Buns Again

Share your daily McDougall menus and/or keep a journal describing your personal progress.

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Re: Buns Again

Postby Trinity » Tue Aug 23, 2022 11:38 am

You can do it!!! :D Enjoy your soup cups and yay for Amazon points!
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Re: Buns Again

Postby Ruff » Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:38 pm

True North foods by mail order

https://www.mamasezz.com/pages/common-m ... 030.f6c666

hope this helps. Will read rest of your journal properly now.
Katie

My testimonial. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=38433
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Re: Buns Again

Postby Ruff » Tue Aug 23, 2022 1:09 pm

Buns, you have been here for years, you know what to do. Your knees are telling you how important this is. Being effectively disabled is making things very hard right now, but not impossible. Hard is good....its fun to beat hard.

I say take the supplement if it helps. Even if its a placebo effect, if it lifts the depression...who cares. Sometimes we all need a little help.

I am doing flexion and extension exercises on Bonnie as well, and thinking of you as I do it.

Limping, I walk with a limp, occasionally use a walking stick, use special tramping poles in the hills and always use a leg brace. I think Dr McD and I have the same thing, drop foot. His is from a stroke, mine from an accident. I shall tell you 2 things. 1. if you can do what the doctors say and manage to walk without a limp for goodness sake do everything you can to do it. If possible you do NOT want a permanent limp. 2. If you do end up with a permanent limp it is not the end of the world. Both Dr McD and I manage very well.

Below, not the worlds greatest photo, but my leg brace on my left leg, sitting on the side of Leith Hill, (an appallingly steep climb) above Castle Hill village, South Island NZ.

Image
Katie

My testimonial. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=38433
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Tue Aug 23, 2022 2:52 pm

Ruff wrote:Buns, you have been here for years, you know what to do. Your knees are telling you how important this is. Being effectively disabled is making things very hard right now, but not impossible. Hard is good....its fun to beat hard.

I say take the supplement if it helps. Even if its a placebo effect, if it lifts the depression...who cares. Sometimes we all need a little help.

I am doing flexion and extension exercises on Bonnie as well, and thinking of you as I do it.

Limping, I walk with a limp, occasionally use a walking stick, use special tramping poles in the hills and always use a leg brace. I think Dr McD and I have the same thing, drop foot. His is from a stroke, mine from an accident. I shall tell you 2 things. 1. if you can do what the doctors say and manage to walk without a limp for goodness sake do everything you can to do it. If possible you do NOT want a permanent limp. 2. If you do end up with a permanent limp it is not the end of the world. Both Dr McD and I manage very well.

Below, not the worlds greatest photo, but my leg brace on my left leg, sitting on the side of Leith Hill, (an appallingly steep climb) above Castle Hill village, South Island NZ.

Image


Katie, I can't tell you how encouraging that is. For you to climb that mountain with poles and a brace is amazing!

I'm really good at walking without a limp. I started working hard on that after my first visit from the physical therapist, and then my brother got on me when we were at his place and that's when I just stopped limping and I don't anymore. I think there might be some side-to-side stuff (waddle ugh) that I need to eliminate. I just go really slow. Doc says my ROM is good and that's what they look for to prevent a limping gait. I do those exercises every morning and am getting my leg really flat in extension, would like more bend in flexion.

But I'm excited for my easy fix stuff to arrive. I'll look over that True North stuff as well. Thanks for the link.
Today's eating has been 100% on plan (not MWL as there are seeds in my meusli) and I feel really good. Not dragging around any more. Maybe even a little bit hopeful!

thanks again, all of you have been amazing friends through this!
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Thu Aug 25, 2022 9:41 am

Okay, I started taking SAM-e on Sunday.

I don't think it's possible for the SAM-e to already be effective but dang I feel good. I mean, I am the epitome of placebo effect, seriously. One night when my knee started spasming at bedtime, hurting bad enough that I was crying, I took half a Tramadol, and before it even hit my stomach, the pain was gone. No lie. But it doesn't matter to me if it's my own brain power or if SAM-e works for reals. I feel better. It still hurts, but I don't feel hopeless about it. I know I can get through it, where before it felt hopeless and endless. My energy is very nice, I am calm and alert. I feel light.

I might not need to take SAMe very long, once the full effect of eating 100% compliant the McDougall way kicks in, but it's nice to be clear of that foggy despair I was experiencing. :nod:

Weighed myself yesterday. I am the same weight I was when I went into surgery: 242 lbs. They were so kind to weigh me in kilos at the hospital :D but I did the math and yup, that's right where I was. so...didn't lose anything, didn't gain anything. Not weighing again for a while. I don't want to get hung up in the numbers.

