Bento #38

Another ramen bento - the stock mix I made up the other day worked quite well, and meshed with the soy sauce and sesame oil I had dressed the noodles with. I used very little of the mix compared to how much water I put in - I didn't want the broth to be too salty. It was very nice. Also, I had a ton left over, so I'm bringing it in this bento - hah!

Ingredient-wise, this one is pretty much the same as Thursday's ramen, except I traded the turkey for some enoki mushrooms. I also put a dash of furikake on top.
I also included a little side-dish of some asazuke - quick pickled cucumber, made with the recipe from the Just Bento cookbook.

***

I haven't talked about my weight-loss efforts for some time.
This is mainly because they have come to a complete halt ... well, not the efforts, but the progress. It is something beyond my control, and it is very frustrating.

I mentioned some medical stuff a while back, well to give a bit more detail, I was diagnosed with Pemphigus Vulgaris (there are no pictures at that link, but please note, if you look up photos of the condition, it can look quite awful, so be careful if you are squeamish - mine was caught fairly early and did not get very bad). Essentially what is happening is my immune system is attacking the chemical that holds my skin cells together, so I get very thin watery blisters. They break easily and leave sores. When the skin heals over the sores, it doesn't adhere properly, so it tears easily. Rather uncomfortable!
As I said, mine was caught pretty early - I had symptoms for about 3 months before I was properly diagnosed (it looks a lot like other conditions, so it was a bit of trial and error at first). The only permanent scars I will have are from where they took two blisters off for biopsies.
It is a rare condition and they don't really know what causes it. It is commonly found in older patients, so I've surprised some of the residents at the dermatology office - they walk in expecting a 70 year old lady - hah!

I have had to go on prednisone - a steroid which can cause significant weight gain (and moonface!). I have gained back all the weight I lost since I started trying (before this blog) - plus another 5 lbs, so I'm up to 205 right now. I seem to have stopped there, which makes me happy. The medication also causes an increase in appetite, which I have been trying to strictly control (low calorie snacks and lots of veggies).
I am currently taking a different immunosuppresant medication (commonly used for translpant patients!), and I will thankfully begin to taper the prednisone starting in July.
I'm hoping that I will be able to lose all the weight I gained once I'm off the steroid.

So, terribly sorry for those of you who were interested in hearing about any progress - it was definitely helping before, and I will definitely update once I start to lose weight again!