Nook HD+ for Christmas

On December 17, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn ChristmasLeave a comment

desktop landscape

I was totally not expecting this, but my partner bought me a Nook HD+ 32GB for Christmas. I was saving money to buy an Amazon Kindle Fire because I thought it was better than a Nook tablet. I had no idea that the Nook tablet had the Google play store now. So I changed my mind, but was still saving the money and was expecting that I would finally have the money saved by my birthday in June. I told my partner what I was planning, and I think he took that as a hint. It wasn’t, but hey, I’m not complaining lol.

I have a Nook WiFi, which is still very nice to have for when I want to read a book in the sunlight. That doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen. You can’t see a tablet screen in sunlight which is what makes a e-ink screen superior than a tablet in that sense.

I was saving up for the 7″ screen with only 8GB, but when we were at the Barnes & Noble store he saw the two screens next to each other and decided for me that the 9″ screen was better, and that 32GB would also be way better than only 8GB which I highly agree with. The price however was a huge difference. The 7″ tablet was only $129 and the 9″ was $179. I agree that the one he bought me is better though, and I probably would have regretted not getting the bigger one.

library portrait There was a problem with my new Nook though. The first day was okay, but the second day wasn’t. The screen started freaking out on me. It would move side to side on its own and it would drop app icons onto the desktop from the carousel at the top. It also went into my library and started downloading books and magazines from the cloud. I saw it in the Nook store and freaked out that it would start making executive decisions on what it thought I should start reading.

I called the store and tried to explain to them what was happening, but the tech didn’t get it right away. She eventually understood and walked me through resetting it to factory and told me if I had any more problems to bring it in for another one. It did, and so we went in the very next day. It was a good thing too because they were on sale, so they gave my partner the difference, which was $32. Not bad eh? Instead of being $179, it was only $149.

So yeah, the Nook HD+ 32GB was a very good thing. I’ve been putting my computer in sleep mode while I use the Nook as a computer. No sense in using electricity if I’m going to use a tablet instead of a computer. I am disappointed that I can’t play the Sims FreePlay on it though. I’ve been playing that on my cell phone for a year now and it gets frustrating when it crashes constantly. I would love to free up some space on my phone and play it on a bigger screen.

landscape book

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to read books on the screen because I much prefer either paper or e-ink, but it’s actually not that bad to read from. I’ve been reading in landscape mode and it reads just like a book, it even looks like a book when you turn the page. The reason I’m reading in landscape mode is because of the case I have. It’s much easier for me to read with the Nook sitting on my desk than it is to hold it on my hand.

I am very happy with my gift. I’m even happier that I didn’t have to save the money for it because I can’t save money very easily because it always goes into the groceries. I’m even happier that the replacement didn’t freak out like the first one lol.

We didn’t buy the case in the store because I thought they would be expensive, so I bought it on Amazon for $11 with free shipping. Not a bad price. I found out that the cases they have in the store are only $15, but I am very happy with the case that I have because it rotates so it can stand in portrait or landscape mode.

We don’t conform to the rules of opening your Christmas presents ON Christmas day. Screw that noise lol. We will open our presents when we gosh darn well please thank you very much. The present I bought for him wasn’t quite as expensive though, it was the Google Chromecast for $35. He can use it to watch Netflix or YouTube directly from his tablet. My second gift for him was Netflix itself, which we both can enjoy from our tablets and the Blu-ray player.

Parotidectomy Surgery Complications

On December 12, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, Health, Pain1 Comment

It has been 3 weeks since I had my surgery and everything seems to be healing well. My scar isn’t red and it isn’t too noticeable, except for the scar from the hole from where the tube was draining the fluid for 2 weeks which is quite visible, but disappears with a Band-Aid.

My face and ear are still numb, although the feeling is coming back slowly, but it is coming back. But it still feels very strange.

The only thing that seems to have gone wrong is that I still have a saliva gland that seems to still be producing saliva with nowhere to go. According to the image, there are three glands. Parotid, which was removed, Submandibular and Sublingual. The Sublingual gland is under the tongue, no problem. The gland that is still producing saliva is my Submandibular gland which is below where the Parotid gland used to be. It is still producing saliva, but it is not releasing into my mouth. Instead of releasing into my mouth, it stores the saliva.

