Well I bow to public opinion...

I have changed my background from a red to a reddish brown and I do like how it shows up my photos.  I don't like the kind of back that stands still while the text scrolls.. don't know why but I just don't. 

I saw a couple of coworkers from my previous job yesterday and I have to say that I'm glad I have the job I have and that I'm not working in Government any more.  Money is no substitute for peace of mind.

The Torture of Indecision..

I've wanted to have a change in my blog for a while now but I just can't seem to get the look I want so if anyone finds the red of the present background hard on the eyes just leave me a comment and I'll change it to a soothing green or blue.. or maybe pink.

The Obligatory Gift

I went to a banquet on Saturday night ("I" being myself and Ron) that was honouring the retirees from Provincial Government, myself included. There was a lovely turkey dinner and we were presented with a plaque and a "gold" watch. Very nice and except for our server being snarky because we didn't fork out $40.00 for a bottle of wine at our table, the evening went better than expected.. lol.

Went to Halifax to see the back specialist...

Went to Halifax on the 1st of November to see the back specialist.. it will be going on three years that I have been suffering with a bad back, in fact I retired in December of last year after being off for a year with it. The specialist I saw here on PEI did every test imaginable without being able to diagnose me and ended up treating the bursitis in my hip that was a result of the back problem but not the problem itself. The specialist in Halifax finally gave me a diagnosis, I have a cyst between the bottom two vertebrae which has been causing my problems that could have been treated years ago with a cortisone shot or surgery. I've lost over 45 pounds so I've had a lot of improvement and the specialist said if it flares up that I can get the shot and if that doesn't help he can do surgery, which would be day surgery so I suspect that they would just drain it but he said that they usually grow back but at least I have an answer to what the problem is.

By the way, I went from being in the high 190's to the low 150's since January. I would like to ideally be at 135 but if I stay at where I am I'm content because it has solved a whole host of health problems, my back being only one.

Never Say Never!!

Do we ever truly know someone, or even ourselves for that matter. I thought I had myself pigeon-holed as this person who didn't like retail, I would never work in retail.. yadda, yadda, yadda.. Yet here I am working in retail, and loving it by the way.

Also, I'm learning to never say never because if I do it's a sure sign that the "never" will be "for sure" and in no time flat. I said that I'd "never" sell my house that the kids grew up in even after I got my divorce but a short while after my brother helped me to do it all over I sold it. I said that I'd "never" leave my government job, and then said I'd never return, but after I sold my house I took a leave of absence and moved to the west coast from my home on the east coast of Canada and then 9 months later moved back and ... you guessed it... back to my government job.

I said I'd "never" get into another relationship but I'm now in a 9 year one that looks like it's going to be for keeps. I said I'd never buy another house but we have been in this new/old one for 7 years now and loving it.

We said we'd "never" get another dog when our sweet Missy had to be put down but we now have Tinka who we adore.

So all in all I have to be careful what I say I'll Never do, which reminds me, I said I'd never get married again.. hmmm... do you think a spring or summer wedding would be best?... just sayin'

Hello fellow blog readers.. how was your day?

Well I have finished my 6 month clinical study and will have a follow-up visit 10 weeks after my last injection. My blood sugars are wonderful and I've lost over 40 pounds. I'm down to around 155 pounds and the reduction in weight has made a dramatic improvement with my back. I hope to lose another 15 pounds or so to get down to what my doctor considers an ideal weight for me because of my age she doesn't want me to lose too much weight because if I get sick I should have some weight to fall back on. My blood pressure is improved to the point that I'm on 1/2 the dose of medication for that. The only down side of this is that my cholesterol didn't go down enough so my doctor prescribed a cholesterol lowering medication.

And since my back has improved dramatically I decided to get myself a little part time job to supplement my pension that is reduced because I retired early. So I applied for and got a job at a small retail store called Bentley's that sells luggage, purses, wallets and various other similar items. I'm assistant manager and so far I'm loving it. I work around 25 hours a week and they are very flexible with the hours, in fact I can pretty well pick when I want to work [within reason of course]. I always said that I'd never work retail [I know, never say never] but I'm really enjoying the whole experience and it's so much less stressful than working for the Government.

