Feeling Better!

Guess who woke up feeling completely normal this morning? ME!! My eye is still just slightly red in the corner and maybe a tad swollen, but it's really not even noticeable. When I dropped Jack off at school everyone commented how much better I look today. They've seen this whole progression and the difference between yesterday and today is remarkable. Yay!

I felt so much better that I HAD to workout. I was going crazy! I'm not dumb enough to go into the gym and expose myself to God knows what, but I did do the Jillian Michaels Shed and Shred video for an hour and 40 minutes. I love it and I think it's my favorite video she's done. I also really like Yoga Meltdown, but I'm really over 30 Day Shred. I've done the 30 Day Shred and it's fantastic and gives results, but it gets boring if you've done it a lot before. Shed and Shred incorporates yoga, kickboxing, and Jiu-Jistsu for an excellent workout. I may add this in to my normal workout rotation because I really enjoyed it! I normally HATE workout videos, but this one moves quickly and the moves are interesting.

Now I must finish up some school work. Is it sad that I'm already wishing it was spring break?

Now With More Grossness…

The eye swelling is just part of the story so I thought I would share pictures of the rest of my ailments as well so you can all share in my misery. I didn't take Benadryl this morning because I had some papers to write and didn't want to be half asleep to write papers and do a test. Because I didn't take the Benadryl I have a horrible rash on my hands that burns and itches like crazy. Seriously, this reaction is horrible and pretty much requires that I keep Benadryl in my system 24 hours a day. 

 And this is the culprit:

This is actually a big improvement over what it was. This morning a bunch of green puss came out of it leaving the center completely hollow. Now the center has started to fill in and heal so it doesn't look quite as gross. The big concern at the moment is that my immune system is severely compromised because I'm having a constant allergic reaction and I have an infection running through my body at the same time. The doctor mentioned that MRSA is actually fairly common in these types of open wounds caused by bites and since my immune system is already compromised, I'm at a fairly large risk for it. It takes a lot to keep me out of the gym, but I think I would like to avoid MRSA thankyouverymuch.

Now, aren't you all jealous? I get to take 17 pills a day, have a gaping wound in my leg, a swollen face and eye, and itchy rash. I'm just that awesome.

And Again

So after another trip back to the doctor this morning we have some answers! Unfortunately, they aren't good answers. Last week Matt got something on his leg that we finally decided must be some sort of bite , but it healed up and he didn't have a lot of issues with it. I got the same thing a few days later, but didn't worry too much about it because it seemed to be healing on the same course that his did. What I failed to do is connect the bite to the eye issue. The bite is apparently the culprit of everything! Whatever bit me is something I am apparently highly allergic to. This caused the swelling and allergic reaction. Because the reaction lasted so long, it turned into an infection in my lower eyelid. This in turn caused the infection to run through my body and the bite got infected too! So essentially, the reaction won't go away until the bite heals, and the bite will now heal more slowly because of the infection. That's what I call a vicious cycle. Luckily, I got on really strong antibiotics really early so there's a good chance what I'm already doing will take care of it eventually. The problem is that the antibiotic comes with the risk of dangerous overgrowth of bacteria in the intestines. I have to avoid any germs or bacteria because of the infection I already have, and hope that I don't get any additional infection. So I'll just be sitting here doing lots of cooking and laundry.

This Time With Pictures!

This is seriously kicking my ass. I have never had anything like this before and it's shocking to me how much this has taken me down. I'm beyond exhausted and I don't know if it's the Benadryl, the infection, the Ibuprofen, or the antibiotic that's causing it. I can barely keep my eyes open! I can't read for more than a few minutes at a time and that has made schoolwork really difficult. I had to do a test this morning and read 2 chapters, which normally would have taken me an hour. Today it took me over 3 hours! I could only read 1-2 pages at a time and the test involved a lot of math so I was switching back and forth between a calculator and my computer. It's hard to explain, but because of the swelling, when I blink it takes longer to focus when my eye opens. So each time I would switch my line of vision, then blink, and it would take me a few seconds to focus and then switch back again. It was way too time consuming and by the time I got done I had a headache.

Working out has proven to be a challenge too. First of all, the exhaustion makes it super hard to get motivated. I think I could seriously sleep all day. My body is refusing to let me push through this one. I've really had to slow WAY down and let myself recover. I did manage to get on the treadmill and walk at a 4 incline at 3.5 mph for about 30 minutes. Then I came home and did some minor weight lifting, push-ups, sit-ups, planks, squats, and shuffling back and forth across the living room. I'm so not coordinated and it took me weeks to be able to shuffle quickly around a bag so I don't want to lose that. We literally do laps of shuffling in training so if I start falling over myself again it will set me back a lot.

