Journey 2 My Sunn

Hello my blog readers!

I apologize for the silence of not posting a new blog. I have been in a rough patch lately with my health. Let me get you all up to speed. I have had a lot of doctor appointments and test. I have been doing a lot of praying and contemplating. I made a big decision to switch from my family doctor of 4 years in Iowa City to an Internal Medicine doctor here locally. I can gladly say I am very happy I did. The family doctor I was seeing wasn’t listening to me and kept brushing off symptoms I was having. My new Internal Medicine doctor immediately was very concerned. She said we need to stay on top of things and take care of issues as they come up. She said some of these issues you are having aren’t from your Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), Polycystic Ovaries (PCOS), or Fatty Liver. Wow, the relief I felt when she said that. My family doctor made me feel like I was crazy and getting worked up for nothing. UGH, the frustration I felt with her.

After all the test so far, I found out that I have a benign tumor in my Gallbladder. I have seen the surgeon and now have to have a Hida Scan done on my gallbladder to see if it function at all or if there are any blockages. I will keep you posted as I have that test on June 10th. I have also seen a Nutritionist to help me guide me with my weight loss and healthier eating. She is there to help me since I have some food allergies. I am happy to say that I am still done about 25 lbs. I am learning lots of new healthy recipes and working hard at eating a balance diet. I have even begun to try fish. For those who don’t know I am not a fish eater. I don’t like the really fishy fish tasting fish. But I have found at least one fish I like. But I definitely don’t like Catfish. I am open for suggestions. I can’t do shellfish I am allergic to them.

I think the hardest part of my journey is feeding my family at night. I have a few picky eaters in the house, so that can be challenging at times. But, I am keeping plenty of bread, peanut butter and jelly on hand. Some might say that is wrong of me, but sorry I can’t make 2,3 or 4 meals a night because someone doesn’t like something. The other hard part up until the beginning of this month was Curtis and his desire for me to eat red meat all the time. He was able to go to my first appointment with my new doctor, because he had a rain day from work. She reviewed the diet that I should follow with my PKD & Fatty Liver. I am limited to 1 meal with Red meat a week. If it flies or swims, I can have it as much as I want. NO PORK, which is a bummer because I love bacon. The no pork bothered Curtis, because he loves steak and pork chops. However, like he said this is for my health and we need to take it seriously. He has been very supportive.So progress is being made.

I am taking it one day at a time and leaning on my faith to help get me through the days I find rough. I am hoping next year at this time to be down to 75 lbs. Wishing you all a great last day of May and drier days ahead in June. Blessings to all.

First off let me apologize for gap between blog post lots of changes for me and I got a little overwhelmed. I changed companies I was working for, trying to eat healthy, excerise, and adjust to thinking about eating differently. I know that last part seems off the wall, but you know it is hard for me. I am struggling BIG time with that. The reason for that in my opinion is lack of healthy recipes (time to scour the internet for healthy clean recipes) and like millions of others – my home life is hectic. We have always had supper together as a family at the table. Well, the last couple months that hasn’t been possible and it has thrown me off quite a bit.

So let me explain why I this has me thrown. My husband is an Ironworker, who is now working 1 1/2 hrs away from home on top of working 10 hour days. He leaves the house at 5:15 am and returns around 7:45 pm. My son is now working a job in the Quad Cities and he works 10 am – 6 pm Tues, Thursday – Sunday. That leaves Fiona (my son’s girlfriend – who lives with while she is attending Muscatine Community College) and my self to make the meal, which isn’t too bad. But I also need to make sure that the meal is enough to fill the bellies of the two men that come home after 7 pm. On top of that, they are huge meat eaters. I have significantly limited the amount of meat I eat. I know that may not seem to hard, but to me it is. I am trying to find recipes where I can make meat a side option with out a ton of extra work. Plus make sure that is isn’t the same type of meat each night. My husband is a huge red meat fan! He loves steak, ribeye, new york strip, and t-bone. Red meat is hard on the kidneys, so i am try to avoid it as much as possible. After eating red meat, I hurt worse then I normally do across the flank of my back. So he gets bored of chicken recipes. Plus, I should mention my two step-sons that come every other weekend – who are both very very picky eaters. So I will be honest I haven’t been eating the best or the cleanest. All this has stressed me out – so if anyone has any great recipes to share, please do. I know I will conquer this. I just need to do more searching for recipes and learning to prep meals ahead of time.

On the positive side, I am down 20 pounds, about 7 inches from my waist and hips and down a size (almost 2 sizes) in jeans. I have one cup of coffee in the morning, drink 64 oz of water most days ( I am working on making this goal every day), NO soda, dairy, and very limited sodium. I have some victories and some failures, but I am staying committed and I will succeed. I have met my first goal I set for myself when I first started this journey – which was to lose 20 pounds. Not to mention the goal of no soda and to make healthier choices (still working on this one).

Well, I am going to wrap this up for this post. I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed First Friday of April. Happy Spring!

Wow, the last couple weeks since I posted have been filled with nagging sharp left flank pain and a heavy dull ache in my right flank. Each day presented with its own challenges for me. But, I am proud to say I got up each day and pushed through the day.

I am definitely figuring out when I need to drink more water, less water, and other no no things. Plus I have to be careful with my workouts. I keep over doing it. I was trying to lift weights 4 times a week and that is a definite no no for my kidneys. Intense workouts can overload my kidneys and that in return increase the pain and discomfort. So I am trying this schedule for my workouts: yoga, Pilates, light cardio, weights, yoga, Pilates and a day of rest. So we will see how that goes.

It has been so long since I have actually felt good that I am all gong ho to get healthy, which is good just have to remember my kidneys are impaired and need some extra care and time to recover.

