Well The Walk-A-Thon was a big success for being the first. We had around 40 people show up, and we made around 1300 dollars. We have alot of T-Shirts and Kuvan baggies left. I am going to take them to my clinic next month and donate them so they can be handed out to all the patients there. There was about 250 pics taken that I plan to make a scrapbook with. I cannot wait to do it all again next year.
 Other then the Walk-A-Thon not much is new. I have been on medical leave from Sleggs now for 2 months today or 8 weeks on Friday, And I have been replaced. So I have been looking for a job since may 1st anticipating that I can go back to work on Tuesday. As my medical EI runs out Saturday.
I just started goign to the gym again. I missed 4 months now so its good to be back. I have gone everyday this week. I started with 30 mins and now I'am up to an hr again. I want my knee bending and to be back in shape before summer or I may need another surgery. I find out on the 23rd.
 Cole's Birthday is coming up , he will be 24 on the 24th. We are having a BBQ and a party. Nothing to big mostly just wii and games , music , that type of thing. He has been playing Mario Kart Wii everyday lol so he will probably beet everyone.
 On Monday we went to Walmart, bought a BBQ, and alot of stuff for our new gardens. Wich is my latest project. WE have 2 gardens in out back yard. One is flowers and peas, the others is Sunflowers and vegetables. In the Front yard we have two bird feeders, one is a humming bird feeder. Can you tell im getting excited for summer!! I cant wait to have summer parties and BBQs.
 I have already started Swimming again and its great to be back in the water. I can actually bend my knee fairly well in the water! I cant wait to get stronger again. I think i might take some adult swim lessons just to get use to the water again.
Well i guess thats all for now. Hope you all like the new site! I will try to update it more frequently!
Amanda
 

well i had my surgery on march 14th 2008 at 11:30 pm , i went in on adavan cause i was so scared and nervous. they took me in at quarter after 11 and the last think i remember was them looking for my vain for the intervienus. I remember vagly hearing them talk to me a bit but don't remember when. i think i may have started to wake up during the surgery cause i can remember a nurse saying "no not now, u have to breath" and putting a mask on my face. then i remember being so groggy and out of it. i heard the nurse calling cole telling him i was waking up and i remember thinking "no not yet i just want to sleep" i remember passing out again and cole coming and going. I remember the nurse and cole helping me put my pjs back on and the nurse pulling me out of bed and me just wanting to sleep. then i was throughing up and the nurse is telling me too. I do not remember getting into the car or getting home. Though i do remember the wind on my face cause cole had the windows down and him constantly asking if i was "still with him" i have no idea how i got in the house. The first clear memory i have is waking up on the couch and cole is making dinner. I was told that my surgery was over by one but i slept till 5:30 and that every time i was thinking to myself i just wanted to sleep that i was actually talking out loud!
The next 4 days were a total blur. Cole was home all weekend with me (my surgery was on a Friday) and then TY came on Monday and stayed all week to help look after me. I was on Morphine and couldn't do anything on my own m, i basically just slept the hole time, i was very week and could barely walk. I was on morphine for 9 days when i finally stopped taking it. Coles parents came down from Clinton on the 21st and stayed until the 29th. they stayed here at our house too.. and on easter weekend his Aunt and uncle and his little cousins came over to out house too since i couldn't walk on stairs to go to Chris and Rae-Annes yet so they came too. We had a full house for 2 weeks. I was hardly ever alone so it was nice. I started walking on my own on the 25th . though i was in emerg on the 18th cause my knee was thought to be infected by the clinic dr and since DR. Nelson (my surgeon ) was the dr on call they sent me to emerg. Dr . Nelson didn't think so and thought it was a blood clot so i had to have an ultrasound. never did here the results. i was in constant pain and still am, i went to my family dr on the 27 and he told me it is harshly infected so now i am on antibiotics and im really week, i have been having dizzy spells and been blacking out and it hurts like hell , its all red and purple.
My goal was to be back at work on the 7 and thats probably not gonna happen considering i still cant bend my knee and last night at my first physio visit i learn't i have lost all my strength in my muscles and thats why i cant lift or move or bend my knee on my own and cole has to help me. They hooked my thigh up to some electrodes to try to wake it up a bit. its a really scary feeling when u try to move ur leg or tell it to move and nothing happens!!
So it just seems to be one thing after another and all these complications. I have lost 5 lbs and normally that would be something i would be happy about , but honestly it just pissed me off.. i worked my ass off at the gym since October before this surgery , biked or walked to and from work and gained weight , i have surgery, loose my appetite and now get sick the weight starts dropping! so not cool!
Also it hurts like hell to sit down so sitting at my computer for longer then 5 mins makes my muscles start to shake and my pain to go from 5-8 , for this reason i have barely been able to work on my website or Walk-A-Thin and i cant go out cause sitting in the car takes all my strength and hurts like hell.
The hole time i knew i was getting surgery i was so worried about the surgery itself that i never even thought about how hard the recovery would be. i cant thank god enough for cole and Tyrai that have been amazing and so helpful and patient.
I am going crazy with bordum and getting really sick of sitting at home. I am actually missing my work so much and cant not wait to get back there and sit at my desk and see everyone lol . i so didn't know how much id miss my daily routine of work, gym and life lol . I am very egar to get back to work , get back the gym and get back into shape!!
So there you have it there's my update. I just want to thank everyone for there support and help!! i cant wait for everything to be back to normal!!! and better then normal i have so many goals now that my knee is "better" i want to get my drivers license, start swimming regularly and maybe take some dance lessons or horse back riding lessons!
All i know is i plant to live a much more active life style and loose all this weight this injury made me gain! I cant wait!
Look out world there will be a new me soon enough! In the end i know the pain an troubles i am having now is going to be so worth it!!
I can see the light at the end of this tunnel and its looking bright!!

