The New Chapter: Whole or Hole? That is the Question!

Six days ago, last Tuesday, I had the appointment to remove the remaining stitches from my head. Unfortunatly, the seam didn't completely hold... I had about 2 mm split open as soon as the stitches were pulled. In the picture below, you can see the scab representing that opening. The 'dimples' also visible in the picture are from the fact that my skin that is covering the insert filling the hole in my skull is extremely thin.

Today, I went back to visit the plastic surgeon, Dr. Alperovich, to see where I can go next. Basically, I was given two options... (I was given these options at the previous visit, but more detail was provided at this appointment):

1) I could go back to having the hole in my skull - thus, requiring a helmet.

OR

2) Have a relatively major step to 'fix' my skull by taking muscle from a different area of my body (likely, from my back - the latissimus dorsi, specifically), replacing the 'plastic' part of my skull with a new one to avoid further infection, and covering my head with the scavanged muscle from my back - sans skin.

This is rather upsetting to only have those 2 choices - neither choice being all that wonderful.

At this point, I'm pretty sure that I'm going with the hole in my head option over the muscle-head option! (After making that statement, I'm even more convinced that that is the way to go...)

I think that the major downside to this part of my journey has resulted in a weight gain that I'm not thrilled with and the relative lack of exercise due to the limitations placed on me by the stitches. I basically wanted to positively effect the recovery of the implant/stitches by strictly following the instructions that I was given. It didn't work...

I was in the best shape of my life - with some difficulties that I had to deal with - when I had the hole in my skull. I had already taken on the keto diet to starve the tumor in my brain and was continuing with that aspect. I was at 15-ish% body fat and at the right-ish weight for my 6'2" height due to the exercise that I was doing. My overall mobility was cosiderably more limited than it was even one year prior, but I dealt with it through other means. (As I finish with this post, I've come to a conclusion...)

My plan is to go forward with keto, exercise, and a hole in my head!

My Little Marathon

OK, so it isn't even close to running (or walking) a marathon (Song: Rush, Marathon from Power Windows) - perhaps it is more like circuit training, but I squeezed in two exercise sessions over the course of 3 hours.  Using the Wii Fit Plus, I spent about an hour doing various different activities, mostly cardio-related but with a little bit of other stuff mixed in.  According to the 'game,' I burned just under 400 calories during that time.  The Wii Fit Plus allows you to set calorie burn goals.  Whether you reach your goal in one session or not, it keeps track of what you have burned each day.  My current goal is set for 455 calories.
After my hour of exercise, I decided to take a short break.  I took Ginger out for a brief walk - it was still raining and she doesn't like to be outside in the rain - and did some chores around the house.  Using one lemon, I made another glass of lemonade and cleaned up after that.  This was a particularly juicy lemon that yielded 5 Tbsp. of juice, so my glass of lemonade actually turned out to be 2.5 servings worth.  While I know that it is better to consume the juice immediately after squeezing it, it is a little annoying that one lemon can yield so much juice while another might barely be enough for one serving - even if they are the same size!  It definitely leads to the question - is it better to drink a larger portion of lemonade fresh or to reserve the excess for another serving at a later time?  My gut feeling is that it is perfectly acceptable to drink more than one serving at a time.  Considering that the recommendation is a minimum of 6-12 servings per day, if you consumed one serving per hour, it would take 12 hours for the upper end of the range.  If you squeeze, mix, drink, and clean up after each serving, that is a lot of time spent to get 12 individual servings of lemonade.
I guess that it is all about the results, anyway...

Due to timing - wanting to have showered prior to the family coming home - I decided to spend another 30 minutes exercising.  For lack of a better option, I turned the Wii back on and finished off my calorie burn goal.  I decided to do another weigh in to see what my progress was as well.  Normally, I wouldn't bother weighing myself this often, but the fact that I am following the master cleanse and that I already had easy access to a scale it just made sense.  It turns out that I have now lost a total of 8 pounds since beginning the cleanse.  According to my BMI, I am now, no longer considered obese!  Now I am just simply overweight...  Still some work to do on the weight loss front.  Not that it is currently a concern for me, judging obesity/overweight/normal weight just by BMI is a little skewed.  To truly get a picture of weight v. norms, you should also factor in body fat percentage.  In my case, muscle mass in not currently doing much to tip the scales, so BMI kind of works for me at the moment.  At least it does take height into account.

A new goal.

I began following The Maker's Diet on January 8th and while weight loss has not been my primary focus I have been losing quite a bit.  As reported in my previous entry, I have lost more than 30 pounds since January 1st - actually, as of today I have lost a total of 36 pounds.  As March 1st approached, I began toying with the idea of setting a new goal for myself.  My birthday falls on March 20th - the first day of Spring! - so I was thinking that I might like to set a specific weight loss goal for that day and essentially give myself a present.

As a result, I decided to set a goal of 250 pounds by March 20th.  That gives me 17 days from today to lose 10 pounds.  Given my current trend, it really should be a reachable goal.

I haven't really even considered what my ultimate weight goal will be.  Before I started experiencing symptoms, I had weighed 205 and was in the best shape of my life.  The Wii Fit Plus tells me that my ideal weight is 174 pounds putting me at a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 22.3.  BMI is a measure of weight as compared to height.  A BMI of 18.5-24.9 is considered to be the 'normal' range.  I cannot imagine weighing only 174 pounds!  I would be pleased to get down to 200 pounds - a BMI of 25.7.