Hello all, slinking back after a two year absence. When I left, it was because there was a LOT going on in my family.

Let me just summarize, starting with May 2012-

1. Mother-in-law was diagnosed with gall bladder/liver cancer, died in October, three days before my hubby's and my anniversary.

2. Speaking of gall bladder- I came down to visit my mother-in-law in that July, when I had to go to the ER- I had to have emergency gall bladder surgery- I had no choice in the matter, if I didn't have it out within two days, I would have died. Strange, as both my mother-in-law and I had the exact same symptoms for the same amount of time (7 months), yet neither of our doctors picked up on our gall bladder problems.

3. My youngest daughter had (and still may have) cancer. She has to have radiation treatment in July- they are worried about one of her lymph nodes and a potential small malignant tumor may be growing. The doctor is allowing her time to go to her prom and graduate before she has to have this done. Needless to say, my nerves some days are shot. Hoping the radiation will destroy any cancer cells if they are in there.

4. Oldest daughter had to have major surgery in Sept 2012 in her sinus area- 7 procedures done at once. Go figure, doesn't she fracture her nose the week before Easter and had to wear a splint and have it cracked into place, poor girl. She is the one who suffers from PCS (Post Concussion Symptoms)- her migraines have still not gone away, and it's been six years now. She still struggles with math- thankfully, she won't have to take any more math classes at college. she wants to be a teacher and will transfer to a four year college in the fall.

5. My youngest daughter had surgery to remove her thyroid which had cancer on both sides in January 2013. Incompetent doctor didn't follow up with radiation, and now we sit, biting our nails, wondering if she has it again.........

6. The morning before my youngest daughter had her cancer surgery, my son got into a bad accident- flipped the car over completely, landed right side up. Usually, my youngest daughter rode to school with him, thank God she didn't that day, or I shudder to think of how we could have lost her then. It was not my poor son's fault- the school had a two hour delay, the roads were icy. Several witnesses said that not only was he driving safely, but that he was way below the speed limit (his Principal was in front of him- said he saw him flip over, scared him half to death!). thankfully, he was ok, just shaken up, but our Expedition was totaled.

7. I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and low oxygen level. I am on a CPAP machine with oxygen while I sleep. Thank goodness, I feel better.

8. It took three years to get my vitamin D level back up to normal- oy!

9. On a good note, my Grave's Disease has improved, and both the medication for that as well as my blood pressure was lowered.

My youngest daughter wanted to lose weight before her prom. She saw the Paleo article in First magazine back three weeks ago, thought it sounded good and wanted to try it. It lies- you do not lose 40 pounds in a month, lol, and there was so much cooking involved, I was hardly ever out of the kitchen!

I decided to do it with her, as I had stalled out on the high fiber diet I was on, hit a plateau, if you will. So, we did it for two weeks, lost a total of four pounds each. I told her all about the CAD/CALP diet, and I asked her if she would like to try this diet with me instead of Paloe- whenever she heard that she could have her Baked Lays Sour Cream and Onion Chips and ice cream or a Snicker's bar, she didn't hesitate changing diets one bit! She has a gluten allergy, and does well to not eat it most of the time, but she did miss some food items like all of us, such as her chips, Tostito s with salsa or hummus, ice cream, etc. Paleo was just way too restrictive for the both of us.

So, here I am, hoping THIS time I succeed for life. I was doing so well two years ago, til all the medical issues happened in our family. Just keep us all in your good thoughts or prayers list, please? I think we've had enough for one family.

Enomarb- I have missed you. How are you? I need to catch up with you all- I love this diet, but it is very hard to follow when you have to travel out of state to doctors and visit sick loved ones. We've had a few deaths amongst family and friends, too, inbetween all of the medical issues. Hence, why my diet went down the drain, literally. Good to be back, I loved it here and all the wonderful and positive folks on here!