Smooth sailing...

I am feeling better. My doctor raised the Estrogen dosage on my HRT patch and the joint pain has gone away.  I am also supplementing with DHEA, Neuro Clarity and Pregnenolone.  I'm sleeping better and my mood is great.  I am feeling smooth sailing ahead. 

Still stuck at the current weight, and feeling kind of bloated.  The holidays are here and I am just going to enjoy them. Thanksgiving, my birthday Crab Feast, Christmas and New Years Eve.  My goal is to drop another 60 pounds and add weight training to my weekly routine of cardio.  Having the tiny tummy has made all of the difference in maintaining my weight.  I just can't eat that much.

I did drink a beer the other night, but it was not easy to do.  The carbonation is too much to take.  Champagne has that same effect.  I am having a hard time staying on Keto.  I am feeling much better. One step at a time.

Fuckity, fuck.

I am not losing weight and we think that is may be due to my hormone replacement therapy patch.  It appears that my ovaries have shut down and I have entered into full menopause due to my hysterectomy.  I hear this happens. The weirdest part that no one saw coming was, I am experiencing what is called Menopausal Arthritis in all of my joints, especially my knees.  I hurt all over.  

My ovaries are intact, but I am experiencing ALL Of these weird symptoms. I am out of the horrible pain I was living with for years with uterine fibroids, but now feel like an 80 year old woman who can barely make it up and down a flight of stairs.  Fuckity, fuck.

It seems my choices are like this right now, Stay stuck half way to my weight loss goal and be a much more pleasant person on HRT with the patch as I go through the transition of life, or I stop taking the hormone patch and continue to make it to my weight loss goal but be a complete bitch the entire time. 

I am taking glucosamine, tumeric, along with all of the other supplements I take now.  I also am using Topricin Pain Relief Cream on my joints when it gets really bad. I am doing my best in choosing low carb anti-inflammatory diet to see if I can manage the joint pain and bust through this weight loss plateau, but I am certainly taking it a day at a time.  I am working with my doctor and for the sake of sanity, stay on the patch. We will see how it goes.

No changes to report.

I'm still stalled at current weight.  I am feeling better than ever!  I got a call for a jazz gig and am learning a bunch of new /old swing tunes.  It's really motivating me to get my vocal chops back!

I love Peggy Lee!

Happy Fahrvernpüssy

No weight changes to report.  I am stalled at the same weight.  The holidays are here... it's been hard to stay away from sugar & flour this week.

I bring my VW Leopard Lair Ultra Lounge Bus home tomorrow, with the new/rebuilt Porsche High Performance engine installed. There is a big storm coming this weekend.  It's like GOD'S FREE POWER CAR WASH. : )

I was one of the many people out there on earth, that had a mechanic purchase a faulty GEX International engine.  BIG MISTAKE.  The engine was sent back to them and they said they sent us a new one, but they lied and sent back the same shitty engine. Finding out that part the hard way has been super frustrating for the mechanics and my nerves.  I finally have gotten rid of that engine and went with a better made one.  It sounds good.

         Don't give up on your dream. 

Everyone I know has told me to give up on my bus, but I have a dream.  It's a simple dream really.  I see me happy, healthy, slender, pain free and strong.  I'm out on the open road, with the wind in my hair, listening to some great music, driving my sexy SWANK VW Bus.  I especially love it when another vintage VW goes by, and we wave to one another.  Like a wink and a nod to a fellow VW owner.  We are a rare breed.

I like stopping along the way, and parking the bus for people to check it out. Next year, once I finish restoring the interior, I will take her to a few VW Car shows and share the Glamp-O-Rama Leopard Lounge (Includes the bar) for the full Monty effect.

I made the decision 2 years ago to get VSG surgery in Mexico, and did it.  My weight-loss is slow going, but I love my tiny tummy. I do not have excess skin like some do because I am taking it slow enough for my body to adjust.

I then went and finally got the hysterectomy, and am like a new person.  I am feeling stronger and good!  I was able to lift my big 3 burner Camp Chef stove without any problems the other day.  Only 5 weeks post-op full Da Vinci hysterectomy, and I am doing great!  I mean REALLY GREAT!  For the first time in my life, I have no bloating or cramps or even mood swings. THE NIGHTMARE IS OVER!  I feel like a 12 year old girl!  Never having a period ever again and permanent birth control are pretty nice benefits too.  Life just gets better from here.

My bus and my body seem to be connected. 
We are both doing better than ever.

Now in the Urban Dictionary HERE!

My dream involves silly hardy good laughs, 
incredible beauty, sexy style, fun & tender love.

Gnaughty Gnomes and one pound lost!