This is a really big issue because that is what my Parotid gland was doing. It wasn’t releasing the saliva, so I was having to push (or milk) it out of the gland and into my mouth. I have been trying to do that with this gland, but it is not releasing into my mouth, instead, I can feel it releasing under my skin. I can tell because it tingles. I don’t want it to release saliva inside of my body, but if it doesn’t get milked, it just gets bigger and bigger and next thing you know I will be rushed to the emergency room because of how painful it is.

The surgeon told me when I came back last week to have the tube removed that it was just some saliva that will be absorbed by my body, but I had no idea it was still producing more saliva. I only know it is producing more saliva because I could feel it getting bigger and under more pressure when I ate some chocolate the other day. Sweet and tangy are what seem to generate a lot of saliva for me, which over the years has been a major issue for me because when I start generating a lot of saliva after drinking orange juice, my saliva gland would get backed up and it wouldn’t release the saliva into my mouth. That’s what I was trying to get surgery for, forget the stone, I want my saliva to be able to release into my mouth as it normally would without me having to milk it.

I can live without orange juice, which I have lived without for years because I know that sour causes this issue. The one thing I don’t think I can live without is sweet, because I have a sweet tooth. I love sweet flavors, such as sweet tea, or sweet coffee, or sweet oatmeal. I can live without chocolate and cookies and so on, but I can’t avoid other sweet flavors because there is almost always something sweet.

My next appointment with the surgeon isn’t until March, but my next appointment with my regular doctor is next month and he will advise me on what to do. I just hope by then it isn’t too painful.

I was hoping that my last post on this issue was my very last post. I guess I jinxed myself by saying it was my last post. This seems to be a pattern with me though. I say I will never have to worry about something again, but then it comes back and I have to worry about it some more. It’s a “if it can go wrong, it will” type of thing. Murphy’s Law. Why does Murphy seem to always be hiding in the shadows cursing me? Darn you Murphy!

I will certainly update this issue if it becomes too unbearable and I end up in the ER or when I see my doctor in January, whichever comes first.

Make Holiday Money Online

On December 9, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Blog, Make MoneyLeave a comment

Want to know how to earn money on your smart phone or computer for the holidays? It’s not very difficult, although it does take a lot of time and patience. Here is how I make extra money. Blogging, surveys and watching videos online.

Blogging

Blogsvertise

Blogsvertise isn’t as good as it used to be, although I am not counting them out of the game because it is possible that some day I might get new opps, although it has been a long time so I’m not holding my breath either. They usually send you an email telling you to write a 200 word, 3 paragraph blog post and you get paid a certain amount of money depending on your blogs rating. The higher your PR is, the more money you will make. Although from what I understand, Google doesn’t use PR anymore, advertisers still request PR1 or PR3. They do have pay-per-click opportunities, but I have never made a dime from those, so they don’t work very well.

It takes 30 days to receive your payment through PayPal and there is no limit to the amount of money they will deposit. If your payment is $10, then they deposit $10.

PayPerPost
PayPerPost is a company owned by IZEA. They send you emails with leads and you can either accept or decline them. You just write your blog post about the website and enter the link to the post and you get paid 30 days after it is approved. There isn’t a limit to how much money you can withdraw, but know that if it is under $50, they will take $2 from you. It’s a good thing to wait for that to build up to $50 though. I still have $23.50 in my account, although it has been quite some time since I have gotten an opp.

SocialSpark

SocialSpark is also owned by IZEA and for some reason I get more opportunities here than PayPerPost, although it has been quite some time since I have. I also have a pay-per-click (PPC) ad on my blog which does generate revenue each month, so whether I write a post or not, I will receive money in my account, although it is a tiny amount.

Much like the other blogging websites above, they send you an email telling you that you have a lead or an opportunity and you either accept the lead, or take the opportunity, whichever the case may be. Unlike the other 2, when you are ready to write your blog post, you have to write it within the website, not your own. They will post it to your blog on a specific day and time, usually the next day or so.

