I hope ya'll enjoyed Ellie's story :) I had fun writing it, but boy did it take a few days to put together. I best not get that far behind again. lol
Now that ya'll have see that Ellie is doing well and fine and enjoying life, here's an update on me. Please bear with me. It's been a few weeks, so I'm playing catchup.
I've been sticking to my journey pretty well. Texas gave me a few pounds, but, I can say that I enjoyed my vacation and still was able to make good choices here and there, also able to say, awe what the heck, I'm on VACATION! lol. I may have enjoyed one too many doughnuts and Mexican food. Make that six too many zits from it. But it was all worth it. My face is clearing up, I've lost the 2 pounds and I am back on track and enjoying life.
My latest journey,
After the Gall bladder attack in January, thank you healthy eating, jump onto a cruise ship eating, confuse my body out of control and now have gall bladder issues, I've been to my doctor a few times. My blood, urine and stool, test all came back GREAT! My ultra sound, well, that's another story.
I got a phone call last week. Yikes, was my thought. They said they would call if there was concern.
Here is what the notes from my ultra sound say:
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Findings: The liver and spleen are normal in size with no focal lesions identified within. There is no evidence for intrahepatic or extrahepatic biliary dilation. the common duct at the level of the porta hepatis measures approximately 4 mm in AP dimension.
There are multiple minute, up to a few-millimeter calculi identified in the gallbladder. There is no evidence for gallbladder wall thickening or pericholecystic fluid.
The pancreas and abdominal aorta appear unremarkable. The kidneys are normal in size and echotexture with no evidence for focal mass, calculi or hydronephrosis. No abnormal intra-abdominal fluid collections are identified.
Liver-normal-13.5 CM AP
gallbladder-abnormal-stones
Pancreas-normal-WNL
CBD-normal-4MM
Rt. Kidney-normal-9.9x4.6x5.0
Lt. Kidney-normal-11.0x5.5x5.5
Spleen-normal-10.3 cm ap
Aorta-normal-1.3 cm ap
Comments:
Many tiny echogenic, shadowing structures in GB, all 5mm or less. Rt gassy in rt flank area. No other abnormalities noted.
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With moving in 4 weeks my doctor put a stat on my file to get me in next week to get my gall bladder removed. I am choosing to decline. I've done plenty of ponder and prayer, even got a blessing from hubby, so please don't be concerned that I'm not following doctors order, I just think this is best for me.
My blessing from hubby was wonderful!!! Before I share a few words from the blessing I want to add. About 20 min after the blessing. Hubby comes to bed and say's something along the lines. The priesthood is pretty amazing!. I love giving blessings. Not knowing what I am going to say and it just comes to me, is pretty cool. I loved hearing that. That is the first time he has said something like that to me. My want for a blessing was pretty much to know if I should go through with surgery or not. The Lord told me, that he knows all. My experiences have been for my learning and growth. I would have the knowledge and wisdom to know what to do through study and prayer.
I love the Lord, and I feel even more confident that I will be okay. It is a wonderful feeling! Since this blog is somewhat, or pretty much my only journal, I want to add some personal thoughts to the blessing. Read on, or skip to next paragraph. I know the Lord knows all. I know so even more. I have found more and more, day in and day out, that these health issues, and weight gain I have had this past year have been for my learning and growth, and for the Lord to tell me that, just reassures it even more so, and makes me want to study health more and more! Watch out google here I come! I hope to someday be able to share more of what I learn, but for now, it is for my learning and growth, so I really don't know how to explain why I do what I do, I just know that it is the right thing for me. So please if you question or ponder on something I do, please feel free to ask, but you may get a very vague answer and highly recommended a few books, and told to do the research yourself. Of course all said out of love :) I have been needing and wanting to better my self spiritually! I quickly came to realize at the begging of this journey, that this body of mine is more then what I have been taught, a temple of God, it is, oh it is! But it is more, it is a gift from God!!!!!! Everyone gets a body, male or female, tall or short, gay or straight, Christian or not. It is our blessing and gift from God and it should be treated as such! But I've also come to realize this gift was meant to be a dwelling place for a "sweet spirit" our spirit. If we aren't feeding both our spirit and flesh, our life can get hectic and out of whack. So yes I've been improving spiritually and so it was nice to have the Lord remind me that through study and prayer I will know my answer! And last but not least. He reminded me that I was a great mother with love for Ellie AND CATHERINE! My love for Ellie comes so naturally, another child not so much. I have been praying for patience and love for Catherine. I think it is mostly struggling with the terrible twos and how stubborn she can be at times. But never the less, I can react over the silliest things, and it makes me wonder if I truly am being the loving mother they both need. And yes, you may come into my home and think I am one of the most relaxed loving mother, but I don't always feel that way, so I do need the Lords reminder that I am doing right with my kid and even other children. Good thing she loves me and gets exited each day she comes over, otherwise, I don't know what to think if she didn't, so will just stick with thank goodness she loves me even if I don't always let her do things she wants that I see as not safe or nice to Ellie. I am a good mother. I think all we mothers need that reminder now and again, and so it was nice for the Lord to remind :)
So, I started a 30 day detox, Monday April 5th. I have been on it now for 7 days. It is going well. The main focus of it is to starve the yeast. To help remove the excess yeast and bacteria our body creates by what I like to call the American diet. Which I have enjoyed the American Diet, Italian Diet, Mexican Diet, Chinese Diet and then some over the past 26 years so my body needs plenty of help. As we can see, since I reached a BMI of 40, looked 5 months pregnant when I was not, had weight induced asthma, IBS, and now gall bladder issues. What's next, cancer? NO THANKS!!!!! Hence the need for detox/cleanse and getting control of my body, not my body having control over me!
