PS.

I added a bunch of photos to the slide show. Be sure to watch it! There's some cool photos from my biopsies yesterday morning :).

It's my LAST night! Woohoo! Oddly, I think I'm gonna miss the nurses & Atta (all except "the one", LOL). They were all soooo friendly. Some of which even spent what little free time they had, chatting with me. Helping with my stay & giving me advice on various things. I gotta admit, I'm gonna miss these chats :). But I will be returning regulary for follow-up appts. as part of the study. So I guess it's not goodbye forever :).

Well, as Ozzy would say "Mama I'm comin' home!!" ;)

Final Weeks & Heading Home!!

So, my final weeks here went by pretty fast.... solid food, daily tests, & preparation for discharge made the last 2 weeks, cake. They repeated all of the tests that were done during the inital baseline period. Last is my Orall Glucose Tolerance Test tomorrow morning...which I'm praying has a more positive outcome now with the 14 lb. weightloss. Because I was given some bad news today.... as far as my inital tests are concerned, I'm pre-diabetic :(. I was floored this morning when the doctor gave me the results. Thankfully, they shined some light on my condition pointing out that I'm not diabetic [yet] and with weightloss & exercise I can reverse the diagnosis. So...this of course reinforces my goals of losing weight.
Anyhow, I did my diet counseling today & what's cool is, from the metabolic chambers, they were able to calculate the number of calories I need to maintain my current weight. So now I know what to work from as for caloric intake and weightloss go...from that number, I can figure out how many calories to cut from my food intake, coulpled with the number of calories I burn additionally with exercise. It's pretty cool...cuz there's no "rules of thumb" or "typical person should eat this..." etc. I actually know exactly what my body requires.
So, all in all, this study provided some great education on my obesity & I know will bring my closer to returning to a healthy state.
Also, I know some may think of this as a wild goal...but you know what? I KNOW I can do it. I'm going to do the Chili Triathalon in Socorro next August. It's a MINI-triathalon (400 meter swim, 12 mile bike ride, 3.2 mile run). Even if I have to walk most of the run & come in dead last, I will be thrilled just to finish the race. In the meantime, I'll also be preparing for a 1/2 marathon walk in Phoenix come March. I'm going to walk it with my aunt Lisa, cousin Tera, & friend Kat. I'm excited!
Well, I hope ya'll have enjoyed reading about my "Solitary Confinement Diet"...this marks the start of a healthier life for me. I wish everyone the best. And thanks so much for reading my blogs. I love you guys!

Weeks 8 & 9

Hi folks! Only 2 more weeks 'til I'm FREE! Woot! Thanks to this awesome nurse, Jennifer. She's the youngin' of the nurses and from Albuquerque. She agreed to do one of my tests on a Saturday, which allows me to leave 2 days early. I was pretty stoked that she agreed to do that for me.
Not much to report for the past couple weeks, same ol' urine & stool collections, DXA scans, and that's bout it. Oh ya, they had me take a pregnancy test earlier this week...LMAO! That would just be hilarious if someone got pregnant in here, hahaha. But ya, I guess it's part of the protocol. I've had 2 DXA scans since my last post, and differences are definitely visible. Now I just look like a 'mini' marshmallow monster that ate a skinner person, teeheehee. Ummm, the past couples weeks have flown because Jason's back & I met a couple other people that have helped pass the time as well. We've been playing board games at night, like Uno Spin & DVD-Family Feud. It's been pretty fun, because there's always multiple moments of laughing so hard we all end up with tears rolling down our faces, LOL. I honestly dunno if I'd made it this far without the people I meet.
On another note, I've also been killing time planning my next vacation with the crew! I'm soooo excited! We're going to Bimini. It's the smallest island in the Bahamas. With all the time I've got on my hands in here, I've been able to score us some pretty sweet deals on housing. It's gonna rock! I'm hoping we'll all grow some juevos and do a shark dive with The Shark Lab. It looks pretty cool.
Well...not much else to say. Can't wait to come home and see everyone! Tootles!

