Post-Op Follow-up

Just popping in to say that surgery went totally fine yesterday! It was probably the easiest surgery I've had of the 8 I've had. Yes - 8 surgeries! Nuts, huh? I've had my wisdom teeth removed, tonsil/adnoids removed, sinus surgery, hip surgery to repair a torn labrum, 2 c-sections, and a d&c when I had my miscarriage in 2019. This is the 4th surgery with my OB so Phil joked that we must be due for a free surgery soon. But hopefully this is the last of my surgeries? Time will tell. 

I felt tired/foggy afterwards and had minor cramping but was pretty much fine otherwise. My OB talked to Phil after the surgery and it sounds like I didn't actually have polyps - they were something else that present like polyps that are even less concerning. I'll see my OB in 2 weeks so will get a chance to ask more about what was found. The biopsy of the tissue will be back in a week but even when she thought they were polyps she wasn't worried they would find anything. 

I also had one of the best IV insertion experiences ever! I've had a lot of IVs between all these surgeries and other hospital admissions. There have been times that it takes 3 attempts to place the IV, especially when I have fasted before a surgery. I told the nurse to not even try to put it on the top of my hand by my knuckles because it's rarely successful so she used the big veins by my elbow where blood is typically drawn and it went in so easily. I commented on how I have good veins and Phil said he'd never heard someone say they have good veins! I said he is lucky to not have blood drawn a ridiculous number of times in his life. Phlebotomists have commented on how great my veins are for blood draws - thank goodness I am an "easy stick" because I have to get routine blood work to monitor side effects of my RA drugs. 

Hopefully this is the last surgery for our family for a long, long time. The last 5 years have been kind of brutal between all the surgeries I've had and both boys getting tubes! As nice as they are, I'd like to not speak to an anesthesiologist again in my life if possible! But I recognize the chances of that are probably not great!

I am envious of what I call Phil's "medical privilege." The only doctor appointment he has, typically, is his annual physical. It's rare for him to take any medications. Meanwhile, I have so many different doctor appointments and a days of the week pillbox with am/pm slots since I have too many medications to keep track of. I meet my deductible in January because of my expensive RA injections and typically meet our out-of-pocket max by the fall. But at least one of us is very healthy. He got life insurance this past year but we didn't even consider getting life insurance for me because we knew the cost would be horrible with all my ailments! 

Are you medically "privileged" like my husband or do you have a hefty health history like me? I wish my medical history was shorter but I'm very grateful to have excellent access to incredible physicians!

The Virus that Won't Quit

So much for Phil and I avoiding what the boys had. Turns out this virus has a very long incubation period as Phil got sick about a week after Paul. Phil started to not feel well on Monday afternoon/early evening. Just in time for my first day back in the office in 2 years on Friday! I debated staying home since Phil wasn't feeling well, but if I stay home when someone in my house isn't feeling well, I may never be in the office. Womp womp. Phil was feeling a little better on Tuesday morning so was able to help out with the kids. I didn't need my 5:45 alarm because Paul was up at 5:30. Luckily Will didn't wake up until I was out of the shower. I would have had to go get Phil otherwise (he slept in the guest room in the basement). 

We were out the door by 6:50 and drop off went pretty well, although Will has been crying at drop off which he usually doesn't do. I guess a week at home with mom and dad has made that transition hard for him. 

Phil asked if I wanted him to take a "first day of school" pic! But I took one myself in the bathroom at work. Here I am with my hair done and pants that button. Not an exciting outfit, but this is my typical look - fitted pants paired with a sweater. 

Here is my desk set up at work. Logging in went pretty smoothly. It was good to get my desk cleaned up. I disinfected it with Lysol wipes which can be found all over the office now!! 

 

The funniest thing I found was a card for a coworker who had a baby in Feb 2020. I guess we all left the office in such a rush that I did not get the card sent but they did get their gift. I texted him a photo of the card and signatures and he asked that I still send it to him. 

So all was going well until mid-afternoon when I started to feel nauseated. I wrapped up what I was working on and headed out around 3:15 to get the boys. We made it home with 5 minutes to spare before I threw up. At least it didn't happen in the car although before I left work I found a plastic bag in case I got sick in the car. 

I only threw up twice so it wasn't the worst bug, but I hate throwing up so much that 2 is still awful. Luckily Phil was on the upswing so he took care of the kids so I could lay down. I did try to nurse Will at bedtime but ended up getting sick again when I walked into his room so Phil took over bedtime. I took Wednesday off of work and slept for 5 hours straight that morning/afternoon. I was able to do more for the kids that night, but Phil was definitely the primary parent that night and did Will's bedtime again. 

I had been planning to wean Will from breastfeeding before a work trip in late April so decided this was a natural time to be done breastfeeding. I had dropped morning feeds last weekend and was going to drop night feeds in the next couple of weeks. But I am sure my supply is non-existent right now, which would have pissed Will off if he tried to nurse, so we are done nursing. I'm kind of sad that when I nursed him on Monday night at bedtime, I didn't know it was our last nursing session. I didn't exactly LOVE nursing. It was fine and I am glad it worked out and I didn't have to pump, but there were tender and sweet moments from nursing, especially when he was sick, so I will sort of miss it? But in life, there are often times when you don't know you are doing something for the last time. 

I'm back at work today, but working from home. I'm not 100% but feel much better than yesterday. I just hope no one at work gets this virus! Hopefully this is our last one for a long time? I've now had 3 stomach viruses, all of which involved me throwing up, in less than a year!

