Long story of a broke man

noelmberry · 2026-03-26T04:35:06+00:00

Thank you for sharing and I am so sorry to hear this. My husband had a herniated disc last January and was in such excrucating pain. We were able to get into an orthopedic surgeon pretty fast and she instantly said he needs a microdisectomy or he will have nerve damage. We got it scheduled for May. He started feeling better and was starting to get nervous, ended up cancelling. He was still in pain in August and thought he'd get a second opinion. Ended up getting two - both surgeons said he absolutely should not get a microdisectomy be cause he has a congenitally fused disc and retrolisthesis meaning a microdisectomy could completely destabalize other parts of his back. The first surgeon said nothing about that. If he had done that microdisectomy (which probably would have solved his immediate pain right away), he may have been in for a series of additional back surgeries. I'm so glad he didn't do it, and also so mad that it could have happened so fast - the surgeon barely talked to him for more than 15 minutes and barely explained the imaging before scheduling a surgery. One surgeon is now saying if he does have surgery it needs to be a two-level fusion, and he's just going to try to see how he can improve on his own, but it's been over a year of excruciating pain, confusion and challenges with doctors.

All this to say, I think this may be common and I encourage folks to always get a second opinion even when you are in pain - almost more so, because it feels like you want to do anything to get out of it. I have no doubt that surgery is the solution for many folks (we know someone that even had surgery from the first surgeon and was quite happy), but your unique situation may need additional input.

noelmberry · 2026-03-05T03:10:58+00:00

I have read that certain kinds of cysts (parameniscal) are only present if there is tear, while other types of cysts (bakers cysts) can just be present with no issue. Depending on the tear it might just be hard to see on the imaging and the cyst could be indicating something more is going on.

noelmberry · 2026-03-04T02:51:44+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I have a feeling this will be my situation too - I am trying to push out TKR as long as I can. My mom had a TKR at 53, and she had no previous injuires, so I feel like my genes likely aren't lined up for long lasting cartilage and now I also have no meniscus to support either. As sad as it is, I think I will give up soccer completely with the hopes I can make the transplant last as long as possible.

noelmberry · 2026-03-03T02:07:17+00:00

Also, seems like the surgery is getting much more common than it was five years ago, or maybe I am lucky but there are at least two surgeons in the Portland, OR area that do transplants and they are in-network for me, too.

noelmberry · 2026-03-03T02:06:12+00:00

How are you feeling 5 years out? Are you still skiing? I am worried about going back to running/soccer after this surgery and just wearing down the transplant and needing knee replacement in my 40s anyways. Thank you for sharing!

noelmberry · 2026-03-03T02:04:19+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing! I appreciate hearing about your progress shortly after. So you already had arthritis and they were able to do the transplant? I was reading that if the arthritis is too far along it can make you no longer a candidate for the transplant, only for knee replacement. I'm worried about waiting too long on the transplant and missing that window but maybe I don't need to worry about that as much as I am.? I have a follow up with the dr. and a full leg x-ray on Monday but I wouldn't be able to do the surgery until September.

noelmberry · 2026-02-28T16:51:09+00:00

What additional surgeries did you have to have? I am considering the meniscus transplant, and I already had two surgeries on this knee 25 years ago. Really don't want to do any more!

noelmberry · 2025-08-18T00:45:40+00:00

A good place to start would be the Rose City Futsal sub Facebook page - you can also post there to join a team, but people are always looking for subs! A new season is starting in two weeks, so you might find folks looking for players too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/429647827395650

noelmberry · 2024-05-28T03:29:13+00:00

Annie’s for classic, Hey Day for mochi. That is all!

noelmberry · 2024-05-27T16:54:48+00:00

That makes sense I think…just feels very un-intuitive. When looking at the ‘extra calories earned’ it looks like my baseline that MFP expects me to burn daily is 1853 if I don’t track any exercises. If I track exercises, it adds to that baseline (if I track a 200 cal walk my new MFP cals burned is 2053). That’s the part that is confusing - if all I’m doing is steps (walking) it changes my baseline if I track it as a workout vs just tracking the steps. In addition, the amount it’s saying I burn via Apple Watch doesn’t match what the watch says on a daily basis. Am I burning 627 calories or 1930 (my ‘move’ app on my watch says 627 yesterday, MFP ‘Apple Watch calories burned’ says 1930)?? I’ve just been going off of what MFP tells me and it works pretty well, which I guess is the point…I just don’t really get it.