I got a letter from a specialist in Halifax called doctor Oxner who's an orthopedic specialist and surgeon who is going to see me about my back problems. I wasn't going to go because my back has improved so much but thought that it would be to my advantage to see him because then I might get some answers about why I was in so much pain and why I still continue to have pain, although at a lesser degree. I also figured if I didn't go and see him and my back got worse [being that it's a degenerative condition that is most likely] then I might have to wait another 2 years or so to see him. My appointment is on November the 1st so I have time to work around that day with my schedule.

My tomato plants that I took pictures of below are growing very well, I've had a steady supply of those Tiny Tim tomatoes which are about the size of a small grape and I pop them like candy. The other tomatoes are a weird shape, long and narrow and come to a sharp point. They take a lot longer to ripen but are very delicious as well.

Our weather has been really unusual this year, we have been having midsummer weather in the fall with record high temperatures but it has been saving on the wood pellets. Well, have a great day and enjoy the sunshine while you can.

I'm going blog crazy!!! More photos..

Ahh summer is almost here and my flowers are doing wonderfully so far and also my neighbour gave me a couple of tomato plants that I planted next to the house out of the wind, which today, turned out to be a wise move.. I'm sure all you savvy bloggers know to click on the images, sometimes twice, to see them in all their glory.. hmmm?

Here are my Iris's they went from three blossoms to this the next day..


And my Columbine.. they shot up out of nowhere.. and is so beautiful.. now my goal is to get some Foxglove.. hint hint Janet.. :-)

I caused my doctor to do a little happy dance..

That's right, my doctor, once he got my blood sugar results did a little dance around the office.. I was happy to provide him with his happy injection [pardon the pun].. The diabetic association nurse called me last week and said that my diabetic three month test came back with a 2 point drop from 8.2 down to 6.2 in three months.. she also said this is what caused my doctor to do the rumba.. *wish I had seen that*: -) She also said that I have had the most dramatic improvement of all the test patients so that made me proud as well... I should be going in next week for my next follow up visit to get another supply of Exenatide and to have my cholesterol retested. Wonder if that will cause further merriment in an otherwise serious establishment?

I feel slightly la-de-da today...

I have taken up drinking green tea.. since I've started my diabetic treatment I've been having horrendous heartburn.. I've been blaming it on the Metformin but I have come to the conclusion that it has to do with all the coffee and diet pop that I've been drinking since I've retired... so last night I decided to drink some green tea and I do believe that I'm on to something.. I had one cup of coffee this morning to get my caffeine fix and now I'm drinking green tea and so far so good..

Oh and speaking about the Diabetic treatment, it's going really well... so far I've lost 20 pounds since I started 3 months ago with another 3 months to go of injections and I'm down 30 pounds at least from Christmas time [I lost at least 10 pounds before I started the treatment].. so I'm pretty happy with being 162.8 this morning considering I was well over the 190 mark at Christmas time. I haven't been this light since I was in my early 20's and with another 3 months to go I can see myself getting down to the 135-140 as my goal. But if I plateau at this weight or even in the 150's then I'll have huge health benefits.

Windy out eh?

I looked with horror as my newly blossoming Poppies were whipped by the strong winds this morning.. so I threw on some clothes and went out to put some bamboo stakes in the ground to use as anchor points for my string to hold the plant in place. I didn't realize when I bought the stakes that bamboo is rather fragile.. hmmmm ironic that they should be selling it as a stake material.. so now I have the plant surrounded by green bamboo tied together with white string.. not the most attractive setup but at least I feel that my Poppies have a fighting chance. PEI is a rather windy province so this was to be expected.. I said that I was going to put the stakes in yesterday evening but procrastination is a bitch.

My Garden is Finished.. YEAH!!!

I finished weeding and mulching and arranging the rocks on my garden. Some flowers were unfortunately lost in the process but overall I believe that it improved the overall aura of the garden... since the flowers that I eliminated were the kind that overwhelm a garden and are best left out... more and more flowers are blooming daily and it's a joy to go out and get my hands dirty in the earth.. Here are some pictures of the garden complete..









Why does my house look like something in a psychedelic dream?.. It's melting!!!

When I do something...

I realized that when I do something, I don't actually do it.. I over-do it. Like today, I decided to work in one of my flower beds and get rid of all the weeds and put down some black cedar mulch. I went out around 2 pm thinking that I'd work for a little while and then quit.. well a couple of hours later when I could hardly walk from the pain in my back I, or rather Ron, decided I should stop and give it a rest.. But I only have a little bit of mulch left in the bag I reasoned and was assured that it would be there in the morning if I can drag my carcass back outside to finish. It was a wonderful day today for working outside though, the ground was soft from all the ran we had, making it easier to pull out the nasty weeds and grass that grows better than my flowers and it was cool with a nice breeze and not too much sunlight peeking from behind the clouds so there were no bugs to speak of. Hopefully tomorrow brings similar weather.

Oh Dear Blogger.. I'm so sorry!!

Dear Blogger Diary..

I'm so sorry for deserting you for facebook and especially FarmVille.. the addiction above all addictions.. if it wasn't for my sister, Janet, asking for the link to you I would have never remembered to come back and write on your walls once again... So thank you Janet.. **I think**

I have so much stuff to write about that I'm tired already. But seriously, a lot has happened in the last two or three months. To begin with, I am now part of a clinical study for a new diabetic treatment. It's a six month study and I started the latter part of March. The part of the case study that I'm a part of is an injection called Exenatide and I inject it once a week. Since I started on it some amazing things have happened (and some not so amazing things but I'll tell you about them later.)... What the medication does is it slows down your digestion so that you eat less and fell full longer, I can attest to the feeling full longer, and faster. So over the past couple of months I have drastically changed my eating habits and as a result have dropped from a very unhealthy 190 plus (I conveniently blanked out how many pounds above 190 I was but it was more than 1 and less than9) pounds before Christmas down to 165 pounds as of this morning.

Because of the weight loss I have found a marked improvement in my back (you may recall that I had to retire because of constant back and leg pain).. I was also able to come off of one of my two oral medications, my blood pressure on my last doctor's visit was down to 108/70 and if it goes any lower they are considering reducing my blood pressure medication or even eliminating it altogether. My cholesterol is reduced as well as my blood sugars are normal where my family doctor was considering putting me on insulin.

Now the not so nice effects. The injection sites have been really itchy and red hot up until this last injection which has finally had a very mild irritation which lasted a half a day. There are also lumps under the skin where the injections were given because it is a slow release medication that stays under the skin.

I have had to buy myself some new pants because the size 16 ones I have been wearing were getting so baggy on the crutch that it was embarrassing to wear them and I got three pairs of pants at a used clothing place in size 12 that fit perfectly. I didn't want to buy too many clothes because I hope to keep losing over the summer.. The real test will be once I finish the injections to see if I will gain the weight back again.. I sure hope not!

Has it been that long?

Christmas is coming.. has it been that long since I last posted. You'll be happy to hear that Christmas came and went. Just a minute while I get a feather duster and get rid of some of the cobwebs. *cough cough*... very unsanitary leaving the place like this.. dust and spider webs everywhere....

Shall I go back in time or forward? I think I'll start here and go back, that way if I get bored then at least you'll be current on what's happening to me. Mmmm I have to go back on this particular item. Right before Christmas I signed up for some sessions at the diabetic clinic because my blood sugars were getting out of control and that has been going on for the last year or so.. I believe it is a combination of diet and stress. Later I got a phone call asking if I wanted to partake in a Clinical Study of a new diabetic medication. They put me through a barrage of tests and I should hear this week if I'm accepted. The thing about the medication is that it's also a weight loss medication so I well get double benefit.

Well off to bed. Will keep you *all updated.

*All meaning any possible person that may wander by and take a gander at my ramblings :)