A Whirlwind Couple of Days

 Hey hey! I feel like a lot has happened since I posted on Friday, but mostly all good things. Last I left off, I had an ENT appointment on Friday morning for Will. At that appointment, they started with a hearing test, which is standard protocol for ENT assessments. They have the baby sit on your lap in the hearing test room so I could see what he could and couldn't hear. So I was not at all surprised to find he had mild to moderate hearing loss and the audiologist could tell his ears were full of fluid. We had a feeling he wasn't hearing very well but that was clearly confirmed. 

Next up, we saw the ENT. She looked in his ears and said he still had a horrible ear infections. So the 6 days of antibiotics did nothing besides mess with his tummy. :( She prescribed a new antibiotic and said he's a textbook case for needing tubes. You need 3 infections in 6 months, and he had 3 infections in 7 weeks! She said a scheduler would call me that day and that we might be able to get in really fast as there have been a lot of cancellations from patients testing positive for covid at their pre-op covid test. 

The scheduler called me at noon and had said we couldn't get in until 1/24 (which felt SO FAR OFF) but in the middle of our conversation she let me know that another scheduler told her there was a covid-related cancellation for Monday and that she'd look into it and call me back. I was ELATED! Within 15 minutes, she called back and said we could have that appointment for the first surgery of the day on Monday at our preferred hospital (I told them we would go to any of the 3 hospital they operate at). But I needed to get him tested for covid and get a pre-op physical that day. They have a slick set-up for covid tests at the Children's hospital so that was easy to schedule - it's in their parking garage and they come to your car for the test and would expedite his test since he had surgery Monday morning. But poor Will - it was his 3rd covid test that week and boy does he hate the nasal swabs! I was luckily able to get a pre-op physical set for that day at 4:40. I had tried contacting our pediatrician through mychart to see if one of his recent visits could count for a pre-op but I knew my chances of hearing back might be slim as she's super busy. She'll often get back to us within 24 hours, but I didn't want to count on her getting back to me on a Friday afternoon, which is a day that I know she's booked solid in clinic. 

Besides dealing with all the surgery stuff, we had people in our house on Friday converting our fireplace to gas. They were done early afternoon and this baby has been going A LOT since as it's been super cold here. I snapped a picture after they left but before I could get the mantle decorated again. But you get the idea. I love this fireplace so much and am so glad I convinced Phil to convert it to gas.

We laid low all weekend since we knew Will wasn't feeling well and Paul needed to quarantine due to his covid exposure. Luckily Saturday was pretty mild so we were able to get outside for a walk and some sledding! 

Paul's sledding cheering section

Sledding with daddy

I didn't get a picture of this, but we took Will sledding on a really small hill and he loved it! 

Sunday was bitterly cold so we laid low and worked on puzzles, read books, and tried to stay sane. I'm so over covid and not being able to go anywhere. In non-covid times, I would have taken Paul to an indoor play area or a Children's Museum or something. But even if he wasn't quarantining from the positive case at school, I still wouldn't take him anywhere indoors since he's not a reliable mask wearer and it's not worth the risk of him getting covid and needing to quarantine at home (our daycare hasn't updated their policy to reflect the latest guidance from the CDC so it's at least 7 days at home if he tests positive). 

On Sunday, I made lentil enchiladas for dinner which oddly is the biggest crowd pleaser in our house. As a child, a crowd pleaser was spaghetti. But would you believe that Paul turns up his nose at pasta with meat sauce (which I doctor up with blitzed vegetables) and loves lentil enchiladas? Will loves pretty much anything but he seemed to especially love these enchiladas. 

Monday started bright and early for us as I had to check-in with Will at 6am. He was a total trooper. I thought he'd be super cranky since he hadn't eaten since he nursed at 1am during the night but he was pretty happy. The pre-op nurse said he was the easiest 7:30 tubes baby she's ever had! 

He went into the OR at 7:30, was back in my arms at 8, and we were home by 9! The surgeon said he sucked out tons of thick fluid so clearly surgery was necessary. It is nice to know he's not in pain anymore and can hear properly! We'll get his hearing re-checked at his 4 week post-op appointment, but I'm sure it will be back to normal. We went through the same thing with Paul before he got tubes at 9 months - mild to moderate hearing loss pre-surgery, normal hearing afterwards. 

Will was his happy, active self that day and was cleared to go back to school the next day. 

I was home in time that morning to take Paul for his covid test and I got tested as well since I have ANOTHER cold. Our tests were all negative thank goodness! 

Sleep wasn't exactly awesome last night as Will has gotten used to eating 2-3 times/night. I'll give him a couple of nights of comfort nursing and then it's time to do some sleep training again to get him to sleep through the night as being up multiple times a night isn't good for any of us! The sleep training process is not fun, and I know it's controversial/not for everyone. But we are team "do what it takes to get everyone sleeping through the night." He took to it very well at 7 months so I am sure he'll be back to sleeping through the night pretty quickly (I hope!). 

And there you have it. Doctors appointments, covid tests, surgery. Oh my. It's been a hectic string of days, but I think/hope better days and more sleep are ahead!

How was your weekend? 

Core de Force Program Review

Hello from San Diego!!  As I mentioned in my post last week, I did the Core de Force Program in January. Here is my review of the program.

Overview:

Core de Force is a 30-day program of mixed-martial arts-inspired workouts (i.e. kick-boxing style workouts). There is no equipment required. The workouts can be grouped into 3 categories:  cardio, strength training, and core. The cardio and strength training workouts are typically broken down into 3 minute rounds with a 30 second period for recovery. For the cardio workouts, you will typically do a move for 1 minute, then a 30 second high-intensity x's 2.  For the strength training workouts, you will do 2-3 different moves during the 3 minute round. The core workouts tend to be done in 45 second to 1 minute increments.

