Back from a conference up at Tahoe. My husband came - first time I've had a guest for a conference trip and it was great. We were able to enjoy the outdoors with a hike one afternoon and a mountain bike ride the next. The usual weight drop of a few pounds happened immediately, as always when I escape my job for a few days. But then the cortisol surge of returning home to a full inbox, 3 simultaneous hires that I'm somehow in charge of (because the tenured faculty EXCEL at dumping all administrative responsibilities onto the junior faculty), new students in the lab and my dying FIL quickly erased any lingering relaxation.
Just got back from my annual. Doc says yes to go off BC pills (yay) but now I worry about hormonal fluctuations...I wonder if I am menopausal or not. I guess we'll see. Meanwhile I have to have my mammo, some lab tests and a colonoscopy. Double yay. Not.
It's July 1st. I will weigh 4 pounds less consistently by the end of this month. I did "better" in June, but half-hearted effort no longer moves the needle.
So after my doctor's appointment I stopped my BC pills, so yeah, 2nd period in two weeks. And I've scheduled my colonoscopy for the end of the month. I'm not happy with the prescribed prep (DH had a prescription of a 1 or 2 ounce swig of stuff after which he was to drink a lot of water). Mine is 64 ounces of Gatorade (yuck) mixed with Miralax (double yuck) and Dulcolax prior to that (not a problem). I wonder if it would be feasible to mix the Miralax in 8 ounces of gatorade to and then swig plain gatorade and water after that?
The Ontario health care system decided several years ago that we have to do our own "colonoscopy". It involves several wooden sticks for specimen samples, a foil packet, and mailing in to a health screening centre. Depending on the results we then either get the joy of the colonoscopy proper or not.
I have done this process twice now and it's not so bad for me, given what I deal with from the dogs. DH was given the kit 3-4 years ago and it's still sitting in his in basket.
I don't think the government was aware of the repulsion factor that a lot of people have towards fishing around in their toilets for samples.
I've been somewhat half hearted since I got back from vacation, as well. I'm not thinking I'll get back in a solid groove until after next week. We have DSS next week and may or may not go to Florida for a few days.
Dagmar - that freaks me out a little about the do it yourself colonoscopy test!
I dunno. I think I appreciate the Canadian method - as long as the data supports it statistically. I would imagine that there are far less false positives, plus there's the reduction in risk (punctures, etc) - but how many early stage issues do they miss, I wonder?
Allison, I have nothing to offer by way of prep. I remember DH having to drink the gallon of whatever it was and being quite unhappy; other friends have simply had to deal with a couple of laxative pills. I would guess that it will do its thing as long as you manage to get it down. I have heard that several cans of Stroh's beer will accomplish exactly the same thing,
Becky, when I was in college we had a whole bunch of guys from Michigan that came to the U of U because of the skiing. They loved Coors beer (which all of us hate) and we loved Stroh's been (because we couldn't get it in Utah). They'd always show up with cases of Stroh's and they'd trade us for the Coors!
Allison - My mother can't drink the small prescribed stuff that I can't remember what it is, it makes her sick. She had to do gatorade and laxative. I don't think it would hurt to do the miralax is less gatorade and then drink more gatorade after, it is probably just to weaken the flavor a little? No idea.
Was reading on the other thread how there isn't much activity here. Again, I remind myself I need to chat more. Sigh.
I'm in an okay place right now - I'm up in weight, went from a pretty restricted diet before vacation to less restricted and more carb, so had the inevitable pop up. Even with that, I feel mostly good, and that is when I start to slip. If I feel terrible about myself, I tend to exercise and eat better. If I feel really good, I also tend to exercise and eat better. If I'm just mostly okay, I tend to not stay on point. I'm happy enough to like my clothes most of the time, not unhappy enough to feel the fire, not super happy enough to feel the pride in the exercise. Cycles...
