Jim's hanging in there Judy. The ms seems to be getting harder on him and he hates that. The crimping up and atrophy make it difficult some days. His chair lost control the other day...tire got hung on ramp and lunged into car next to us and he cut his foot. Seven stitches. Ugh...but hanging in there.

Please update us as soon as you talk to the doc.

Gosh, Judy, I hope you get a break soon. At least your doctor is easy on the eyes!

Sandy, I hope Jim's foot is healing well. Stitches are the worst and especially on the foot where it's hard to reach and gets bumped quite often. I hope he's feeling better.

I've hit a plateau.....again. Maybe I just need to stop concentrating on trying to lose and instead concentrate on just eating healthy. I would really like to lost 10 more pounds but if I don't I'm not losing any sleep over it.

I've just about become a vegetarian! I hardly ever eat meat anymore. I do eat eggs and fish (sometimes). I posted a soup recipe over in the Food Court that was really good....if you like Kale and white beans. I'm planning on making it again this weekend.

I hope everyone is doing well and ready for Spring! I can't believe this is the weekend to run our clocks forward.

sandy, that's some ride. i hope his foot heals quickly. i'm sure with you taking care of it, it will. give jim my best.

kitty, i think you hit the nail on the head. just eat healthy and maintain. maybe your body needs to just sit with that awhile. you've accomplished so much. it's so great to read your posts.

i saw the dr yest. the next ablation is scheduled for april 13. thank goodness it's not a fri! i also saw the cardiologist. he's increasing the A fib drug to BID. i've had a few breakthru blips but nothing serious.

otherwise all is good, except my butt pain.
i'm going out to dinner with the girls soon. that should be fun.

i read that there's a blizzard in ND. i feel guilty for how beautiful it is here in St. Augustine. sunny and in the 70's. i will send a prayer for them, and for the people in Japan.

hi all,

i'm going in for the 2nd GAVE procedure tomorrow; Gastric Antral Vascular Ectasia. now that's a mouthful. basically it's an ablation, or cautery, of the abnormal arteries and veins that are clustered in my stomach.

it should all go well. and hopefully this will be the last of it.

the only other thing that is killing me is my butt pain. very limiting in the sitting dept and just more pain for me to deal with.

my friend's sister (the 2 that are moving down here) just found out she's got uterine Ca. they havn't picked a surgery date yet but please keep Patricia in your prayers.

hope you're all ok. i'll let you know what's up on the other end.

the procedure went well. recovery fine. all is taken care of.

gee, some great news...

i just got my 3 mo labwork results.
my A1C dropped from 7.1 to 6.4! i almost still can't believe it. i think the lab might have made a mistake. i've never been able to move it that much without losing wt. plus, i didn't think i had cut my sweets that much.

my dr said, well, let's wait til the next 3 mo check. i guess i'll just enjoy it for 3 mos. all my other levels are great as well and have fallen significantly. like my triglycerides from the 200's to 166. cholesterol is down, LDL down etc.

what????? shut up!!!!!

all else ok. my pain dr as much as said that he can't do anything else for me. it's all arthritis + MS muscle stuff. he'll monitor my pain med and we'll go from there. that's disappointing. as is my neuro who seems dismissive and doesn't even hardly say anything about my sx's; like worsening tremors.

i think i'm going to go to Mayo and get a 2nd opinion.

hope you're all doing well.

That's great news on the lab test results, Judy! I hope it stays the same or drops even lower at your next test.

I hate it when doctors seem dismissive about our symptoms. Last time I talked to my neuro about my worsening gait symptoms he sort of had the attitude of "well, what'd you expect?". I expect to at least be acknowledged about it, that's what I expect!

Sorry about the arthritis and muscle pain. I'm about convinced I have a bit of arthritis in my left arm. It becomes so painful whenever it rains or the barometric pressure fluctuates.

I'm sort of remaining stable with my weight. No loss and no gain. Guess that's good. With summer here and fresh fruits and summer veggies becoming abundant I think it'll be easier to eat healthier.

If you do go to Mayo let us know what they say.

in our sunday paper a couple of wks ago there was an add by the orthopedic group i had seen for my neck surgery. they were advertising a new dr coming into the practice. she's a pain dr and they're opening a pain aspect to the practice. her credentials are outstanding. and, she sees more than just orthopedic and surgical pain pts.

i have an appt with her in a couple of wks. i am so hoping that this dr will be able to offer me something other than what a have now. the doc i had been seeing for pain just isn't doing what i want. when i see him, which is monthly to renew my meds, he isn't interested in talking about any other pain except my back. he said there's nothing else he can do for me (we're out of injections) except to Rx the pain med.

i have lots of other pain besides my back. my coccyx is still killing me and i still have a lot of muscle pain. now i've been having pitting edema in my bad leg. my foot and ankle are both edematous and my foot is very painful. i just got started on diuretics. i've put on 5lbs that i can't get off. ugh.

so i hope this dr will look at me as a whole person.
i'll let you know how it goes.

hi judy,
I wonder if you have had your vit d levels checked? most women have low levels. I jsut had mine checked and yes I am low so am taking vit d3 5,000 IU's a day. my sister was having leg pains and that is when they discovered her vit d low levels.
just a thought.
bizi

thanks bizi,

i've been wondering too as my levels were once low. since i've been reading about the D3, which i'm not on, i'm going to ask my dr to check my D and B12 levels.

i've been fighting anemia for months. that's been from the blood vessels that were bleeding in my stomach. that's been corrected and i've been on this and that iron med. now i'm on hemax. i'm very tired.

thankfully i see the new pain doc next wk.

thanks again for the tip