Dentist Day, take 8

Calories eaten yesterday: 1705
Fat: 98g (53%)
Carbs: 42g (10%) :(
Protein: 113g (27%)

Calories burned in exercise today: 75

Had the second half of my oral surgery this morning. This time it was the whole left side of my mouth, so I can currently only chew on the right side. I took two Vicodin and some Ibuprofen and Advil before going in. Also a couple of my Xanax tablets for anxiety. It helped, plus this guy is really good and knows how to 1) numb yourgums with the gel, and 2) inject the lidocaine so it hurts as little as possible. He gave me several shots to numb me up real good. After that I couldn't feel anything.

My blood sugar was 85 this morning - nice and normal. I had a very low-carb breakfast of bacon and eggs and black coffee. By the time I got the the dentist I was a bit freaked out and my blood sugar was 95. After the lidocaine I took my blood sugar again. It was hard because my hands were shaking so bad from the adrenaline in the shots. I was 101. When I got home from the surgery about 1:30 I was back down to 88. Now we will see if the surgery will elevated my fasting levels.

It was a long appointment. We started between 9:30 and 9:45 and I got out of there about noon. :-p

On the way back from the dentist I stopped at the health food store to pick up the L-Glutamine I ordered. I also bought two cans of sugar-free Hansen's root beer. I'm thinking about making a root beer float on Saturday night, just using chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. Hey, it can't taste bad. I also bought some chocolate Soy Slender soy milk and some pyruvate (yes, this store had it). Hey, it can't hurt, might help.

Exercise today was walking the last 15 minutes home from the bus to get home on one bus instead of two, and then later I jumped around on my mini trampoline for an hour. Abby doesn't seem to care when I jump on it, but Xena is still freaked out by it.

I heard back from the new editor of the Helping Hand. He said he won't ask me to write until Spring, but may ask me to do an entire quarter at that time, and was I willing? I of course said yes. Not only do I enjoy writing, but that would be a good chunk of change. I hope he doesn't mind if I share his letter with you.

Hi Victoria,
It's so nice to hear from you. I do know you've written some wonderful devotions in the past and it has been my intent to ask you again. It's interesting timing because just this week I have completed assignments flowing in for the 2007-08 curriculum year. I expect later this Spring I'll be making new assignments and I do hope you'll still be willing. I would probably ask you to write a whole quarter's worth (13 weeks of daily meditations). Do you think you'd be willing to take on that much writing? I'd give you AT LEAST a 6 month deadline if you said yes. I don't know what the topics are yet as I'm actually a little over a year ahead of deadline but if I had a tentative yes from you, then that would be great.
Thanks so much,
Eric

So there you go. I'm promised an assignment later. :)

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Surgery: blood sugar & the immune system

Calories eaten yesterday: 1533
Fat: 79g (48%)
Carbs: 41g (11%)
Protein: 105g (28%)
Calories burned in exercise: 118

Here's one part of what I have to do twice a day - for 10 minutes I soak my foot in warm or hot water with Epsom salt, then put antibiotic cream in the hole where the toenail used to be, place gauze over it, and tape it in place.

Cindy came up with an interesting observation about my blood sugar being high lately. She said it might be connected with my recent surgery, and directed me to a post by Dr. Vernon discussing trauma from surgery and high blood sugar.

I was curious, so I ran my fasting blood sugar numbers before and after the surgery. The results were indeed interesting. I have nine days of data from before the surgery. Average morning blood sugar - 87. Lowest reading was 79 and highest was 94.

In the six days since the surgery my average is 101! The average was about 103 yesterday, but I has a good fasting reading today and that brought the average down. Lowest reading since surgery was 93 (this morning) and the highest was 118.

This toe surgery has also compromised my immune system and I find myself suffering from something I haven't had since I began low-carbing 2 1/2 years ago - a cold sore. Yike! I thought I had seen the last of them, but there it is - a white sore on my lip. Yuck. I'm treating with Carmex during the day and some Abreva at home that's past its expiration. I don't want to buy more Abreva because it's expensive and this cold sore is the exception, not the rule. I used to get them all the time, but not anymore, all thanks to Dr. Atkins. :)

By the way, if you do get cold sores, Abreva really does work great. It's just expensive as hell. If I remember right it's about $15 for a tiny little tube.

Anyway, I'm trying to nip this problem before it gets worse. I'm sure it's because the toe issue is putting my immune system under a lot of stress.

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Dentist Day, take 6

Thursday weight: 144
Calories eaten yesterday: 1663
Calories burned in exercise: 107
Fat: 84g (47%)
Net carbs: 47g (12%)
Protein: 122g (31%)

Friday weight: 148

I had the oral surgery yesterday. This was complete with stitches. I have to go back in a week to get them removed. The doctor was very nice and knew how to apply the topical anathetic in the best way and how to reduce the pain of the lidocaine injections so there would be minimal pain. I'm starting to lose some fear.

I lost track of how many shots he gave me - maybe 4 or 5 vials in 6 or 7 injections. He said it was fine for me to come back in January for the other half, that a lot of insurance providers do this. He stuck some kind of gummy substance where the stitches were to help them heal better. He said the stuff may or my not last the week and it was no big deal if they came out. They said to go easy on brushing the area, don't use the dental pick brush on those teeth, and no chewing gum for a week. :(

They gave me 16 tablets of a pain prescription of 7.5mg Vicodin and 750mg acetaminophen. $10, dispensed on site. I'm going to save a couple tablets out for my second surgery in January. Yesterday I dosed up on Ibuprofen before my appointment, but I think the Vicodin might be stronger.

The pain isn't too bad, but I am taking the Vicodin as needed. Brad is taking me gorocery shopping this afternoon; I hate to think how humugeous the grocery bill will be. This is going to be a big shopping trip - all the regular stuff, plus stocking up on the heavy stuff such as wine, soda, and cat litter. My steps yesterday were pretty horrible, so I am hoping to walk around the lake with Brad to get some exercise and help redeem today's step count.

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Photo courtesy Geek Philosopher.

More surgery upcoming...

Weight: 144
Calories eaten yesterday: 1538
Fat: 75g (45%)
Carbs: 49g (13%)
Protein: 109g (29%)
Calories burned in exercise: 99

I had my appointment with the foot doctor who has been treating the fungal nail infection I have. It's just not getting better very fast and I have decided at my next appointment (December 13) to just have the nail permanently removed. It's the big toe on my left foot. The skin will toughen and can then be painted and everything just like a normal nail. I let it go so long that it will take forever to get better and I just want to get this over with. I had a lot of questions for the doctor. I already talked to the lady here at work that does the health care stuff and she said they would help cover it, so my out-of-pocket cost would be minimal. It will be cheaper all around to not have to keep seeing the doctor every other month. The only part I'm scared of is the injection to numb the area. Pretty painful from what I've read.

My oral surgery, part 1, is tomorrow. Pray for me. I'm taking the day off so I probably won't be posting.

Walked over 15,000 steps yesterday. My average has been about 12,000 a day.


Click to enlarge.
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