It also takes a month to receive your payment, and like PayPerPost, you can withdraw any amount you want, but they will take $2 out if the amount is under $50.

Surveys

Swag Bucks

Swag Bucks is a great way to earn money by doing surveys, watching videos, playing games, downloading apps and getting paid to shop or search the web. I haven’t received a payout yet, but that’s because it is not the easiest way to earn money because I get disqualified from I would say 8 out of 10 surveys because I didn’t meet the criteria for whatever reason. You earn very little for watching videos and I haven’t even figured out how to earn money from playing games yet. When you do earn swag bucks from surveys, it is a good amount.

When you have 450 swag bucks you are eligible to redeem a $5 gift card for Amazon. Some rewards are 500 for a $5 value, but Amazon seems to require less. They do have good rewards though, like Amazon, Target, PayPal and Starbucks, just to name a few.

SuperPay.Me

SuperPay.Me is a new website (new to me) that I just started using. In just a short amount of time I have earned $1.43 and 104 points from doing surveys, installing apps and watching videos. One of the very odd ways of earning money is by clicking a banner ad which opens a new tab in your browser, and you have 5 to 60 seconds to look at a website before you earn your credit. The credit isn’t a lot, but it’s free money, so why wouldn’t you do it?

The reason I am suggesting this website is because you can withdraw any amount of money you want at any given time. Like say you have made $1.00 and you want that dollar, like right now, you can withdraw it to your PayPal account. How you make money from points is you can either get a $5 Amazon gift card for 500 points, or you can convert your points to cash, or you can convert your cash to points. It is up to you how you want to be paid. I would personally keep earning as much money as I can until I need it, then withdraw it and get a lump sum.

Amazon Mechanical Turk

Amazon Mechanical Turk is not the same thing as everything else I listed above this one. You choose tasks called “HIT” and do whatever it is they want you to do. Like for example, my first task was to write down everything in a store receipt along with their price, including coupons and voids. You know how a receipt shows initials instead of long names because there really isn’t much room for a long name? Well, you have to type in the long name I guess. Anyway, that one particular task gave me 2 hours to do the task, well, that’s perhaps a 10 minute task if you ask me, but they kept saying I didn’t do something right and to keep checking. I forgot to add 1 yogurt and 1 dozen eggs, but everything else was right. I checked it, double checked it, triple checked it, quadruple checked it… I basically checked it about 20 times and it was correct. I finally just submitted it whether it was right or not because it was right in my mind. If I don’t get paid then that’s okay, it was only .06 cents anyway.

You aren’t going to make very much money with this which is why I don’t completely recommend it. It is Amazon, so when you get paid, they will pay you money, or you can choose Amazon credit. I personally would rather have Amazon credit because I’m always buying things on Amazon anyway, so I might as well just have some money in my account. But I can’t say that I will be doing this enough to make much of a difference. It takes way too long for only 6 cents for that one task.

Watching TV

Viggle

Viggle isn’t a website, it’s an app for your Android or iPhone. You earn points for watching tv and doing trivia while watching your show. They have some good rewards, although they come and go so if you want a specific reward, you may have to wait for it to come back.

In 2013 I earned $50 in rewards for Barnes & Noble. It cost me 50,000 points for $25 which I redeemed twice (months apart). I don’t see it on their website now, but I will continue earning more points to redeem more for the same reward.

RewardTV

RewardTV is a website I used many, many years ago. I didn’t even know they were still around, but you can make a lot of points just buy doing trivia on shows that you watch. Like say you watched Once Upon A Time last night, today you can do trivia on what you saw. I completed the trivia and got 2 questions wrong, but they weren’t questions for the show, they were for the commercials during the show. Look, I’m not paying attention to the commercials LOL. Those are pee breaks people! At any rate, for this specific show, I earned 10,500 points.

I can’t tell you how to spend your points. They don’t have a rewards page for redeeming your points like the other websites I suggested. They do have sweepstakes, pay for my stuff which I assume is basically sweepstakes, auctions, and shopping spree, which I have no clue how that works.

So even though I have no clue how you can make money from this, I am still suggesting it because points are very easy to make if you remember what happened in the show that you watched the day before. I am sure you will figure out how to spend your points.

