Sunday, November 6, 2016

Just a catch up Post

Well?! Where to begin when it's been so long since you've blogged? I imagine that since it's mostly friends and family that follow this blog they'd want an update because I know so many of you don't do the Facebook thing.
Life these past 5 years since losing our house in 2011 has been something else. In previous posts I mentioned we moved out of our home and into a rental that was a very tiny duplex. It was a huge, hard decision to make. Not one we made lightly but one we decided was best for us at that time/point in our life. 
We settled into that little duplex and made do for 2 years. It was small and cramped but we survived.
 I also made some very tough decisions concerning my weight/health. I had gained a lot by 2013 and had serious medical problems along with collapsing both my knees. It was a daily struggle to do anything including my own personal hygiene. I was miserable, in a lot of pain and severely depressed. I was shutting everyone out of my life. I really just wanted my life to be over. So I had a very long, heart to heart with my primary doctor. We both agreed that with my condition/s Weight Loss Surgery at this point in my life was necessary. We agreed on the most drastic one, the duodenal switch. I'm not saying this was an easy decision nor is it the right decision for everyone. I did this for myself, to be myself again. It took almost a year before everything was cleared with insurance and all the hoops I had to jump through for them. But I did it. Thank goodness there was no actual jumping. I had WLS on July 15, 2013. It wasn't an easy recovery and there were quite a few days I really thought I'd done something horribly wrong and irreversible. Nope. Just needed to get through the long recovery process. I know some people don't take that long but I did. I didn't begin to feel better until December and then life really took off for me. 3 years later it's the best decision I could have made. I don't regret it. I get to be me again and do those things I thought I would never do again.
 The photo below is me the day of surgery. I looked and felt miserable. The photo above was taken a year before surgery on a trip to see our daughter in Wyoming.
 The photo below was taken this summer. So glad I made the WLS decision.
In September, 2013 we made the hard decision to put Neil's dad in a nursing home. He was becoming violent as the alzheimer's was progressing. He doesn't know us anymore and doesn't really talk. It's hard to see him this way. 
January, 2014 we moved to a small little cottage in a great part of town. We really enjoyed it.
But our time there ended and once again in April of this year we had to find another place to live. We were nervous for a while as things just weren't opening up. We weren't sure what we were going to do. So one Saturday morning I'm perusing Craigslist hoping to find another place that will allow pets and not cost an arm and a leg when a photo caught my eye. Hey I know that house! You see we'd been really good friends with the people who lived there when we lived in our little cottage on the same street. Yep, we moved back to the same street we had said goodbye to 5 years ago. Life really does come full circle. We're happy as clams in this little house.
Hopefully I'll be more faithful now that things are back on track for me and I'm actually getting things done.