mdrane’s BodyBlog

For those of you who don’t know my oldest son has Sickle Cell Disease.  He has been receiving blood transfusions every 6 weeks since he was 13 months old.  The last two nights he has complained of pain in his hands and arms.  He so smart…today when he woke up he told me he “wanted to see the real doctor, not the checkup doctor” so he could get some medicine.  Implying that he didn’t want to go to his Primary Care Physician in our little town but his Hematologist in the “big” city 25 miles away.  Broke my heart but got the point across. 

We called and they said “get him in right now” fearing the worst. 

His visit went great!! (Other than the pain)  They sent us home (they normally do because they know we monitor him really well and I know enough about anatomy and physiology to recognize when/what a problem arises).  He is definitely in his first pain crisis but it is moderate.  But his blood work was the best it has been since he was 1 (he just turned 4 Monday).  He hasn’t had a blood transfusion in three months.  The longest he’s gone until now has been 8 weeks.  His spleen is completely back down to normal and the doctor even said she was going to follow the program he is on for two other kids that she was debating removing their spleens.  He is finally 30 pounds so he can get on real dosages of his medications and we don’t have to get custom mixtures mailed in from special pharmacies.  I hate that he is in pain but on the scale of things it could be a lot, lot, lot worse and that is the blessing.  He’s sleep right now (Codeine does that) but it will be the first pain free sleep he has had in 2 days!!! 

God is good! 

Then I ate.
I got off the treadmill today (4 miles in 32:13) stepped on the scale and was 199.0.  But…I just ate about a pound of tuna and 40oz of water so I’m sure I’m at least 202 right now.  But at least I know I’m going down.  I have 6 more days to cut.  I just bought a crap load of chicken and seafood.  I’m going to bland it up until Wednesday.
From what I hear, if I cut water in 4 days conjoined with carb loading in 4 days whatever look I’m able to achieve for this go round should "peak" right at my goal date.  I will take some pics daily to see how if this timing actually works for me.  Maybe they will show that I need to vary by a day more or less the water or the carb portion.
In other news, I actually took a step and emailed some photographers today.  Who knows, one maybe they will be interested in helping me. 
I’m pretty ashamed to say that the only “pics” I have of myself are on this site.  So I humbly had to list my BS page as my "portfolio" of pictures.  I’m normally the one taking the pictures I have never been big on having my picture taken.  In fact I was not in a single year book throughout my high school career.  I made the senior paper only because I was voted least likely to be seen.  (Story behind that is that I went to college my senior year and didn’t have any friends my age, so when they voted they were telling the truth.  As a matter of fact I moved 4 days after graduation!)
I hope to at least make some contacts and figure out what a photographer is looking for in a model.  It would also be nice to get a feel as to what kind of monetary and time commitments are necessary to put a package together.  All part of the learning curve I guess!
Wish me Luck!!