Pros:
- No equipment needed. If you get the CDs, you just need access to a computer or DVD player. If you have the on demand membership (which I HIGHLY recommend), you just need access to a laptop or device such an iPad.
- There is a lot of variety to the program.  There are 4 different cardio workouts, 2 different strength training workouts, and 2 different core workouts.
- The workouts are fun!  If you have some aggression that you need to workout, this workout is perfect because you do lots of kicking and punching.
- The workouts are fairly low impact and there is a person that does modifications for each move of the workout. Sometimes I have to modify because my hip can't handle lots of jumping moves, and sometimes I have to modify because of my level of fitness. For example, I am a looooong ways from being able to do tricep push-ups, but the modification from the knees is still challenging!

Cons:
- In the latter half of the program, you combine cardio and core work every day so it can be a big time commitment. The longest cardio workout is about 45 minutes and the core programs are either 5 minutes or 15 minutes. So in the final weeks you might be working out for an hour which can be harder to fit in. Other beach body programs feature workouts that are 25-30 minutes so you might want to try one of those program is your time is limited.
- Some of the moves are a bit confusing. They do have a 'learn it and work it' segment that is separate from the workouts. They break down the moves during these segments, but you might feel awkward when doing the workouts as there is a lot of jumping and switching legs and such.  I learned to get over not feeling like I was doing it right.  You'll do the workouts over and over and there is a person doing modifications if you need to take it down a level. Just be prepared to feel like you are clumsy and have 2 left feet at times.

Again, I want to emphasis that I am merely sharing my experience with this program. They worked great for me so I figure maybe some of you will benefit from checking them out.  I get ZERO compensation from posting about them!  But if you want to check it out, I can put you in touch with my friend (who is super nice and won't pressure you into buying it!).  Plus they have a special deal right now where you can get on demand access for one year for $99!

Have you tried a beach body program or other online program?

The Change in My Approach to Working Out

Working out has been a big focus in my life for quite some time. However, my approach to working out has really changed recently. Up until I moved in with Phil, I had access to a gym within my condo or apartment buildings. Working out was pretty easy because I could be at the gym in 5 minutes which made it very easy to fit in workouts either before or after work.

That all changed last May when I moved in with Phil and I quickly realized how much more difficult  it is to find time to workout when you don't have a gym in your home!  Plus, I had hip surgery the week after I moved in and spent the summer and fall rehabbing my hip joint.  In summers past, most of my workouts would have happened outdoors as I tend to run and bike a lot in the summer, but that wasn't possible since my hip was still healing.

This fall, I started to regain strength in my hip and was able to start to do more intense workouts and classes at the gym. Except I quickly realize that it's hard to get to the gym as often as I would like since my schedule is so busy. Between work travel and after-work commitments, it was darn near impossible to get to the gym 5-6 days a week, which is how often I prefer to workout. It takes me about 15 minutes to drive to the gym, so between driving there and back + working out, I was gone for 1.5-2 hours.  And that is a serious chunk of my free time in the evening.

You are probably thinking - why don't you just work out in the morning instead?  Well, morning gym workouts don't work for me since I take the bus to work and it's a logistical nightmare to drive to the gym and try to take a bus from there. Yes, I could have figured it out, but I need to be at work by 7:30 so it was going to require really early morning and showering/getting ready at the gym (which I'm NOT comfortable doing as I just can't get behind the whole 'being naked in front of strangers' thing). Nor did I feel comfortable leaving my car at the gym all day while I was at work.

Come December, I was starting to feel frustrated. I wasn't as toned as I like to be and I didn't feel great since I wasn't working out consistently.  I knew something had to change.  Here's what I decided to do.

1.  I signed up for a beach body program*.  A high school friend is a beach body coach and she posted some videos of her Core de Force workouts.  They looked really fun so I decided to give it a try. I was attracted to this program because it doesn't require ANY equipment.  Shortly after I signed up, Beach Body offered annual access to all of their programs for $99 for the entire year.  I snapped up that deal as I figured it would be a great way to have access to lots of different programs. I tend to get bored easily so I need variety! Plus it has a handy dandy little tracker that shows you how much you have worked out!

Kind of crazy that I've done 57 workouts since I joined in late December!!  I've done a lot of double workout days, though as Core de Force combines cardio or strength training with core and lately I've been combining T25 workouts with PiYo.

2.  I made an at home gym.  My at home workout space could not have less ambiance (our basement is unfinished so I workout in a room that has cement floors and is kind of dark). But what it lacks in ambiance, it makes up for in convenience.  I bought these mats and this weight set. I set up a little table for my laptop as right now I'm using the various beach body programs. It's kind of like working out in a dungeon, but it works for me.  Setting up an at-home gym has made it possible for me to do morning workouts as I don't have to worry about waking Phil up with all of my jumping around!

3.  I kept my gym membership but go to a different location. I have a membership to the Y and was going to a location that is about 2 miles from our house.  Except driving there and back added on so much time, which made it harder for me to motivate myself to go on week nights. So now I go to the downtown Y, which is 2 blocks from my office. That way I can get my workout in but still take the bus home. I just hate driving so much, so anything that cuts out driving is a win for me. I've been trying to run at the downtown gym twice a week and will try to get to the gym in our neighborhood once over the weekend for a class.