Those are all I can think of for right now. I wrote a post about making money from your cell phone, but I didn’t keep those apps because I didn’t use them as often as I would have liked, but I stand by them because they are a good way to earn money if you are willing to do what they ask.

Since when did saying “Happy Holidays” become offensive?

On December 7, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Atheism, Christmas, My Childhood, Religion, SpiritualityLeave a comment

I have been saying “Happy Holidays” my entire life. There have always been cards sold in stores that say “Happy Holidays” and nobody was ever offended before. Now all of a sudden saying “Happy Holidays” seems to be more offensive because people believe there is a war on Christmas and that Atheists are trying to remove “Christ” from Christmas, so if I don’t say “Merry Christmas”, but say “Happy Holidays” instead, then I am part of the problem and get lectured by some religious person who is very upset.

This is how I see it. I have friends who celebrate Hanukkah and friends who celebrate Christmas. I also have friends and family who celebrate Christmas, but not specifically for religious reasons because they are Atheists. So why can’t I say “Happy Holidays” to them without someone yelling at me for not saying “Merry Christmas”? I wouldn’t say “Merry Christmas” to my Jewish friends and I wouldn’t say “Happy Hanukkah” to my Christian friends. Happy Holidays is a happy medium. It’s a way of saying, well, Happy Holidays lol. It’s just words, so why is it so upsetting? I don’t understand.

I am an Atheist and I have celebrated Christmas since I was a baby. I wasn’t always an Atheist, I was baptized when I was a baby and I considered myself to be a Christian when I was growing up. My parents took us to church when we were very young, and I have memories of that, but then they stopped and there is a very funny story of why.

My mother and step father went to my mother’s church which happened to be the Mormon church. The first time he ever went there with her, they asked him to stand up and say his name. He was afraid to say his own last name out of fear of her getting kicked out of the church because they were living together, but they weren’t married. They knew her last name was McDonald, so he used her last name without really thinking it through. The problem with that was, his first name was Ronald. He was so beyond embarrassed when people laughed at him for proudly proclaiming to be Ronald McDonald that we never went to church again as a family.

I went with neighbors to the Salvation Army church when I was in the 6th and 7th grade. I even went to the Salvation Army band camp the summer before I was in the 7th grade. When we lived in Reseda when I was in the 9th grade we rejoined the Mormon Church because they helped us with food bank, but I don’t recall going to church every Sunday, but I do remember going to teen functions, one specific function stands out, it was a dance for the teenagers.

Anyway, I was very religious up until I came out of the closet at 17, well, I was pushed out, then kicked out. People started quoting the bible to let me know I was going to hell for being gay and over the course of a year or two, I became an Atheist. But I never stopped celebrating Christmas because I enjoy decorating the Christmas tree and looking at the lights and having a stocking hung by the fireplace. I enjoy all of the Christmas movies and I love it when my favorite shows have a Christmas episode.

Just because I am an atheist and do not celebrate Christmas for “Christ” doesn’t mean I want Christ to be removed from Christmas. I honestly don’t care what it’s called, I just want to have a happy holiday without being told that I am a part of the war on Christmas just because I am not religious.

So Happy Holidays to you all. Deal with me saying Happy Holidays because it’s just words. If me saying Happy Holidays offends you, get over it!

BTW, the cat in the picture above is our late cat Shanaynay. She passed away in 2009.

No More Tube!

On December 6, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog, Doctor, Health, PainLeave a comment

We went to the surgery clinic at Kern Medical Center today to have the tube removed from my neck. It would have been removed last week if it weren’t for the fact that my surgeon is only there on Fridays, and that was the day after Thanksgiving. I honestly did not mind having the tube for that extra week because there was still more fluids draining, so I feel the extra week was warranted.

I don’t have very much swelling anymore, thank goodness. When I did have swelling, it felt like my stitches were going to pop so I used ice to help bring the swelling down. I think the swelling was what hurt the most, besides of course having a tube inside my neck, which hurt like hell every time I accidentally yanked on it.

