Truth and Reconciliation Day
September 30, 2021
https://globalnews.ca/video/8233181/truth-and-reconciliation-day-3
As a follow up to this interview, I wrote a post on the BILD blog, click here to read it 🙂
6 Weeks Post Tummy Tuck
It’s been 6 weeks since my extended tummy tuck surgery! I had a lot of excess fat and skin removed (apron belly). My scar extends around my hips and is also around my “new” belly button. I will be posting pics on Insta today or tomorrow, @SheWalksAboutNDN.
I still have a lot of swelling and can barely see my waist line but it seems to be coming back. I still have a seroma, doing warm compresses 2-3 times a day. Many of my stretch marks are below my belly button, I’m a mother of three and I expect to still have them. I didn’t decide to do the tummy tuck to chase some unobtainable notion of perfection but I did fight hard to lose 75 pounds and I was tired of the apron belly that I had for many years.
My surgical nurse told me it could take months or up to a year for a tummy tuck to fully heal. I will have substantial swelling for at least 3-6 months. I imagined that this was something I could power through and recover quickly but this is a big deal. My advice to anyone considering a tummy tuck is to give yourself at least 2 weeks off of work. I could have used another week or two, especially with the seroma complication and extended length of time that I had drains. Fortunately, I did not need pain killers for a long period of time. After two days post-op, I only used them at night for another week to help the pain subside so that I could get to sleep.
The good news is that I can return to the gym later this week! It’ll be slow and steady for a while – no ab or core workouts for at least 3 months. Very excited to get moving again!!
Wahéhshon 🙂
#SheWalksAbout Weight Loss Journey
I started my first Instagram account @SheWalksAboutNDN motivated by my recent weight loss and my ongoing fight for my health. Of course I post the usual but it’s less personal than my FB (which I reserve for folks I actually know) and less political/academic than some of the stuff I share on Twitter @SheWalksAbout.
I am already getting a lot of questions and comments about my weight loss success. First off, I have #lostover40pounds over the past ten months (woot woot!!). No surgeries, no calorie counting and nothing too crazy or difficult. I have always struggled with my weight but I have loved being a curvy thick and confident woman! What motivated this change was my health. A factor in my ongoing health issues is polycycstic ovarian disease (#pcos), something to talk about later on.
Over the past few years, I haven’t felt like myself. My energy was low, I had brain fog (not a good thing as a university student). I generally felt crappy. About this time last year, the fatigue was bad I knew something was wrong. Long story short, I was diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It’s a good thing I’m not much of a drinker or I’d be in real trouble! On top of that, I have multiple non-specific liver and kidney lesions (tumors and cysts). Luckily, they don’t seem to be cancerous at this point but the doctors are watching things closely. My liver has not been functioning well but it can be healed!!!
Every six months, I get an MRI with liver and kidney function tests to monitor things. I had my first six-month check up in March. By that point, I had lost 20 pounds and starting eating a liver friendly diet but there was no change. My doctor told me I would have to lose a drastic amount of weight to start seeing improvements in my liver and overall health. Since April when I got the results, I have been dead set on making this happen on my own terms.
There’s a lot to share and I’ll do it in steps over time. I know, I know, it’s all a little tmi and I like my privacy. I decided to open up about this because I struggled my whole life with these issues so I figured someone else out there is struggling too. The short posts, updates, and pics will be on Instagram @SheWalksAboutNDN. Longer posts and info will be shared here. A lot of people have sent me private messages saying I have inspired them to fight for their health and to lose weight too. Niawenhkó:wa to you all! In many ways I feel like I am fighting for my life and the healthy future that I want. So far I am #winning.
Here’s to your health (& mine)!
~ Wahéhshon (She Walks About)
Skátne Enionkwaió’ten – Why I’ve been so quiet!!
So it’s been difficult to add the posts and pages that I have planned for she walks about but I have been busy!
I am currently the Skátne Enionkwaió’ten Language Plan Coordinator at the Kahnawà:ke Education Center. Skátne Enionkwaió’ten’ means, “we all will work together”. We are initiating Kahnawà:ke’s first 5-year strategic plan for language revitalization. I signed on for a six month contract which was recently extended until mid-June. I work 20 hours per week (okay, I admit to going over those hours) and study full-time at Concordia while raising three kids.
My whole heart is in the strategic planning initiative we have launched. Our language Onkwehonwehnéha or Kanien’kéha is an endangered Indigenous language. I am a second language speaker (ACTFL high-intermediate) after studying the language for years including a two-year adult immersion program called Kanien’kéha Ratiwennahní:rats in Kahnawà:ke.
When the language plan and website launch this Thursday April 26, 2018, everyone will understand what I have been working on! I plan to write about the process and how it has impacted me. I can’t wait to hold that plan in my hands and know that I have been part of something really meaningful and important – to help revitalize our beautiful language.
I will link my posts to our Skátne Enionkwaió’ten website after the launch later this week!!!
~Wahéhshon