melting mama

Lauren's Hope Medical ID Bracelet

Lauren's Hope Medical ID announced a program last week offering a gift certificate for any blogger willing to post about their products for $50.00.  I reposted to share about it -- because $50.00 is HUGE -- and for most of my readers -- that is a big deal.  I did not expect to get a gift certificate at all -- but they sent me one too.  I spent it immediately on the first bracelet that caught my eye.  I have been a very bad epileptic patient -- not wearing ANY medical ID since my last one broke.

I like it quite a lot!  The only issue - is that I am a little bracelet impaired - and I cannot get it on.  LOL.

Dishpan Hands

 
So I have dishpan hands.  I am willing to bet it's not from hand-washing dishes, because I have only done that once or twice this week when my dishwasher was constipated.  I think it's just The Winter and my clean-counter OCD kicking in.  I've gone through a bottle of lotion and my hands are just dry, and wrinklier than an old man's ass.  I slept with a gallon of creme rubbed into my hands with socks over them the other night, and apparently ripped them off while sleeping because I found them on the floor.

My daughter noticed too that if you press on my finger tips, the skin stays indented.  Um, eww.  I am currently working on a quart bottle of 'smartwater' hoping for smarts and skin elasticity back.  It's starting to get bad enough for me to don the Pink Latex Gloves that I bought weeks ago because I felt this coming on.

Ewwyuck.  My lips are also feeling it, and my face, if I use anti-acne face wash, feels as tight as Octomom's plastic surgery.  

I might go jump in a vat of lard today if this keeps up.  Bacon, anyone? 
 

Effect of caffeine on the recognition of and responses to hypoglycemia in humans

Effect of caffeine on the recognition of and responses to hypoglycemia in humans.

Do I HAVE to wear one?

I am a naughty girl.  I haven't worn a medical ID in ages.  It dug into my wrist awful, and drove me crazy.  In fact, I took to hanging it on my purse, and now?  It's long gone.

Wait a minute... "Beth, do we need to wear a medical ID if we've had WLS?"  

It depends on who you ask.  Ask a surgeon or three, answers vary.  Ask a paramedic.  Ask an ER physician.  (Don't ask the nice lady who makes the bracelets, or you may be wearing two, one for your ingrown toenail issue and one for your heartburn.  Unless of course you like wearing extraneous personal information?)

Some vehemently say that it just isn't necessary, and some say you must.  

At this point, I will say, ask your personal doctors, and consider your own medical issues.  

If you do choose to go forward with an ID for WLS purposes, most WLS'ers typically use something like this:

• Your Name
• RNY Gastric Bypass 
• No NSAIDS
• No Sugar
• No Blind NG Tubes
• Emergency Contact Number 

And, some of those are debatable, ask your doc.

Otherwise -

• Your Name
• Medical Condition(s)
• Any allergies
• Emergency Contact Number 

Mine (the one I haven't worn in months and months) says - 

• Beth Sheldon-Badore
• Hypoglycemic
• Seizures
• RNY Gastric Bypass
• Emergency Contact - 
• Emergency Contact - 

No "sugar" is a non-issue, because, frankly, it could save me.  No NSAIDS isn't really an issue, because I don't think I would receive any in an ambulance.

This is a medical id necklace charm.  I love that it's different. 

I should really wear one all the time, especially when out, just in case I crash or seize.   (If I take a seat on the ground, asking for 'sugar' it might help to know that I am seriously. not. nuts.  I have no idea I am doing it.)  My medical issues frequently leave me unable to explain Just What The Hell Is Wrong With Me.

The one shown above can be found at Fiddledee IDs.

If you order a medical ID through Fiddledee ID -- you can get 10% off if you mention "Melting Mama." Why?  Because I want one, and I think these are adorable.

They also have more traditional designs, and various other products, but I was just loving the vintage fairy necklace.  ;)

• medical id bracelets
• medical id tags & charms
• medical id necklaces
• bag tags
• alert stickers & tattoos
• vintage-style charms
• sterling charms
• accessories

PS.  Do YOU make jewelry like medical IDs?  Are you a crafter with an online shop - I wanna know!  Email me at meltingmamamelted@gmail.com

Second hand smoke + breast cancer.

Does secondhand smoke increase the risk of breast cancer? UCSF Professor of Medicine Robert Glantz explores the link between the chemicals in tobacco smoke which is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers and breast cancer. Series: UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public [1/2009]

Eyes - checked.

I called and got a last-minute eye appointment today at the only local optometrist shop that takes our stupid insurance.  Apparently the last time I had been there was November 2006, I thought for sure it was last year.  But anyways - I am more blind - as I suspected - and needed a stronger prescription.  I also got a prescription for contact lenses at the insane "fitting fee" of $59.00 (which took all of thirty seconds) which I plan to order a box online for a lot less money.  Bob was in the car with a miserable toddler, and when I sent him in to pay - I warned the sales guy that Bob would have a heart attack when he saw the bottom line, regardless of what I ended up with.

When Bob went in - he accused the salesman of being "worse than a used car dealer," and that he'd "magically increased the total," in the time I'd gone out the car to tell him to go in and pay, and that he could "find the same thing cheaper somewhere else."  At least the man just said, "Yeah, probably," and let him go.

:x

It's always the same.  No matter what.  You can't get around it.  Without the insurance, it was over $600.00.  We spent $306.00, including that $59.00 "fitting fee," so my glasses were realistically only $240.00ish.  That's not that bad.

Updated: Another lovely post to get your appetite rolling.

