20 pounds....

I don't recommend this type of diet... but holy shit I'm the skinniest I've ever been in my life... 147lbs on the scale this morning...

6 years ago I was hovering around 300lbs. I'm literally half the person I used to be.

The weight loss surgery was in 2004... and I did see the 150's for a while... but I got very comfortable in the 160's... knowing I wasn't at my goal weight sucked... but I didn't have to work very hard to stay there, I accepted it.

I'm feeling so-so.... my belly still hurts more than it should... I get dizzy if I try to do too much too fast... I'm afraid I have come close to passing out a few times, which just is a wake up call that I really need to slow down.

I'm trying not to freak out too much about the bills...

MMM & The Jedi have been nothing but amazing this whole time... I've been sick a lot in my 35 years... and my coping skills are very much "leave me alone"... I don't like the extra attention... I don't want the visits every day, I mean really... I've been in a hospital room for the past 24 hours... nothing new to report.... unless you're coming to rub my feet, I'd really just rather have a couple quick phone conversations.

Both of them accepted that and only came to visit twice in my 2 week hospital stay... I know it was hard for them (as it would be for me) and even more difficult for my mom... but all I wanted to do was stop the fevers and figure out what's wrong.... which still hasn't happened by the way.

Since I've been home, the Jedi is making sure I eat and get up and outta bed... and I'm thankful for that... because that's how I ended up in the hospital to begin with... I laid in bed, not eating, not doing anything...

So... the story... Back on October 11th I started having flu like symptoms... mostly the runs... that lasted 4-5 days... then I started getting fevers & headaches, that I mostly controlled with Tylenol.... after about 5 more days I got REALLY worn out... started vomiting, couldn't keep anything down except plain water.. and that was running straight thru me. Oct 25 I was supposed to go to work and couldn't stop vomiting, so I decided I needed IV fluids if nothing else... so I went to the ER.

Since being in the hospital and having them take my vitals every 2 hours and blood work 2-3 times a day... they found I was running fevers upwards of 102 degrees... the highest being 105... my blood pressure was super low... my white blood cell count was dangerously low, but my liver enzymes and lipace levels were super high.

normal white blood cell count is 10... mine has stayed steady at 2.2 since I was admitted.

The fevers couldn't be associated with any infection... they did MRI, CT Scan, ultra sound & x-rays and found nothing... although they think I may have had kidney infections and/or UTI that may have caused some problems with my pancreas. The other weird thing was when you run fevers... it is supposed to cause your white blood cells to INCREASE so they can go do their "fighting thing"... the entire time I was having fevers, my WBC count continued to drop.

My neutraphil's (type of white blood cell) went below a certain level and I was put into isolation for 3 days until they could be brought up... I was susceptible to infection and wasn't allowed fresh fruits, veggies, flowers or any gifts... and visitors were supposed to gown/mask up to come see me.

While the neutraphil's increased eventually up to 46% of my total white blood cell count... so did the lymphocytes (a different type of blood cell)... the lymphocytes should be about 30% of our total white blood count and mine are over 60%.

So after ruling out pregnancy, mono, epstine barr, all the hepatitis', HIV, and about 50 other virus'... they did a Bone Marrow Aspiration/Biopsy... and those results were negative for lupus, lymphoma & leukemia.

The last test they did on Monday was both an endoscopy & a colonoscopy... where I'm waiting on the biopsy results from some lymph nodes they removed there... so I'm not 100% in the clear for Cancer... but at least the two blood "biggies" have been initially ruled out....

I'm anemic... I have some nutritional deficiencies... and I generally feel worn out... but I suppose being unemployed has somehow been a blessing thru all this.

Underlying problem number 2... is that the Southern California fires have our Unemployment Department plain and simply overwhelmed and they're unable to answer calls. They have my address incorrect and I haven't been receiving the "thingy" I need to mail in.... on Tuesday I'm going to sit by the phone and hit redial until I get a human!

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I'm slowly catching up on all you guys... haven't been a very good commenter I'm afraid... but I had thousands of posts in my feed reader, so I'm doing the lazy route and just reading... It sure is nice to be back tho!