I miss the intense workouts. The hitting, the running, the kicking, and the hundreds of push-ups make me  happy. Right now it hurts to sweat though. This morning I was just barely breaking a sweat and any sweat close to my eye burns. It's not such a great feeling. I also can't wipe it constantly because I'm not supposed to touch it with anything that isn't sterile. I have these little sterile eyelid cloths in packets that I use to wipe it off several times a day to remove anything that has crusted on there. Other than that I try to avoid touching it at all.

Yesterday it was downright painful. Every time I would blink it felt like I was being stabbed in the eye. Today it's just swollen and draining a little bit. It's still definitely tender, but no stabbing pain! When I talked to the doctor this morning she said it sounds like it's starting to heal so that's good news. I still have to keep taking the massive amount of medicine until the swelling is completely gone though. The Benadryl and Ibuprofen really help with the swelling a lot! My antibiotic is for 10 days but she said I might need another round after that if it's not completely gone. Apparently eye infections are hard to get rid of.

Anyways… This was yesterday:

 And this is from this morning:

Please ignore the fact that I can't wear any makeup and need to have my eyebrows waxed. That was supposed to happen yesterday, but there's no way I'm letting hot wax anywhere near that region at the moment. It looks a million times better today than yesterday. The swelling has gone down a ton! That whole side of my face is still slightly swollen, but not like it was! I don't look like I got in a bar fight anymore! I just look like I took an elbow to the eye or something. I'll take any improvement.

2 Steps Back...

I should have known that whole gallbladder ordeal went away a little too smoothly. I seem to have traded it in for another ailment. I had some allergic reaction (not sure to what) and my eye swelled up really bad. That wasn't the end of it though. I ended up at the eye doctor yesterday morning because it was sore and still swollen and she said it was definitely an allergy. She thought with some Benadryl it would most likely go away on it's own. Then today I ended up back there because it had gotten worse and hurt so badly I couldn't sleep last night. It looks like I got punched in the face. Hard. It feels like I'm being stabbed every time I blink. This is seriously one of the most painful things I've ever had. My schoolwork is piling up and I can't look at the computer screen long enough to finish an assignment. I'm not supposed to expose myself to any unnecessary germs or bacteria so I'm basically stuck at home, unable to focus on schoolwork. I got a lot of laundry done though!

Only 9 more days of antibiotic and multiple trips to the eye doctor in hopes that it clears up without anything else. She said they are very hard to get rid of so it looks like lots of Ibuprofen and ice packs are in my future for a few days. Great. It's not like I had anything better to do, right?

Milestone

Yesterday morning I got on the scale and have lost 22 pounds now. This whole kickboxing thing has really made a huge difference in my weight loss! I was losing and gaining the same 10 pounds repeatedly throughout the fall and it was driving me crazy! I put on a pair of my old jeans last weekend and they fit! I've still got a little ways to go before my 6's fit again, but at this rate I'll be there in no time! It's nice to finally see some progress and know that I could reach my goal before our trip this summer!

One Step Forward...

Today was my 4th day of absolutely no pain! I was super strict with my diet for a while and cut out anything and everything that might cause problems. I also drank tons of water and tea. I still can't drink coffee, but if that's the worst of my problems then I'm not complaining.

Last week I took it kind of easy with workouts. I ran and went to boxing but I didn't force anything. With eating so few calories it's just not in my best interest to burn 500-600 calories in a workout. This morning I made up for it. I'm sore and exhausted…and it's only Monday. Tomorrow I'll squeeze in a run for about an hour before heading to Jack's school to begin the Valentine's Day festivities. It's pretty much non-stop from 11 AM until bedtime tomorrow. But all 50 goody bags, treats, and Valentine cards are assembled and ready to go! It's going to be a long day...

Feeling Better

After 2 days of a complete diet overhaul, I'm feeling much better. I still have a slight ache in my side, but I no longer have pain after eating. Well, that's not entirely true. Last night I had a bite (literally ONE bite) of Matt's cookie and suffered for about 2 hours from it. Other than that I've been eating pretty much a liquid diet. Smoothies, soups, tea, and lots of water. Nothing hard to digest, very little dairy, nothing with much flavor… It sucks for my taste buds, but works wonderfully for my gallbladder. I'll add things back in very slowly in a few days to see what I can tolerate and what I can't.

