Wednesday Already???

Man this week is flying by!!

Short post tonight...just the facts.  No walk this morning due to early morning errands that ran until 2pm.  No walk at 2pm...I convinced myself if I did, I would surely die of a heat stroke.  Got home and put some chicken in the oven that I'd been marinating in the fridge.  Tuscan and parmesan spice blends with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.  I went ahead and poured the marinade over the chicken and put the lemons in there, too.  I also added some fresh mushrooms and a few leftover stalks of asparagus to make sure they didn't go to waste.  I am really loving marinating with fresh lemon...the fresh taste just can't be beat.  So sunny and delicious.

Biz's Burger Salad post inspired me for tonight's dinner.  I already don't eat my burger on a bun when making them at home, but added a few cucumbers and carrots on top of the normal tomato, onion, lettuce and dill pickle.  Along w/ a swipe of mayo and my all important ketchup.  Totally delish.

So I told Dwayne that we needed to walk more than a mile at the park in the evenings.  3 laps is one mile.  He said he's concerned the dogs wouldn't be able to do 2 miles in this heat and humidity, so we're stepping it up slowly to see how they do.  I think the dogs will be fine, but I'm so tickled that he's still walking with me every day that I'll do whatever it takes to keep him happy.  So slowly it shall be.  Tonight we walked 4 laps instead of 3 and will do so the rest of the week.  Next week we will bump it up to 5 laps, and so on.

Tomorrow morning I have to head back to the tanning salon to do the red light therapy for the NLD on my legs.  They told me it will take 90 days for a full restorative cycle and to see a major difference.  Then they told me if I buy this $99 bottle of "effector" to rub on my legs, that it will cut that time in half.  Hmmmm.  45 days.  Is it worth it?  I don't know yet.  The fact is, I've been living with this crap on my legs for 7 years now.  It's doubtful that I'm spending $99 on a bottle of anything.  But we'll see.  I may get impatient and buy it.  When she saw me waffling, she gave me a $20 tanning pass that she said I could use as a coupon towards the effector, so now it's $80.  Maybe if she can get it down to $50, we'll talk.  :)

Busiest Day Of The Week

I had a to-do list a mile long today and I got just about everything on it accomplished....except the morning walk.  I fully intended to.  I told everyone I was headed out the door to get it done.  And then I decided to do this one little chore real quick.  And then create a word doc that someone was waiting on.  Then assemble some receipts an Errand Fairy client was waiting on.  And this and that and before you know it, the clock said 3:30pm and my morning had escaped me.

I'm more than a little irritated with myself but then again, I should have never said I'd start that on a Monday.  Those are always my busiest days...I always squeeze just as much as I possibly can in on a Monday so that by the end of the week, my load is a lot lighter.  Oh well.  Tomorrow is another day!  And I already have my walking shoes in the car, lol. 

My first errand tomorrow is the tanning salon to use the red light therapy for the NLD on my legs.  I want to get there as soon as they open.  The treatment only takes 12 minutes but it's a good 20-30 minute drive from my house depending on traffic.  Next I'm headed straight to the park, which is only half a mile down the road from my house.  Then I have to be home by noon...we're trying a mobile groomer for the first time.  I hope she works out well and does a good job since she's the same price as the grooming salon I've been using the past few years.  It would be nice to have someone come to my house instead from here on out.  We'll see how she does.

No pics of anything today.  Will try to take some tmrw...probably the dogs since they'll be freshly cut/washed.  Love my babies...can never have too many pics of them.  Oh, and we just got in from our evening walk.  I'm thankful that it's been over a week now and Dwayne is still doing this with me.  That may be some kind of record for him. 