Without me even having to ask, my surgeon Dr. Trang told me that they tested the stone that was in my parotid gland and they did not find any traces of cancer. I didn’t think there would be, but it’s good to know that there isn’t cancer anyway. I do have more stones growing in my left parotid gland, so there is a good chance that I will have to go through this all over again in a few years. Hopefully not, but if it happens then it happens.

You can’t even see the stitches along my ear, but you can see it behind my ear and along my neck. You can’t see my neck in the picture above, but it’s there. I’m not too worried about scarring. If I have a bad scar then I will buy some scar cream, if I don’t have a scar then yea for me lol. It really doesn’t phase me one way or the other. I’m just glad I don’t have a stone in my parotid gland, well, I don’t have a parotid gland anymore either.

There is a mushy lump on my face down near my jaw near my ear, but Dr. Trang told me that it is just saliva that has collected in that spot and it should absorb into my body. It will go away on its own.

The thing that I am most happy about is that it is all finished and I can move on with my life pain-free, well, until my back starts hurting again, or some other thing causes issues lol. I know it’s going to happen, it always does. You know the saying, if it isn’t one thing, it’s another. That’s how life is for me. It sucks, but I think it is why I am such a patient person. That has too meanings lol. Get it? I’m patient as in not impatient and I am a patient as in going to the doctor’s office lol. I thought it was funny.

If you have no clue what I am talking about, please read this post: Parotidectomy Surgery

Anyway, this is hopefully the last thing I have to say about this issue. It’s all good!

My Keychain and Earring Colors

On December 6, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Etsy, Hobby, Jewelry2 Comments

I will accept any custom orders for keychains, keychain dangle earrings and stud earrings and here are the colors that I have.

Notes:

The gold that I have isn’t shiny like the gold you see in the picture.
The patriotic has 2 sides, one side the red on the top is bright, but the other side it is dark so for studs there are 2 choices, dark or bright.
The Neon Orange is kind of translucent.
I am out of Rose, but more is on the way.

Brands:

Creatology Bought at Michael’s: Red, Neon Orange, Goldenrod, Neon Green, Neon Blue, Royal Blue, Neon Purple, White, Clear
Pepperell Rexlace Bought at KwikCrafts.com: Neon Red, Orange, Neon Orange, Neon Yellow, Apple Green, Kelly Green, Baby Blue, Lavender, Neon Purple, Rose, Pink, Hot Pink, Gold, Tie Dye, Glow in the Dark, Silver Sparkles, Black

Here is an image of all of these colors in their spools.

Here is an example of some of the colors that I have worked with. Here is the rainbow keychain with red, neon orange, goldenrod, neon green, baby blue, purple and clear, black or white in the middle and clear on the outside. Here is also the matching dangle earrings with the same colors.

I have also made the rainbow earrings with white and black in the DNA style.

Here is the Red, White and Blue patriotic stud earrings so you can see how that looks, you can also see that I have the ability to make them with plastic studs or stainless steel which are both hypoallergenic.

Finally here is what the Tie Dye looks like with Glow in the Dark in the middle. Of course you can’t actually see it glow in this picture, and the glow in the dark is from an old roll that I bought many years ago, it’s not the new glow in the dark that I have not yet gotten. Of course this one is not for sale, but if someone did want me to make one to buy, I could make the color in the middle any color you wanted. I cut the fringe really short with this one because it curled up way too much. I made this one in the crinkle cut fry style because I wanted to be able to see the it glow and I wasn’t sure it would be as visible in the DNA style.

Swelling From Surgery

On December 2, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

December 2 2013 I had my parotidectomy surgery on November 20th, and at first I didn’t notice any swelling because I was totally numb, so if there was any swelling, the pressure didn’t bother me. After 5 days the pressure from the swelling felt like it was going to pop my stitches. I Googled swelling after surgery and what I read on more than a few websites was to use ice to help with the swelling, so I did, and it did help.

There is a tube sticking out of my neck that drains the fluids into a little bulb that is squeezed to create a vacuum. The fluids were red at first, but then it turned pink and day by day it turned a lighter shade of pink, and after 5 days nothing came out, it was empty, but that was when the swelling started. I think the swelling was preventing any fluids from coming out. When I started using ice, fluid started coming out, but it was a dark color of red, much like the blood you see at the bottom of frozen meat. When I stopped using ice, the fluid turned back to its pink shade, but not much is really coming out now.