I went to boxing yesterday morning and just took it easy. I didn't do much in the way of an abs workout and I realized very quickly that it hurt to throw a punch with my right hand if I twisted my hips and put some force into it. I had to do more leading and guarding with my right and throwing punches with my left. Luckily, I have trained both sides evenly so it wasn't too awkward.

This morning I ran 4.5 miles on the treadmill. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't hurt at all. I drank lots of water and stopped when I felt like I was probably pushing my luck.

Tonight it's back to feeling like a slightly pulled muscle instead of actual pain. I'm hoping by the end of the week it'll be resolved completely. Then comes the fun task of figuring out what I can eat, or more importantly, finding out if I can ever drink coffee again. That's something I won't be brave enough to try for quite a while. My Keurig is missing me terribly I'm sure. Thank God Matt drinks enough coffee to make up for what I haven't been drinking. I wouldn't want the Keurig to get lonely.

Here!

Yeah. I'm still alive. I know you were worried sick, right? I've just been buried under text books and I've spent so much time staring at a computer screen that the last thing I've wanted to do after finishing assignments is type up a blog post. You're in luck though! School work is done and the SuperBowl is on so Matt is occupied and the kids have been sent to separate rooms so as not to disturb the force. This leaves me in unfamiliar territory: having free time for a few minutes.

Really not much is happening around here. I have been doing boxing and kickboxing at least 3 days a week and it has been such an amazing force in my life. Honestly, I just cannot put into words what I am gaining from this experience. When I set a resolution that I would learn to box this year I had no idea what this would actually entail. I've had bloody knuckles, sore muscles, and have actually pushed myself to that point where I wonder if I'll ever be able to breathe again. There is one trainer that always pushes me to my very limit and I love and hate him at the same time. I've never hurt so bad and yet gained so much confidence and experience all at the same time. The other trainer I see is amazing as well, but she pushes more on strength training so I can breathe, just not move. It's a good balance and I adore the people I get to workout with. It's the first time I've ever really enjoyed working out with others. And on my "off" days? I run. I don't run terribly far or terribly fast, but I run. Boxing is a workout where I constantly have to be thinking and moving in response. Running gives me that mental downtime to think and reflect. I need both in order to have balance.

A few weeks ago I started noticing that I couldn't get through an entire meal. Then I started having bad nausea if my stomach would get too full. I wasn't stuffing myself by any means, but if I got "full" I would feel like throwing up. In this time I also stopped wanting to eat anything sweet, which is just not normal for me. Usually, even if I don't eat it, I WANT to eat it. Looking at cookies or brownies made me sick to my stomach! This cut my calories drastically because I wouldn't consume more than about 250 calories per meal and I was forcing myself to get down 4 "meals" a day. Looking back, the signs were there of what was happening. I couldn't eat citrus, sweets, tomatoes, dairy, soda,  coffee, meat, nuts, eggs, or onions without having some sort of horrible side effect. That's a LONG list of foods now that I sit here and write them all down. I knew something was up when I had to give up coffee. I posted that I brought this up to my doctor, but because of my hiatal hernia she didn't think it was a huge concern. A few days ago I started having a dull ache in my upper right side. I brushed it off as muscle soreness for a while, then thought maybe I wasn't drinking enough water or something, and this morning the pain was a bit worse and I was able to pinpoint it better. Damn gallbladder. I've had issues with it before and I'm hoping with a bland diet and rest I can get it back under control without having to go to the doctor. I love my doctor, but I also know she has my chart from my past doctor that specifically says I should have my gallbladder removed if it causes problems again. It's been about a year since I've had any issues so I suppose I was about due for this to hit again. I blame it all on Jack. I had my first really bad gallbladder attack when he was just a few weeks old. We were headed to his check-up and I was doubled over in pain against the bathroom counter sweating and feeling pretty confident that I was going to die. Good times. Not.

So there you go. I continue to workout in ways that some would consider insane, and now I can't eat. I must say it's been rather convenient in the weight loss department though. I finally got on the scale this week and was pretty darn happy. Not to mention I'm wearing some things I haven't worn in a while and the jeans I had been wearing are now VERY loose. I refuse to get out the smaller ones yet though. I'd rather feel these be way too big for a while than feel those be a little snug. I do need to change out some of my wardrobe though. Pull out some of the smaller stuff and get rid of some things that are too big now. Yay!