Living with Diabetes and Lapband

As I blogged a few days ago, I've made a major change in my exercise and my life -- I'm doing yoga -- hot yoga.   And Dulce has been accompanying me.

One thing everyone needs to know about me, is that my feelings are easily hurt, especially when it comes to the dogs.  And, yes, I've questioning the whole hot yoga thing. 

Dulce is in a plastic crate when I go to class, which doesn't absorb the heat like a metal one.  It's also well ventilated and I keep a bowl of cold water in it.  I also keep an eye on her -- partly for her sake and partly so I don't miss an alert.

So, Tuesday I go to class, and the manager of the place stops me and wants a letter from the vet that it was okay.  Apparently people have asked them, but neither the questioner or the manager bothered to say anything to me in person. Also I had just been at the vets office picking up meds and it was quite chaotic.  The vet that ended up answering the request has her hands full (Thanks!)

I spent the next few hours questioning my own judgement and even asked a few people as reality checks.  They agreed that the heat shouldn't bother her and I was taking the correct precautions.  One person even pointed out that I should be offended -- she thought it was very sweet of people to think of her.

So on Wednesday, I was still very much upset and offended and cancelled my membership which I almost immediately regretted. 

I got the letter AFTER I cancelled, but I sent the letter to the yoga studio and then sheepishly asked if I could come back.

Here's what I am getting out of the yoga:

a) body acceptance

b) ability to stand for longer periods of time -- the first half of the class is standing, and that's hard for me.  I did have to quit in the last 10 minutes of the standing portion recently, but that was just one class.

c) it's helping me lose weight -- I don't have the urge to stress eat as much and I overall just feel better.

We're not at the pain relieving part yet <smile> but I think we'll get there.  I've been a member since the 9th and have made it to 12 classes.

Once of the things I really like about this is that they using gaming.  The handout rewards and I got my first one on Thursday and they also have a point system so that the more classes you attend the cheaper it is for you.

By the way, they also reward referrals, so if you would like to join, let me know!

And trying to get to the pool today.

Raining though it's 70, and the pool scares me.  I don't do well cold, so I'll probably stay in the warmer pool.  I haven't been to the pool in a long while.

I'm trying to do my own "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss", and trying to ramp up the exercise portion.  Food wasn't good yesterday but I know what I did wrong.

Less than a month and a half until decent insurance, retire pay at the end of January.

Funny because I have ALWAYS hated group classes, but these are great.

Everyone is really nice -- instructors, greeters, and even the other class members.  Of course Dulce helps and she seems to have getting hot down. 

The best thing: it is making the weight go in the right direction.  Diabetes manage still sucks.

I finally just sat down with Outlook and the @sunstonefit website and found the best time to work out each day, participating in either Spark (the cooler version) and Fire. The only problem is Wednesday, have to earlier morning :-(

I did request more classes, hope they do add them.

Dulce does okay with the hot yoga.  She does pant, and I do make sure she has enough water.  She cools off pretty quickly so I'm not too bothered by it.

I even got in regular cardio and weights.

Tomorrow will be harder, Dulce and I will be competing in agility tomorrow.  I have Yoga scheduled, but will try to fit in cardio and weights.

I found someone in Carrollton, not too far from me. 

I know that most winters I have trouble with my knees, and that any day now, we'll have a low pressure system and I won't be comfortable again until the spring so this year I am trying to get ahead of it.

The nice part about my arthritis, is that just about everything helps.  I'm trying to do lots of little things that I hope will add up to solve the knee problem.  Acupuncture, yoga, essential oils -- I hope they all help.

She does have a referral program so contact me privately and I'll hook you up--same with the yoga studio and the essential oils.

About 1 and 1/2 years ago, I had a really bad experience with a dentist who is no longer with the company.  When the crown first came off, a Jefferson Dental dentist wanted to replace it, but I knew that insurance wouldn't pay for it.  Two other Jefferson Dentists also wanted it replaced, but not sure it was because notes or truly bad.

I was recently accepted at Baylor Dental school as a patient and they also wanted it replaced.  Again, knew insurance wouldn't cover it, so I took a chance and called Monarch Dental.  They made an appointment today to look at it.

And not only did their dentist, Dr. Ward, agreed, but has already taken it off and ordered a new one.

In fact, it is that experience that sent me to Baylor in the first place.  The dentist who put in the crown did not want to mess with pulling a tooth.  I already knew that Baylor Dental School had an extraction clinic, so went there and that's when I found out how to be a patient.

Neat part:  Dr. Ward went to Baylor Dental School.  Another lesson learned, find out where your dentist went to school.

I think I mentioned I tried acupuncture on the cruise and my knee was better.  Frankly just about anything anyone does makes it better -- well, except my losing weight :-(

One of the suggestions the acupuncture doctor had was to do yoga (or Tai Chi) so I looked up a studio that several friends in the dog world have used.  I called and mentioned the dog and they weren't sure.  I finally got someone pretty high up in the company and they explained that they hadn't had one before.

Biggest concern everyone had was the heat, but we do dog agility in Texas in the summer.  I put a cool bowl of water in the cage for her--which we drank before we went in.  She was fine, panting at the end but cooled down immediately when we got down.

And she was her perfect service dog self, not making a peep the entire class.

The class was good and I signed up for membership immediately.  I'm stiff today, but no more than usual.

I've spent too much of the year taking care of others, rather than me.  So I'm going back to the things that I did when I was losing weight and managing my diabetes.  That includes blogging.

I enjoyed the cruise -- lost weight.  Unfortunately, while I enjoyed being with my husband, its when I "lost" him that I had the best time.

For our next cruise we are thinking about going on a poker cruise.  I think we would both like that better, as it would be easy to lose him.   Those seem to be mostly on Royal Caribbean, the good news is that the people who were on our cruse, said they liked Royal Caribbean as well as Princess.

The things that worked for me on the cruise ship were the number of steps I took each day, and the fact that I was very careful to follow the lap band rules.

What I loved the best, was having someone else deal with the room and the food.  The food part didn't impress my husband that much, he's happy with buffets, me not so much.

So over the next few weeks I'm focusing on me, dealing with diabetes, and working out.