Father's Day Weekend

We had a great Father's Day weekend!  We were able to have Gavin for the weekend and just hung out around the house.  

Saturday afternoon we made an ice cream run and took the dogs with us.  We really wanted the orange ice cream from the Rivertown Grill in Newburgh, but that wasn't their flavor of the day, so we drove to Boonville to the Tastee Freeze.  You can never go wrong with the TF!

And then Saturday evening we went to a cookout at our neighbors and friend's Phil and Rachel.  We had a lot of fun despite the heat and bugs.  There was lots of yummy food, laughs, and water fights for the kids. 

Later in the evening, I brought Gavin and our friend's daughter Kennedy over to make Father's Day cards for their dad's and for Uncle Shawn.  

And then later that evening, we gave Uncle Shawn his presents and the card Gavin made.  I got Shawn new accessories for his grill...a burger press, a chef's hat, and a water squirter guy like they have at the hibachi restaurants.  HA!

Sunday at church we celebrated all of the fathers, grandfathers, and uncles!

And on our back from taking Gavin home, we stopped at the cemetery in Hatfield to put flowers on my daddy's grave.  I can't believe that I've had 21 Father's Day's without my daddy :(  I said I've lived half my life without him now.  

Pampering Services in Owensboro

In July we went to St. Louis for a family reunion on Shawn's side of the family.  In looking for something to do near St. Louis while Shawn golfed on our way there, I came across a place called a Float Center.  I read about it and was intrigued.  I googled to see if there was any of these types of salons near me and there was one in Owensboro called Free Your Mind Body and Wellness Center.  

One Friday afternoon while Shawn was golfing in Owensboro, he met me over there and we did a foot detox together, and then I bought a package of four floats and four services.  The foot detox was interesting.  Who knows if it really works or not, but it was crazy to see all of the yucky stuff in your feet water! 

Over the month I also laid in the float pods about 3 times and did the infrared sauna twice.  All interesting.  The sauna was around 150 degrees and you sweated from the inside out.  The float pods were definitely interesting and were nice, despite the fact that I never could quite get into that serious sleep most people do.

Chef Daddy!

Chef Daddy got him a new flat top griddle as an early Father's Day present.  We've used it quite a few times and it's really nice!

Tootie Turned 40!!

On May 30, my sister turned the big 4-0!  

I picked up her, mom, and Gavin and we road tripped to Bowling Green, Kentucky to eat lunch at Chuy's and just tool around a bit.  We also stopped at some of those old school souvenir road side stores and got Gavin some magnetic rocks he's been wanting.  Wonder if he still plays with them?

Living the Struggle with Lipedema

All of my life I’ve been a big girl. I come from a family of big girls - my mom and sister, my aunts and cousins, my granny and great-grandma were big girls. I just figured we were a big girl family.  As I’ve gotten older, parts of me have gotten bigger no matter how much I dieted and exercised. My arms and thighs are the worst, particularly my thighs, and more specifically after a recent surgery, my right thigh.  Even after losing 60 pounds last year, my thighs remained the same.

In December 2017 about two weeks before Christmas, I tore my right meniscus sitting in a chair. Seriously. I’ve got no good story to back it up. I was just sitting in my desk chair at work and made the ever so slightest turn and I was in pain and couldn’t walk.

After months of this and that and using crutches, I had surgery on my right knee to repair the meniscus and clean out some arthritis. While all this was going on, I tried to find braces or sleeves to wear for my knee to help with some of the pain. My thighs were so huge and my lower legs a somewhat regular size, I couldn’t find anything to fit.  I’ve always had huge thighs and smaller lower legs but didn’t think anything about it other than that’s how I was.

It wasn’t until during this time that I googled “thick thighs and regular legs” that I came across the term Lipedema. I was floored with what all I was reading. And it definitely explained a lot of stuff to me.

Every time I had labs drawn for doctor appointments they come back normal.  My doctor was always impressed. I remember when the nurses would go through lists of medicines that you would take, I never had any prescriptions for anything and always said “I’m healthy as can be except for being fat!”

So now the journey begins to try and find a doctor who is familiar enough with Lipedema to diagnose me so I can begin the more extensive treatment and use insurance benefits.  I started with my family doctor and all she wanted to do was send me to a bariatric center for a serious diet program. I told her I wasn’t interested because I wasn’t there because of my weight.  I was there to get a diagnosis that would explain these massive thighs that are overflowing my knees.  She was definitely no help at all. I left there completely deflated, aggravated, and now I’m going to be looking for a new family doctor too! 

Sure I’ve got lots of regular fat, but I know a lot of it is Lipedema fat which isn’t easy to lose at all.

In the meantime I’ve already started doing what I can with out of pocket costs. Water aerobics, dry brushing, weekly or semi-weekly messages focusing on my lymphatic system, legs up on the wall, changing the way I eat to cut out as much sugar and carbs as possible, and buying compression wear.

There is no cure for Lipedema but it’s definitely manageable.