4.  I started to work with a personal trainer.  This was a bit of a splurge and is something I am doing temporarily so I can get toned up for my wedding. My company was acquired 2 years ago and we joined their benefits in January. One of their benefits is that they will pay for 50% of your gym fees, including personal trainer sessions, up to $650/year!  That is how I am justifying the cost of working with a personal trainer, who happens to be a friend of mine and is giving me a discounted rate.

My approach to working out will change once the weather warms up and I can run outdoors. There are some people who run outdoors year round but I am paranoid about slipping and falling as our paths can be icy in the winter. So for now, my workouts are all indoors. Come spring, I will likely drop my gym membership for the summer/fall since I can get my cardio workouts in outdoors.

So there you have it.  A long and meandering post about working out.  I sometimes think there is this perception that working out comes easily to those who have a history of being active. This post shows that that isn't necessarily the case. Life changes either due to a move, an injury, being in a relationship or having a child and you have to figure out a new way to get your workouts in. Working out is such an important part of being a healthy individual, regardless of whether or not you are at your ideal weight.  So if you are struggling to fit your workouts in due to your life circumstances, try thinking outside the box. For example, I never thought I'd need an at-home gym to stay active, but it turns out I do!

Stay tuned for my review of the Core de Force program!

What are you doing to stay active these days?  Have you gone through a change that has made it harder to stay active?  

* I am not compensated in anyway to mention the Beach Body programs. However, if you are curious about trying one out, I can put you in touch with a coach.  If you choose to try it out, I'm not compensated in any way.  

Hip Update

Happy Thursday, everyone! For me it's a Friday as we fly to San Francisco today for our quick weekend getaway.

Several of you have asked for updates on my hip so I thought I'd provide an update before leaving for vacation. I had my appointment with the surgeon yesterday and after discussing my MRI, x-rays and doing a physical examination of my range of motion and such, we decided that surgery is the best course of action for me. This surgeon is very well-known for doing arthroscopic hip surgeries. People travel to Minnesota to see him and he's done over 4,000 surgeries similar to what I need. I know I am in good hands, which is very reassuring. During the surgery, he will fix the labrel tear, shave the bone growth off the ball joint of my hip, and also shave some of the hip socket so the hip will move more smoothly. I'll be on crutches for 2-3 weeks and it'll take about 3 months for me to fully recover.

My surgery is scheduled for Monday, May 9th. It's sooner than I thought my surgery would be but it was the only opening in May so I'm making it work. I'm glad that I can get it over with soon so that it's not hanging over me and I can be on the path to recovery very soon. However, it's definitely going to make for a stressful couple of weeks. I was planning to move to Phil's on May 20th so have pushed my move date up to May 6th (2 weeks from tomorrow!!!!) so I can move and settle in before my surgery. 

The move is coinciding with a busy travel season for me, which makes things extra stressful. We leave today for San Francisco, then on Monday I fly from SF to New Jersey for a work trip and come home on Wednesday night. Then the following week I go back to New Jersey Tuesday-Thursday for work, get in late Thursday night, and move the following day.  This means I have 5 full days at home before my move! I have other things to do like get a CT scan (needed for the surgery), schedule a pre-op physical, and do a lot of move-related errands, so things are going to be a bit harried for me over the next several weeks. 

I had a feeling that a) I would need surgery and b) it would require changing my move date, which is why I've been aggressively moving things over to Phil's over the last week. That said, I feel a little bit frazzled and panicky about everything that needs to happen over the next several weeks but I guess that will distract me from worrying about the surgery.  And luckily I have Phil to lean on right now. I'm also reminding myself that this move will be different and I won't be 100% unpacked and settled right away because it's different when you are merging lives instead of moving into an empty space. It will take time to settle and make changes and that is OK. We are going to be in this house for a long time so there's no reason to rush the settlement period (even though it will drive me a little batty to have things disorganized!).   

In the midst of all of this, I am having some "why me?" questions and feelings, which is to be expected, I suppose. I'm also beyond tired of people making comments like, "maybe this wouldn't happen if you didn't run so much." Comments like that are very upsetting because I have been very smart about how much I run and the bone growth that caused the labrel tear is something that was completely out of my control. I did not do anything to cause or deserve this injury. I'm trying to remind myself that people often don't think before speaking or they do not consider the impact of their words. But it's still hard to deal with comments like that. 

Considering how busy I'll be over the next several weeks, I'm going to take a brief blogging break so I can focus on moving, settling into a new home and preparing for surgery!  I'm sure I'll check back in after my move and surgery is behind me! Send me good, healing thoughts on May 9th! Oh and if anyone reading this has had this surgery or knows of someone that had this surgery, drop me a note at lisasyarns at gmail - I'd love to hear any words of advice and/or encouragement, or more detail on what to expect!

Cancer Prevention Awareness

Sometimes, I want to travel back in time to a period of my life when I was blissfully unaware of cancer and how it would impact my loved ones and my friends' loved ones. As I've gotten older, the number of people impacted by this disease grows and grows. And, in the last several years, some of my peers have been diagnosed with cancer which changes my view of cancer as something that could happen far down the road to something that could really happen at anytime in my life. And perhaps this is anecdotal, but it feels like the incidence of cancer among people around my age is increasing.

The way I see it, there are 2 ways to think about your risk of getting cancer:

1.  Accept the inevitability that you will potentially get cancer.
2.  Do whatever you can to reduce your risk of getting cancer.

I'm opting for #2.

So how exactly does one reduce their risk of getting cancer? The info-graphic below provides some suggestions.

