who is designing and instituting the new exercise classes spoke about what she is planning, and the third speaker talked about social security funding. Of course, all the clubs and activities keep the seniors in this community active and out socializing all the time. Mark and I are pretty excited about the program and are jumping in with both feet!

Chris Crowley, who is in his seventies, gave an analogy that we are all going to fall off the water fall at the end of life. The average American begins a slow, steady decline down that waterfall beginning even as early as the mid-40s. His philosophy is to keep your life at a steady level from that point all the way to the edge of the water fall; then fall off. I'm visualizing Niagara Falls. I want to be in the Niagara River, staying up high at the top of the falls on an even keel, right up to the edge. I don't want to be in some lazy river that slowly descends until the last little piece of water fall happens so slowly that you don't realize you fell over. Of course, I can sum up what Crowley said in his big book in just four words: eat less, exercise more. It's logical, but so hard to do sometimes. Anyway, that's one more of the topics I teased you with that is now explained! I do plan to buy the book on my Kindle as soon as I buy my new Kindle. My old one died, so Mark said he would buy me a new one for my Mother's Day gift. Nice. I'm going to do that today and the first new book I will get is Younger Next Year.

We are back from a great trip!

I hope you all had a great time without reading my blog for the last three days! Ha ha!!

We had an uneventful flight up and back to Maryland. While we there, it was AWESOME. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt before picking up our friend Frank. Friday afternoon was relaxing, and then we had an excellent Shabbat dinner with our friends Dave, Evey, Saul, Phyllis, Jeff, Sara, Josh, and Frank. Saturday morning was the Keter Shem Tov in honor of good friend Dick R. It was spectacular! I especially enjoyed the opportunity to stand in front of the choir and direct two of our very special songs: "Sim Shalom," and "Amen." I literally had not lifted my arms to direct anything in nearly two years, since I left the stage in June 2009 following that year's spring concert. The excitement between me and the choir was palpable. I never heard them sound so good! I have to thank Arlene and Rachel for making this happen. It was a highlight of the weekend for me. On Saturday night, Lowell and his girlfriend Emily came over. We gave them some gifts we had gotten for them on the cruise and at Epcot. Lowell gave me a Mother's Day card and gift. Just spending some hours with him and Emily would have been enough of a present. We had a spectacular dinner at Timpano's in Rockville. OY! My calories this weekend were NOT good, but the flavors and company were amazing.

When we got back Sunday, we immediately went to see Davy Jones, formerly of the Monkees, perform at Epcot. He did a great job! We sure did enjoy hearing a lot of the old favorite songs. When it was over, Ed and Marian from our new synagogue came up to us. They had been just a few rows back, so we walked all the way back to the trams with them. It was good to have some time to chat with them and start to get to know them a little better. They were originally from Peabody, MA, a place we stayed in for two weeks when Evey had knee surgery in 2007. We even attended Ed and Marian's synagogue, but they were already down here at that time.

Today has been another wonderful day. This morning, Mark and I attended a Hurricane Preparedness lecture. It was great, with lots of handouts and shopping lists. It was good to get all this information. We also took advantage of the special 15 month discounted membership to the local BJs. We have never shopped at a BJs, but we are going to give it a try. We also bought two tickets to the Solivita Democrats Club dinner and lecture for this Wednesday evening. And it was only 11 a.m.!! After the lecture, I took care of a few odds and ends in the house, ate lunch, and then played Mah Jongg with my neighbors for the second time. I only won twice today, but that was enough. Two women came today who had not come last Monday, so I got to talk to more neighbors. This is such a wonderful opportunity to get to know the ladies on my street. I just LOVE IT!! I never lived on a street before where the neighbors got together to do anything.

Mark and I went up to the gym and worked out after Mahj. That was a good thing. Then we did some more chores in the house, balanced the checkbook, made dinner, and counted up my points/calories for the day. I'm having the first excellent day in quite awhile. I hope that I will show a small loss tomorrow morning, but that remains to be seen.

I haven't forgotten that I have three more topics to discuss: YNY, survivorship, and lymphedema/compression sleeve. I'll try to do one tomorrow. I already wrote enough today!

Enjoy the pictures of Lowell and Emily and Davy Jones.

Off line until Monday

Good evening! I am putting up a second blog today, which is very unusual for me. I wanted to let you know that I've decided not to take the computer on this weekend to Maryland. I can check my email and Facebook on my iPhone, but it's not so easy to write or read the blog on it. There will be no other blog now until sometime on Monday.

Today was GREAT! I started off with my cancer support group. We spent some time talking about lymphedema. Many of the women there have had breast cancer. They were told not to lift more than FOUR pounds. My doctor said TEN. They were all stunned. I think they felt that I may have brought on this lymphedema myself in the last few months by doing the upper body weight machines at 10 pounds. I hope not. I will be going to the clinic for an evaluation soon, so then I'll find out more. I did not wear the sleeve at all today, but I will wear it all day tomorrow.