My stitches seem to have turned white around the top and along my ear, but it is still black on my neck, but it is turning white. My partner says that it looks like it is healing and there won’t be much of a scar at all. I am sure there will be a scar, but it won’t be noticeable along my ear, but more on my neck. If I grew a beard it would basically cover the scar up completely, but I’m not into growing beards. For one, it itches like crazy and two, I am sure it would still be stubble after a month. I don’t grow hair very fast on my face. I can literally go for a whole week and it just looks like stubble, as if I haven’t shaved in a couple of days. I can only tolerate it for one week, I have to shave because the itching drives me insane lol.

I will see the doctor on Friday to have the tube removed from my neck. I really look forward to that because this tube is driving me crazy. I keep accidentally pulling on it and that hurts like hell because it is stitched onto my neck. I can see that it has been pulled out a little bit, but not too much. When I first came home from the hospital after surgery they put tape on the tube on my shirt, and that tape only lasted for a few days and then I had to toss it. I didn’t have any of the same or medical grade tape to keep it on my shirt, so I just let it hang loose, big mistake. Last night I had the bright idea to use the packing tape that I use to tape the labels on the envelopes when I sell keychains and earrings on Etsy. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that earlier. It would have saved me a ton of pain.

The numbness is still there and it drives me crazy lol. It is starting to go away so that’s good. I was worried that I would start feeling pain again if the numbness went away because I ran out of the Percocet that the doctor gave to me after surgery. I have prescription strength Ibuprofen, but I also have something that my regular doctor gave to me for the pain that is just as good as the Percocet, that is Tramadol, but I only take 1 pill twice a day unlike the Percocet which was 2 pills 4 times a day. I do seem to be doing good without the pain meds though. Occasionally I will feel what seems like I am being stuck with a needle multiple times in one spot, but it goes away after a few minutes. It doesn’t hurt bad, but I expect there to be some pain considering my face was opened up and stitched back together after 4 hours. No biggie.

So anyway, that is my update.

One more week with a tube

On November 29, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

parotid gland surgery week 2

Last week on November 20th I had my surgery to remove my Parotid gland because I had a stone that was basically the size of a marble which was preventing saliva from being released into my mouth.

If yesterday was not Thanksgiving, today I would be at the surgery clinic getting the tube removed from my neck. Since the surgeon is only in the surgery clinic on Fridays, I will have to wait another week to have the tube removed. It’s been more than a few days since anything drained into the tube, so it’s not doing me any good being in there.

I’ve had more pain in the last few days from the swelling than I had when I first had the surgery. There didn’t seem to be too much swelling in the beginning, it only started swelling after 5 days. Today it still seems swelled up, but the pressure isn’t bothering me. Then again, the day isn’t over yet and I’m thinking about getting the ice pack to help the pressure.

It doesn’t seem to be as red today as it has been so that is a good sign. When I say red, I don’t mean the sutures, I mean my cheek and ear. It seems from the picture to be a good healthy color.

Next Friday can’t come quick enough though because I really can’t wait for this tube to be removed lol. It’s more embarrassing than anything. Last night I went to our neighbors house and totally forgot myself and I went over there with just my shirt and jeans. I should have remembered to wear my hoodie so I could have covered my head and my tube. It didn’t freak anyone out except for me lol. Oh well.

Day 5 After Parotidectomy Surgery

On November 25, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog5 Comments

My surgery was on November 20th so it has been 5 days and I thought I would take a picture to show my progress. It appears that my ear is swelling up and my face is a lot redder than it was. I had just gotten out of the bath tub when I took the picture on the right, but it has been more than an hour since then and it is still just as red. All of the red area is completely numb.

The way the doctor cut my face and stitched it up was perfect. He followed my ear all the way down and went behind my ear lobe before going down following the line of my beard. Genius! In my opinion, he did an excellent job. I saw pictures of other people who had the same surgery and their incisions didn’t look this good, so I feel very blessed that I had such an artist.