Yesterday my McDougall easy fix foods arrived and I had split pea soup over rice w. steamed romanescu. Yum! I did add some chipotle Tabasco for smoke and heat. And I still have a full serving left over from that :nod:

Today's Food:
B: 1/3c meusli; 1/3 c grape nuts; oat milk; blueberries
L: McDougall Pad Thai; grapes?
D: LO homemade bean soup over rice; spinach
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Buns Again

Postby VegSeekingFit » Thu Aug 25, 2022 7:44 pm

Hi Heidi! :) :-D

So glad that you have found food you can do... I also love the McD soup cups... Over potato is perfect!!!

Totally pulling for you... You can do this!!!! :cool:

Just keep going!!!

Wishing you the best,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Buns Again

Postby Ruff » Mon Aug 29, 2022 2:05 pm

One week today Bonnie visits the surgeon. If all goes well she will be allowed out of the pen.

How are you? how are your doc visits going? Can you get upstairs easily yet? (at least you are not in a pen! :lol: :lol: )
Katie

My testimonial. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=38433
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:09 am

Quick note. My left knee (the surgery knee) is doing quite well. Full extension whenever I want it; struggle a little with flexion, but I'm able to pick up and bend my foot toward my thigh. It's as much flex as I had pre-surgery.

The right knee is in serious trouble. Went to the dr (not the same who did my left knee. I'm quitting him) but I went to an injury clinic in order to be seen the same day and x-rays show my knee cap is full on touching my femur, bone on bone, and it is covered with bone spurs, arthritis. There's a bone spur on my tibia as well. We always aske for copies of the x-rays and I was looking at it. Sure looks like a freaking bone spur. No wonder I'm crying in pain. Bone spurs are brutal.

So here's the deal. I'll be having my right knee Total Knee Replacement before the end of the year (since we already met our deductible with the first operation). Cannot begin to say how much I don't want to do it, but the constant agony that I'm in currently is deciding for me.

A heating pad last night relieved the pain, and the doc at the injury clinic prescribed a very effective topical gel that is made for arthritis pain so there are moments when it ISN'T sharp stabbing pain in my knee, but overall yeah...pain.

Eating is amazing. I'm doing very well. Yesterday I wanted some cheese nip crackers and didn't. Day before yesterday I wanted some store bought tiramisu, and didn't. I'm using my McDougall instant foods plus a starch, or simply eating a can of beans (last night's dinner was garbanzo beans with a little lemon juice). Ummmm....I did put some real cheese on a bean burrito for lunch two days ago :oops: When you have relied on food to comfort you your whole life, it isn't easy breaking away. OOH but speaking of comfort food! Wylie made an absolutely scrumptious bean soup weeks ago, and froze it in serving portion sizes. And the other night he brought it to me over rice. YUM.

so anyway, doing well with food; hating that my knees both went out on me; praying that surgeries end up bringing back my life.
JUST DON'T EAT IT

I heart my endothelial lining
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The rest is an industry looking to make a buck off my poor health
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Re: Buns Again

Postby VegSeekingFit » Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:35 am

Hi Heidi! :D :) :-D

Glad to hear that you are navigating the food and agree with you 100% that it is challenging when we are all (or most of us?) used to food offering comfort...

So sorry about your right knee!!! Wishing you well as your other one continues to heal.

Hope that you enjoy the long weekend!

Best,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Buns Again

Postby Lizzy_F » Sat Sep 03, 2022 9:55 am

Hi Buns!! I'm so happy to read that you feel you are coming out of the "fog" and that your moods and your surgical knee seem better. Very sorry to hear that another surgery for the other knee is pending. I completely understand the timing thing re: deductibes.

I have not had a knee replacement, but I have had both hips replaced. BEST decision I could have made. The arthritic pain and bone on bone issues had become more limiting than I was even aware. I remember all the rehab and being encouraged not to limp and all of that! I think the technology we have these days for artificial joints is pretty amazing, and it sounds like you are in so much pain with your other knee - I don't blame you for getting that one replaced too.

I'm happy for you that you have found foods that allow you the convenience (and yumminess!) you need to help you stay compliant right now! You will not regret that one!

Wishing you a strong weekend and sending you HOPE!!!!! (and potatoes! :D )
Beth

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Re: Buns Again

Postby moonlight » Fri Sep 09, 2022 11:57 pm

Hi Buns,

It's been a while since I checked in on the McD forums. Congratulations on getting your knee surgeries! I've heard from others about how much better they feel and are out-of-pain! That's the most important part. I hope you continue to have a quick recovery. You will be a new lady come Jan 1st! Your McD diet will help you heal faster, too!