I believe it was last Monday when I got on the scale and found a 3 lb. drop from 242 to 239.  I jumped on this morning fully expecting to see some sort of gain, if even just from sodium, due to 3 restaurant meals over the weekend.  What I found was 238.8.  So virtually the same.  I'm completely shocked, but ever so thankful.  My food was good today and I got one good walk in.  Drank all my water and took all my meds.  I'm going to bed satisfied that I'm one day closer to reaching my Summer Challenge goal of better lab work in a couple of months.  Nite Nite.  :)

Progress With The NLD

I mentioned before that one of the diabetic related issues I have is something called NLD (Necrobiosis Lipoidica Diabeticorum).  It's a skin condition that is very rare and there's no cure.  It's basically a collagen deterioration that cannot be explained.  It causes bright red marks on the lower half of your legs and can be very painful if you touch it too hard, scratch an itch too hard, your dog sticks a claw in it, etc.  I have been searching and searching for some sort of treatment to lighten it and maybe have it go dormant for a while, which I have read online is possible.

I have an old blog friend from my previous blogging days that has the same condition.  She was telling me that red light therapy or photo facial therapy helped her.  I finally found what I thought was it at a medical spa, and scheduled an appointment for a free consultation this morning.  Turns out, the photo facial is actually a laser treatment called IPL and you have to be licensed to administer it.  It's anywhere from $150-$300 per session/treatment, depending on which spa you choose.

I told her about my friend and the red light therapy she used.  She said that's something totally different.  People use that for wrinkles because it boosts collagen in the skin, and sometimes you can find it at tanning salons like my friend did.  There just happened to be a tanning salon 2 doors down from her office, so we walked down together and spoke to the person there.  They used to have that type of unit, but not any longer.  I told the guy I had called multiple tanning salons and couldn't locate one.  He said he only knew of one salon locally that had what I needed and gave me their name.

I called that salon and they DO have it....they call it the "Beauty Angel Unit"...I have no idea what that's all about.  She said she's running a special right now...$39/month for unlimited use.  She said I could go every day like she does if I wanted to.  I'm not sure about every day because I still don't understand the technology.  My friend said it doesn't burn...it heals.  But I still think I will stick with every other day for now...3-4x per week.  I had too many errands to run today so I will start at the salon tomorrow.  I hope I have finally found the right solution to this problem!

Kim came for dinner tonight and I made BLT's with a bowl of lasagna soup on the side.  Boy was it delicious...both of them!  She had a migraine so she didn't walk with us as previously planned.  After she left, Dwayne and I took the dogs for what is becoming our nightly stroll around the neighborhood.  It only takes about 25-30 mins though so I really need to start doing a morning walk as well.

I will be honest...the walks do hurt.  What used to be so simple back when I was losing weight is just ridiculously tough now.  I feel like I'm 80 years old...pain in my feet, legs, lower back, even my butt!  But I'm trying to keep things in perspective.  I could be in a much worse position like my Dad, who has MS and can't really walk at all and is confined to either his motorized chair or his bed.  I know that he would much rather endure a little pain like I have if he could just have back the freedom of movement.  When I'm midway up the Hill from Hell, everything hurting and feeling like I'm gasping for my last breath, I quickly change my attitude and tell myself, "Shut your trap Tammy & get your ass up this hill...at least you CAN walk...MOVE IT!!"

I was away from home 6-7 hours today and the eating was BAD.  Period.  It sucked.  Getting right back on track tomorrow.  I think the only errand I have away from home is the spa for the NLD treatment so should be out and back within an hour.  All meals will be eaten at home.

Oh and one more thing.  I mentioned yesterday that I finally got to talk to the nurse at my dr's ofc.  She left free samples for me at the front desk that I picked up today of a THIRD diabetic medicine I am now taking.  Between the diabetes, the triglycerides and the hypothyroidism I am now on 5 pills per day.  To put a positive spin on that, I am thankful that the pharmacy gives me the metformin for free, and thankful the doctor gave me 6 weeks of free samples on this latest med.  I am to start taking it today and go back in 6 weeks from now for more bloodwork.