Weeks 5, 6, & 7

Hi guys! I know, been a while since I've posted. Mostly because I haven't had much to post about. During the weightloss phase, there's not very many tests; only bi-weekly DXA scans, weekly metabolic chambers, and poo & urine 'donations'. As for the miserable liquid diet...that's all I can think of saying, that it is absolutely MISERABLE! I can't figure out if I'm miserable because of the lack of food variety & the feeling of being locked up in a big, friendly jail cell...or if I'm miserable because I am suffering from green chili withdrawls. Hmmmmm...I'd say the latter is the root of my issues in here ;).
Na, but really...I HATE it in here. I'd say on a weekly basis, I feel the need to break down at least once. It's hard on so many levels... aside from the horrid food cravings & lack of personal human contact; being confined to such a small area for almost 3 months can really hinder your mental state. If you're not familiar with Phoenix during this time of year, it's normal for day time temperatures to reach 114-117 degrees. As an example of how much it sucks to be locked up in here... I look forward to being able to go outside in those insanely hot temperatures!! And even with that, I've only been outside 4 times in almost 7 weeks! For an MRI, to go to the bank, for a 10 min. walk around the hospital, and a few days ago for a 40 min. walk (which I really enjoyed, because it was in the morning). I didn't want to complain, but I finally had to ask to be let out. I was to the point where I almost decided to be discharged because of the misery. But I talked to one of the nurses and she relayed my message. So supposedly we're supposed to be allowed outside on MWF to get some vitamin D & fresh air. I also found out that I may be able to get someone to take me to a movie or something...but for some reason I doubt it'll happen. Partially because I don't want to bug the staff about it.
Anyhow, on the upside...I only have 4.5 wks left. AND, this week Joel & Amy actually drove all the way from Socorro to come see me. That was awesome! They showed up and hung out with me all day on Monday! I think that definitely helped. I've felt better this week since. Also, Jason returned yesterday, so that's awesome. Now I have someone to play Dominos with, Woot! Ernesto will be back on Monday too [I think].
I'm sure ya'll are wondering..."ok, 3 weeks of liquid diet...how effective is it?" Well, though some may disagree...I'm not too thrilled. I can lose at this rate eating regular food. Of course ya, I know...if I actually could do it, why haven't I done it? Answer is, I honestly don't know. But ya, I've lost 11 lbs. in 3.5 weeks; 6.5 of which was in the 1st week. It's not horrible, but it's not great. I guess of course, last week was that time of the month, so I actually gained from water retention. Oh well, anyhow...so there's my story for weeks 5-7. God willing, I last these final 4.5 weeks...

Weeks 3 & 4 (The 'poo-donor')

Hi guys! So it's been almost a couple weeks since the drama, and things are MUCH better. I've been keeping my distance & staying busy to help pass the time. Most of ya'll know that I'm preparing for grad school, so I spend ~3 hrs./ day studying for the GMAT (yes, I know I could probably study more than that...but seriously, I have to FORCE myself to do even that...I could sit and stare at the wall to avoid having to study!) Ha, but really, once I get myself to study it goes pretty smooth & I enjoy it...it's just getting there. Kinda like exercise! What's with me & this whole rebelliousness against things I NEED to do, and enjoy doing, but DON'T????

Anyhow, so there's a couple people, Jason & Ernesto, in here that have been making my days easier. We've been battling at pool & dominoes, and I watch 'em play ping pong on occasion. One injured himself during bootcamp & is making some money until everything settles with that and he can return. The other is a really sweet, Jesus-found guy. They both have some of the most random comments, and are out right HILARIOUS! There's a bunch of crafts available to us, like material for dream-catchers, bird-houses, oil/ canvas painting, etc. Each of them made bird houses. Jason brings his out, and it's actually quite a work of art. Then Ernesto goes on telling me how his has 2-stories & a pulley-type elevator, etc. So of course me, "little miss gullible," responds "wow. show it to me!" Finally about 20 min. later, he comes out with this little 6"x6" box w/windows. I bout fell out of my seat it was so funny! And so did he, cuz he'd tricked me. So I guess no matter where I go, I'll always believe that "gullible is not in the dictionary" or have to think "when the War of 1812 was".... teeheehee! :-D

As for the study...nothing new. Same old sh**, different day. Only difference is, I started the weightloss phase 4 days ago and will now be consuming ONLY Ensure-Plus shakes for the next 6 weeks! Yep... breakfast = chocolate shake w/ multi-vitamin, lunch = strawberry shake, dinner = vanilla shake, and evening snack = ...........
wait for it!!!............
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..........another shake :) Bet you couldn't guess that one ;-)

I figured out yesterday that I could actually get some sugar-free/ fat-free jello or popsicles once in a while...... my fat butt bout did a back flip when I was givin' the life altering news! *LOL* And I mean litereally....you have no idea how exciting it is to know that you may actually be given something to chew on, when you're looking at almost 2 months of liquid-only consumption. But I gotta be honest...I don't regret my decision to do this study because the outcome will be favorable... $6,000 and bout 25 lbs. of weightloss. Most certainly better than being at home gaining weight. Probably better than walking around campus in my skimpies too ;-)... (oh yea, those that were there. Remember that random foreign exchange student that asked to take a picture with me??? I ran into him before I left to Phoenix, and it was soooo funny. He has the picture in his "Russian Facebook" as "life in the US" hahahaha)

K, so aside from that; back to the study....lemme tell you the most exciting part of the weightloss phase....I have to put these little white hats (pictured above) in the toilet bowl to collect my stool & urine...YES, I poo in a hat! I swallow a blue-dye capsule on Mondays and proceed to collect my feeces for bout 4 days. It works like this... poo in the plastic bag-lined hat, tie the bag, label the bag, put the poo bag in a ziploc bag, label that bag, put the ziploc in a plastic cylinder, label the cylinder, then put the cylinder in a styrofoam ice chest. Finally, I call the nurse and tell her "the package is ready for transplant!" I'm a POO DONOR! hehehehehe. No JK, I only said that once to the nurse :-D. Cuz it looks so funny when they walk down the hallway with my poo in the ice chest...it totally looks like delivery for an organ transplant. But get this...they BOMB my poo! It's freeze-dried and then lit on fire....man, I tell ya... I don't think I could spend my life with hopes of a career in "poo bombing." Especially MY poo. Ask Bart & Derek...they know.
Ok, so I think I've talked enough about my poo. Time to venture away from the computer and get some much needed studying done!

Week 2

Hey guys! So 2 weeks down, ~8 to go. This week was ok, probably one of the more grueling for testing, but I think it'll be smooth sailing (test-wise) from here on out. Today was kinda shitty, but I'll explain that later.
Anyhow, so on Monday I did a Doubly-Labeled Water (DLW) Test. It's to measure free-living energy use by measuring the amount of calories you burn under normal home cnoditions for a 7-day period. So, while fasting, I drank this special water that has extra-heavy hydrogren and oxygen atoms. Then, over a 4-5 hour period they collected urine samples. That was pretty easy. On Tuesday I had a "Fasting Chamber," which means I went into the chamber and did not eat at all for 24 hours. It wasn't bad; but on Friday, I had to do an "Overeating Chamber"...which was ROUGH! Cuz the food in the chamber is DISGUSTING, so even if I'm starving, I still cringe with every bite. It was a TON of food too. Thursday was probably the roughest day of them all...the muscle and fat biopsies. It wasn't horrible, but it was definitely something I would love to never do again. I'm still a little sore near the sites, but it's bearable. Oh ya, found out I have marbled fat...I told the doctor that "I'd be a very expensive chunk of meat for a cannibal" hardy har har! :-D
Anyhow, I got out of the overeating chamber this morning and here's where the drama started...
So, immediately after leaving the chamber, I'm weighed and then they draw 2 tubes of blood from me before breakfast. Today was the first time this nurse, Jenetta, started an IV to draw blood. So she inserts the needle and has a hard time getting blood out and asks me to relax. So though I already felt relaxed, I tried to relax even more. Still no luck. So she FREAKS out and starts telling me "If we can't draw your blood, then you'll have to leave the study!" I'm thinking "whoa nelly! How is it MY FAULT the blood won't come out???" Anyhow, so she proceeded to tell me that I'm too tense and my blood vessels are closing in response to it. I didn't say anything though, and just went along with it. So she left the room, came back with a heat pad, and I kept that on my arm for 10 minutes to help with the blood flow. Then she stuck me again in a different vein, and nothing came out...so she re-stuck me in the same vein as earlier, and blood came out perfectly fine. Funny, cuz I was MUCH more tense during the final blood draw than I was during the first. Anyhow, I didn't care much after it was over. I ate my breakfast and went about my day. Then, at dinner, I didn't eat my entire meal. I got in trouble for that. I wasn't aware that I was supposed to eat everything on the tray on days other than chamber days. But now I know, and it's cool. I also found out today that I may be discharged come Monday if I don't start eating all of my food (understandable), and that they have to stop getting complaints about me from Jenetta. I was totally caught off-guard with that. The nurse that explained everything to me is a really sweet lady and she told me that Jenetta was a complainer and told me that apparently Jenetta had been complaining that I was laggin in the mornings for weigh-in, and that I was freaking out before every test. I was soooo irate at this because 1) the second she comes in to wake us up and weigh us in, I'm out of bed, off to pee, then straight to get weighed (which is what we're supposed to do)... and 2) I've NEVER freaked out over a test. What the hell is there to freak out about?? I had a biopsy on Thursday which I was nervous for. But I didn't complain, or make the procedure hard, nothing! I did everything I was told. The morning of, I asked Jenetta what I should expect pain-wise, and she went off about how it was gonna hurt and then kept going on and on about how if I can't handle this, then I shouldn't be here. She went off like this for like 5 minutes...when it was a simple question that did not need such a rude and complex answer.
Well, needless to say, I'm at my wits end with this woman...and I honestly don't know what I've done wrong or what I've done to make her feel this way toward me. I was feeling ok about this 10-week stay in "solitary confinement"...but now, I can't get my mind off the fact that I'm gonna have to walk on egg-shells so that witch doesn't complain anymore, so I don't get kicked out......which of course, makes me feel like this stay is going to be a heck of alot more miserable than it should be...