Well lets see though it has been a short month for me , it went by all to quickly. I had a bad stomach flu for a week and missed work. My levels raised to 13 from working out at the gym. apperantly i wasn't eating enough protein or phe to match my work outs so my body was breaking down its muscle protein. So now the clinic moved my phe intake from 375 to 525 mg/phe that is the most i have ever had in my life. its insane but so cool! my levels went from 13 to 6.8 in a week, then i did 200 mg/phe for a few days and blood tests on all those days so my levels continued to drop. they went from 6.8 , 6.3 to 5!!!! now i am back on doing the 525 phes and the days i work out 1850 calories and on the days i don't 1500. but i haven't gone to the gym in 3 weeks sort of fell of track being sick and i was discouraged cause my knee still bothers me and i haven't lost any weight , yet i bought some new spring clothes last weekend with Cole and they were 2 sizes smaller!!  i bought a bike on Monday the 25th and now i ride to and from work , i even walked to my doctors last week it took me 2 hrs each way but it was nice to get out. The weather has been nice so i even have started a garden in the back yard this weekend. Im going to plant some tulips and some peas and stuff. Oh and i am having so much success with my walk. on the 27th shaw daily came to my house to do a profile on me and my life with PKU. There probably going to air it on easter weekend and again before my walk. I even baked for them , the lady who interviewed  me name was Karen .She reminded me alot of my mom so she was really easy to talk to. I was so nervous and had a stomach ache but it was alot of fun! i just hope i look good and the camera dosent add 10-20 lbs lol . Oh and The Running Room is going to sponsor our walk. That is so amazing, they are such a big and popular name i am happy to be recognized by them!! I met with Steve last week, and today i am meeting with the manager Pete!!
 While i was sick my surgeon for my knee called me , they finally have a surgery date for me. I was expecting it to be in June but its now in 11 days!! OMG i am so nervous and scared. Its a 6 week recovery. My boss dosent know if he can hold my job for 6 weeks so he might have to lay me off i am so upset , i just love my job!!! I have so many friends there and its just the best job i could ask for right now. Im going to see about going back to work at 3 weeks cause the swelling and pain should go down by then. I will be on crutches for a month so i don't see why if i can sit at home on crutches why i cant sit at my desk at work. The entire recovery including physio and therapy i am looking at 6 months. I hope i will be able to go swimming and get my life back this summer though!!
 I didn't get my PKU scholarship so i am trying again for a student loan but i am having to detest it , as since i haven't lived on my own for 4 years or worked full time for 2 they still consider me a Dependant of my parents and they expect my parents to prove they cant pay for me to go to school. And my parents wont so i am detesting Student loans to be recognized as a independent. If i get it i have finally decided that i am going to attend VCCT (Vancouver College of Counselor training) through distance education and get my professional counseling diploma and i will specialize in family & youth counseling, Eating disorder counseling and Chronic illness counseling!! I will do a year of correspondence and then 2 years of a paid internship , after the 2 years i can apply to the Canadian Counselor Association to get my degree!! Then i can open my own practice!
  Tyrai's mom has down a great first copy of our new logo "the PKU Panther " it looks great i love it. We hope to be able to post it soon. Tyrai and Nick and I have done so much in the last few weeks its really flown by!
 Well i think thats all for now. I will try to post again soon!

