Weight Loss Progress #1

I have been using the products listed in my previous post 'Lose the Belly Fat' for two days and I've lost very close to two pounds!  I'll measure after one week. I'm excited about the progress and I'm seeing that if I stick to the Herbalife plan, I will reach my goal of 15-18 pounds by early January.  And YES, I'll be losing weight THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS!    Pretty excited about that.  This is a small post, but HUGE progress.  AND I'll add my age.. I'm 57 years old and YES you CAN lose weight in your 50's!
Weight on November 8, 2018 was 149.0
Weight on November 10, 2018 (today) is 147.2
I will keep going and updating as days go by.  I haven't walked since the 8th when I walked almost three miles!  The last few days I've been recovering and I plan on walking this evening.

Hope anyone who reads this has a GREAT DAY!

Doc said “lose the belly fat” 😳 Okay!!

I’m so excited because I have an ileostomy reversal surgery to look forward to come January!!  My GI recommended Dr Fleshner in Beverly Hills California to do my reversal surgery because, he said he’s the best in the country!  And my insurance covers him. Yes!!  So I made an appointment and went to see him a couple weeks ago. I drove to my daughter’s house and spent the night there and oh was that awesome! I got to play with her two kids!!  We went to the Huntington Beach pier and it was awesome, even though the day was overcast.  There were a TON of surfers!!  What a beautiful time I had AND I got to watch the kids while my daughter and her husband went to the Queen Mary where it was all decorated for Halloween and a spook alley kind of event was going on.  They went with her sister in laws and husbands.  What a fun time and I got to read to the kids and put them to bed.  <3  They are adorable and I feel blessed that they live 'close by' where my appointment was!  

So on to the Doc the next day.  I drove to Beverly Hills and with my GPS I made it, TWO HOURS EARLY!  Lol.  I didn't want to be late soo..... I parked and walked to the Beverly Hills mall and walked around and got a hot pretzel.  I went back to the Doc office and got in a little early.  His office and staff was so nice.  Dr. Fleshner is awesome and I'm confident he can reverse this ileostomy for me and I can feel normal again.  I'm feeling great actually, except for having to empty an external bag every 3-4 hours round the clock.  He told me most people who have the JPouch surgery end up sleeping through the night and feeling pretty good.  There is no urgency like there was with UC!!  I was afraid of that so much, but he said nope.  My body will be able to absorb liquid so much better and I'll probably have more energy from that alone!  I'm probably borderline dehydrated all the time.  He'll do 2 surgeries.  One he will form the JPouch and I'll still have a stoma.  After it's all healed, eight weeks later he'll do the connection and the stoma 'hole' will be stitched up and it will heal.  He examined my stomach and pouch and all and said that my surgery and recovery will be so much better if I could LOSE THE BELLY FAT!  OK I said "How do I do that?"  He said "Sweat"  Lol.  So I've been walking and sometimes running at least 3 times a week since.  I've put on some weight in the last week because we took a trip to Oregon to get another trailer and eating fast food on the road is NOT a good way to maintain or lose weight.  SOOOOOO..... I'm starting my belly fat loss journey.  

I have a plan!  This plan worked for me 8 years ago when I lost 23 pounds - went from a size 14 to a size 6 in about 9 months.  Granted I don't have 9 months, but my goal is to lose 15-20 in 8 weeks.  I've maintained a good weight all these 8 years with this program, but it's time to hit the weight loss program again.  Here's my plan: 

The Herbalife products I will use religiously are

1. Herbalife meal shake 2x a day for a meal made with Protein Drink Mix

My photo here has my protein meal shake powder in glass canisters.

2. Add Prolessa Duo to one shake a day (fat burner powder)

3. Total Control tablets 2x a day (metabolism boost and appetite suppressant tablet)

4. Herbal Tea Concentrate all day long.  Provides an energy boost and metabolism boost. 

THIS WILL WORK!