I've been feeling the lack of a gymn since I told the other one its services weren't required. (Remember I didn't feel safe doing floor exercises there because of people wandering around with barbells and dumbbells and general lack of supervision?) I've been OK exercising at home but I could do with a change of scene and somewhere which would fit in better with how my day usually looks.
This gymn has been revamped dramatically and it offered me a discount as I'm a member of the university staff.
Positives: it feels more like a sports centre than a fitness centre (more serious); has better cardio machines; has now got much better opening hours; weights look all right.
Negatives: three types of terrible music in the three rooms; not enough floor space really and no mirrors in that space.
Nice surprise: the person supervising the machine room was one of the better instructors at the previous gymn. He left about eight years ago to move to this place. He introduced me to HIIT on the rower which was very effective at the time. (Note, I don't think I'm as fit as I was then. Certainly couldn't do HIIT at this point.)
The physio who I've had some sports massages from recently suggested aqua-jogging as a good form of cardio which protects the joints. And very suitable for HIT or HIIT. (BTW, does anyone do the 7-minute HIT workout?)
All this is all very well but my food intake is rather out of control. I am not over-concerned about this as it's very clearly linked to needing energy when I'm shattered to deal with family distress, associated travelling and an enormous amount of caring and admin. That will pass, I know. There seems no point in getting wound up about it at this point.
The main thing I should do is recognise when I'm much too tired and have a good rest at that point, if it's possible. Rather than eating something to get through. More rest will help me think even more clearly.
B: granola, banana, cc. (Good example of not being able to think clearly at this point. I never used to eat granola and, in fact, I don't think I like it. I much prefer muesli. I will now put it at the back of the cupboard. ... I've done it.)
To town (to get a bank to pay the funeral bill - this was not as straightforward as I'd have liked). To office.
S: apple. (N.B. No protein. I know that this is essential to me but I didn't seem to have the capacity to pack any this morning although I'd remembered it.)
Back home.
L: cheese omelette, carrot salad, pitta bread. (Not too bad. More salad would have been good but we have run out and today is far too busy to go shopping.) And then I ate two more pittas with butter and strawberry jam. (You can track this strange - for me - behaviour back to lack of protein in the mid-morning and a desperate need - unrecognised - for sleep. Ludicrous that things got to this point.)
Rest, sleep.
To gymn.
S: if you can call a chocolate bar a snack. (I had to stop to buy water on the way to the gymn because I'd forgotten to take any water. That is because I had not switched all of my operating system on after the sleep. I took the opportunity to buy something to keep me going. You can see how the sugar I ate earlier is not working in my favour here.)
At gymn.
Now (1800): making chicken stock in order to make risotto tonight. The SO will be getting off a long-distance train shortly and we'll all eat together. (He and I and our families are working together to ensure that either he or I are on a long-distance train every week. Next week I'm breaking the pattern and am driving long distance. Good God.)
Soon: off to station to collect the SO.
Planned: an early night. (This will depend on the DB who is needing a fair bit of quiet reassurance and conversation at the moment. His father and I are away quite a bit, albeit one at a time. There have been quite a few deaths in our families and the families of people near to us. He is growing like I don't know what. It's a challenging time for us all.)
We've had a rough week. Last Friday, my FIL started to decompensate rapidly and after about 24 hours of increasing dyspnea, open-mouthed gasping for air, he finally passed away. It has a been a long road since his dementia began about 10 years ago; the last few years he has been unable to communicate at all and that is one of the things that is hurting my husband the most.
I have been trapped in work and unable to be of much help all week. We are holding the memorial next weekend so I will be present and able to assist then. I've felt terrible about being at work so much, when my husband has been home all week dealing with grief and so many tasks to do. It's hard being an adult (understatement). I was very tempted to tell everyone that I'll be gone all week and they will just have to deal with it. But the cost was high - my summer student's project would have failed entirely as this week was our critical infection week; the interviews that I'd spent weeks coordinating would all be canceled and the hire postponed indefinitely due to the seemingly endless summer vacations that my coworkers take; I would miss my tech's last day and have to cancel her goodbye party; etc. But I don't know, perhaps that was the wrong decision. You can't win... if I'd taken the week off I would be sitting here consumed with guilt about doing that, instead of guilt about NOT doing that.