Amanda

Well it’s a new year, full of new promises, opportunities and adventures. I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday season. Cole and I went to Clinton to visit his family. We stayed over xmas and stayed for a hole week, it was truly amazing. I had an amazing time. We spent xmas eve and xmas up at his grandparents in horse lake then the remainder of our visit at his parents ranch. I took a lot of foods with me such as low protein chilli and, zucchini bread and apple crisp, that was pretty much what I ate for breakfast and lunch but for dinner we had so many wonderful foods, there was always lots I could eat and I didn’t need to worry cause they new what I could and could not have so there was lots for me, for instance for Christmas dinner I had mashed potatoes , carrots, Brussels sprouts , and salad with apple butter!!!! Which is my newest discovery and maybe my biggest help this year. u see im addicted to salt and its really bad how much eat not only health wise but also for my weight since it retains water and when I had my body fitness test done they told me 74 lbs of my weight was sodium retention (aka salt) I have been trying to cut back but its so hard food has no taste without it , but Coles grandma introduced me to apple butter and for now it has taken the place of my salt cause i can put it on my rice, potatoes or veggies.

 My favourite meal was the fried potatoes for breakfast that Dale and Tracy made with there own garden grown potatoes, I was in love!!!

 we were very lucky cause we got to take some foods home with us like Tracy’s canning she does from her garden so we got pickles, beets, pears, jams, syrups, apple butters etc etc it was awesome.

Unfortunately over the holidays I had a bad cold and was so stuffed up and had such bad headaches so I got to drink lots of hot spiced rum and apple cider. I love the spiced rum I crave it now. Also unfortunately I haven’t even done a blood test since that last one in November

its sure good to be home though, we are gone 3 weeks from the flood and we were home 2 days before we left for holidays and then that was a week , so in all we weren’t home very much at all in December but now  all our new carpets are and new floors and we didn’t loose any of our fish (except Jonesy , but he was old) and my cat Figaro is home now too .

im back at the gym and I think im starting to see some differences not in numbers or weight but how I feel and my activity level and even my jeans , I think I lost a size or too. im happy to be back at the gym I really missed it. I’ve upped my work out 5 lbs per weight and started on the elliptical which I do for 15 mins as a start up. I even have started yoga at home. But my best news is Cole and I went swimming on Sunday!!!! It was so great to be back in the water. We might go again this weekend. i didn’t even hurt later. Well least not my legs, my arms hurt lol .

My surgery counsel was in December Cole drove me thank god  because I was in so much pain after I could barely walk he drove me straight back to his brothers since we still staying there and I didn’t move from the couch for 3 hrs .But they told me that I will be going for surgery in late June and they have to reconstruct my tendits around my knee with my ham strings in all they will be making 3 incisions , one to my hamstrings and then one to put in a washer and a screw that will have the new tendit warp around it then drill it into my knee. Basically right now my knee cap floats cause there is nothing to hold it in place and that grinding that I always feel is from wear and tear and probably wont go away but it will stop dislocating constantly. Also I will have some permant numbness around my knee. But hey I think it will be worth it in the long run.

