"My Guy"

I thought I'd give you a bit of an update on "My Guy"....There is nothing major going on with him.

End  of update.



(HAHAHAHAHA!!!  Sorry, I just couldn't resist.  Have I mentioned that I have a quirky sense of humor?)

But seriously, folks, Mikey  probably wouldn't say anything much different.  His life has been pretty quiet this year.  It's been a full year since his episode with Bell's Palsy arrived last August.  Everyone he talked to at the beginning said that the paralysis could last anywhere from 3 months to a year.  By then it was pretty much gone for most folks.  It wasn't a guarantee, however.  For some people it never went completely away. 

Even though it is much improved, he is still bothered by the watery eyes and the changes to his sense of taste.  But the thing he dislikes the most is that the muscles in his right cheek feel to him as if they have all tightened up and distorted the way it feels and sounds when he talks. It bothers him.  All of the doctors that he's seen have told him that there wasn't anything that could be done.  Either it goes away or it doesn't.  Well, that's encouraging.

He tried several weeks of acupuncture treatments, but they appear to have been ineffective.  Tomorrow he will see a physical therapist who has had some success with a course of therapy sessions.  We'll see how it goes.  If  that doesn't help, there doesn't appear to be any other treatment options out there.

As hard as it is for him to accept, he may well be one of the unlucky ones for whom it never completely goes away.  We know that this is NOT debilitating in the extreme, it won't kill him or disable him.  It will just annoy him.  And an annoyed Mikey is a no-fun Mikey!

On a more positive note, however, he is slowly becoming a mere shadow of his former self!  He has been on a liquid diet program (Optifast) since July.  He has lost something around 25 pounds and he is looking good.  His tummy is now flatter than mine!  (How unfair is that??  lol!)  His total weight is under 200 lbs for the first time in a number of years.  He has about 6-8 more weeks until he moves into the next stage of the process.  That stage is called the "refeeding" stage, which sounds more like something farm animals do at the end of winter!  It isn't that exactly, however, it is the time when solid foods are reintroduced and one actual meal a day is added.  

I want to assure everyone, this is all under a supervised program.  He weighs in weekly, he sees the doctor periodically for checking his vitals, he attends a weekly group session with a nurse/nutrition counselor (or something like that) and other participants in the program.  Also, he has done this before a couple of times and was very successful.  So we don't worry about his overall health being affected.

I would not ever have the strength and discipline needed to go through a program like this.  I would fail miserably, but he has the self-discipline and commitment to stick to it!  I don't know what his actual goal weight is but I know he will hit it (or pretty close).  The trick is (as always) sticking to healthy eating once the program is over.

Still, for the moment at least,"My Guy" is well on his way to becoming the lean, mean, fighting machine (well, not really, but you know what I mean), formerly known as The Big Guy.  Go, go, go, Mikey!