It won't work if I don't use it!  So many of my clients who want weight loss get products and don't use them as directed - they must be consumed twice a day for a meal for weight loss.  If you have one shake a day, that's the maintenance plan.  :)   Anywho, I thought I'd be open and blog about my journey here for anyone who is interested in seeing how I do.  I need the accountability for myself and it's here for anyone to do what I'm doing.  IF you are interested in joining me - please contact me... my email is alainamun@hotmail.com and my website for Herbalife is

www.myherbalife.com/alaina

So I'm excited to do this again, weight loss and getting healthier.  My primary care doc mentioned to me that it would be a good idea for me to do a low FODMAP diet.  I have an auto-immune disease and sometimes it leads to other auto-immune diseases.  So I'm going to do that too... along with my Herbalife program.  Here I am with my Husband's parents who I love very much.  They are the greatest people.  But yes, I need to lose weight in the bottom portion for sure.  Prolessa is formulated to do that!  I'm 149 pounds here and I'll be taking my measurements and posting them too.  I've been walking/running and feeling good about that.  I've maintained a weight of 142-145 for years so this 149 thing is bothering me.... this is after a road trip so... here I go to healthier eating, a weight loss plan and exercising 3x a week.  

Revision Surgery, finally, and a new BABY!

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My poor FACE!  July 8, 2018 I was walking in our parking lot, taking care of the dog stuff.  We have a pooper scooper that we use to keep the driveway cleared up.  I picked up a poop and threw it into the bushes and was walking back to the building and BAMM!  I tripped on something in the lot and couldn't catch myself at all, landed directly on my FACE on the as-fault.  Kelly came running to help me up.  Scared me more than anything, but felt ok.  It was a Sunday morning and I was asked to lead the Relief Society discussion that day!  I put ice on it, and then some bandaids and hiked up my big girl panties and went to church!  I led the discussion just fine.  It was ok and I was ok.  I don't know why I tripped in the first place.  Maybe I was tired from only having liquids and soft foods... I didn't have much energy for sure.  I needed surgery and finally I found Dr. Tersigni to do it for me.  

 Well, Doctor Tersigni at the Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay Oregon did magic for me July 18, 2018!  I was a bit scared, as usual, to go under and have surgery.... but I needed fixed so bad.  I was ready to NOT have a herviated and kinked small intestine that cased blockages and was so painful!  I went in on a Thursday and all went as scheduled.  The HARDEST part about surgery for me is the IV!!!  They have so much trouble lately putting in an IV!  After 5 tries, I finally had one in my forearm and would be comfortable.  When I was coming out from being sedated, I was crying.  I don't know why.  I was pretty emotional.  But it was over and I had a much smaller stoma - I was worried it wouldn't work, Lol.  It works fine though.  I had some nausea and throwing up from the pain meds though.  That concerned me a lot.  I thought I was having blockages again.  But it all turned out ok after they switched pain meds.  I went home on Saturday!!  I felt pretty darn great too.  I had pain at the stoma sight, it had to heal all over again, but I felt great.  I went to church the next day.  

My son and his wife welcomed a new baby girl into their family July 21st.  Her name is Rosalie Ann Muntifering and she's such a doll.  Dawson, loves her.  My son and his kids... so precious!  They live so far away right now, can't wait to make a visit up there.  Mel says that Dawson is so sweet to Rose and wants to know where she is as soon as he wakes up in the morning.  She took the two of them on a walk today, Aug 15, to go visit their Daddy at work.  He works within walking distance at the hospital.  Such a sweet family and the good news was AWESOME right after my fix me up surgery.  

 My daughter and her family came up to Oregon and camped and visited us a couple days.  I was only about 5 days our of surgery so they hung out around here and took trips during the day.  They took their kids to Sunset Bay, a place I often took Jennifer and her brothers when they were kids.  Her kids had fun wading, hiking and looking for crabs and sea life.  So fun to see them and play games and have meals with them.  Jen and Kevin are doing a great job with their cute kids!

August 3rd I went to the river with Daniel and Stephanie and we brought our blow up rafts.  It was so fun and relaxing after working SO MUCH for days!  It was a beautiful, perfect day.  Warm and made us all want to get in the water.  I puttered around a bit and then Daniel and Stephanie got in their raft and they tied me to theirs so I wouldn't float away  Lol.  I felt good, but getting out of that raft was HARD, Lol.  Daniel helped me and Stephanie get down the up the trail.  Stephanie is 6 months pregnant and I was only 2 weeks post op.  But it was a great little trip.  We were only there about an hour and a half.  We'd like to see about inviting Brad's family to come next time.  It's about half way between us.  

So I'm doing good.  Thank goodness I can eat again and I'm not having problems.  I met with Dr. Tersigni for a follow up and he said unless I have problems, I'm doing good.. no need to see him anymore.  So grateful!  I want to write a letter to the hospital about Dr. Lawson who wouldn't do the surgery for me to get fixed.  I went in to the Reedsport hospital twice and he wouldn't do it.  Oh well... but I want them to know he was negligent in my opinion.  

