Drugs...LOL!

I don't have a lot of followers and I'm not used to getting a lot of page views.  Typical number for me is 5 up to maybe 20 a day.  Once in a while 30, but for me, that's a lot.

I finally figured out how to get more page views...

Use the term "drugs" in the title.

I'm not getting any more "real" comments than usual (although I am getting a few more "spam" comments on that post which I see in my email but which go directly into the spam folder).  

But the number of page views has  gradually increased each day since I wrote that post...and today so far I have received over 200 views on that post alone.

I'm sure whoever is reading it is pretty disappointed when they actually see what the post is about. 

Buster's HOME

Just brought B home from the hospital.  Right now he is sleeping in his new "digs," an x-pen that will keep him confined so he can't try to climb up on anything, or slip on our hard wood floors.  Other than when he goes outside to visit Mother Nature, or when he has physical therapy, he'll be in this pen for the next few weeks.  He also has to wear a "cone of shame" so that he can't bite or lick his stitches.  But he's such a trooper.  That poor little dog has been through a lot in his 10 years of life, yet he is always so stoic and brave.

You can't see the stitches because they are on the inside of his thigh

Buster and his cone

He can see out the window so he can still keep an eye on his domain

I did take the opportunity of talking to the orthopedic surgeon to ask about something that has bothered me for years and for which I've felt guilty...whether the long (I mean hours looooong) walks he and I used to take when he was young could be related to all these joint problems he has now (elbow dysplasia, bad hips, and now this).  I've always worried that I wore out my dog!  She eased my mind and said in fact all the walking probably kept him from having more serious problems earlier in life.  She showed me on the x-ray how, although his hip bones are horrible, they are surrounded by super strong muscles. She said it was obviously from lots of exercise as a young dog...and even though he hasn't been able to walk very fast in the past few years because of the elbow dysplasia, Hub and I still take him to the park almost every day and watch his weight very carefully.  Plus he gets a glucosamine treat and fish oil every day.  So that made me feel better and actually kind of proud of being such a good pet mom.
 
So yesterday I was still a bit crazy in my eating, mostly because of the stress of B having surgery.  I ate 2 candy bars in the afternoon for almost 800 calories, but because I wasn't in the mood to eat much of anything else, I think my calories were still only around 1500 for the day.  I still do eat emotionally on occasion.  But it's rare now and I can see that it's usually related to a specific stressful event, rather than a daily mechanism for just coping with everyday life in general.   

The bottom line with IF is that you eat less because you don't eat as many times a day...it's not a magic bullet.  Let's be honest, caloric restriction is really why you lose weight. But it just seems to work better for me than multiple small meals a day, even if the calorie totals are the same.

So, now that B is okay and home, today I'm back on track and it feels good to be back in "the Zone" as Launna recently posted on her blog.  This morning, while I was getting the pen out of the basement for B, I found another box of clothes that I put away a few years ago because they were too small.  I spent a few minutes trying them on...they still don't fit.  But now it's because they are too big! I missed the "just right" phase...but no complaints here!

It's a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest and looks to be a lovely weekend.  I hope everyone is enjoying the summer before it's gone!  Before we know it, autumn will be here!

Buster's Having Surgery

Buster started limping on Saturday, not using one of his back legs.  But he really didn't seem in pain.  He was his same cheerful self, wanted to play with his stuffed squirrel, was eating fine.  So while I was concerned, I wasn't freaking out.  After he had the ruptured disk 2 years ago, the neurologist told us he would always be prone to back trouble, so I thought perhaps his back was bothering him a bit.  I thought it might get better, but in fact it kept getting worse.

 
So I took him back to the same wonderful specialty vet clinic today, and the good news is it wasn't his back.  The bad news is, he ruptured his ACL.  But again, the good news is the problems is very common in small dogs and is totally fixable. 

So he will need to have surgery, and we scheduled it for tomorrow.  I figure the sooner the better.  (The bad news is the surgery is very expensive but...oh well.) 

So, along with that, my mother has also been sick (nothing serious) so I have been dealing with her and with her inability to remember anything, including not taking her medication properly.  Plus she is just very argumentative and generally not very nice to me.  I know it's not really her fault, but she is trying my patience big time. 

And I have a tooth that is bothering me.  The tooth has already had root canal and a crown many years ago, and my dentist thinks it is probably cracked.  So I will probably need to have it pulled and an implant placed.  More $$$.  I'm lucky I have dental insurance through my job, but I don't think it will cover the whole cost.

Anyway, in spite of all this, I've mostly been sticking with the IF, and am still losing weight.  Today I did go a bit off plan because I had a hectic day and decided WTF, I just need to eat and not worry about it.  Too much stress to be focused on food (or the lack thereof.)  So I'm okay with that.

Well, time to get to bed...have to get up early to get B to the vet by 7 am.