I think I'm starting to master the concept of "turning lemons into lemonade", for lack of a better cliche. Considering my current situation, I think I'm doing
much better than I would have thought possible before events went down as they did.
As I think I've mentioned, Jeanette lost her job (thanks, Verizon, you bunch of useless pricks!) a couple months ago. The call center company she (and I as well until 18 months ago) worked for already paid pitifully low wages for the stress involved in the job. Not only that, but because she didn't work for Verizon directly, she didn't even qualify for any of the company's discounts on phones or service. Nonetheless, she
had their service until her termination, but is no longer paying them one red dime. And this leads me to COBRA. How so very nice that the costs of COBRA have been slashed to 1/3 what they used to be, considering that
it's still fucking impossible to afford over $300 per month for the insurance, plus the doctor co-pays, plus the prescription co-pays, and still have enough to cover our other expenses!So, when one is in very bad shape health-wise and has been (foolishly) depending on a seriously flawed medical system which has produced next to nothing in the way of results and which is now priced firmly out of reach, one is then faced with a decision. That decision is: Do I continue to consume a Standard American Diet (SAD) after having lost all my medications, knowing that even with major restrictions and constant feelings of hunger I'm not even losing any weight? Or, do I put my foot firmly down and make a 100% commitment to what I know has worked for me before (veganism), only this time without most of the vegan junk food indulgences I used to regularly enjoy when I would lose weight previously? Because let's face it -- at my present weight (still in the 480s) my body simply can't handle the stresses of excess dietary fat and protein. I'm not exactly interested in dying right about now, so my answer has been to get back to the principles of
The McDougall Plan and follow them just about perfectly. In the past couple of weeks only a few minor exceptions have occurred, and those only to clear the pantry of non-compliant foods so they may be replaced with good, healthy starches and vegetables. The vegan cookies and chips and stuff like that are being avoided, as are nuts and seeds (with the exception of some flax seed-laden cereal for good regularity, served with some low-fat soy milk). Potatoes and brown rice are back in
in spades, as they should be, along with vegetables and salads. Other than a salad dressing I make and use occasionally which uses fresh blue cheese and balsamic vinegar (which I'll be stopping once the last of the blue cheese is gone) I am having NO dairy.
The result of this, so far, is that my fasting blood sugar is staying in the mid-100s in the absence of medication rather than rocketing off the chart. I have no way to measure my blood pressure, and I imagine it's elevated, but I'm NOT retaining water and my energy level (though still low) has been increasing rapidly. I don't feel the need to just about live in bed like I did before. And best of all, the persistent wounds on my legs and feet which no expert has been able to properly heal are a hell of a lot less painful and are just starting to look... better every time we unbandage and clean my legs. Awesome! My only really bad news is that while my left shoulder has stopped hurting as much as it used to, the range of motion in both arms is down to next to nothing despite my best efforts to try and improve them, and the
right shoulder and elbow are now as big a source of pain as the left side was 6 months ago. When I sit down to type in a long post like this, I am forced to take constant rest breaks to avoid numbness in my arms and hands. I'm just glad I can do this at all at this point. But no matter what, I'll continue to find a way. I'll be out of pain medication soon also, so I'm decreasing the doses and learning to "grin and bear it" and just stay in my safe range of motion. Jeanette is very understanding with having to help me pick things up and whatnot, thank goodness, or I'd be pretty bad off.
I think it's pretty funny that the kick in the ass I really needed would come from becoming one of our nation's rising tide of uninsured people. Yes, I'm collecting disability, but I'm ineligible for Medicare for another year and Medicaid turned me down. Cool, because I really don't want any more of doctors and their shit anyway, unless I hit the deck and someone has to call 9-1-1, and I ain't letting that happen.
My weight
is dropping already, and I expect to be below 480 (and back on the road to real progress!) no later than July 10. Anyone who is interested may read my journal at the site I linked above. Just go into the Forums from the top tab, then click Journal and look for
Ege Bamyasi. That's my user name over there. I'll likely be doing most of my posting over there because (no offense) the community there is much larger than this one has been of late. And as an aside, there are positively
no anti-obesity screeds over there like there have been on DU, like the one that almost caused me to leave for good. Of course, this is all subject to change as one can never tell if this board will see a surge in traffic. I really hope it does.
As always, thanks in advance for your support and thank you for taking the time to keep tabs on me. I hope all of you are doing well and finding yourselves in excellent health!
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