Weight: not sure; eating: erratic but not too bad.
I've had interesting times in the last several weeks. I stopped going to Tai Chi class because the teacher was focusing on a new form, and the new form led to a knee problem. It took me awhile to realize that I needed to rest the knee completely for it to heal. The original Yang-style form we were doing doesn't cause me any problems, so I'm sticking with that.
I was also having my usual allergy problems, and taking antihistamines for it, and also aspirin for my injured knee's pain and to counter inflammation. I'm conservative; I take Allegra 12-hour, not 24-hour, and one aspirin twice a day. But some weeks ago, I started to develop an asthma-like wheeze. I also noticed that my heartbeat was pretty irregular, and my legs and ankles were swollen. These are not good signs, and I was about to go to a clinic for evaluation.
But before I did that, I decided maybe it would be a good idea to just stop all medications and see what happened. Long story short, I lost 4 pounds in 3 days. I can see my ankle bones again. My heartbeat is no longer irregular. And, I have energy.
I think it was the aspirin. Aspirin and other NSAIDs can be hard on kidneys; I just didn't realize that even at the lower dose I was taking, this could happen.
I've started following the mini-fast program. Basically, you skip breakfast (but can have coffee) and get in 30-45 minutes of exercise of your choice. Then you eat normally (but not overboard) for lunch and dinner.
I am finding I still need a little boost, such as a glass of 1% milk, around 10, but I feel good. It's nice to have energy again. I had got to where walking a mile would tire me out.
JZJ - I'm so sorry for your loss. I know it was a hard decision to stay at work last week. There probably wasn't a right answer, just the best of the bad choices. I hope you are able to take some time to grieve yourself this week.
Birchie - I've done HIIT workouts before, which 7 minute one are you doing?
Jay - it is interesting that the medicines would have that kind of effect, I wouldn't have thought about the low doses impacting like that. I'm glad that you figured it out, and are feeling better.
I have had a lot of hectic days at work since returning from my little vacation, and this week promises to be more hectic still. On the personal front, DH is still in a rough place - he hurt his back two weeks before our trip to Mexico, and while trying to heal that he managed to fall through the ceiling from the attic. He didn't fall all the way through and break his legs or anything, but he ha a huge bruise with a knot on his leg and it doesn't seem to be healing much. His balance is impacted and he is carrying himself different to compensate, so he managed to hurt his back again this morning. We have DSS all week this week and DH is off work to hang out with him, so I'm not sure I'll get him to go to the doctor this week. It is making me tense, and when I'm tense I don't always exercise and do the right thing. Sigh.
Last edited by Shannon in ATL; 07-06-2015 at 01:47 PM.
Interesting about the meds, Jay. And great that you lost!
Birchie~I was doing the 7 minute workout for a while. It was just enough to get me back into doing a regular workout. Now I think I ought to incorporate that into my weight routine (except some of the 7 minute workout things I do already in my weight routine). Shannon~this is the one I use: 7 Minute Workout app
JayZeeJay, I am so sorry to hear about your father-in-law. Like Shannon said, you made the best of bad choices. Life around death is just not easy.
JayEll, interesting. Are you still showing symptoms of allergy? And, if so, how are you coping with them? Re. tai chi: which style do you think made your knee complain? My trainer has a Chen-style tai chi string to his bow but I'm not particularly interested in that.
Shannon, I'm not yet doing a 7 minute HIT workout! Just thinking about it. The New York Times has one which is said to be good.
Food has been reasonable so far today. Some exercise this morning - good!
"colonoscopy". It involves several wooden sticks for specimen samples, a foil packet, and mailing in to a health screening centre. Depending on the results we then either get the joy of the colonoscopy proper or not. 
