It's quite amazing really

How different everything feels. I don't know if it's because of the weight I've lost or because I was used to shuffling around with the aircast (maybe a bit of both?), but walking down the street just feels different. I can feel the muscles in my legs expanding and contracting, and I find myself looking for an excuse to break into a little run—crossing the street when the light is yellow, dashing for the bus. I'm not officially allowed to run for another 3 weeks or so, but I'm itching to move more.

In other news, I've discovered a tricky aspect to the protein hot chocolate—if you don't stir regularly (constantly?) while heating it in the microwave, it gets nasty. Yesterday I popped my mug in the microwave, and when I came back 90 seconds later, there was a hard protein-y crust on top which I tried (failed) to mix in. Ugh. Today I stirred every 30 seconds and it is much better.

Also I notice I am not getting a heck of a lot of potassium. I've had a banana each day this week, but my intake is still on the low side—what are some good soft potassium-rich foods?

First week back to the TTC!

I cancelled my physio yesterday! After a weekend of madness and standing on my toes, I feel confident that I am on the mend. And since I can walk down stairs now, I am back to taking the subway to work instead of driving—less stress, more knitting, more exercise, and it makes suppertime a hundred times easier.

Finally we get to dip into the make-ahead-and-freeze meals I've been cooking from our organic box! In the morning I take something out of the freezer, and after work I zip home on the subway and turn on the oven before heading out to get the boys by car. Last night we had a baked ham with colcannon (mashed potatoes and cabbage) and I steamed some broccoli too when we got home. Ham is my favourite meat for braces I think—the texture is very forgiving; it barely needs chewing. My jaw was sore last night, but that was after having seconds of everything! Whee. Tonight we are having veg lasagna. Also, I bought a protein supplement on the weekend, and yesterday afternoon instead of crashing (like I did on Monday) I made a hot chocolate with protein added. It tasted fine, and really did the trick. Three cheers for whey.

Yay!

Saw my physio Angus this morning—he says I'm doing great! I'm allowed to ride a bicycle and go for walks! Not allowed any running for a month, but he wants me to do a lot of tip-toe work on the weekend and go for a long walk and if I'm feeling ok on Monday, I should cancel next week's appointment. Yay!

It almost makes up for spending 35 minutes in my doctor's waiting room last night before I had to leave—without even seeing her!—to pick up my son. Because they didn't want to admit over the phone that they hadn't put through the referral to the endocrinologist. Grr, grr.

Self-pity

This has been a bad bad week. At my adjustment on tuesday morning they put a spring thingy to help open up some space on the right, and all it does is catch food. My standby foods from the first week I got them on don't even work. I have been working on a bowl of baked beans for an hour and a half now and I am about to give up. Not even poutine is easy to eat! Wah! Plus, I had what I guess was a bad reaction to codeine? I think I blogged about that already, going to see doctor today. Wah, wah, poor me, etc.

Terrible day

Well, I had my first adjustment today. Had another bracket added (to the second molar on the lower left) to help pull the second premolar back into position; there is a wire with a sort of kink in it and comfort tubing over half of it which bridges the gap over my missing tooth now. And on the right, where the first premolar is so far out of line that it isn’t even bracketed yet, the comfort tubing has been replaced with a sort of spring to help make more space for it.

So the appointment, like the first time, was uncomfortable with a few ouchie moments, but I felt ok walking out the door. Knowing it would hurt more later, I took a couple of Tylenol3 (Tylenol/caffeine/Codeine) as a pre-emptive measure and went to work.

After I’d been at work for barely an hour, I had a crazy vertigo moment and was trembling all over—like all my muscles were contracting at once—and of course was feeling nauseated and had a terrible headache. I lay down for a bit and did not feel any better, so came home, where I’ve been on the sofa all day taking regular Tylenol.

Tried to eat a sandwich (egg, avocado, tomato) which did not go so well (the tomato was the problem this time).

I did check my blood pressure on the way home—I tend to have low blood pressure but it was lower than normal today for some reason—maybe that was the problem?

For the record, it was 97/57, pulse 61.

Adjustment!

I'm going for my first adjustment today! Kind of scared, since it hurt like crazy last time, and despite everyone's assurances, I did not get used to eating with braces. I gingerly ate a small piece of plain cheese pizza on saturday and my premolars were sore. I should have had pizza for dinner last night! Probably would have been my first & last opportunity for a while. Sigh.

Appointment is at 8:40, wish me luck...

Meanwhile yesterday was my first full workday out of the aircast. I brought it to work "just in case" but did not put it on once. I walk very slowly with tiny geisha steps, but I got through the day without too much pain. Can't wait to see Angus on friday though.

whee!

Managed to break 2000 calories today! First time in the 3 weeks I’ve been keeping track! Thank you, blueberry pancakes with maple syrup and roast chicken with mashed potatoes. I did enough housework and general rushing about that I still have a caloric deficit of 300 calories, but that’s the best I’ve done so far.

Only downside was when I retired to the waterpik after lunch and somehow managed to bash myself in the bracket. Youch. Don’t think anything looked broken or bent though, that’s the main thing.

tired

Took my aircast off for a few hours today. Even though I didn’t do much—maybe two trips to the washroom and one to the kitchen—it left me pooped! I could go straight to bed right now I think.

Argh

Ok before I complain I am going to say a little thank you to my dental hygienist for introducing me to the marvel of the end-tuft brush. I have never used the inter-proximal because it just resembles a pipecleaner too closely for my liking, but the end-tuft really gets everywhere it needs to without poking.

Now the booo part: the lovely Angus put his back out! part of me is secretly glad I don’t have to drag myself downtown for a 7:30 appointment, but it means another week without physio. And poor Angus. It’s a physical job; he needs his strength; I’m actually surprised his back doesn't get out of whack more often. Good thing he knows a lot of other physios (his wife, for example, works out of the same practice).