Of the items listed, I'm pretty good about the first 3 (eating vegetables and superfoods, spending 15 minutes in the sun each day, exercising daily). But I haven't given as much thought to the area at the bottom related to household toxins. I feel that my risk of being exposed to asbestos is low as my condo building was built in a period of time when asbestos wasn't used, but if I lived in an older home, I would look into having an inspection done to reduce my chances of getting mesothelioma, which is a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.

However, there are probably other toxins I am exposed to in my household, especially when it comes to cleaning products, which is something I've given more thought to lately. So going forward, I am going to really increase my focus on household toxins and try to limit my exposure as much as possible. This means doing things like changing laundry detergents and cleaning products, among other things. I've started by switching over to Seventh Generation products*. I like that they disclose the ingredients of their products on their labels. It boggles my mind that this isn't required for all cleaning products!

Perhaps these changes will be all for naught and I will someday find myself with a cancer diagnosis. But in the mean time, at least I can find comfort in knowing that I am trying to do as much as I can to limit the risk of that diagnosis.

What do you do to limit your chances of getting cancer? Is it something you give much thought to?

* This post was in no way sponsored by Seventh Generation. I just like their products!

National Healthly Lung Month

Did you know that October is National Healthy Lung Month?  One thing that RA has taught me is to appreciate my health and do whatever I can to make sure I continue to stay healthy. As a runner, lung healthy is obviously very important and not something I take for granted.  I try to do what I can to make sure my lungs stay healthy, like exercising, staying hydrated, avoiding areas/places where there is cigarette smoke, and staying indoors when the air pollution levels are at dangerous levels (which is a rare occurrence in Minnesota, luckily). It's also important to avoid toxins indoors, such as asbestos, which is a carcinogen that causes a type of cancer called mesothelioma. You can learn more about mesothelioma here.

I have been personally affected by lung cancer as my grandmother passed away from it in over 20 years ago. I've been affected more recently as the mom of a good friend is battling lung cancer for the 3rd time and is unfortunately out of treatment options so is in the midst of her final battle with this awful disease. I read recently that lung cancer takes more lives than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined – it accounts for 27% of all cancer deaths. Isn't that sad?  

This post is my small effort to raise awareness about the importance of lung health.  I hope that as research improves, cancer will claim the lives of fewer people. But until then, we have to do all that we can to make sure that we keep our bodies - and our lungs - in the best condition possible. 

Strength Training: One Year Later

Last spring when the symptoms of my Rheumatoid Arthritis started to subside, my Charlotte Rheumatologist really pushed me to add strength training into my fitness routine.  Truth be told, I have never been great at strength training on a regular basis.  I'm great at doing cardio, but strength training sort of overwhelmed and intimidated me in the past. 

But I came across article after article, like this one, touting the benefits of strength training for people with RA and my doctor continued to emphasize that strength training would strengthen my joints which would protect them from further damage from this disease.  When your decision about whether or not to strength train becomes a question of your long term health, it became pretty obvious that I needed to find a way to incorporate it on a regular basis.

In early April of 2014, the nagging joint pain in my elbow, wrists and fingers began to subside so I started off by going to classes at the YMCA, such as Body Pump, which is one of my all-time favorite strength training classes.  After moving to Minneapolis in May, I decided I couldn't justify the cost of a gym membership since my condo building has a great gym so I decided to try Bobbi McCormick's summer shred program.  I loved her program so much that I ended up doing 3 different shred programs.  I now have a lot of different workouts to choose from each week.  One of my organizational projects for the year involved printing off all of the workouts and arranging them by the area of the body that they work out (full body, lower body, upper body) and I have a special section for Tabata workouts. I've also wrote down or printed out a lot of workouts from Peanut Butter Runner's blog and included them in this binder.  She has a page full of great workouts.

In the last year, I've learned that I need to go into the gym with a plan.  I need to know exactly what I am going to do and the sequence of the moves I will do.  I've also learned that I prefer workouts that combine strength training with short bursts of cardio.  I like workouts that are broken up by 30-60 second high intensity cardio, like mountain climbers, burpees, or high knees, for example.  Lastly, I've learned that I need an accountability partner.  My accountability partner, Amber, lives over 1,500 miles away but we keep each other motivated by texting/instant messaging about what we are planning to do and if I am planning to get up before work to workout, I usually tell her as then I am less apt to change my mind when the alarm goes off.

A year later, the results in my muscle tone are probably subtle to others...

April 6, 2014

April 6, 2015

but they're noticeable to me.  I feel more fit, my clothes fit better, I run faster, and most importantly, I can say that I'm managing my RA - it's not managing me.

Do you consistently strength train?  If you do, where do you get most of your workouts?  

Weekend Prep

Greetings and happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Mine was fun as it included some time at the driving range with Phil (I am terrible at golf but it was a fun date activity) followed by dinner + gelato + a House of Cards episode (we finished season 1 on Friday), a long run with my running club, a coffee + macaron date with Marisa, and attending a BBQ at a friend of Phil's (we brought guacamole which was a hit).

Friday night and Saturday were mostly about fun things, but Sunday was mostly about preparation for the week.  Living a healthy lifestyle is important to me, but it's not something that just happens.  I think it's important to emphasize that as I think at times we can look at others and think that it's effortless for them to eat healthy or fit in workouts.  But really, it's not effortless - at least not for most of us.  In my case, it takes planning, preparation, and spending a good amount of time in the kitchen on Sunday.