I've been cutting the carbs and taking the pills religiously for 3 weeks now.  I can already tell that my sugar has come down.  I can now sleep 5-6 hours straight w/o having to get up and pee...used to be I couldn't make it longer than an hour or two, so I was up all night and my sleep was horrible and nearly non-existent.  Also, I used to drink 3-4 (32 oz) glasses of water a day, no problem, due to my constant thirst.  Now, I'm having a hard time remembering to drink at least 64 oz because the thirst is gone.  This is encouraging!  I'm headed for bed so ta ta for now. :)

Fabulous Flaxseed Oil

Mom has been hounding me for what seems like forever to eat flaxseed oil and cottage cheese mixed together.  ???  She says a lot of cancer patients eat this to fight cancer.  Apparently it carries oxygen to the cells, cancer can't live where oxyen is, etc.  I do not have cancer, thank God, but she SWEARS that flaxseed oil will help cure many ailments.  I have a rash on my legs as part of my diabetes called NLD.  I believe it's spelled Necrobiosis Lipoidica Diabetacorum...or something close to that.  It has been on my lower legs for about 7 years.

At first, it started out as one or two little red spots and I kept thinking it would go away.  It slowly spread and I eventually went to a dermatologist who looked at it, consulted with other colleagues, and then told me she had never seen that before in her life and had no idea what it was.  I had no insurance at the time and wasn't willing to fork out $800 for a biopsy so that was the end of that for a few more years.

My sister, who is a nurse, suggested I go to her dermatologist, that he could probably look at it and tell me exactly what it was w/o a biopsy.  So I made an appointment and went a couple of weeks ago.  Turns out she was right.  He knew exactly what it was, but he did tell me that it was really rare.  He also said that it was treated with steroid cream and light sessions, but that insurance no longer covered the cost of the light sessions.  He then told me he would give me the cream, and as much as he hated to suggest this due to skin cancer risk, that I could go to a tanning bed and get the same results.

So as of a couple of weeks ago, I now go to the tanning bed 3x/week to try and lighten the rash....there's no actual cure.  To tell you the truth, I don't see a difference yet but I know it takes some time.  To speed things up, I finally decided to try the magical flaxseed oil that mom has been pushing on me to see if it helps.  I certainly don't see how it could hurt.

Today was the first time trying this mini meal.  I was supposed to add 2 TBSP of ground flax seeds to the bowl as well, but for the life of me, cannot get my coffee grinder to work.  Apparently you are supposed to grind up your flax seeds to get the full value...otherwise they pass right through your system and don't do much good other than to act as a source of fiber.

There is a video on You Tube that shows how to do this.  It's 6 TBSP of cottage cheese to 3 TBSP of flaxseed oil.  You use the cottage cheese as a binding agent to mix with the oil.  Don't ask me...I don't really understand the science behind it.  But you use an immersion blender to fully mix these two ingredients until it's a pudding texture....about 60 seconds.  Then you can add fruit, nuts, etc.  I added a few raspberries, blueberries and walnuts.

I'm going to be honest.  As appetizing as the end product looks, it tastes like ass.  The oil taste is really gross.  If I would have used 3x more fruit it might have masked the flavor better, but this was just nasty and that's all there is to it.  Now, if you're fighting cancer or some other major ailment, then I can see happily eating bowl after bowl.  But for a leg rash...not so much.  I paid $13 for that stupid bottle of oil so I am going to use it.  If I actually see some improvement in my legs by the time the bottle is gone, then I will probably buy another and continue to use it.  I'm just being up front about the taste.  I definitely need to add more fruit!

 And here is the link to the video on how to make it in case you would like to try ass pudding :)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSoddptWL0s&noredirect=1

I got my Ebay listings put up for today and a few scheduled for tomorrow.  I need to do some meal planning this evening after dinner and do the grocery shopping tomorrow.  As I said in my first post, I'm getting my cooking inspiration from Biz's blog.  In fact, I'm making some chicken tonight that I saw on her blog a few posts back.  I sliced my chicken breasts in half long ways and put them in a marinade of Greek seasonings, olive oil and fresh lemon juice  I'm going to grill them on the Foreman grill and then serve them atop Caesar salad.  I bought a mini loaf of bread from the bakery that I will heat, slice and serve on the side and that will be my carbs.  I'm not going to make it anywhere near 150g of carbs today.  Turns out it's going to take some real effort to change my mindset that 150g is just way too many for a diabetic.  I know it's not (see yesterday's blog post), but I'm just not ready, lol.