Tyrai and I have started on the walk a thon again since its the new year and we are having lots of progress too!!!!

I made a large food order from special products yesterday and I cant wait to get it. I got a bread machine from my mom for xmas and I cant wait to use it. Also Im looking forward to getting my pastas and mix quick . One of my new years resolutions is to bake more.

 I actually have quiet a few new years resolutions they are : to be healthy, to be more active, to work out 3 times a week at the gym and yoga twice a week, to start swimming again, to be less involved with drama and gossip, take time for me, stand up for my self more , and to have regular "special Saturdays" with Cole, which is our date night , were we turn off the phones and computers, go to the movies, museum, Imax, swimming etc etc and then dinner. Its just a night for us after the busy week. So yeah those are my goals, I will let you know how they go.

Anyways gtg , need to work some more on the walk a thon with Tyrai . TTYL

 

Wow so December started with a bang. We had our very first snow storm which began right on December 1st and snowed straight through to the second. The flakes were as big as ping pong balls. Then between Sunday night and Monday it all melted and rained so much that our home flooded. I woke up at 5:30 am to use the washroom and noticed our hall way was all wet. I thought maybe our hot water tank burst then Cole got up to come look and opened our front door. When he did we saw that the garage was under water. To our ankles. It was horrible cause then I turned around and saw that our laundry room had just as much water and so did our computer room. Our landlord’s husband was up and already outside. He had called a restoration company and they were on there way. Cole ended up going to work and it’s a good thing I stayed home they showed up at 8:30 am and by then the water had reached our living room. Unfortunately I had to move everything in our house and all our belongings into the living room and kitchen as it was they were the only rooms not flooded. Since we didn’t have renters insurance the company would not help me so Shauna came over and the ppl from upstairs. We had to move Figaro a few times he was very freaked out. At first we moved him to our bedroom but it had flooded too then we moved him to the bathroom but the guys working said he couldn’t stay because it was going to get very noisy and hot and smelly and they had to rip all our floors out. So I took him upstairs until Tyrai came and got him and I. so now he’s staying at Tyria’s . I’m glad she’s good with cats as Figaro has really taken to her, and now I don’t have to worry as much about him.

 I stayed at our house moving stuff and watching them rip everything out till 3:30 and the guy was so rude he made me cry, it was a very stressful day and u think he could be a bit more considerate after all it was my home flooding and being destroyed. It was really hard to watch. I was crying all day and was so stressed I just wanted Cole to come home and help. We were told that we can’t stay there either as it is classified as sewage even though its "grey water" so we are staying at his brothers and sister in laws home. I only worked till 12 yesterday then met up with Tyrai , got  some clean clothes, had a bath and something to eat , then she borrowed Coles car since he has his truck and she drove me to an x-ray appt I had for my knee.

 So today im back to work but not back home, we probably won’t be home until the middle of next week at the least and if the walls are damaged then not till January!!! And god I hope not, I so cant deal with this anymore. I  want my own bed lol .

but his family and Tyrai’s have been so helpful. Tyrai even came and picked me up on my lunch break and took me back to her house to see my cat and eat.

Its kind of ironic cause I did 4 hrs of house work on Sunday and all my baking. i made carrot cake, blueberry muffins, pizza pops and a pizza. I was so happy to get my food in so im all stocked up, I actually really liked the camburgers but not the buns they were gross . the blueberry scones were good too and I got lots of baking powders so i can bake lots hehehe .

Oh and my level came back from November it was 7.5 so that was great it came down from 9. My goal is 6. Also I lost 2.5 lbs last week. I’ve been doing great at the gym I go every Monday Wednesday and Friday. Though this week I haven’t gone yet as I messed my knee up again. And I really miss it. im going to try to go tonight.