Everyone's lifestyle is very different, but for me, if I'm not teed up (see how I threw in a golf reference there?) for a week of healthy eating, it's not going to happen.  My week nights feel short as I work longish days and use my precious free hours in the evening to workout and spend time with Phil.  So Sundays are my day to get myself ready for a week.  Here's how I spent mine.

First up, I made Peanut Butter Runner's Mexican Quinoa recipe which was incredibly easy.  I'll warm this up and eat it on top of baby spinach with some salsa for 2 lunches and 2 dinners during the week.

Those containers look huge but each portion is about 1 cup.

Next up, I cut up a watermelon.  I love watermelon so much and am so glad it's watermelon season because this one of my favorite snacks.  I timed myself and it took me exactly 20 minutes to cut up the watermelon, which was surprising because I thought it would take way longer.  I can always find 20 minutes no matter how busy each weekend is so I will aim to buy a watermelon every weekend this summer!

After scanning my fridge, I realized I had some leftover kale.  I had already bought spinach for my salads for the week so I decided to make kale chips with the leftover kale.  I think kale chips are soo good!  And they are so easy to make - you just toss the kale with olive oil and sprinkle it with salt (I used a fun seasoned salt from Penzeys) and bake them for ~15 minutes on 350F.

Lastly, I made a big pot of (GF) pasta e fagioli soup.  Yes, I eat soup in the summer.  I had a bowl for dinner last night, and will have leftovers for 2 lunches and 2 dinner and will freeze some. 

So there you have it!  All in all, I probably spent about 3.5 hours in the kitchen yesterday (plus time on Saturday meal planning + grocery shopping).  Luckily cooking is something I enjoy so those 3.5 hours were fun for me, and they allow me to start the week with a fridge full of healthy eats!

What is your trick to healthy eating?  Do you tend to make meals throughout the week, or are you like me and prefer to do most of your cooking on the weekends?

My Diagnosis: Rheumatoid Arthritis

Warning - long post to follow...

I don't think I have ever been so happy to see a long weekend arrive as I am today.  It's been a long week.  Actually, it's been a long month.  As I mentioned in my NYC post, I received a phone call from my doctor, and the news was not great.  She gave me a preliminary diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and referred me to a Rheumatologist for further testing and a treatment plan.  The news left me reeling, to say the least, and I was very happy to have the constant company of Alli throughout the weekend.

I don't expect anyone to know what RA is - I knew very little about it until I started to research it after finding out that it was a potential explanation/diagnosis for why I have felt the way I have felt this spring/summer. To explain what it is, I am going to cite the words of Kelly, author of the site RA Warrior:  Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is "a systemic autoimmune disease which attacks primarily, but not solely, the joints. It is an incurable disease affecting the synovial tissues which surround joints and similar lining tissues of certain organs.  Through a very complex process, various kinds of immune cells attack and eventually destroy otherwise healthy tissues."

How I knew something was wrong... 

As anyone who has read this blog since April knows, I have been plagued by foot injuries, one which was diagnosed as a stress fracture, another which was diagnosed as a hairline fracture.  I accepted the first diagnosis, but the 2nd injury in my left foot just seem "off."  I had been doing very little and it just did not make sense that I would have another fracture so close to the first.

But that was only part of it.  As early as April, I had been feeling pain in some of my joints.  I dismissed it as first as my body's reaction to the amount of stress it was under due to CFA preparations, or I thought it was my body's way of adjusting to the boot.  But then the pain in my arms and hands got so bad, it was difficult to do things like put on clothes, pick up my suitcase, open jars, or take the cap off of my chap stick. I kept thinking - what is wrong with me or what have I done to cause all of this strange pain.  When I would get out of bed every morning, everything would hurt and I honestly felt like I was 80, not 32.

I saw a GP in late June as the pain in my arms was getting so bad, it was really getting hard to do day to day tasks, and she diagnosed it as a case of tendinitis and increased the dosage of the anit-inflammatory that I was on for my foot injury.  But the arm pain would not go away and eventually I had to discontinue the pilates sessions because the pain in my arms was too bad for me to do anything.  At this point I started to wonder what, if any, physical exercises I'd ever be able to do again.  While pilates is challenging, it's gentle, so if I couldn't do that, what would I ever be able to do to stay active/fit?

I think the real tell-tale sign was the swelling in various joints - the worst of which was the 3rd finger of my left hand.

This is what my hand looked like

This is what it should look like

This swelling, coupled with the 2nd fracture diagnosis, is what led me to see my doctor last week - that and the prodding of my mom who felt something was really wrong.

My diagnosis/prognosis...

I saw my rheumatologist yesterday and he confirmed the diagnosis by doing a physical examination of my joints, asking me a lot of questions, and reviewing my blood work (which showed abnormal levels for a couple of different labs).  He is very optimistic and feels we caught this early and that there is very little chance of any permanent disfigurement or deformity.  He sent me home with a bunch of literature to read so we can make a decision about how to treat this.  He recommended a drug that is actually used to treat some forms of cancer - I would just take it in a much, much lower dose so my side effect should be more tolerable than someone who is using it as a chemo-treatment for cancer.  There are a long list of side effects/risks that I know I need to take with a grain of salt, but it's still a scary decision for me.  I have talked to one person on this drug and she said it has been a miracle drug for her, so it was at least nice hearing one person's testimony in favor of this drug.