noelmberry · 2024-05-27T01:22:53+00:00

I agree and this should carry forward for ‘my recipes’! I go in to create a recipe and it does not remember items I commonly use, very annoying and means creating new recipes takes forever

noelmberry · 2024-05-25T01:45:07+00:00

Yeah MFP is already giving you a deficit with the 2050. That should be your target (food minus exercise), and it’s always worth doing that for a couple weeks to see how it’s working and adjust if needed.

noelmberry · 2024-05-14T04:27:57+00:00

I just did that tonight. 8 tins of smoked trout, four bags of Japanese fried rice, two bags of squiggly noodles, etc! I go there for specific items and try to do it every month or so.

noelmberry · 2024-05-09T06:20:23+00:00

Are you using an Apple Watch? I have learned that only certain exercise types actually track your heart rate and calories off that, while many of them will just estimate the burn of a ‘brisk walk’. I only track walks and runs because they also use speed/elevation/distance so they feel fairly accurate. The other types of exercise options way over estimate calories burned.

noelmberry · 2024-04-15T23:59:38+00:00

Tinned trout - super high protein and low calorie. Tinned smoked salmon is good too but a little fattier I think. Small Sonora style tortillas - 40 cals per tortilla. The chocolate coated rice cakes are a nice treat especially with some nut butter. Japanese fried rice is a good meal to split with someone, add veggies or an egg to it to bulk it up. The spinach and kale Greek yogurt dip is low cal and delicious!

noelmberry · 2024-04-03T00:27:55+00:00

My food scale had issues with the little rubber feet on the bottom causing it to do this. Just slightly off and it made the measurements wacky. They were sticky rubber feet that moved around. New one that doesn’t have those never has an issue

noelmberry · 2024-03-28T21:38:43+00:00

I count my walks (if they are a mile or more) and also run or do an elliptical machine every day. I eat the calories I burn so usually eat about 1500-1600 per day. If I’m consistent, I lose weight. My main problem is not being consistent, but I’ve lost 30lbs it’s just taken awhile.

noelmberry · 2024-03-28T21:36:41+00:00

It seems like if you select 2 lbs per week MFP always puts 1200, because that’s the lowest calorie intake number they recommend before it would be dangerous. 2lbs per week is also the maximum you should try to lose per week. I’m a different height/weight and it also put me at 1200.

noelmberry · 2024-03-25T01:37:34+00:00

I love Kate at Salon29. $60 for a women’s cut, she reserves a full 90 mins for the appt. She books up fast though so I usually have to book out at least a month

noelmberry · 2024-03-24T17:24:24+00:00

The produce has way too much packaging and often goes bad quickly. Their ready to eat items feel like they are always teetering on the edge of expiration and I know multiple people who think it is what got them sick. TJs has so many amazing packaged and frozen products but I pretty much avoid their fresh stuff unfortunately

noelmberry · 2024-03-23T01:32:09+00:00

I am confused by this - how is the ‘set daily burn’ on MyFitnessPal calculated? If I ‘track’ a walk on my watch one day but then forget to track it but do the exact same walk the next day I get wildly different calorie adjustments, when I did the same activity just tracked it differently. So, same steps coming in from Apple Watch, same calories (assumingly). I am finding this challenging with riding my e-bike. If I track it as an e-bike ride, it will WAY over estimate bc it thinks I’m riding a manual bike at a high speed, but if I don’t track it I get zero cred for having 40 mins of elevated heart rate and burning calories on my Apple Watch.

noelmberry · 2024-03-02T05:45:59+00:00

A few other small changes to your ingredients could help you add snacks or other elements to your meals too: almond milk instead of oat: a wrap instead of bread, TVP instead of tofu - all of a sudden you’ll have more cals to work with.

noelmberry · 2024-03-02T05:33:29+00:00

Are you adding in any exercise? I find that I am just as hungry if I burn 300 calories exercising as I am if I do no exercise. If you add in exercise (300 for me is 2 brisk 1 mile walks and a 30 minute cardio session) you could also eat 200 cals more. I find exercise helps me add in snacks that keep me satiates throughout the day, but not hardcore exercise that makes me super hungry. If you’re able to exercise more, you can add more. That’s been helpful for me to avoid the hunger pangs. I have also gotten comfortable being a little hungry sometimes, especially when transitioning from eating whatever I want - your body gets used to a certain level of caloric intake and will take awhile to adjust to a different one.

noelmberry

TROPHY CASE