My husband has joined the weight loss fight

It is not secret my husband and myself have been on the bigger side for much of our lives. Years ago my husband did the Atkins diet and lost over 150 lbs, but after stopping the diet the weight rebounded quickly.

Some of you who have read my other blogs know that my husband had a injury at his job last February which caused a total quad tear in his left leg. After surgery and 3 months of being locked out in a brace, not being able to move very much, unto crutches with the brace for months, then learning to walk again once the brace was able to be moved to more positions, losing the brace, now using a cane, weight had it's toll.

I remember the first time he stepped on a scale after losing the brace, it was a scary number to say the least. Time has gone by and last week I noticed when my husband itched his leg there were indentations. I asked him how long it has been like this. He tell me months. I knew at once it was edema and my daughter confirmed it when we showed it to her.

I had to take my grand daughter to the Dr.'s and while there brought up my husband's leg swelling and he wanted him to be seen before the end of the week. He had an appointment with is leg Dr. who also wanted him to follow up with his Dr., so I talked him into making an appointment but before the appointment he had problems breathing on that really hot day that week and also had an increase in wanting to sleep so we went to the hospital.

The ER was full but from the moment he walked through the doors they were attentive to getting tests done right away. EKG, blood tests, X-ray, Ultrasound, and finally a Cat-Scan. The only time we really had to wait was the last hour for the radiologist to read the results.

Thankfully everything came back clean except for him having the edema in the legs, so they ordered him Lasix and told him to follow up with the Dr. Friday we went to his appointment. They confirmed edema, ordered him more Lasix as the ER only gave him a 5 day supply. They said how very lucky he is to have had this for months with no damage to anywhere else in his system and to keep it that way he needs to lose weight.

Mind you he has an appointment with the Spine Dr. because he has had pain in his back since the injury at work and at this time they have pretty much ruled out that it is from him learning how to walk again so they are pursuing a better answer for his pain. Walking is quite painful for him and since that is the best way to lose weight he has been held back by the pain.

He is now on a 1500 calorie diet as well as taking Lasix, and drinking what us girls call spa water. His starting weight was 423 and has an appointment back with the Dr. early July. Until he reaches under 400 lbs our home scale will not be able to record his weight loss so be patient for an update on the numbers.

We are both hoping by doing this together we will have results that make us both healthier. Wish us luck!