This weekend we have Artcar Fest 2016 ~ our 20th  Anniversary Celebration weekend!  My new/rebuilt Porsche High Performance VW bus engine is still being broken in, and I am still on the mend from surgery, so I did some fun things to my daily driver, 2000 Honda Passport 4 x 4.

I have had a secret Gnome fetish for years, now the world knows.  In fact, when I found Larry the squirrel years ago, I was actually looking for angry Gnomes.  Well, I finally found some very naughty Gnomes and did something with them.

Gnomes with attitude.

Gnaughty Gnomes from behind my car.

The holographic paint looks cool in the sun!

Night light effects!

This is what you see when sitting behind me at a street light.

Did I mention that I am a silly girl?

I am back on track for weight loss. I'm still not able to lift anything heavy yet recovering from a full hysterectomy surgery, but still having fun.  I had fun friends come help me over the weekend.  We helped raise money at NIMBY to pay for gas & food for the artists that came from all over the country and Canada. OH CANADA! I could drink a case of you....

Sarah, Christina & Tom Cat ~ Bartenders at the Mar 'Gnome' Rita Bar!

OH YEA, I LOST A POUND THIS WEEK!

This month has been a huge life changing one for me...

For about 4 years, I began suffering from peri-menopausal symptoms.  Hot flashes, like ('Crazy Flop Sweats' whenever I would take a sip of coffee or wine), Night sweats, like (I had run a 100K marathon in my dreams), and mood swings, like (Everything in my life was really great, but for no reason at all, I felt like I was going to cry like the world was ending all the time)  It was so awful living this way.  

I was not sleeping most nights and that wore me down even more. I went to my doctor and had my hormones tested.  Sure enough, I was slowly beginning the change of life and my body was taking it's sweet ass pimp time going into menopause, but my ovaries were healthy and still producing eggs, which meant this torture could continue for years. 

In the last year, my menstrual cycle was crazy irregular and when it arrived, it was extremely painful and heavy so much, there were times I thought I was dying.  I was spending most of my time in bed abusing Motrin to try and function.  The blood loss was so extreme, I was becoming faint and almost passed out more than twice.  I still had to work at my full time intense start-up day job while this was all going on.  I took a break from jazz singing and managing the band.  I longed to perform beautiful music, but couldn't because of my suffering.  My life was a living hell.

I had to fight to get the help I needed.  I saw several doctors and finally found one who could help me.  They did several ultra sounds and saw that I had developed a 3 centimeter sized tumor in my uterine wall near my cervix.  I had never been pregnant, so my uterus was small.  I had read horror stories of woman who had fibroid's the size of grapefruits, but how could I be suffering so badly?  I had this little dark thing that didn't look like a fibroid in there.  They did a biopsy and is was benign, but this thing had to come out.  

I had tried every natural remedy to help, with no relief.  We tried all kinds of birth control pills and medications to try and help the symptoms. Those side effects were worse than the original problems.  My last resort was surgery.  I love kids and wished I would have had some, but I am a young hearted 53 year old lady who is past my prime for that.  

I did a lot of research to make this decision.  I have no cancer in my family tree, so keeping my ovaries would be easiest on my body.  I would wear an HRT patch to help manage the estrogen loss as I transition with the peri-menopausal symptoms. I would continue to go into menopause, keep producing all of the hormones needed to keep me happy and keep my libido in place. They would need to take everything else out, like (Permanent birth control with no more period EVER!)  

So I did it!  I had a full laparoscopic robotic hysterectomy with a high uterosacral suspension, on Monday, September 12, 2016.  I went into the hospital at 10:00am, and was home the same day around 8:30pm.  They removed my uterus, tubes and cervix and anchored my vagina to keep it secure and in place.  I went under full general anesthesia and had no complications.  It took 5 days off from work to recover.  I was on major pain medications that I took every 4 hours. I certainly needed them.  

I slept a lot and watched all 5 seasons of Arrow. (I think Stephen Amell - 'Oliver Queen' is delicious.  A great distraction while healing.)  The most pain I was having was gas pain from the CO2 they filled me with during surgery that was trying to escape my body.  You have pains all over, it's really weird.  I ate soup and little sammiches. I did not do keto and did eat sugar & fruit and flour, I ate some chocolate. But kept my calories around 1500 per day. I did drink lots of water. I was very sore and swollen.  I could walk but not do stairs for the first week very well.