After the support group, we went right to Mexico. The cheese empanadas were delicious and came with multi-colored tortilla chips. I also had a wildberry margarita. It was so yummy. The mariachi band played for about 25 minutes. They were really excellent. Mark had a very expensive tequila shot, and then we rode the Mexican boat ride, Gran Fiesta. It's always a favorite. We walked to and from the car, which took about 20 minutes each way, so we felt we got a good walk in today.

Then came the best part of the day: the POOL!! Today was the day I am allowed to be in the pool again, so I took full advantage of it. We played in the pool for nearly an hour. I did discover that despite all the walking and all the exercise machines, my muscles felt weak in the water. Swimming must use some different muscles that have been unused for months. The sidestroke gave me a cramp in my side, so I had to give that up. The back stroke was the best, but it felt funny. The breast stroke or front crawl were OK, but I couldn't do them for very long. Mostly I just took a few strokes, felt weird, and then floated around or stood around. I also sat in the hot tub for five minutes. It felt like bliss.

Dinner was at the Lakeside restaurant with free wine, but I asked for a green salad, steamed broccoli, and grilled grouper. That kept my points and calories fairly reasonable since I used up so many at lunch. Then we went home and tried to pack for the trip. Why does such a short trip seem so hard to pack for? Weird.

Have a great weekend and I'll blog again on Monday!

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Today we are going to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by going to the Mexican Pavilion at Epcot. We are going to have cheese empanados for lunch (couldn't find them in the points calculator on WW app) and drink some tequila. We will also ride the boat ride inside, and we are hoping the mariachi band is out and playing while we are there. It shouldn't be a long time over there, but it should be lots of fun.

I was up every hour last night to go to the bathroom, but I was rewarded with another few pounds gone. I was only 244.5 this morning. Wow! That's about four pounds since Tuesday. I think it's the walking every day, but maybe WW online is helping me stay focused. That was the goal. I don't think the cheese empanadas and tequila are going to help much today, but I will walk a lot to get out there and back to the car. Dinner will be at the Lakeside restaurant with free wine, too, so this will be a high calorie day. Sigh.

Tomorrow we fly to Baltimore for a whirlwind weekend full of fun, friends, family, and food. OY! So much food!! Another sigh.

Yesterday I got my compression sleeve and gauntlet. I described the mild pain and odd feelings in my arm to the girl fitting me with the sleeve. Although she is not a doctor, she does see lymphedema a lot in fitting and measuring these sleeves. She seemed to think that my fear that I'm starting to develop it might be true. Next, I went to the doctor's office and got the process started to go be evaluated at the local lymphedema clinic. They are sending over records and whatever else they need, then I should get a call soon to set up an appointment. Meanwhile I wore the sleeve all day yesterday, and it actually felt good. The amount of pain/discomfort I have been feeling in the left arm these last two weeks was definitely lessened. I am not going to wear it today because I have to wear it all day tomorrow with the flight. It seemed very hard to get on. The girl in the office basically put it on me, so I'm a little nervous about trying to get it on myself tomorrow morning in a hurry to head out to the airport at 6:15 a.m. I also got a prescription to go back to the same place as the sleeve to be fitted for mastectomy bras and a small prosthetic to even me out. CIGNA will pay for this, just like the sleeve, so I didn't see any reason not to pursue it. I have to call to set up that appointment. I probably won't have time to do it until we get back from MD next week.

I know I teased you with all those topics yesterday, but I won't have time to pursue the others today. I need to go to my cancer support group meeting soon, so this blog will have to come to an end today. I did include a few pictures of our mini-golf outing yesterday. Mark and I like playing miniature golf, and we realized that around here there are literally dozens of courses. It took us about an hour. With the many steps up and down and the walking around in the heat, I was sweating pretty heavily. I counted it as my aerobic activity for the day! Now if only I had not followed it up with the Twistee Treat cone! Final sigh.

Many New Things

I have four new topics that I'd like to pursue, but I don't want to write about four things on the same day. It would be too much for me to write or you to read. I will mention the four topics, so I don't leave you wondering all day what they were, but I'm not going to go into any details now. OK, here are my four burning topics:
1. picking up my compression sleeve with some fear of developing lymphedema,
2. being a cancer survivor,
3. becoming Younger Next Year, and
4. joining Weight Watchers online.

I will start at the bottom. As you know, my weight has been fluctuating around the 250 mark for months and months, ever since I have been back in Florida. I guess it means I've learned to maintain my weight, which I never was able to do before, but this is NOT the weight I would like to maintain! So, yesterday I saw another of the many ads for Weight Watchers Online. I looked into it, decided it wasn't that expensive, and signed up. I thought that it might be just the jolt I needed to get me back on track. I also liked the idea that there is a WW App for my phone to help me stay on track in restaurants, a real pitfall for me. Once I did it, I spent hours trying to learn to use the program.