I am doing well in my clean healthy eating and have lost 12 pounds. One thing I have noticed with the clean healthier eating is how I feel after eating. I don’t feel bloated and blah. I feel content and energized.

I hope all who read this post have a blessed day filled with positive happy thoughts. Best wishes, Heather

So on January 14th I started the 28-day jumpstart challenge. This challenge was to help detox the body and begin clean healthy eating. My starting weight was 220 pounds. When it ended on this past Sunday, February 10th I weighed 208.8 and lost 3.5 inches from my waist and 3.5 inches from my hips. I have learned to to better portion my food and I am eating healthier. No processed foods, no red meat, limited my diary and more veggies! No soda in over a month!!I am trying lots of new healthier recipes! Plus I am starting to see more improvements in myself and my health. I am celebrating my small victories. While taking it one day at a time.

Honestly, there are still days when I don’t even want to get out of bed because of how I feel and the constant discomfort. I have to tell myself to put my big girl panties on and battle through the day. I do manage get myself out of bed and by the end of the day I am exhausted and have no motivation to do any housework or even make supper. But at least I got up and took on the day. Each night I pray for a little more energy the next day. Anyone else have days like that??

Wow, as I sit here and reflect back on this first month into this journey. I am proud of my progress. Before I started, I set some goals as to what I wanted to do this first month:

1. Eliminate my soda addiction
2. Switch from cow’s milk to non-cow’s milk (almond, cashew, coconut)
3. Limit the amount of red meat I ate
4. Cut my diary consumption in half
5. Eat a heavy plant-based diet
6. Exercise

I am happy to say I have eliminated soda completely. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t drink any caffeine. I drink 1 cup off coffee in the morning or green tea (hot or cold – depending on my mood). I now drink Almond milk instead of cow’s milk. I haven’t had any red meat in about 3 weeks. I have cut my dairy to my yogurt with my overnight oats & a sprinkle of cheese on my veggies or potatoes occasionally. I eat lots of veggies – more than half my plate is veggies. I am trying lots of new recipes.

I have to say just making those few changes I am already seeing a difference. You might be wondering what changes I am seeing. Well, let me take you back to before I started this journey. Here are some of the symptoms I had everyday: flank pain on my left side, Urinary Tract – urgency, frequency, discomfort urinating, constant nausea, loss of appetite, confusion, extreme fatigue, abdominal pain & bloating, swelling in my legs, and muscle pain. Those are the ones I dealt with daily.

Now a month later, some of these symptoms have gotten better and some are just ones I will have to learn to live with. For instant, I no longer have any Urinary tract symptoms, the confusion has gotten better and so had the extreme fatigue. My dietician tells me that the muscle pain will continue to get better as my body continues to get rid of the build up of toxins my body has stored. I am learning to deal with the constant discomfort in my flank and Right Upper abdomen.

I am proud to say I have lost inches from my waist and hips. Even the scale is down 10 pounds. I have several more inches and pounds to go. But I am proud I actually lost and didn’t gain more weight. This month hasn’t been without set backs. However, I can say I didn’t once think about quitting. I just refocused myself and picked up where I stumbled. By stumbled, I mean I quick meal prepping. That was a big stumble for me for the simple reason once the food was readily available I found myself wanting to grab things that weren’t as healthy for me.  Even this I have overcome with the help of having salad mixes and celery on eat to munch on.

Exercise has been a little harder for me. As it wipes me out completely and takes a couple days to recover from the exhaustion and muscle pain. So, right now I am focusing on increasing my steps each week by 1,000 steps. I have started doing yoga and some pilates. This has been much easier to stay activity for me. Instead of trying to do squats, jumping  jacks, crunches, cardio and weight training. Little steps will get me to the big steps one day soon.

Hello, let me introduce myself. My name is Heather aka Matkabjorn8. Here is a little background into my blog name and id. I am of Polish/Norwegian decent. So I used words from both languages to come up with part of my blog ID and blog title. I am Matkabjorn8. So Matka (Mother) Polish and Bjorn (Bear) Norwegian, the 8 is for my kids (2 & 4 legged) . I took the Norwegian work for health which is sunn. I used it instead of the actual work for health. Blog page: Journey 2 My Sunn.

Here is some background on me I am married to a wonderful and very supportive man, have 3 boys, 2 canine kids, 1 feline kid and 2 feline grandkids. I have an 18 year career in healthcare. I reside in the Midwest – Iowa to be exact. Although, on a day like today, I sometimes long to live someplace a little warmer. Today’s temperature is -29 degrees, talk about a heat wave compared to yesterday’s -45. Heck, Alaska is warmer than us at a nice balmy 26 degrees. LOL!

Now for the reason behind this blog. I am in my early forties recently diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) and Liver Disease. In order to help preserve my kidney and liver function, I am on a journey to a healthier me by losing weight, eating a plant-based diet, limiting meat, processed foods, dairy and sodium. I have also eliminated soda from my diet. This blog will share my journey with you and serve as way for me to not only cope with my diagnosis, but also help me connect with others dealing with living change situations.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared at what these new diagnoses mean, but I am determined to make the changes to lead the healthy life I possibly can. Although I am familiar with PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease) since I have a strong family history. I am still learning and wanting to learn all I can to help prolong my kidney function. The liver disease is the one I don’t know as much about. At this point they aren’t sure exactly the type of liver disease, just that I have signs of liver disease. I can tell you I have had plenty of test these last 3 months and have some frustration at not fully knowing yet. Yes, I know that it doesn’t help in the blink of an eye. This whole thing started in October 2018. I will get more into that in my next blog post. For now, welcome to my blog and my journey to find my Sunn (health).

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton