Hallelujah!

Hi guys!

I'm back. I had a pretty great trip. Not much sleep was had, but all in all it was profitable and that's what matters.

I didn't have any snafus with my flight; wasn't running crazily towards the gate, didn't sit next to any creepies (although the lady on the flight back insisted on jabbing me in the ribs the whole time) and since I took Drammamine I was totally relaxed and not sick. WOOT!

And guess what? I totally sat on Santa's lap. Yeah, I'm 32 and I sat on Santa. Now, to be honest, I didn't want to sit on his lap. I assumed I'd stand next to him, like all the other grown-ups. But he patted his knee, so I hopped up. You can't see it, but I'm leaning all my weight on my right arm, which is wrapped behind my back and grabbing onto the arm of the chair, and also on my feet on the stool.

(Sorry for the bad picture; it's a picture of a picture... taken on my cell phone, no less. And that's not a shining orb of light on my shoulder... it's just a reflection of the flash.) ;-)

Ok, he was sorta creepy. He was wearing red lipstick (for the pictures, I assume) and when I told him I wanted an all-expenses-paid vacation to the Bahamas for Christmas he replied, "Only if you take me with you." Ewwwww!!!

Anyway, Dr. Ray is a saint. A full on saint. He came into the office JUST FOR US. He was supposed to be leaving for Vegas, where he was competing in a rodeo. Have I mentioned he is a cowboy? He is. Big, gold buckle, Wranglers, cowboy boots, the whole shebang. Anyway, he came in just for me, my mom and my sister. My grandma and her friend also ended up being seen.

So I got the test done on the chemicals in my brain and when the results showed up, Dr. Ray said, "Holy Smokes!". He explained that the positive numbers were what my body was lacking, and the higher the number the more my body needed/wanted it. He said anything between 1 and 20 is "normal". Well, one of the things was at 172!!!!!!! I don't know what it was, and neither did he. I tried to do some research and all I came up with were some huge medical jargon. I know it has something to do with my eyes (!!) and my nervous system, but don't know exactly what.

Anyway, he "beamed" it into me 3 times; normally it's just once. But he said since it was so high he wanted to give me a lot of it.

He also adjusted my neck and back (he is a chiropractor as well) and did some other laser beam thing that helped with the tension in my muscles in my head and neck.

So that was really helpful for me to see; just confirmation that something was wrong and it wasn't all in my head. My thyroid and serotonin were also off, so he fixed those as well.

I felt pretty good the whole time, despite the lack of sleep and poor eating choices. We ate Mexican food after our appointment. I ordered a chimichanga (basically a deep-fried burrito) but ended up just pulling the shredded beef out of it and not eating the deep fried tortilla. Then we ordered in pizza and I snacked A LOT. Petit Ecolier cookies, Fiddle Faddle, these chai cookies my mom brought, chocolate covered pretzels, etc... I way overdid it on Friday.

Today, however, has been a super star success!!! It's 6:15 and I've already had 3 LITERS of water, you guys!!! GO ME!!!!!! I am super proud of myself. I worked really hard while I was gone to drink water, too, but the tap water in our hotel tasted horrible. So it was hard. I've just decided that my body needs water and I need to drink it. So there. Done and done.

For breakfast I had some scrambled eggs, one turkey sausage and 1/4c of fried potatoes. Lunch was one slice of pizza. I had one ranger cookie and we have some friends coming over for dinner and we're having chinese. I'm pretty full from the water, so I won't overindulge.

I also got a TON accomplished today, moving-wise. I have been packing, carting, cleaning, scrubbing all day long. We have a huge pile of Goodwill stuff, almost everything is packed that can be, and I scrubbed the walls, cupboards and appliances. Phew!

MaryBeth-It is SO insane how many similarities there are between us!!!! So crazy. I carry a lot of my tension in my head, so my scalp does tingle/ache. Josh gives me a headrub every night and oh my goodness, it feels so good. I can feel my tension melting away. If your hair is still falling out and you're getting cold every day I'd definitely have them take another look at your thyroid levels. Sounds like it's off to me.

I'm happy to be back, happy to have some answers (and hoping they'll stick!!!) and happy with my success with water drinking. Little baby steps! Slow and Steady!!

I'm doing this thing. I've found when I keep myself busy (cleaning, packing, etc...) I eat WAY less. Basically just my meals and a snack at the end of the day, usually. But when I sit around on the computer or reading or just piddling around, I get bored and eat. So that's good for me to realize.

Jen-I'll be in touch about the swapping babysitting for running idea. I think I'm going to start out under the cover of darkness at first; and then when I get myself into some form of running and can make it more than 10 feet without passing out, then maybe I'll run during the day. ;-)

Amy-I had no idea you lived in Arizona! I was in Scottsdale; are you close? Maybe we can arrange a visit if you're semi-close, the next time I go down to see Dr. Ray??

I hope you all are well and had a good weekend! We move this Friday, so this week will be busy but I'll check in as I can. I am so thankful for your comments and support!