My Mom and Grandmother are napping so I have a little time to myself and thought I’d post about how I’m doing while down in Florida, taking care of my mom after she had a stroke a few weeks ago… She’s doing much better. She’s on insulin, glucose-blockers, a blood thinner and a cholesterol med daily. Her sugar has gone down from averaging around 280 while in the hospital, to being in the high 100’s. Yesterday it was 174, this morning 190. I’m going to check again before lunch and dinner now that we have the glucose meter working. So much has been a learning curve, but it’s getting easier.
Since I’ve been here I’ve lost almost 4lbs so I’m up to 22 lbs lost so far, which is nice. I’ve been eating great, not missing junk and since I’m in control of the meals, it’s been easy to eat what I want – which is healthy food. I’m still relying on my huband or friends online when I need to talk, releasing all the emotions as I feel them and not turning to food to help me stuff it all back inside. This is the first tough time in my life that I’m not relying on food to ‘get me through it’ – only proving to myself once and for all that I don’t need for for anything but fuel. Instead of craving candy or sweets, I crave berries. Instead of wanting chips or something crunchy and junky like that, I have an apple or a carrot and get the same chomping satisfaction. I think my new-found eating habits have stuck and I’m lucky I had a few weeks under my belt before I had to stop my life and come down here to help out.
I’m hoping my eating habits will rub off on my mom while I’m here. She has me for another 5 days or so before I have to head back home… I’m teaching her how to journal so she always has info at her fingertips – to track everything from amount of sleep to when she takes her meds, what she’s eating and how it makes her feel, notes to herself so she doesn’t worry she’s forgetting something – her short term memory is still shaky and she still has a lot of trouble with numbers… everything else seems fine, though, so that’s great.
This has definitely been an learning experience – and by that I mean, I’m learning what I’m made of. I didn’t think I could hack it but I’ve done pretty well. I’ve been really emotional, but also productive and supportive and I’ve learned a new level of patience, too, so overall, I think this is going to be one of those great experiences you look back on and even though it sucked at the time, you’re glad it happened. =)
I’ve also kept up with exercise, but not to the level I was doing at home. It’s just not possible with everything I have to do to take care of 2 picky adults set in their ways. lol… but I’m doing pushups, squats, situps, yoga, etc. while watching TV at night after everyone is asleep. Even 15 minutes a day has helped me stay strong and kept my energy up. And now that my mom is out of the woods, I’m sleeping better and my digestive system is back to normal. I had diarrhea the first week and a half from stress… but all is better now. =)
Ironically, I just took one of those dumb quizzes on facebook that was ‘what is your real age?’ and it has a lot of very specific medical and lifestyle questions. With everything I’m doing [or not doing] it says my true age is 16! I laughed because I’m 35, but then I thought about it and I feel just as strong and have just as much energy as I did back then, so I suppose it’s not far off. I also tested my own blood sugar yesterday once I figured out the meter. I was hungry and hadn’t eaten in a while and it came up 95, which was great. Normal is 100 on an empty stomach and 140 2 hours after eating. Mine was a little low but I was hungry and was about to eat, so I was really happy to see it. =)
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Weightloss to Date: 22 lbs.
