A little complaining followed by a lot of good news!

When we moved to Texas 2 years ago I thought I was moving to a warmer climate! Someone did not get the memo because it is downright COLD! Tonight and tomorrow night it will be in the low twenties with wind chills in the teens. Now, I know some of my readers live in northern and western climates that are much colder than a Texas winter, and you are all probably laughing at me about right now. But, seriously, my hat goes off to all of you! How do you do it? I am a winter wimp! If it is going to be this cold can't we at least have some pretty snow instead of gray drizzle?

Tomorrow I have to get up very early in the very COLD weather and go to the dentist, of all places. Those of you who know me well know that going to the dentist is my biggest fear. I can get shots from the doctor all day long, I can give birth to three babies, naturally, and I can convince myself to do lots of scary things, BUT the dentist -- you have to drag me in and stand there and hold my hand the entire time! It is scary. I have nightmares about the dentist, right there in my face, poking me with that little hook thing.

Okay, okay, okay... I have been complaining all night (it's the dentist worry thing). But now for good news! My speech went very well today! It was actually a lot of fun, and I enjoyed meeting some new friends. Another good thing - Wayne went to the grocery for me today (wait, there's more) and got all of the ingredients for me to try my hand at making raw pizza crusts in the dehydrator tomorrow. They will take a while to dry, so we won't be able to taste them tomorrow, but I am excited about making them! The kids and I will have fun doing that. This will be my first try at "cooking" something in the dehydrator. And I am also anticipating more good news -- tomorrow I have to repeat my labs (blood and urine tests) to monitor my kidneys and calcium levels, I am fully anticipating that my blood work will be completely normal once again. I believe my high raw diet is making all of the difference in my health. I feel so much better and I believe that is going to be reflected in my labs. I'll let you know when i get the results back!

Yesterday the big 3-Ohh, and Today THIS!

I was so excited yesterday to learn that I had lost 30 pounds since starting a raw food diet, but today's news is even MORE EXCITING than yesterday. Most of you know I went to the doctor about 3 weeks ago and had all my labs run again. Today I went back for the results of those labs, and I am HAPPY to report that for the first time in 2 1/2 years my labs were completely normal!

My last labs were taken on Jun 30th. It was at that time we discovered that my kidney values had not righted themselves, and although my lab values had improved slightly, the amount of protein, calcium, and sodium in my urine were dangerously high. For instance, calcium in my urine was at 380 (normal is below 200 for women, and below 250 for men) in Mid May. My endocrinologist and urologist put me on a vegetarian diet at this point. At the end of June it was at 336. I was prescribed a medication that would help me absorb more calcium so that it would stay out of my kidneys on this visit, but I was also warned that other lab values would probably also be affected and it would most likely become necessary to add another medication to control those values. That is when I began a raw food diet. I knew I had to do something! Today my calcium value was 202!!!! Not only that but the lab values that they told me would most likely be affected by the medication were not, and had also improved from the previous labs! They were unable to find any traces of protein in my urine at all! And my sodium levels were within the normal range. Ever since my surgery 2 and half years ago I required calcium supplements to maintain my blood calcium levels. When my previous labs came bag with so much calcium in my urine they took me off of all calcium supplements, but were unsure of how this would affect my blood calcium levels. Last time I had a significant drop in blood calcium I suffered severe and uncontrollable muscle spasms. However, today we were so pleased to learn that my blood calcium levels were perfectly normal! I had a feeling they were normal because I have had no signs or symptoms that it was low, but it was nice to have the confirmation!

The doctor told me that he felt like my labs were so good in part to my excellent nutrition. He expressed that ordinarily he would be concerned for someone with a history of low calcium and hypoparathyroidism to be a vegan because they "do not consume the foods richest in calcium like milk, yogurt, and cheese." But, he said, "Your levels are perfect so you need to keep doing exactly what you are doing." He asked me if I ate a lot of greens and I told him that I ate a lot of greens and that I loved green smoothies! He had no idea that I meant I ate several POUNDS of green stuff everyday.

Since I have no thyroid I have taken Synthroid ever since my surgery. The last thing he did before I left was lower my dose of Synthroid. Because I have lost so much weight, I no longer need as much Sythroid.

I am so EXCITED! I am so proud of myself! I feel so good! I feel as though I have my life back and am no longer going from one medical complication to another. I have a clean slate and boy, am I ready to color it beautiful! Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me on this raw journey! Hold on...who knows where we will go from here!