I was very successful going to Weight Watchers two times in the past, once in 1984 ( going from 281 down to 200) and again in 1989 (going down from 275 to 199) . Both times, I regained the large amount weight I lost, plus more, when I stopped going. The first time I stopped going because I was pregnant with Evey. The second time I stopped going after the freak accident in the mall when the wall collapsed on me. I also joined it about seven other times when I just "pretended" to be doing it and finally quit when I realized I was spending money to show how much I gained each week! If I find that I like this program but miss the meetings, there is a weekly meeting right here in Solivita one morning a week.

Of course, the program has changed a lot over the years. I never used the point system. It's weird not to think about calories and carbs. I can't get Mark interested in any of their recipes because they never give any nutritional breakdowns for calories, carbs, fiber, etc. They only tell the points. I might write them asking for the nutritional information. I do like the computer app that allows me to put in all the nutritional information and it will tell me the points. This means I can keep using the Hungry Girl recipes and translate them into points.

I'm also SHOCKED that FRUITS are FREE!! Yes, fruits have ZERO points. How can that be? I could eat hundreds of calories every day in fruit. Couldn't you? How can they not count? Well, I'll see if that really works. I ate a banana and an orange yesterday for no points. I am committed to three months, and then I can cancel. I should know if I like it or not by then.

So the program asks for your info like height, weight, age, etc. then it tells you how many points you can eat each day plus an extra weekly amount of points that can be used anytime in the week. My daily points are 31 and my weekly extras are 49. Yesterday, I ate 40 points, so my weekly allotment now has 40 left in it. I also counted up my calories, including the fruit, and it came to 1675, which I would normally consider to be a reasonable day.

This is going to be a challenging week to stay on points because of our trip to Maryland. I used the restaurant app to try to figure out how much my fish tacos, brown rice, and black bean dinner at the Grille cost me. It's still hard to do restaurants. At least we said, NO BREAD!! I also did not order my own dessert, but I ate one-third of Mark's sugar free chocolate mousse cake. We have had that dessert many times because it is the BEST cake anywhere with or without sugar. If you come to visit, you MUST try it!! You will not know it is sugar free by taste, only because I told you!

Anyway, I am down another pound this morning, 247.1. I walked 34 minutes yesterday again at the indoor track. I shaved two minutes off my time for the mile and a half over yesterday, then I walked four more times around the track. That was good exercise! Today we will do our weights and walk again. I'm also picking up that compression sleeve.

Tomorrow I'll talk about getting the sleeve and why I'm worrying about lymphedema now. It's also Cinco de Mayo tomorrow. We're spending it in Mexico! Ha ha! The Mexican pavilion at Epcot, but I bet you knew that's what I meant! Sooner or later I'll write about being a survivor and some news I've heard recently as well as the Younger Next Year program here at Solivita.

Have a great day!!

Where should I start?

I have not blogged for a few days, which I know upsets certain of my readers. I apologize. I have been so busy!!

Let me start with the Tuesday weigh-in. I exercised a LOT this week, and I ate well most of the time. I am 248.4 this morning, which is a loss of four pounds. I'm pleased but not too excited. I basically had gained that in water weight from Passover, so I'm back where I was a few weeks ago. Now the trick is to get more off, but it will be challenging. This week includes a quick weekend trip by air to MD. It will include a big dinner Friday night at the home of our hosts, Jeff and Sara, a big luncheon Saturday afternoon at the synagogue, and a big dinner out Saturday night at Timpanos in Rockville with Lowell and Emily. I know that it's possible to eat appropriately during these events, but I'm not always able to control myself. I'll let you know next Tuesday when I weigh in again about how successful I have been.

We had a great time on Sunday. We drove out to St. Petersburg again to Tropicana Field to see the Tampa Bay Rays lose to the Los Angeles Angels. It was a good game, lots of action. It's a nice stadium and an easy drive out there.

Then on Monday we did a lot of errands and exercise. We did our 9 weight machines and walked 30 minutes in the indoor track. I went a mile and a half in that time and Mark went two miles in about 34 minutes. I also went to play Mah Jongg for the first time with my neighbors! Every Monday from 1-4 p.m., Maureen, the lady two doors to my right, hosts Mahj. My immediate neighbor to my left, Luanne, my neighbor to the right, Jeanne, and I were there as well as another neighbor from our street and a lady from a nearby street, Lou and Evelyn. The six of us played on two tables of three. I actually won four times, which is pretty unusual for me. It was also unusual in that it was my first time with the new 2011 card, and I won three of those games on the exact same hand: consecutive run, 1-5, in cracks. That just NEVER happens!!

All in all, it was a great day. Mark started to assemble one of the last two pieces of furniture. He has two dressers for the bedroom to replace the big armoire that got crushed in the moving van. It's a lot of steps, and he is about three-quarters of the way done. It's going to look great! I know he'll be so happy to have storage for his clothes instead of big piles on the floor.

Today is another day for chores, but we are also going to go to a class called Beginner Line Dancing for some aerobic exercise this afternoon. I hope we can keep up and do it without looking too foolish!! Tonight we are planning to have dinner at the Stonegate Grille in Solivita. Their May specials include Fish Tacos on Tuesday nights.