All is well and I'm doing good.  Kelly takes great care of me and I'm back to delivering and picking up trailers with him and Daniel.  Summer is almost over already!  Kelly and I take our first trip to take a trailer back to Nevada this SUNDAY!  Wow!  Life is good.  I try to do things that make me happy.  I led the RS discussion again last Sunday.  I enjoy doing that and in Reedsport they ask me a lot.  Kelly and I are giving a talk in sacrament meeting Aug 26th.  My first talk in a long time.  

No colon and rollin' but having trouble with blockages!

Well living with no colon hasn't been easy for me.  At first, it was ok and great.. no problems then the end of April, four months after my colon was removed, I had a very painful blockage that sent me to the Pahrump NV Emergency Room.  I had a friend take me, Melinda.  I had to drive to her house, her teenager was using her car, and she took me to the ER.... I was in PAIN the whole time.  My stomach felt all in knots and in pain.  I was having a small bowel blockage!  Argh!  I was nauseous and after being admitted, I threw up in a bag they gave me and wow I felt so much better!  But they wouldn't let me go home.  I had a Priesthood blessing by Brother Witten and Aimie's Dad.  That was so nice.  Melinda and Kelly arranged it.  Kelly was out of town taking a trailer up to Oregon when this all happened!   I stayed over night and they let me go home next day after they saw everything was ok.  My CT scan only showed inflammation of the small intestines, probably where the blockage was.  I threw up before the scan.  

Since end of April, I went on to have 5 more blockage episodes.  I went back to eating normal foods and wow did it kick me in the intestines!  I went to the Medford hospital when I was visiting Kevin, missed Aleah's  birthday party, but I did celebrate with her family the night before her party. When I'm in the hospital, the way they clear blockages is by putting an NG tube down my nose into my stomach to suck out fluids, that takes the pressure off and the blockage can pass.  If I throw up enough at home, it seems to clear.  I had two blockages at home that I was able to take care of myself by inducing vomiting and it cleared ok.  I was then hospitalized in the Reedsport hospital 2x in 10 days!  The CT scans there showed a herniated small intestine pushing up into my stoma area, causing blockages.  :(  Second time I went in at 10:30pm, the ER doc said I needed surgery, but when he called the surgeon on call, Dr. Lawson, the surgeon, said "Oh just put an NG tube down her throat and she'll be ok in the morning"  I was so mad!   I had my scans and xrays taken in Reedsport within 10 days of each other sent them over to my surgeon inn Las Vegas for her opinion on what to do to NOT have this keep happening.   She called me and said I needed to have surgery to have this fixed.  She said she could NOT do the reversal until I have it fixed and I'm healed up from all of this.  Well, Dr. Shank in Reedsport said he'd do it, but went on vacation for three weeks.  I was willing to fly to Vegas and have Dr. Wishev do it for me!  Then I went to sacrament meeting her in Reedsport and who was visiting?  Our stake president, who is a wonderful surgeon!  Kelly talked to him after the meeting and Dr. Tersigni told me to call his office Monday and schedule a pre-op appointment!  YEA!  So I've been in to see him.  I had my scans and xrays sent to his office and he knew right away I needed surgery.  It was not elective and needed fixed.  I was so glad to hear this... I've been eating soft foods and liquids for three weeks.  I have my surgery this Thursday, July 19th.  I'm glad this is getting fixed.  I'm so mad at the Reedsport surgeons and how they handled my care.  They didn't care.  All for the better because I have total confidence in Dr. Tersigni.      

 So I've been having Herbalife shakes, McDonald's shakes, V8 juice, juices, and soft pasta is ok and small amounts of bread.  I also figured out that cookies and candy don't block me, they are fine so that's hard.... cuz I just want to eat cookies all day!  Lol!
I went to my son's house in Roseburg and spent the night with him, his wife and four kids... we went to Cooper Creek Reservoir and had a nice Summer evening.  They brought a canoe and Brad and I took a turn canoeing a bit.  I enjoyed watching all the kids and Brad and Rashelle play in the water.  :)

