Back from the Land of the Lost!

I've been MIA for the past few weeks, trying to deal with a lot of the stuff going on with my dad. He had to have emergency surgery late one night, and has been in the hospital ever since. It's renewed all of the depressing conversations that we unfortunately need to have, and I've been on an emotional rollercoaster ever since. He was all set to come home last week, but then developed pneumonia, so he will remain in the hospital until at least next week. No one (ie, doctors) is talking about times, etc, so we are just hoping this is a temporary setback.

The only good thing to come out of this is that I finally convinced my brother to come home to see my dad - my bro has not seen my dad since he was diagnosed, and he will be coming home to a completely different person. I've tried to prepare him, but there's just no way to do so.

My weight has gone up and down...while I was sick over New Year's, it was dropping every day. Once I started eating again, it was going back and forth over a range of 3 pounds. I did get another fill last week, which put me up to 7.5cc. I was so tight for a few days that I was considering going in for an unfill, but it turns out the combination of flying (more on that in a minute), plus a new fill, plus the impending TOM = Stuck-ville. I can actually eat again, so I think I am alright. Today I weighed in at 240 on the nose, which is 35 pounds down (once I got the scale to settle on a weight, it did go as low as 238.6, but I need to see a weight 2x in a row to count it). I met my mini goal, albeit a week late, but I'll take that.

I went to Atlanta last weekend with a few friends, and had a blast. Got lots of comments on how I'm looking, which was nice. I also met up with a friend last week for dinner, who I didn't tell about surgery, and of course I got stuck about 1/8 of the way through my meal. He of course commented, and I just said that I had had surgery and didn't eat very much anymore. He's not the type to go researching, or think further into it. Maybe once I lose a bit more, he'll start questioning it again, but I don't see him all that often, and he's frankly not that observant!

The lovely Read over at My Trek Downward has nominated me for a blog award, The Stylish Blogger Award! Thanks very much Read, I will have to catch up on your blog!


Here are 7 things about me (I apologize if any of these are repeats from previous blog awards, but I can't remember?):

*I was born and raised in NYC, and would give anything to live somewhere else. I was all set to move to Los Angeles in 2010, but then my father was diagnosed, so I decided to wait. I have a 5 year plan to be out there. I love LA, because it's another big city, but it's a driving city! I love to drive. Right now, their weather is looking pretty attractive as well, not gonna lie.

*I have 12 tattoos, and you wouldn't know I even had 1 if I didn't want you to. They are all strategically placed :) They are (in order of when they were done): a moon and stars on my left breast, a lizard crawling up my left lower back, an angel on my right shoulder blade, a butterfly landing on a rose on my left foot, song lyrics in the center of my upper back, a heart on my right foot, song lyrics (in the artist's handwriting - he is my fave person) circling my right ankle, a music note the same artist drew for me on my left ankle, a pink ribbon for breast cancer on my right wrist, a 2 parter of song lyrics that starts on my right upper inner arm, and continues to the left arm, and then finally, a periwinkle ribbon for gastro-esophageal cancer on my left wrist.

*I am the youngest of 3 children, but I totally play the role of the oldest. My brother is the oldest, and he moved away about 12 years ago, across the country, and has not kept in touch or been as present in our lives and I think he should have been.

*I have a crazy sense of direction. I love maps and like knowing where things are, and I regularly end up giving directions in cities I don't live in - to people who do!!!

*I fly a lot. I am an Elite member of my preferred airline's frequent flier program.....and I don't travel for work.

My favorite show ever is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, followed very closely by its spin-off, Angel...then followed by My So-Called Life. I think I want to be a teenager forever. Too bad I'm in my 30s.

*I love love love to cook, and document it. I've been throwing small dinner parties over the past few years, and taking photos of the food and putting albums on FB. Several people have suggested I go to culinary school. While I would love to do this, I am way too picky of an eater to be a chef :( There are too many things I won't try.

Whew, this has been a long post! Sorry for being so wordy, hopefully with things calming down with my dad, I will be around more. I HAVE been reading faithfully, just haven't had much in me for commenting. I promise to try to be better about this.

Weekly Weigh In and Quick Update

Hi all, just a short post today - lots of errands to run, and not enough motivation to actually run them.

I weighed in today at 241.6, down 4.2 since last week, and a total of 33.4 since the start of my journey. that brings my average almost back to 2 lbs/week (this is week 17). I've been sick all week, so haven't felt very hungry. Plus, I haven't had a chai since last week, since the milk in the latte wrecks me when I am sick....hate to say it, but I think that's made a big difference. I'm not planning on cutting them out, but maybe the 2 per day habit needs to get curbed a bit.

As far as mini-goal progress (240, or down 35, by Atlanta on 1/21), I have 2 more weigh-ins, and 1.6 lbs to go. Unless things turn around dramatically, I think I might actually make this goal! I'm starting to play with what the next one might be as well :)

In real life, things are not so great (hence my lack of commenting - I'm reading, but don't have anything in me right now). Still waiting to see about jobs. Things finally got moving again this week since the holidays were finally over, so I've been in touch with a few of the recruiters about a couple of different positions within the company, and think I have an interview for one next week. My dad is not doing well, and it's just been heartbreaking to watch and deal with. My mother and I are starting to have some really depressing conversations, such as estate planning and last-ditch treatment ideas. He's got no energy and just feels like crap most of the time, so it's been a rough few days for all of us.