Sunday, September 24, 2006

Still hanging in!

Hi all!! I'm still among the living. Much appreciation to all who emailed to ck on me.

My big plan was to post my labs when I had them drawn. I got them back on 8/24 (I think). The big, un-thought-of problem is this: My labs are so artificially skewed from my medications that I have no way of knowing what is really "me". I'm mildly anemic, which is expected. My vitamin and protein levels are mildly deficient as well, and this is a normal Crohn's finding. My wbc count is 5.8, which is low normal. It is artificially low due to steroids and Imuran. Before medication, my usual wbc count was 16, 000-22,000 and I felt pretty bad. My initial intention with CR was to get my calorie/nutrition intake under control then slowly taper off the drugs (with my MD's support). Guess that's still my plan, but I'm running into trouble in the amount I'm able to eat. I have ZERO appetite (thanks, Crohn's). I tracked my intake for a month and am comfortable eating 800-1000 cal/day. From mid-June to August 31 I lost 20 lbs. I'm supplementing my diet with vitamins and shakes but hope to eat enough real food to meet my needs.

Nerissa has been a HUGE source of encouragement and information, plus I'm borrowing food plans from April (keep'em coming!).

From a real-life standpoint my ex-husband is being a wanker (still) and I have to be in court Tuesday. He has refused to help with any of our daughter's medical bills and I am no longer financially solvent. Funny that it doesn't feel a whole lot different than when I was solvent. Guess there's a life lesson in this experience...As long as I have a roof over our heads and the lights and water still work, I'm happy. I have enrolled in a credit counseling program and should have a lot of the debt settled and gone in 30 months. In the meantime my goal is to help my daughter cope with her new health challenges and maintain my ability to provide our $500-$600 a-month prescription requirement. When her dad starts doing his part, it will be much easier. Too bad I had to sue him to get it done.... Anyway, I'll keep plugging along. Keep sending info and comments!!