Yes this detox is very strict! Yes I have been tempted left and right, and have given in a few times ! But I am determined to finish it through and reap the rewards of treating my body better! I deserve better!
My latest finding is that I can really say even more so then I have been saying for months. FOOD IS AN ADDICTION! My addiction! My taste buds loveeeeeeee food! mmm...sugar, salt, bread, cheese, ice cream, chips, fries, Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich, pizza , breads of all flavors, ..........
I plan to continue to enjoy foods that aren't the best for us for many years to come. But in moderation! I feel this detox not only will help cleanse me, hopefully remove gall stones and allow my gall bladder to not work on over drive, but to also jump start me for life in clean eating and making right choices.
Day 1 I gave in and ate Ellie's small slice of pizza, no big deal it was small, right? Day 6 Ellie was starving, I was starving, we were at the fair with friends, I got the healthiest thing around us, a soft pretzel with no butter or salt, I had 3 bites, no big deal, right? Since I was still starving we grab a bite to eat on the way home. I had mashed potatoes, tomato basil soup and a salad, for sure no big deal, right? I feed the yeast, so the next day I WANTED for more, I ate a few of Scotts chips, then I "ruined my day" so I had a slice of wheat bread with lunch. Really no big deal, especially wheat bread, well they are a big deal for me. I'm on a detox not a diet! Once I'm on my "diet for life" I would have enjoyed two or three slices of pizza, it was homemade, I knew what ingredients was in it. I would have enjoyed the WHOLE pretzel, its a state fair! It had no butter or salt on it! Mashed potatoes, TOMATO soup good choice! Well, not on the detox. I can have sweet potatoes with real butter and sea salt, but not mashed potatoes from a restaurant with milk, sour cream ,butter, salt and not even knowing how much they used. And sure tomato soup is good for you, when you make it your self and know that it isn't high in sodium and what not. sigh...You may be thinking "you are silly" "you're being hard on yourself" but I need to be. You wouldn't serve a tablespoon of beer at a AA meeting. You wouldn't give someone trying to stop smoking a pack of cigarettes and say once a week! So I should not give into the things around me. But it is so hard! I will finish the next 23 days, and I will finish them strong. I might have a glass of "beer" and smoke a few "cigarettes" but you can bet that I will do my best not to! I need to avoid situations that allow me to "cheat" and do all that I can to make it through to the next day.
I do really well morning and day, it's when the night falls that I struggle. One of the best advice from this detox is a hot bath, meditation, bike ride, long walk, something to clear your mind. It helped me the other day. On day three I had made Scott and Ellie ravioli and I so wanted some. I quickly served them and left the room. My hot bath was relaxing and I was able to talk with the Lord and remind my self why I am doing this and how much I need his help to get through this "fast". On a positive note, day two I had to quickly throw Scott's bag of chips he sent home with me, it the next trash I passed on the way to the car. I just know I would have eaten a few, more like the whole bag! And, and, and, we ate out Friday, day five. Mimi's! Mimi's bread, mmmmmm....I DID NOT EAT ONE SLICE! not even the muffin that came with my meal. I ordered my salad with no cheese, or dressing, asked for avocado to be added. leave out the marinated(who knows what it was marinated in) artichokes and asked for grilled asparagus and had the red potatoes on the side for Ellie to eat. And the Salmon just grilled, no sauce. It was delicious! And most importantly, I ate out! I made good choices! Avoided temptation, and stuck to my "diet" It was a great moment with a great feeling. It's moments like that, that i have to recall to memory to get me through moments of when I am HUNGRY and all I have is carrot sticks in my purse, so I give into a yummy soft pretzel. Who can't?. You can only eat so many carrots before you want for the whole garden!
A friendly reminder of why I even started this journey.
I'll post a new photo on May 1st :)
I am grateful I did it! I learned how much I can trust and rely on the lord, and how much will power I have, learned about me, and got a new me out of it! 
my name is Katie, and I LOVE food!!!