Then the next day, Rashelle, me and the kids ran some errands and I left to go to Phoenix to visit Kevin and his family.  I brought V8, fruit snacks Herbalife shake mix and brownie bites with me.  :)  I enjoyed hanging out with Kaylynn and the kids.. they love to show me their room and their latest things they are doing.  :)  Kevin has access to these jet skis from work so he wanted to so a test run and invited me to come along!  He and the Young Men are all going to Lake Shasta for a week next week and the leaders are bringing boats and jet skis and canoes.  So.... I drove a jet ski on Emmigrant Lake!  It was sooooo fun!  I was a bit scared cuz there were a lot of waves and wakes to maneuver around.. but I had so much fun.  When I got tired, I got into another guy's boat while Kevin tried out his fast newer jet ski.  Then we went back to the dock to load up.  Well, today, two days later, I'm pretty sore!  I'm not in any kind of shape to do physical activities!  Lol.  But I'm happy I went with him.. fully clothed and all.  We wore life jackets, of course.  This photo is after they were loaded and we were heading out.

So life without a colon has been hard, but it will get better.  I'll have to heal up again.. but my wound will be in the same place, I'm glad for that.  When I left, Kelly said, "Don't go to the hospital!"  :)  And I didn't!
So next entry will be about my surgery to get all fixed up.  My weight is good and I'm feeling good, just kinda weak from having soft foods only.  I haven't had meat in weeks.  I think that is what blocks me bad.  Mashed potatoes or french fries, I can handle.. yea! 

No Colon, Still Rollin'

I want to blog about my experience having my whole colon removed because of having Ulcerative Colitis, an autoimmune disease I've been dealing with for about 2 years prior to this surgery.  My surgery date was December 14, 2017.  This is my journey. 

I traveled to my Sister Selena's house in October of 2017.  She lives in the town we grew up in, Simi Valley, California and we grew up members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Our Stake was having a 50th anniversary celebration weekend, so I drove to her house!  THAT was brave I tell ya!  I stopped at every bathroom I needed along the way.  Selena was in the big production play.  She played one of the 'extras' doing some singing and dancing and fake playing the piano.  The production was called The Grand and was about two hours long.  I loved it!  My daughter Jennifer and her kids came over too.  Our parents came and it was a wonderful weekend!  We saw kids from when we were in high school show up for the fireside Saturday evening and what a reunion it was!  Pictured above is me, in yellow, with two friends from our high school days in Simi Valley, Lisa and Sandy.  We LOVED talking to each other and some others friends came too.  I post this photo because my friend Lisa knew when she saw me that something was not right with me.  My face was very swollen from being on Prednisone, a steroid that was the only thing that kept my UC symptoms from getting out of control.  I told her about what was going on with me and she was gracious and sympathetic.  She's been through her own set of trials.  Don't we all go through things?  That is how we experience and learn in this life.  Sometimes it's so hard though!  I didn't care that I looked all puffed up and that some people couldn't recognize me... it is what it is... I was glad to be there.  

This is my daughter Jennifer with her 3 year old Olivia, my sister Selena, Me, my Mom Marie and Dad Lynn Morgan.  We had the best time!  We ate at Denny's after the performance.  I stayed at my Sis's house, and was up to the bathroom several times in the night.
I saw my GI and he said I had three options. 1)  TRY another infusion drug 2) Surgery or 3) Be part of a test group for free testing other medications.  I chose #2.  I wasn't wanting to TRY another drug.
So, we talked a little more and scheduled surgery for February.  BUT, I admitted myself to the hospital in December because I was done, my symptoms were so bad.  I went to the Southern Hills Hospital December 5, 2017.  I was there 5 days.  They put me on a liquid diet and I prepped for a colonoscopy.  It was awful!  I also swallowed a "Pill Cam" so they could get pictures of my small intestines too.  They ruled out Chrons.  By December 9th, I was home anticipating the surgery now scheduled for December 14th.  I was relieved and ready.

This is a photo of me December 9th, resting at home waiting for surgery.  I didn't want to stay in the hospital and wait!!  I was tapered on the Pred and was on a very low dose.  I was getting no sleep and getting very weak.  Laying in a hospital bed for 4 days straight sucked all the strength out of me!

 This is me two days after my surgery.  I didn't take any photos, but all my kids that could came to visit me in the hospital the day after my surgery!!  I still had an epidural and felt GREAT when they were here.  No pain!  Brad and Kevin drove down from Oregon and Jennifer drove over from CA.  Daniel was here.  John is in Alaska so no way could he come.  He and his family came for a visit in early Jan.  sooooo nice!  We had an awesome visit and I felt pretty loved that they would come so far to see me after my surgery.  I needed them.  Of course my husband and love was with me as much as possible too.  Kelly was super great at helping me at home in my recovery.  He served me and helped me so much!