The soup sounds lovely. That's great that Wylie knew what to serve you. He sounds like such a sweetie.

I just put on a split pea soup in the crockpot for tomorrow. I've been off the McD plan for a few months, really mostly just off the MWL plan. I am hoping to make some progress on the MWL plan and lose a little more weight. :D

Take care,
Moonlight
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Re: Buns Again

Postby bunsofaluminum » Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:07 am

Thanks everyone for dropping in...

MOONLIGHT! How are you doing, grrrl? LTNS!
moonlight wrote:Hi Buns,

It's been a while since I checked in on the McD forums. Congratulations on getting your knee surgeries! I've heard from others about how much better they feel and are out-of-pain! That's the most important part. I hope you continue to have a quick recovery. You will be a new lady come Jan 1st! Your McD diet will help you heal faster, too!

The soup sounds lovely. That's great that Wylie knew what to serve you. He sounds like such a sweetie.

I just put on a split pea soup in the crockpot for tomorrow. I've been off the McD plan for a few months, really mostly just off the MWL plan. I am hoping to make some progress on the MWL plan and lose a little more weight. :D

Take care,
Moonlight


I never could have believed it a month or two ago, but my surgery knee is feeling pretty good. It's a little stiff and some pain when I first get up, but the pain corrects as I walk. The stiffness could take a while to rectify,. It is bearing full weight with no problem, but it's kinda hard to tell if I'm limping or not, as I'm using a crutch to support the right knee LOL Sure looks like limping, but truly it is not the surgery side.

The date is set. October 14. We changed doctors, and here's why.
The surgeon Dr. H came into my exam room at the office with his fellow...a doctor who is practicing with him...and said "yup, your x-rays show it is bone on bone and you need the surgery. I want you to take a full month off work, and use a walker or crutches for balance. Not help with weight bearing, The leg will be able to bear weight, and you'll be walking the day of the surgery. Let's get you scheduled" and off he went. No lie, that is ALL we were told.

Of course, I could've researched Total Knee Replacement a bit, but I didn't.

The surgery went well, I was set up with a leg motion machine in my hospital bed along with a cooling device. Due to a nerve block (which I was not informed of...wasn't informed of ANYTHING. Seriously) I wasn't feeling painful at the hospital, just a bit uncomfortable. My thigh was aching badly and they told me that was tourniquet pain. A PT came to watch me walk and to show me how to do stairs on day two. Then they sent me home.

THEN the pain set in and it was so much more than we expected. It was HELL. I remember the first night home, I was in the bathroom sitting on the toilet and sobbing. The thought in my mind was "I don't want to do this!" but it was too late. I was in it, period. If I wanted my old knee back, too bad. The deed was done.

I had oxycodone and tramadol for "as needed pain relief" (again, no one sat down with me and explained. Upon discharge from the hospital, I was handed a stack of papers describing what each medication was for and how to take it.) I was also prescribed Warfarin as a blood thinner ON TOP OF meloxicam which I had been taking for a year for the original injury to my left knee. Turns out, meloxicam is a blood thinner, and taking it with Warfarin was super risky. Which we found out two weeks in, from the surgeon's freaking PA!

This is how that happened: I was shoveling opioids into my face as fast as allowed. Every six hours for oxy and every four hours for tramadol. I was keeping track and didn't think I was taking too much...and the pain was absolutely horrendous. Whatever opioids I was taking didn't seem to be doing it. SO, we started being "proactive" and "staying ahead of the pain" so instead of 4 hours, I was taking Tramadol every 3.5 hours, and oxy we kept at about six hours, but probably more often than that, and mostly at night when the pain was worst.

Well, we went through the first prescription and needed a refill. The surgeon's fellow okayed it, no questions asked, no information given. Then we needed another refill, not for the same opioid. Again, they just called the refill in without talking to us or instructing us. When we needed a third refill (mind you, this was inside of two weeks) it was a weekend and the PA took 30 minutes out of his Sunday afternoon to talk to us. This was the weekend prior to my two week check up and was the first educational communication that we had with this team.

After lecturing us about opioid usage (the first verbal instruction, though the information was available in the packet that they handed us at the hospital, again without going over any of it with us) he told us that truthfully, nothing "manages" the pain of the first two weeks. He pointed out that if I was taking enough opioid to necessitate a third refill before my two week appointment, I was taking too much. He said "there is no getting ahead of the pain" and the medication was strictly as needed for pain that already exists. Not to try and prevent the sensation of pain.