I have a ct scan Thursday for my knee and a counsel on the 13th I will be sure to let you all know how it goes!!!

Well I have had to make a new website from scratch again. The last two that I made had lots of technical errors and problems with the servers. But not all is too bad. I am actually really likening this website. I hope you all do to.

So let’s see what’s new? We have hit a dry spell with the walk a thon. We are waiting on sponsors but have signed the rental agreement with JDF and paid the fees to be able to use it on the day.

I did a blood test and sent it in on Wednesday. So im eagerly awaiting those results.

I have been sick with an infection in my intestines for 9 days today. So i missed a hole week at work and 3 of my regular work outs at the gym. Today is my first day back at work and tonight im heading to the gym.

I made a big order of low protein foods on Saturday as I have been avoiding ordering since its the Christmas season and I was worried about having money for gifts. But I caved as I really needed food. so I ordered some pasta and wheat starch from special products and camburgers , blueberry scones and mix quick from the cambrookes warehouse here in Canada. This is the first time I have done that. Special products is moving so they didn’t have a lot of food. So I had to order from them. But im very excited as I have never had the burgers or scones. They are suppose to arrive 10 days from last Friday. so hopefully Monday November 26th.

I think that’s all about new for now. TTYL

~AmAnDa~

So last Thursday night I joined the gym. I joined the Women’s fitness center. It’s called VI fitness. It’s only for women. This was very nice, and helped a little with my decision to start working on my physical health.  I decided it was time to do something. Though my knee is still not recovered and I am waiting for surgery. But I could not put it off any further. What would happen if I didn’t have surgery for 2 yrs? I did not want to think of that, its starting to get depressing. I have gained so much wait and have become so inactive. My main focus and goal is to gain back my activity level. I want to be fit and feel good about myself again. I feel if I can achieve this then maybe Ii can ease some of my anxiety about going out in public and having a life again. Currently I have no self esteem and have been fairly depressed. As well I have strong social anxiety. I do not like to go anywhere on my own and hate buses or having to get around on my own cause I have panic attacks, so if im waiting for a bus or get stranded since they don’t run very often..  I panic. So I usually stay home unless im with cole. Im hoping joining the gym will help change this as I have to go out at least twice a week. I signed an 18month contract hoping that it will push me to go even if I don’t want to. But it was a pretty good deal. $39.95 a month everything included like yoga classes and fitness courses. Im hoping that I can get Rae-Anne or a couple friends to come with me to some of the classes as im not sure I could do that on my own right now. The gym is the first of many steps but I won’t push myself.

 I think my biggest fear of all with this is my levels. For the last 2 yrs they have been under 10 and pretty much perfect. My closest friends and my mom all tell me constantly not to worry about my weight cause all that matters are my levels , and if I start working  out and stressing my body it may cause them to start moving around and not be as stable. That scares be beyond belief. I do not want to loose my control. There is a nutrionist at the gym but I won’t let them touch my diet.  I don’t want them messing with what I eat or changing my calories. I finally have a schedule and diet that works for me. What I want now is to find a work out routine that won’t interfere with that and will get me active again.

Last night was my first work out at the gym. I was there for 6:00pm and the manager Heather showed me the circuit and cardio machines. Then at 6:15 she started me on the circuit on my own and told me to go though it twice but only one rep of 12 per machine. It took me till 6:45 and then she had my on the bike for 20 mins. I though that I was going to be feeling it today as I felt like I was riding a horse for hrs when I finished and was walking funny. But today I feel fine, except my abs are a little sore. lol. I look forward to going again tomorrow!

I'll keep you posted on my progress. My goals are to gain back my activity level, to swim with out pain, walk with out pain, strengthen my knee, and also to loose approx 50lbs by late June. The weight is not what is important. Yeah it would be nice, but I just want my life back. I use to be very active but not in good health. This time I want to do it right and maintain my health. I want to feel great and look great. This is something I am doing for myself and no one else.