My face has a golf ball sized hole in front of my ear where my gland used to be swollen. I figured it would have filled in by now, but it is still dented. I’m sure it will fill in, I’m not worried about that. It is still numb too.

The only thing that isn’t numb is where the tube is sticking out. I don’t really care too much for having a tube sticking out of my neck. It would be awesome if I didn’t have to have it in me for 2 whole weeks. It was supposed to be removed after 7 days, and they even wrote a note on the paperwork that said “Follow-up KMC ENT Clinic next Friday.” Well, that is the day after Thanksgiving and they are closed that day. The reason they said Friday and not Wednesday is because that surgeon is only in the surgery clinic on Friday. I guess he is the only one who can take the tube out so I will have to wait until December 6th.

I have been catching up on my sleep. Today I woke up to the sound of my alarm on my phone to tell me to take my pills at 8am. I had other pills to take at 10am and it had to wake me up again for those. Then my partner woke me up at 12:30pm and I decided I wanted to get out of bed. I don’t like sleeping the day away lol.

Another good thing about this is that I am losing weight again. That’s not always a good thing because the reason I am losing weight is because of the medication, but I am using that to my advantage. I am normally always hungry, so since I don’t feel too hungry all the time, I am eating the same amount of food I ate when I lost 70lbs. I have been eating a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerio’s for breakfast with a banana and Silk Vanilla Light Almond Milk. I ate a Yoplait light Strawberry yogurt at 10am which is my usual snack time and I ate a Weight Watchers Smart Ones meal with Fettuccine Alfredo and Chicken. It is my 3pm snack time now so I will have a banana, then at dinner I will have another Weight Watchers Smart Ones meal.

When I stopped losing weight in July, I was still eating this same diet, although I was eating a little bit more food and I wasn’t getting a lot of sleep which seems to be the key. I am getting more sleep now and eating the right foods, so I am losing weight again. When I stopped losing weight I was 192lbs, but then I went back up to 202lbs and fluctuated between 202 and 210. Last week when I had my surgery I was 208. Today I am 199.8. So I will just keep doing what I am doing to help get me back down to 192. Whatever it takes, right? This was the boost I needed and hopefully I will continue to lose weight.

Well, back to bed I go.

Recovering from Surgery

On November 24, 2013 By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I am still recovering from surgery. Been laying in bed reading the 12th Xanth book “Man From Mundania”. The meds make me very sleepy though, so it’s hard to concentrate, but I do my best. My face around my ear and my ear are still numb and it feels very odd to be numb and itchy at the same time. I’ve never had surgery so naturally I had no idea what this would be like.

There is a tube sticking out of my neck to drain the fluids that I was only supposed to have for 1 week, but since the doctor is only there on Fridays and they are closed the day after Thanksgiving, I have to have the tube for 2 weeks. It doesn’t bother me, but I was hoping to not have it any more than I have to because it hurts sometimes when I accidentally pull on it. It’s also very disgusting lol. We usually go to Golden Corral on Thanksgiving because it’s easier to have them do all the work, but with the stitches and the tube, I just can’t see me walking around a restaurant filling my plate without feeling like I’m being stared at and judged. I already had someone blatantly staring at my stitches while talking to me and seeing the disgusted look on his face which made me never want to leave the house again.

I honestly don’t mind the cooking and cleaning, but since it is just the two of us and we really don’t need to cook that much food, it doesn’t make much sense buying and cooking so many different dishes. I think if we can just get some chicken for the crock pot, a couple of potatoes and a couple of yams and a pumpkin pie we should be fine. That’s really all I care to eat anyway.

I haven’t been eating as much as I normally have been. I don’t know if it’s the medicine, but I’m just not hungry which means I am losing weight. Yes, I have literally lost 6lbs since Wednesday. I love knowing that I am losing weight, but not because the medicine is making me sick, but because I’m eating right and trying to lose weight. I don’t know if that makes sense.

Well, I really just wanted to do a status update, but I was up to 3 paragraphs and I figured it was big enough for a blog post so I switched over to blogging lol. I’m finished so back to bed for me.

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