As of this morning, my total weight-loss has reached 15.3 pounds!! Yeah me!! I’m very proud of myself. I didn’t lose any in California, but I maintained my 10 pound loss. And trust me, the way my mom cooks, that is a miracle!! Plus, I had gone off the Alli when I went on the antibiotic before Christmas (could not handle taking 2 pills that affected the last part of the digestive process in such profound ways- way too gross!) And then I didn’t want to start the Alli up again on vacation, because I was worried about having “treatment effects” on the plane. So I started that back up when I got home, but did it differently. Did it slower, waaaaaay slower. I took 1 pill every other day for 5 days, then I increased it to 1 pill every day for a few days, and then added a second pill every other day for a few days, and now I’m at 2 pills each day. What a difference!! I haven’t had ANY treatment issues. So there’s my Alli update, too.
My tonsil biopsy last week was HORRIBLE! Not as bad as my thyroid biopsy last year, but still bad enough that I never want to do it again. I of course began my body’s “passing out” process after he cut and YANKED the majority of the growth out. I think my vasovagal reaction is weirder than most people who have it because I almost always pass out AFTER the trauma has happened and I think I’m going to be fine. In fact, my famous last words before passing out many, many times were, “That wasn’t bad at all!” Only to completely pass out when I try to get up or move. Practically all my life that I have had such episodes and sadly it is too many to count, but it began when I was very, very young, with my first splinter, continued with each tooth I lost, and progressed to any shots or blood draws I had up until I was pregnant the first time, at which time it improved dramatically and now only occasionally presents itself with these type of weird procedures and occasional blood draws. But, true to my form, I almost completely passed out when it was over. Scott thinks I did go out completely because I didn’t respond to him, but I think I only went very close because the doc did recline the chair right away and I remember everything. It truly couldn’t be a medical procedure with me unless I faint!
So, faintly aside, what was very weird about the tonsil biopsy is that I felt most of my pain after the local in my throat began to wear-off in my right ear, the side biopsied. Truthfully, the pain in my throat was no more than a VERY bad sore throat/strep infection. What made it close to unbearable was the pain and ringing in my ear. It was just so odd and unexpected to me, that I called my doc’s office twice to make sure it was normal because it was so much more painful than my actual throat that I couldn’t believe it was normal. It was.
The good news is that I went back to the doc for a follow-up this morning and the biopsy came back “normal tonsil tissue.” However, my doc was very surprised because he has never seen a tonsil produce a white, puss-like polyp before. He was thinking it was caused by a virus, like a wart or something. But reading the report satisfied him because they tested the whole polyp, not just sections, because it wasn’t that big. He wants me to be on the look-out for any other growths like that and just keep on top of it. But, my tonsils were given a clean bill of health. Yippee.