In discussing everything with us, he discovered that I was taking meloxicam and Warfarin at the same time. These are both blood thinners and he speculated (no firm diagnosis, just his thoughts about it) that the surgery site hadn't stopped bleeding due to the drug combination and that might be where the extreme pain was coming from. He told me to quit the meloxicam immediately and prescribed Celebrex (an anti-inflammatory that DOESN'T interact with Warfarin)

He also told us, the first person to do so, that after the two week mark, the pain tends to reduce substantially. That was nice to know, two days before my two week mark. And he was right. About two weeks after the surgery, the pain reduced immensely.

So, meloxicam plus Warfarin aside (and yes, the surgeon and his team had a list of all medications that I was currently taking. Not many, tbh. Meloxicam and Tylenol) the lack of education from this doctor made a majorly invasive surgery with a LOT of pain as the aftermath even worse. E.g. if I had known ahead of time that the pain will be excruciating and will start subsiding about two weeks post-surgery, would my dangerous intake of opioids even been a thing? Not knowing was really scary for me and Wylie.

And wtf with the refills? Overdose is a real thing, never mind addiction (I'm very mindful of that) Did they not think to ask why we were refilling the tramadol so fast?

Anyway, we decided to head for the UofU, which has a world class orthopedic center. The US Olympic Ski Team uses them, along with dozens of basketball players and other athletes. Mind you, Dr. H knows what he's doing. Technically he did a fine job, but the lack of communication is a no for me.

We had the x-rays and met the surgeon. He spoke with me about my options and his nurse came in afterwards to give me what I wanted: plenty of upfront information about what would be taking place, about the epidural for during the surgery, and the block for immediately afterwards. About the drugs they would be prescribing, about the level of activity that they wanted out of me for the first two weeks (not much, just walk every hour and do knee bends...the exercise regimen will be provided)... she gave me a packet with lots of info AND THEN opened it up and went through it with me.

I had blood work done and the nurse had ZERO problem finding a vein. Heh. First time for everything, right? They swabbed my nose for evidence of staph or MRSA. (also a first) Tested positive for staph, which means a little more care on the body wash protocol PRE surgery. I would have been surprised if I didn't have staph inside my nose LOL they say it's everywhere.

Anyway, we walked out of that appointment feeling like someone had explained things and told us what to expect. Mostly the nurse said "it's gonna hurt and you gotta be tough" LOL but that's more than we got from ole Dr. H.

that's all for now.
JUST DON'T EAT IT

I heart my endothelial lining
by red squirrel

simple, humble food
by f00die

The rest is an industry looking to make a buck off my poor health
by Pamela, a FB user
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Re: Buns Again

Postby VegSeekingFit » Mon Sep 12, 2022 6:30 pm

Hi Heidi!!! :D :-D

Glad that you have a good way forward with a doctor that you are comfortable with to fix your other knee. And, you go in armed with how it will work / how you will feel... So sorry that you had such lack of communication on what to expect with your first surgery.

Back in the day when I had my bigger knee surgeries (not bigger than yours, just 2/5 were multi-day hospital events back in the day)... They used to have an IV Morphine drip that could only be triggered at certain time intervals. Well, I learned pretty fast that opiates do not agree with me ...( I barfed on a visitor... :lol: ) so, great choice... yeah?

I bet that your next one goes better because you know what to expect and it sounds like the knee you just had done is doing great!!

Wishing you the best... Lots of potatoes and soup!!!! Take care!!!

Best,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Buns Again

Postby Lizzy_F » Wed Sep 14, 2022 3:02 pm

Oh my gosh Buns!!! What a horrible experience you had with Dr. H! That sounds so unethical to not explain anything. There is a REQUIREMENT for INFORMED consent. Just shoving paperwork at someone and telling them to sign it, without explaining it is simply unethical, in my not so humble opinion. I'm so happy that you are past the 2 week intense pain point, and also so happy to hear about your new surgeon for the other knee. The opioids are no joke indeed. Wishing you well with knee surgery #2!!
Beth

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Re: Buns Again

Postby squealcat » Wed Sep 14, 2022 5:43 pm

Buns, just read through your experience with this Dr H. Wow ! As you can see from your experience with the next doctor, that first one did not follow the proper informed consent protocol ! Hospitals are getting pretty picky about all of this (as well they should) and it even is supposed to be documented in your chart that all was gone over with you. He may be a good surgeon but I would not recommend him for sure ! Glad you sought out another for your next surgery . I am also surprised that in these days with all the opioid abuse going on that all your meds were not explained along with how and when to use them. You will go into your next surgery with your eyes wide open. That's good !

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