I won't bore you with the details of the appointment, but I will say that while I was happy with his thoroughness/amount of time he spent with me, I was very disappointed with his demeanor.  Maybe I expect too much when I expect a specialist to show some compassion.  I just felt like he was very dismissive of certain things and unwilling to talk at length about other things (like my multiple fractures - he did eventually acknowledge that RA may have caused some osteopenia, making me more susceptible to stress fractures.  Hopefully the bone density scan I am having next week sheds some light on this).  I have decided to get a 2nd opinion, not because I don't trust the treatment plan he is recommending, but because I need to establish care with a doctor that I feel comfortable talking to.  I am sure he sees many who have more advanced forms of this disease, so seeing someone young with an optimistic prognosis impacted the way he treated me.  But while he deals with it everything day and is probably a little bit "numb" to the brevity of the diagnosis, it's all new and overwhelming and scary for me, so an "I'm sorry you are dealing with this" or an acknowledgement that this is overwhelming would have helped.

How I am feeling...

Honestly, I feel cheated.  I feel like I have done all the right things - I exercised (prior to the fractures), I eat healthy, I don't smoke, I rarely drink.  But none of that seems to matter.

I feel scared.  I don't know how my body is going to react to the drug I ultimately choose to take.  I don't know when/if I will return to running, or how far I will be able to run  when I do return to running.

I feel like it's all too much when coupled with the other challenges I have faced this year.  I just wonder - when is the string of crappy things going to end?  I keep thinking it won't get worse, but then it does.  This year has just worn me out.  

But, I feel a little bit of a sense of relief because now I have an explanation for why I have felt so crappy all summer.  I have not told many people about the pain I have been feeling or the exhaustion I have experienced because I felt I had exhausted the patience of others when talking about all my foot issues.  I told a couple of people but mostly I would lie awake at night and wonder, "What is wrong with me?"  So having an explanation of it - and hope that the pain will go away eventually - is somewhat of a relief.  I just wish the explanation wasn't a chronic disease that I will have to manage for the rest of my life.

What I need...

People keep asking me what they can do, but since all but 2 of my close friends live far away, there isn't much I can ask for at this point besides your thoughts and prayers as I process this.  I do need friends/family to acknowledge that this is a big deal and accept that right now I can't be all "rah rah, they caught it early, everything is going to be fine."  I know eventually I will feel that way but right now, I am sort of grieving the fact that my life will be forever changed.  I am not going to give into these feelings of grief forever, but I will for awhile.

The last thing is that I need people to accept and respect decisions I make about how I go about treating this disease.  I am relying on the expert advice of specialist who live, eat, and breath RA every day.  I appreciate the research family and friends will do on my behalf and will look at things they are suggesting I do, but ultimately, I am going to rely on the advice of my Rheumatologist.  Right now, I am not open to holistic approaches to treating this disease.  I would prefer to start off with an aggressive treatment so I can get back to living a more normal, active lifestyle ASAP.  Once the disease is under control, I would be more open to seeing what the alternative treatments, but right now, I'm not there yet. 

With that, I will bring this novel of a recap to a close.  I want to emphasize that while I am pretty down/overwhelmed/frustrated, I do know I will be ok.  I have been encouraged by stories of others who are living with this disease and leading normal, active lives.  I hope that will be me soon. 

I'll close with a quote that my Aunt Betty embodied with the way she lived her life while battling cancer.  I am going to try to take a page from her book and try to adopt this approach to life as well.  Lord knows, 2013 and Charlotte have provided sufficient rain for me to dance in.
 

3 Things Thursday

Happy almost-Friday everyone!  Today is actually my Friday so woo hip!  I am only working one Friday this month actually.  Go me.

I thought I'd close out the week with a '3 things Thursday' post to share what is on my mind.

1.  I had my appointment with a GP yesterday.  She agreed that the symptoms I am having combined with the stress fractures is very abnormal for my age.  She ordered a bone density scan, which I probably won't have until next week as I need to go to a hospital, and a bunch of labs. We will see what answers the results provide.  My younger sister is a nurse and my mom was a nurse, so I sent them the list of tests being done and they seemed to think the doctor was being thorough, so I feel good about that.

2.  I'm not doing very well with living in Charlotte right now - actually, not doing well is an understatement.  For instance, dealing with medical stuff in a new city is frustrating because I don't have a PCP here (yet) and some doctors offices won't accept new patients.  When the doctor I tried to see yesterday (which was recommended by a friend) cancelled on me, I about lost it.  Luckily I was able to get in at a different practice, but it was just frustrating.  I'm tired and I don't feel great and I just have no patience for the challenges of living here right now.

3.  On a positive note, I am escaping Charlotte for the weekend and heading to NYC today to spend a long weekend with Alli.  I am so excited to spend the weekend with her!  We are going to have THE BEST time. 

What are your 3 things Thursday?  Do you have a PCP (primary care physician)?  If so, how did you find your PCP?  I think finding new doctors is one of the many challenging aspects of moving to a new city.  I just randomly found the person who is seeing me now but I think I got lucky as she seems great.  And very kind. 

40 percent

40 percent is a number that came up twice in the year 2011.  It's funny how the context of a number can change your perception of it.  40 percent came up for the first time when I was studying for level I of the CFA exam.  40% of those who take the test pass.  My initial thought was - yikes, that is low.  I mean, 40 percent is a small number!  Cue panic.  Cue intense, rigorous study schedule.  That statistic scared me into studying my butt off.  And I passed.

Fast forward to December 2011.  40 percent comes up again.  This time, it's in a text message from my mom.  My dad had some routine blood work done as part of a physical, and something came back indicating that he may have prostate cancer - a 40 percent chance according to the doctor. 

In the span of 6 months, 40 percent went from sounding minuscule to sounding huge.  Granted, any number attached to your dad's chances of having cancer is too big.  I'd like that chance to be below 1 percent, but that is not how life works.