I was able to work from home the second week.  This is when the other problem began. The side effects from the pain meds caused bad constipation.  Imagine that. Your whole area down there is full of staples and stitches inside and you can't poo.  You can't push or you would pop the staples. It became really awful. I was in agony.  They had given me stool softener to help, but it didn't help at all. I tried almost everything, but what ended up working was drinking a bottle of Cherry flavored Roto Rooter ~ Magnesium Citrate Dulcolax.  That got everything moving and working normal again. I stopped taking the heavy pain meds and started on Motrin.  The day after this, I felt like a miracle had happened. 

          I AM OUT OF PAIN - FOR REALS!

I feel like the dark cloud that had been over my spirit for so long, has been blasted away and has freed me.  I feel amazing!  I sort of feel like a 12 year old girl again.  I will never have a period again, that is celebration enough, but I seriously feel clear headed and balanced again. I had brain fog and memory issues due to all of the pain meds I had been taking for so many years.  The patch is seriously helping the other symptoms too.  

I am feeling so good, I went back to work on week 3 and had to take it slow.  I am not supposed to lift anything heavy or overdo it.  I was exhausted the first day, but every day afterward, I felt a little stronger. Then I made a huge mistake.  I lifted something that apparently WAS too heavy for me and injured my staples inside.  It was only maybe ten pounds, but maybe it was how I lifted it. This was yesterday. I had these big plans, and now have to back step and start over.  I am back in bed healing.  For those that know me, this is the hardest part.  I am a fireball and it's hard to stay in place when I feel so good.

I am laying low and trying not to over do anything, which is really hard for me with all the fun stuff that is going on in my life right now.  My favorite Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is happening this weekend, and I will not be going.  I am watching it on the live webcast. Next weekend is my big Artcar Fest 20th Anniversary weekend.  My Leopard Lair Ultra Lounge VW Bus engine just got rebuilt and the guys are breaking in the new engine.  It won't make it in time for the show, so I am doing something fun and silly to my Honda Passport for next weekend. 

I have had a secret Gnome fetish for years. 

The New Naughty Gnome Art Car will be there. 

I learned from my experience with the Squirly Whirly Art Car, the Gnomes would not last one night in public without being vandalized and abducted. These Gnomes are naughty and awesome. Fuckers would be taking them off and stealing them, straight away.  I have a plan to keep them safe and won't keep them on my car after the big weekend. Sad to say but true. I'll get my original art car back soon and continue the restoration project. My Honda just has one Gnome keeping an eye out for me, (Louis was only vandalized once so far) but it's more mundane as my daily driver.

                                                             Lookout Louis

My hood ornament on my Honda Passport 4 wheel drive.

Meanwhile, I am taking it slow and being careful not to do too much, which is Really Hard for me because I feel so awesome in every other way.  I do a little more everyday.  I weighed myself and the scale said 229 pounds. I somehow gained 14 pounds this month. Shocking!  I asked my doctor if this is normal. He said that surgery is a trauma to the your body and my body's natural reaction is to accumulate lots of extra water while it recovers from the shock.  I won't even measure myself yet. The swelling is still there, so I don't think it would be accurate.  

So it's back onto a Ketogenic diet lifestyle and Intermittent Fasting protocols.  This really works for me, but it takes shopping, planning, prepping, and cooking.  I had been alone doing best I could to care for myself all month, making easy stuff, eating out and doing take-out delivery.   I need to get back on track and get to my goal.  Once I am healed completely, I plan to get back in the gym and get toned and strong again.  

A Giant step was made, some steps backward, but Huge Steps Forward for the better!

Talk to you on Sept 30th....

Hey World,

I have decided to take a short hiatus from VSG weekly updates for now because I am prepping for surgery on the 12th.  My weight is not the focus this month. With all of the medications, hormones and healing I will be doing,

I am writing off the month of September 2016 

as a personal medical transformation month. 

I expect to come out on the other side in October, with a new pain free lease on life!  The scale and the inches will be changing like crazy up and down for sure. They will have to remove my Uterus, Cervix and Tubes, but we are keeping my healthy ovaries.  I was feeling pretty good last week, but the pain has come back and I am still experiencing moments of debilitating cramping, enough to make my toes curl even on NORCO.

I can't wait to get this surgery over with! I may not be feeling too good for the next few weeks, but after this is over, I expect to get my full life back and get back up on the jazz stage again and get back to a more athletic lifestyle. It may take me some time to get my heart, soul and personal rig back in shape for giving the way I love to do.

For those who know me and have not seen much of me in the past few years, I have been suffering for far too long with uterus fibroid/tumors. We have tried everything with no relief, so this surgery is the last resort and should help me live a better quality and more active life.

My goal weight is still 145 - 155 lbs. and a size 8.  I am looking forward to getting my bitchin back tattoo probably around my birthday in December.  I'll check back in on Friday, September 30th with a full update.