 This is another photo of me 2 days after surgery, all hooked up to monitors and stuff.

 By 4 days after surgery, I felt like a patient they were just playing with, testing, poking, having me take meds, taking my blood pressure every 3 hours, giving me insulin because my blood sugar was high (a side affect of Prednisone) and I felt like I'd been through battle.

This is a photo my son Daniel took of Kelly and I Christmas eve, 10 days after my surgery.  I posted this photo to my Facebook and Kelly's Dad could hardly believe it was in real time..  He said I looked so great!  We went to sacrament meeting.  I was weak and sore and trying to figure out my new appliance.  I was left with no colon and an external ileostomy pouch.  Basically my small intestine sticks out a little and I place on a bag that sticks to my skin and 'holds' my waste.  I empty the pouch several times a day and change the appliance about every 3-4 days.  I was very sore and tender for weeks!!  Ouch!  

This is a photo of Stephanie, Melanie and John January 3, 2018.  John and Mel and their little son Dawson came down from Alaska for Melanie's sister's wedding so they came to Pahrump for a visit!!!  Dawson turned one on the Jan 4.  Was so fun celebrating with them.  These kids helped so much.  They are preparing a yummy poppy seed chicken dinner here in my kitchen.  Love it!    <3

 This is my daughter and her kids!  They came when John and Mel came down fro a visit.  Jen wanted to see her brother and his family.  So sweet!  Olivia is 3 and David is 5.  Very awesome family.  Jen's husband Kevin is at home in CA being an awesome lawyer.  I miss them so much and know we'll spend more time together in the future.  :)

I thought I'd never wear jeans again after surgery!!  Here I am 4 weeks post OP in a pair of jeans and it's NOT uncomfortable!  Yea!  Prior to this I was wearing leggings and pajama bottoms all day.  Lol.  I'm starting to feel 'normal' again.  I feel great not having the UC symptoms all the time.  I do have to get up one - two times a night to empty my "Joey"  that's what I call my pouch.  Lol

I started venturing out after I figured out how to NOT have Joey leaks!  At first I was having blow outs 2-3 or more times a day!!  I ran out of supplies my first few weeks and we made a trip in to my surgeon's office where they gave me some free supplies to tied my over until my regular deliveries could be made.  Whew!!  This is January 12, 2018  I went with Kelly on a delivery at Dumont.  Felt great to get out of the house!  

Then we went on an excursion to the Valley of Fire State Park.  It was so beautiful.  Kelly wanted to see how I did traveling all day in the car.  I did GREAT.  Just needed a bathroom, like all normal people.  Lol    This is January 16, 2018.  The park is beautiful.  There are campgrounds and hiking trails.  We drove and I took lots of photos.  Loved our day.  

 This is my new great dane puppy Bella.  She's 8 weeks old here and she's been a great little distraction from me recovering.  She has been a handful and a whirlwind and sometimes so sweet!  We picked her up in San Bernardino Jan 20, 2018, 8 weeks old.  She was sooooo friendly and we were happy to find her!

I put this side by side together for my sister in law.  She wasn't sure I had a 'swollen face'  Lol.  First picture is Oct 19, on a high dose of Prednisone.  Puffy face.  Or Moon face as the UC community calls it.   Second photo is me Feb 25, 2018, 2 months after surgery.  Yes, I had a puffy moon face... so glad that's over!  

Here I am with Bella March 8, after my trip to AZ to be at my sister's daughter's wedding.  My niece Kristin and her love Sam were sealed in the Gilbert AZ temple and I flew to Phoenix to be there.  Selena picked me up and we spent some time at our parent's house after the weeding weekend.  It was a delight to NOT feel horrible!  
Bella is a blessing and a friend that follows me and needs me.  I love her.  I missed her!  She's such a princess!   This is after a 20 minute walk with Kelly.  All I could handle.

See, she's a princess all right!  Here she is on the couch April 2nd, 18 weeks old.  She weighs 49 pounds and is growing so much every week!  I'm writing this April 3 and she's up in Kelly's office with me.  We have a twin bed up here and in our room for her to sleep on.  I love her markings and her personality!  I post photos of her a LOT on my Instagram @alainamun    :)

All for now.  I feel great, but not totally recovered just yet.  I don't have my strength back.  I really should do Yoga or something to get my strength back.

Love my life and I'm blessed and thankful for my family and my doctors who have helped me get to this point, back to a normal, active life.