Happy Holidays!

I hope you're enjoying them, wherever you are and whatever you do.  This Christmas, I woke up with a cold!  Clearly, that's not what one hopes to find in their stocking.  Even so, our holidays have been very nice.

Today we head to Seattle (colds and all) for me to have two medical appointments, one with the throat guy to see if my vocal cord is still partially paralyzed, or not (yeah, they said I could come with the cold!) and another MRI on my back.  Whee!

A couple of weeks ago, I saw the Superdoc.  She conclusively ruled out Cushing's as a root cause of my weird health issues.  She said I do have higher than normal cortisol, but so does everybody in chronic pain.  I asked her why I had so many symptoms on the Cushing's checklist and she said they're not exclusive to Cushing's. 

What I learned from Superdoc:

• I don't have Cushing's.
• They don't know what I do have.
• Some people, like me, they can neither figure out nor treat
• That fact sucks for both me, and them.  ;)

She said, ultimately, it's better to stay heavy than to lose a lot and gain it back (plus more).  She had a suggestion of a medication I could try, but it would have temporary results (if any), for both the pain and the weight.  Not super interested in that, as it has both side effects and is temporary. 

Her final and best advice: eat as healthy as I can, exercise as best I can with the spinal and pain issues, and hope for the best.

I've been asked, "Well, what are you doing to do now?"  I had to sit with it for awhile.  It was kind of disappointing (not that I wanted Cushing's, but I wanted a diagnosis and a plan).  I'm back where I started, weird health problems, too much weight, and a lot of pain; all dressed up and nowhere to go.

But, I do have a plan, of sorts.  I'm going to do one long session of the hcg (yes, again).  I'm hoping with NOT having surgery, I won't trip off another rapid weight gain cycle.  Yeah, the long sessions are hard, but I may be able to lose 30# (again, same pounds).  So, one deep dive, then I want to lie on the beach for awhile.  No surgery.  No invasive tests or treatments.  Just focus on good health and let surgery free time (I've had 10 surgeries in 11 years) do its work, both physically and emotionally.

That's my plan.