160 lbs. this morning.  I'll see the 150's by the end of the day.  I could leave it at that and take the loss.  But.  That's not fair.  I'm sick.  It may stick, sure, I'll take it.  I'm supposed to be working in an hour - and I can't.  I feel guilty - but what am I supposed to do?  Go, and sit on the toilet there?  I can't leave the general area of the bathroom - I contemplated sleeping on the bathroom floor!  My head is pounding, I'm dizzy, Yes I Know It's Dehydration.  I'm sipping peppermint tea, and it's making me nauseous, but it's going in, sllooooooowly. 

I made a cup of coffee thinking it would help with the headache, and it made me gag.  I have a big cup of iced coffee from S'bucks in the freezer, because I couldn't look at it yesterday. 

The baby is feeling cruddy too - she's had the opposite problem,  a clog.  Now, the clog is gone, and I think she's getting sick, or she's raw from the declogging and it hurts.  Ugh.  I'll be back.  She's fussing.  Maybe a nap for both of us?  (I've never done that.  Ever. The nap-thing.)

7pm - And, I didn't.  I couldn't fall asleep in the daytime.  I tried.  Yes, I'm still sick.  I'm not going as "often," but that is because there can't be much going through the old 'stines since I've only eaten a handful of mozzarella cheese (only palatable item at the time) and a bite of a protein bar which I promptly gagged on and spit out. 

The baby is no longer constipated, but has an awful rash because now she's having a bit of the squirts also.  Every time she goes, she screams.  I'm close to that point as well, I'd like to scream, because I'm Sick OF Feeling Sick!  Thank goodness I'm not working tomorrow.

How To Lose Weight! (I have the answer.)

My dedicated readers already know what that means. 

Yeah.  Something grabbed a hold of my intestines early this morning, and I've lost a pound in three hours.  What could it be?

Well, I promised I wouldn't blog about the job, but some things must be discussed, like bowels!  Yesterday, a small child tossed her cookies (well, what looked much like noodles and peaches anyways) three or four times in rapid firing projectile succession on the wall and floor in front of me.  No, this was not one of my kids, it was a random child.  There's no leaving vomit on the floor, so I donned gloves and cleaners and went at it.  At a certain point, I couldn't get any more chunks up, I went to toss the trash and look for alternative methods of puke removal.  Another one the girls finished the job, and I was thrilled that she helped, because, well, (if Bob reads this, he knows) I. Cannot. Take. Vomit.  If my own children throw up + he's home - he gets to clean it up while I start the puke laundry and Pine-Sol. 

While this random child was spewing forth on the wall, the thought crossed my mind - "What If I Get That?!"  Well, perhaps I have, already.  I'm currently in a state of OH MY GAWD and running back and forth.  For the non-WLS'ers here, sometimes when you're sick with a virus, especially a stomach-bug that would normally make you toss your own cookies, they don't come that way, they prefer a southern route with the gastrically bypassed belly.  Why?  I assume it's because I have no cookies to toss, no acid to help toss them, and food eaten previous to the sickness had already been "dumped" immediately into the intestines, therefore I Cannot Throw Up.  (Ever.)

Hey, have you eaten breakfast yet?!  Are you hungry?!  Sorry about that.

Vitamin Deficient Bone Melting Anemia Girl.

Here's a non-update.  I went to the PCP for an ultrasound on Friday to see if I was, in fact, turning inside out.  Nope.  The baby factory is in full working order, even if I was secretly hoping that my ovaries went on strike for good.  The ultrasound technician says to me, "No, your eggs look marvelous!"  NO.  I don't want them to look marvelous.  I want them gone.  She did say that the lining was too thick?  That could attribute to some extra psycho bleeding.  So, we may or may not know ever why I have random cycling, because I haven't heard from the doctor as to whether there's anything I can actually do about it.

Which brings me to, the anemia.  I'm going to the hemo doc for a recheck at some point.  She wasn't happy with me at first.  I think I put her off with my attitude.  I told her I knew I was anemic because of the weight loss surgery, and she was all "THEN WTF? WHY DO IT?!"

My back still hurts, which the initial x-ray suggested arthritis.  That's lovely, but I want more testing.  I wonder if I should have an MRI on the spine itself, or is an x-ray strong enough to see possible bone problems aka osteoporosis?  Any thoughts?

Next, the drain bamage.  I have my neurology appointment today.  I'll have to do all the requisite walk in the straight line, look at my pen, squeeze my fingers testing.  I don't know if there will be anything else.  The floaty head symptoms still exist - and the detached hand feeling - among other random things that crop up.  These things have happened for a quite a long time, but at first I attributed it all to food reactions, but now I know that they're not, since it happens regardless of what I've eaten.  Certainly you know I'm assuming that it's caused by vitamin deficiencies.

Yes, I'm blaming my weight loss surgery procedure for all of this, and what may happen to me in the future with my health.  But, it's the risk I took, and gosh darn it, "nothing tastes as good as thin feels," yeah, right.

I'm not a hypo. You should know this.

Every time I get symptom of Whatever Is Wrong With Me, I tell the husband the Who, What, When, Where of the symptom, and I'll back it up with a blog (or not, depending on if I remember) to immortalize the chain of events.  Why?  Because, I'm not Dr. House, and I Don't think these little things are going to just go away - I think they'll eventually turn into a combination of bigger things that take me out. 

You should know, I've never ever been a hypochondriac, and I have always avoided going to the doctor for any reason.  I tell everyone else that THEY are hypochondriacs and to suck it up.  So, for me to start having wacky bodily issues, it sucks. 

Today, at the risk of TMI (get over it) I'm bleeding again. (And, the hair is shedding like a dog.  Which, could be post-partum related, just late?)  My cycle was nearly a normal five days, a week ago.  I noted that I was bleeding last night, and then this morning it was "heavier" and tapered off tonight.  Why?  Is this menopause too?  I got the arthritis this week, why not The Pause, too?

C'mon, quit voo-doo'ing me, now it's not that funny.