Weeks later, we got the results of my dad's biopsy and found out that he did, in fact, have prostate cancer.  I have kept quiet about this as I didn't want to be a Chicken Little, and sometimes writing about it makes you fixate on it, so I just told my closest friends and have tried to put it out of my mind.

The fact of the matter is that the sky is not falling.  Luckily, they caught it very early, so my dad will just need surgery and he should be able to put this firmly in his past.  His surgery is today and I know my whole family is looking forward to having this behind us - especially my dad.  

If anything, this whole experience has been a wake up call.  It's a reminder that parents and other loved ones are not immortal, so I better enjoy every moment I have with them and make sure they know how much I love and appreciate them.  And it's a reminder to take care of your health.  Luckily, both my parents are diligent about getting their annual physicals and procedures like colonoscopies.  Health insurance covers this sort of preventative care/screening, so it's foolish (IMO) to not take advantage of your access to preventative care. 

I am traveling for work, so won't be home for the surgery, but my thoughts and prayers are most definitely with my dad and mom today.  Luckily, my dad has the best nurse a guy could ask for (my mom) to take care of him as he recovers!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Surgery

Greetings everyone.  I thought I'd do a quick post to let you all know that surgery went well!  It was more painful than I had anticipated, but I know it will be worth it.  Here's a "Good/Bad/Ugly" summary of my surgery...

The Good
- My mom was here to take care of me.  She was a nurse so is so very very good at this.  I am incredibly thankful that she was here for me.  Also, she bought me flowers on Friday, which was a wonderful surprise.  And she brought me a French-phrase-a-day calendar to cheer me up. :)
- It turns out that I had what you could call a ruptured sinus which was causing all of my sinus problems.  The doctor was able to fix this and told my mom I never would have gotten over this sinus infection without surgery because of that ruptured sinus.  It was really good to have immediate validation that getting surgery was the right decision.

The Bad
- This surgery was painful.  I totally underestimated how painful it would be.  I am not bouncing back as quickly as I thought I would, which means I have to use up more vacation time that I would like.  :(
- I can not blow my nose for 10 days.  This is DRIVING ME CRAZY.

The Ugly
- In a word, Friday was ugly.  I got very sick from the pain pills/aftermath of the surgery/etc.  It was like having the stomach flu while having the worst headache of your life.  My mom picked up a prescription for an anti-nausea med, though, and luckily that has helped!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I'll be taking the rest of the week away from blogging, but hope to be back next week!

Surgery Day

Greetings and Happy Friday!  I hope every had a great week.  I had a wonderful trip to Chicago, but am so far behind in life, I haven't had a chance to blog about it!  I'll get to it eventually...

Today is my sinus surgery.  People have asked if I am nervous or scared.  Up until last night, my answer was - no, not really.  Honestly, I just want it to be over with so I can get back to feeling healthy.  I've been battling a sinus infection since late September.  That's a long time to not feel 100%...  The nerves did start to set in last night, but I think that's only natural.

I've had surgeries before so I know how it all works.  I am most nervous for the anesthesia part because I HATE how I feel when I wake up.  I've been put under twice and both times I woke up a crying, disorientated mess.  Those last 2 times I was 16 and 18 so it was totally fine to be crying.  But crying at the age of 30?  Sort of embarrassing.  So hopefully I can hold it together and am not too much of a hot mess when I come to after the procedure.

Luckily my  mom will be here to take care of me. She brought home made chicken wild rice with her and will make other things if I crave them.  It sure feels great to be taken care of.  I am not very good terrible at asking for help, but I know in this case, I have to accept the help that is being offered.  Plus, that is sort of what moms are for!

I'll be absent from the blogosphere most of next week as I recover and try to catch back up on life!  But I will try to keep up on what you are all up to!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

Good-bye antibiotics, hello surgery... and accepting help...

Thank you for all the kind comments and suggestions on last week's wine & love post.  Since I mentioned that I had an appointment, I figured I would give you an update.  I saw my ENT on Friday, and as I suspected, he said surgery is our best option at this point.  It's just a day procedure and the recovery is allegedly not too bad, although my doctor did warn me that it's different for every person.  Some bounce back in a matter of days, some need a week.  I am hoping I am on the 'couple of days' end of the spectrum.  I do not have time to be out of commission for a week...

My surgery will be on January 20th as that is the earlier I could get it.  I had mentioned that I might need surgery at Thanksgiving and my sister-in-law kindly volunteered to help me out.  But when the scheduler told me I'd have to be the hospital at 6:15 am for pre-op my initial thought was:  "Yikes, that is early.  There's no way I can ask my SIL to be at my condo that early, I will just take a cab to the hospital."

After talking to my mom, it sounds like she'll be able to come down and take me to/from surgery and spend that first night with me, so I won't need to take a cab.  And really, I am sure my SIL would have taken me to there, I just HATE asking people to do things for me.  Especially when it's an extreme inconvenience to someone.  I just hate feeling like an 'obligation' to others, but this is something I need to work on, because we all need to ask for help now and then.  And the thing is, I have no problem helping others, and I don't see them as an 'obligation', so this is clearly a thought pattern I need to work on.  

I am actually really looking forward to surgery.  No, I would not choose to be in the position to need surgery, but I am tired of taking course after course of antibiotics and not seeing any results.  I'm tired of being sick.  When someone asks me how I feel, I want to be able to say I feel great.  But soon enough all of this will be behind me and I will be back on the road to full health!

Are you good at asking for and accepting help from others?