I know it's been a really long time since I posted anything. So, here is the skinny of what I have been up to.
As most of you remember, about a year ago I had a bi-lateral knee replacement on my left knee. The surgery went well, the recovery...not so much. About 3 months into physical therapy, I knew something wasn't right. I would see people in physical therapy who were much older than I was and had a complete replacement a month or two after me who were doing so much better than I was. The pain was indescribable. It was like no other pain I had experience. The weird thing was, my range of motion was way beyond expectations. Plus the strength in my knee was excellent. I kept telling the doctor that something was wrong.
He referred me to a specialist in pain management. I broke down in tears and told the doctor I didn't want drugs, I wanted answers. This new doctor told me that this was why I was there. He said that my first doctor suspected that I had something called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome). What the heck is that???? Well it's a condition that affects the sympathetic nervous system caused by trauma or, in my case, surgery to the effective limb. This new doctor told me that the only way to know is a sympathetic lumbar nerve block. I would go under general anesthesia and they would do the block. I was to write down my symptoms and how I felt for the first 48 hours after.
The day after the block my friend caught me running up the stairs, something I was unable to do because of pain. I realized, for the first time since the knee replacement, my pain was minimized. At my follow up visit, I was officially diagnosed with RSD. The issue we have now is, to get it in remission. This required me going under general anesthesia every 2 weeks from February through July for these nerve blocks, in addition to medications that made me sleepy and tired. Finally, we think I am in remission.
So, what does all of have to do with my weight loss? Unfortunately, because I was not able to move around a lot and with my focus on getting into remission, I put my weight loss on hold. In fact, my eating habits were not good at all and I gained about 20 pounds back. Look, 20 pounds is minor compared to the 80 I initially lost. It could be worse.
Now that I am officially in remission, I started my weight loss journey back this week. I am going to talk to my doctor about going back on Belviq again to help me get jump started.
So here are my goals that I want you to start following me on:
1. Continue to remain in remission for RSD/CRPS
2. Go on Belviq hopefully next week for at least a month or maybe 2 months to jump start my journey.
3. I would like to lose the initial 20 pounds that I lost in the next 30 days. That is achievable I feel...if you remember, I lost 13 pounds my first week and a half on Belviq when I first started.
4. I want to get back in the gym. I have to be very careful to not set off my RSD, so I will be discussing with my doctor what I can do and what to avoid.
5. Start blogging again on a weekly basis to keep myself accountable and for everyone to have an update on what's going on in terms of my goals.
I'm excited to move past this bleak time of my life and to get back into the lifestyle I had before all of this happened.
I hope you all have a great weekend!!!!
XOX
Ellie
