Continuing on the weight loss journey...

No pictures this time. I have not done a great job staying on plan, but I have managed to lose 15 pounds since April. That I am very excited about.

One thing that I have also noticed is that when I choose to go off plan I feel horrible. Today is one of those days. I ate horrible. I am not feeling well.

Tomorrow back on track.

Today I rejoice

Today I rejoice because of who You are
Today I rejoice because I am not alone
Today I rejoice because You are a God who hears
Today I rejoice because You are a God who heals
Today I rejoice because You have provided for my needs
Today I rejoice because You have been with me during this painful time
Today I rejoice because I am alive
Today I rejoice because You have redeemed me
Today I rejoice simply because I can

An update to my last post...

In case you missed the post you can read it here. I took my daughter to the doctor today her platelets were at a normal level!!!!! After over a year and a half of not getting above 50,000, her platelets are at 150,000 (normal levels are over 120 or 140 we have heard both numbers)

You can read my daughters post about this on her blog Princess Faith

A little stressful day...

Today I need to take my my oldest daughter to the doctor. She has an autoimmune disease called Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). It is a disease where her immune system for whatever reason, marks her platelets as foreign and destroys them. This causes a secondary issue that makes her anemic. 

She has done ok for the past 2 years, but recently has started getting different symptoms, she is swelling. Her legs, her arms, her fingers. This is very hard on her emotionally as she loves to be active. Exercise is one of her favorite things to do. The swelling has gotten so bad that she can't even walk at times, without pain. After she was given the diagnosis of being chronic we were told that because of being diagnosed with one autoimmune disease, she is at risk for others, namely Lupus and arthritis.  

Having to take her to the doctor can be hard, as she isn't used to having to go. For years there was no real need to go. She had been healthy most of her life. She now goes into the doctor about every 6 months. Which isn't really that bad, except when you are not used to it. 

I'm really praying that they can give us a good idea of what the problem is and be able to treat her easily. 

Weight loss journery

So I am working on my weight loss journey. I am following the Trim Healthy Mama  plan. I started a couple weeks ago than let stress take over and fell into food again. I think it will also help that I have started working and can't really eat at work. I can bring my favorite drink Good Girl Moonshine (I add a cinnamon stick to the recipe I linked to.)

So here I am.

I know I can do this. I am excited about the journey, so come along with me. 

And we are back....

My personal life has been waging havoc on the rest of my life and I have been battling depression. The war is far from over, but the battle today was won with a nap and a yummy lunch.

I'm happy to say things are going pretty well homeschooling wise in my house. We are starting to get in a better routine. The kids are getting better about getting started when I tell them to. I am glad. I have founds books that are working well for the kids. That is a big plus.

It has been fun to watch my now 7 year old explode with his reading. Now I just need to find books that the older boys like to read.

Post surgery

It has been 3 weeks since my 4th open heart surgery. I am doing pretty well. I have had my sister and at least 1 friend say they can tell the difference already in how I look and how I sound. My sister said that she could tell almost immediately how much better the color in my nails looked once I got out of surgery.

So how am I feeling now? Well my body decided to go ahead and get a cold. Not just any cold, but a pretty bad one. I am doing better today then I have the last 2 days, but I am still feeling pretty sick. At moments I feel like I am wheezing. It is not a feeling I have felt often. I am seeing my cardiologist on Tuesday. I am sure that he'll listen to my lungs then. I did call him and he didn't feel I needed to go in unless my symptoms got worse.

The pain of the surgery is starting to get better. I'm not hurting quite so much. There are still moments where the pain is pretty bad. I had bad pain day the other day. It was also the beginning of this cold. I am having a little more pain now because of coughing so much.

I am so thankful that the way they do the surgeries has gotten better. I am thankful for not being so drugged up this past recovery. The day after my surgery they wanted me sitting up in a chair, 3 times a day for an hour each time. They did this around meal time. It was so hard to sit there. I did end up sleeping in the chair, which was what they expected. During the lunch time sit, I couldn't make it the full hour.

The next day was a little better. I sat up more. Oh another thing that I loved was that once they took the catheter out, they had a commode that I could have next to my bed, no bed pans! hehe that was nice.