An Irregular Update

Things are not going along quite as smoothly as I had hoped; there's been medical setbacks, financial concerns, a family emergency, and so on.  Since my last update three weeks ago, my life has been complete and utter chaos. 

I've gone for two walk/runs, worked out zero times, and my diet has been complete and utter crap.  Ironically, I have not gained any weight during this time, nor have I lost any.  I feel as though my abdomen has expanded greatly, but have not yet measured it.  Whatever muscle tone I had gained during the weeks I was working out regularly has since departed and I will be starting over again.

It seems things are settling back into a routine again, a different routine, but still a routine.  Tomorrow morning my walking partner and I will resume our morning walks.  Later in the day I will be able to work out with weights at home.

It is somewhat upsetting to have to "restart" my meal plan and my workout plans, but life just has a way of catching one off guard at times.  This was one of those times.  Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong and it did so all at once.

In this situation I have a choice, I could carry on with the unhealthier eating habits and no workouts, or I could use this as a time of reflection and learning and then carry on with the original plan.  And that is precisely what I'm doing; carrying on with the original plan.

I have 45 weeks left to go and 50 pounds left to lose and those are not unreasonable numbers when one is speaking about weight loss.

Wish me luck!!

Running

So, today was the day of my first official "run."  Its been an hour now and I feel awesome!  Not as sleepy as before, that's for certain.

In total I believe we walked/ran 1 1/2 miles.  The run may have totaled 1/2 mile; we were gauging our distance from light pole to light pole.

It felt amazingly refreshing.  Definitely something to do again.

Health Concerns and Delays

A few weeks back in Minor Setback, I went into graphic detail about a health problem I was facing at that time.  Since that time, its cleared up and then come back again, requiring another two doses of IV estrogen to stop the bleeding.  

The last incident was on Sunday; I missed one 12 hour shift of work because of it.  This week I've been to see my GP and a surgeon for a possible hysterectomy.  It seems my insides are too mangled for that procedure, making it a bit risky.  Therefore, I need to go back to my GP and get a referral to a gynecologist who performs a procedure called "endometrial ablation," which means burning the inside lining of the uterus.

Now, I'm not complaining about our health care system here in Canada, far from it.  I'm just annoyed that I'll have to wait another few weeks to see my GP again, and then a few weeks to months to see a gynecologist, and then a few weeks or months for an O.R. opening.  That annoys me a little.  If I've bled so heavily twice in the past four weeks, chances are good that it'll happen again before the "burning."

There are some things to be thankful for, though.  My bone marrow is working very efficiently at producing cells, so my Hgb actually improved the last time during the blood loss.  Contrary to what one would expect, I'm actually fairly energetic, working hard outside at my mom's on the yardwork, and getting ready to go for a walk/run with a friend in a few minutes. 

So perhaps I can utilize this time between my appointment today (where I saw that I was labelled "obese") and my O.R. date as a training period, to be in awesome shape for that day.  Everyone knows healthy, fit adults have shorter recuperation periods and decreased risk of infection.  And I'm all for that!  

My letter of referral from my GP to the surgeon also labelled me as a "smoker."  Ha!! Haven't smoked in 20 years!!

Oh well, let the waiting begin.