So I guess it’s up to me for now. After one miserable cast-free day, I’m back to wearing it at work all the time. I do keep it off at night though. Which is tricky, as little H isn’t quite that aware of his surroundings and I have visions of an accidental stomp. He’s come close a few times.

Mussels = muscles

Went out for lunch and had mussels—not only are they easy to eat with braces, but pretty high in protein! 22 grams! I’ll do that again. that reminds me, I must force TG to take me out for oysters.

booo

Yesterday I wore sneakers all day at work. I didn't do much walking—basically I only got up to go to the bathroom and to microwave my lunch (beans—soft and nutritious, a metal-mouth's best friend!) but by the end of the day I was sore and exhausted. I went straight to bed last night as soon as little H was tucked in. today I brought my sneakers but I haven't taken off my cast yet. Maybe later, we'll see.

I'm wearing a shoe!

On my left foot! First time in seven weeks!

Last night I shuffled about the house a wee bit, and it was exhausting. I did the old cold/warm/cold/warm footbath after that Angus recommended, and rubbed in some arnica gel. That was tricky, because all of the parts that have been numb for the past month and a half were starting to wake up when I started walking. Wonder if there’s an impingement somewhere? Will ask Angus on Friday. I came down the stairs once, but I could not do it properly, still had to go sideways. It’s difficult not to walk on my heel, because I am so used to favouring my toe it feels unnatural to put it on the floor. We’ll see how long I last before i put the aircast back on!

Busy!

busy weekend—starting with a busy Friday (meeting with little H’s speech-language pathologist, frantic housecleaning, guest arriving for weekend visit, and home visit from the school board deaf/hard-of-hearing coordinator, shopping for birthday present), through a busy Saturday (more housework, grocery shopping, cooking, lunch guest) to an unexpectedly busy saturday (6 loads of laundry—which meant going up and down stairs from the 2nd floor to basement, helping mother-in-law pack up her house she just sold). Yikes!

Managed to get a whopping 1800+ calories on Saturday due to choux pastry gnocchi with lots of cheese and chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting. Successfully ate a small amount of salad (the croissant I tried on Friday did not work so well however). Sunday was the most tiring of all, especially since we were expecting it to be a day of rest and recuperation, and we ended the day with dinner at the pub where I successfully ate the chunks of ham in my pasta carbonara (the first time I’ve been able)! My pre-molars are pretty sore—I guess because they’ve got the most movement and least support. It kind of breaks my heart that I am just starting to get used to eating 7 weeks in, and I’m going to the ortho next Tuesday so the suffering will start again. Boo.

In other news, I was at the fracture clinic this morning and the doctor thinks i should be able to start putting weight on my foot. he wants me to not wear the aircast at all when I am at home, and wear it only as necessary when I’m out and about. I’m wearing it now, because I didn’t bring a second shoe! Maybe I’ll wear my old sneakers tomorrow and bring the aircast with me. Or the other way around—I would not want to have a fall in the parkinglot stairwell!

Better

Did a bit better today. Almost 1500 calories and 74g protein without having to resort to the nasty drink. Also got my RDA (or pretty close) on most nutrients! Lunch was soup (white beans/kale/italian sausage/tomatoes) and dinner was sauce-from-a-jar butter chicken with broccoli and rice pilaf (husband's leftover). I actually did well on the rice! I was sure it would all get stuck on my braces, but it didn’t. The chicken was tricky though—I should have really overcooked it to get it soft, but didn't have time. So, had to do a bit of chewing, and some of my teeth are pretty sore now.

I also went for a walk at lunch and did a few exercises for my upper arms with the theraband. And climbed the stairs up to the fifth floor. Boy was I pooped after all of that. Oh well, no pain no gain, right?

Trying to do better

Ok the last couple of days I have been practically falling asleep at my desk because I haven’t been getting enough food (last night before I ate dinner I had only had 375 calories) and then eating junk at night to try to boost my intake. Bad! So this morning instead of my usual boiled egg (we ran out of eggs) I had whole wheat toast with organic peanut butter and plain yogurt with a spoonful of organic apricot jam and a spoonful of raw bran. 475 calories! I hope today will be a better day at work.

Small triumph!

Well, sort of! I have been going on excursions throughout my office building this week, and climbing stairs when it’s feasible (sometimes I find the step is too narrow for my aircast to fit safely)—cumulative 11 stories today. So I saw a coworker I haven't seen in a few weeks and she said “your teeth look straighter already!” So that was a pretty good feeling.

Diet-wise hasn't been so great—last night I went to bed with a piece of cake to get my calorie intake up over the 1000 calorie mark, when I should have had a myoplex and something with some more nutrients. Today I’ve only managed 375 calories so far (including the banana I just ate) so I had better eat a big dinner. another coworker commented today on how prominent my cheekbones are now, she said they just show up more when I’m not wearing my glasses, but I think it’s the weight loss. Had some bloodwork done at the doctor’s office, and she said she’d refer me to an endocrinologist about the weight loss since it’s been so much in a short period of time.

Not a bad day

Despite feeling like I was going to throw up for the first half, I managed to climb a couple of flights of stairs, get almost 1600 calories, 60 grams of protein, and 16 grams of iron from my diet today, without resorting to the nasty myoplex. Had homemade baked beans for lunch (from the freezer stash—they're easy to make but time consuming) and pasta for dinner with fresh tomato (courtesy of a neighbour’s garden) and broccoli. I have perfected (I think) the art of overcooking broccoli just enough that I can eat it without overcooking it to the point where it is grey and slimy.