Week 1

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July this year! Mine wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible. One of the nurses took us outside to watch a couple fireworks shows that were actually pretty cool. We NEVER get to leave the research floor, so believe me...going outside was like a fat kid eating a supersized Hershey bar! (mmmmmm, that sounds yummy...)

So Week-1 flew by pretty fast. I checked in on June 25th and had my first test the next day. The Dual X-Ray Absorptionetry (DXA) is a method of measuring body fat tissue. It's pretty much like a regular X-ray, where you lie on a table and this big arm moves down your body (head to toe) to get a complete scanned image of your bone structure and fat tissue. It was kinda funny when I saw the image, cuz it looked like this enormous marshmallow-creature (ME) swallowed a really skinny person! Hahahahaha!
Last weekend was spent being lazy; except I did take a GMAT diagnostic test in which I scored 69% (go figure). On Monday I did an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test, where they stuck me with an IV line, took like 10 blood samples, had me drink a really sweet orange soda-type drink (w/ 75 grams of dextrose in it), and then proceeded to take additional blood samples over a 3-hour period...which ended up being something ~15 tubes of blood. It wasn't bad, except, I realized that I absolutely hate IVs......woopie, I'm probably going to get stuck with 20 different IVs before I'm done here! hooray! Right...
Ok, on Tuesday I went into the Metabolic Chamber which wasn't too bad; boring, but not horrible. I'd say the worst part was collecting my urine. The smell of pee kinda makes me nautious, so our little secret...I sort of deprived myself of liquids that day cuz I didn't wanna keep peeing (hehe)...ya, wasn't so funny come bout 5 o'clock, when this POUNDING headache started and continued to persist at 10:30 that night...so of course I broke down and started chugging water & asked for some Tylenol. The headache finally went away around midnight, but of course after chugging 2 bottles of water in a 3-4 hr. span, I had to pee all night...so needless to say, I didn't sleep well. Anyhow, after leaving the chamber the next morning, I went for my MRI at St. Joseph's hospital downtown. Now, I'd had an MRI about 3 years ago & don't remember it being such a 'tight fit'...but now I know what Bart means by "I'm not closter phobic; it's just that the fatter I get, the smaller my surroundings are" *LOL*...so ya, if I could remember what it was like 27 years ago, I'd probably compare the MRI machine to that of the birth canal for a fetus...a rather 'tight fit.'
I went back into the chamber on Friday, which of course I drank water ALL DAY, and slept great that night. So it's Saturday now, and since there's virtually no tests on the weekends, there's not much to say about the wild weekend I'll be having :-D.

Anyhow, I love you guys. Nighty night!
*1 week down, 9 more to go*