A Clean Bill of Health

I had my baseline colonoscopy on Monday. I think it actually took longer to hook up the IV for the sedative and hook me up to the blood pressure machine than it did to do the actual scope! For what it is worth, and for those who are hesitant to schedule this particular procedure, it's really not that awful. I found the prep to be the most inconvenient part; I describe it as having the stomach flu without a raging fever. The stuff you drink to cleanse the colon isn't the most wonderful stuff and it's not the worst stuff either. I found it to have a significant appetite killing effect, which was okay with me given the "clear liquid diet" part of the prep. I was fortunate enough to be the first appointment of the day, so I was all sedated and ready for the doc when he came in at 8:45. I was in the recovery area by 9:05 and sitting at the nearest Bob Evans by 9:45. Swear to Gawd! I had the perfect amount of sedation because I could remember the procedure and talking to the doctor and the nurse afterwards but I never felt any discomfort at all. I mean, it really was "That's it? You're done back there?" I got a completely clean bill of colon health, and the nurse said stuff like "We wish we had more patients like you," and "You like your fruits and veggies, right? We can tell!" Don't have to go back for 5 years either.

In other health news, I got the results of my mammogram back yesterday, too. No changes and repeat in one year. That completes all of the routine medical testing for me for a year or so, and they all came back good. Now to keep working on weight loss and fitness. Quite honestly, such good test results are a real incentive to do just that!

Also, I have a really, really clean house right now. Just sorting out a bit of junk in the spare room and doing some filing. So I have a clean bill of health EVERYWHERE!

How Clean Is Your House?

This is my new favorite show. I do not consider myself a clean fanatic by any stretch of the imagination. Heloise (or at least the people who write into her with new hints) and the Fly Ladies scare me, quite frankly. I mean, there's a thing called "obsessive compulsive disorder" and I think that most Fly Ladies should look into treatment. Really, I do! I have loads of clutter and stuff that needs to just get toted out to the car or the curb so it can live elsewhere, but every time I watch this show, I am reminded that I am hell and gone from the state of the homes that Kim and Aggie invade. It's sort of reaffirming for me, really.

I've also gotten some really good, inexpensive cleaning tips and tricks from the show. After all, if they work on the hog pens shown on TV, my little bits of dust and dirt are a breeze! I was skeptical that some olive oil mixed with plain old bottled lemon juice right from the fridge would remove the waxy buildup on that antique table from Grandma, especially when I'd spent good money on stuff that promised to do the same with no effect. Imagine my surprise when I tested the olive oil/lemon juice on the spot under the lamp mat for the table lamp and got a shiny table top that looked brand spankin' new! Imagine the utter shock I got when that mixture of regular table salt and the same lemon juice took the bits of cooking gunk that had accumulated under the rings on the electric stove right off with just a little effortless scrubbing with a nylon scrubber when even 409 and lots of sweating had failed. I also have started mixing plain ol' baking soda and Purex laundry soap with bleach into a paste that is apparently a homemade version of Soft Scrub for mere pennies when compared to the real deal. I put it on the tub and the tiles and it takes any soap scum right off and I think it is even bleaching out the grout on the tiles! These are all things I saw on "How Clean Is Your House?"

Of course, I was telling a friend recently that once you really and truly start deep cleaning and keeping it up, it is like dominoes, and before you know it, you're pulling out the refrigerator and cleaning under there! Because once you move the fridge even slightly and get a glimpse of what is lurking back there and under there, the genie is definitely OUT of the bottle, and you will not sleep until you've cleaned it properly! Which means that you then have to contemplate cleaning the INSIDE of the fridge, too. Yeah, yeah, I know. See above references to OCD, right? Well, I am comforted by the fact that, having cleaned out Dad's refrigerator not that long ago, I will not be confronting a 3 year old maple syrup spill that has been allowed to drip everywhere inside the refrigerator. Who knows? Maybe I'll thin things out and get down to have just six or seven kinds of mustard in my refrigerator!

Tomorrow I think I will clear the clutter from my room and the living room so that I can give it all a good dusting and vacuuming. I've got to do it early, though, as I have to start prepping for my baseline colonoscopy tomorrow afternoon. I am getting the scoping on Monday a.m. at 8:30. Everyone says the prep is worse than the actual test, and I believe they are probably right. Heck, these days you get enough happy juice to make you forget they've even done the colonoscopy from what I've heard. And I've taken Dad to enough scopings to have a pretty good idea how things go. I should be ready to eat my friend Meg's car upholstery by the time all is said and done sometime late morning/early afternoon on Monday! Then I can come home and take a nap! Or maybe that napping thing is just a Dad/Dogzilla thing? I guess I'll find out. At any rate, I'll be clean inside and out!

I Love Shark Week!!!

What more can I say? I really, really do. While I don't want to pet them or swim with them, and I do not go into the ocean past my ankles when I visit the beach, I DO think that large sharks in their element are magnificent creatures, every bit as beautiful and graceful as any other predators that we consider "beautiful", like lions, tigers and wolves. They are an evolutionary design that has proven almost perfect right out of the box.

A Health Update

Okay, let me first confess that, up until the middle of May, when I developed what was only the second UTI of my life, I hadn't been to my "regular" doctor for somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 years. Uh-huh. FIVE years. Last year, I kept waiting for the urgent care that was treating my abdominal abscess to tell me to GO to my usual doc, but that never happened. Not sure how time slipped away, but at first it was because I didn't have a regular, scheduled day off to make doctor appointments. Then, there was the matter of that deductible under previous forms of insurance. I know it seems silly, but after first switching jobs, there wasn't a lot left over for things like deductibles. Insurance was there for catastrophe, God forbid, should it strike.

Anyhow, I've got a new kind of insurance plan that actually works better for someone like me, who is rarely sick and who needs more of the routine/preventative care. So I've decided to make this the year that I get caught up on ALL the routine medical tests. So far, I've had my cholesterol checked, my blood glucose level checked, my thyroid and liver functions checked, had a PAP test and one of those in-office EKGs done, and have scheduled a mammogram and a baseline colonoscopy (given that I am turning 50 this coming Saturday, it was time. What a way to mark my golden anniversary with the world, eh? LOL). I've also gotten an eye exam and the first new glasses since the September after my mom died, some 12 years ago.

When I last had a cholesterol test, I was on medication to control cholesterol. Need I say that the medication fell by the wayside when I stopped going to the doctor? Anyhow, my current cholesterol level, without any medication, is 182. The "good" cholesterol count was 60 and the "bad" cholesterol level was 113. My triglycerides are 46. All of which is pretty good. Speaks well of the benefits of having a job that you actually LIKE most days, eating a high fiber diet and exercising regularly. My fasting blood glucose came back at 87. Other tests are well within "normal" ranges, too. I am very happy about all of this! As is my doctor, who, bless his heart, hasn't yelled at me once for letting things slide. He's just glad I've come back and approves of all the things I am doing right these days, such as exercising regularly and losing weight through the incredibly sensible (at least for me!) Weight Watchers CORE Plan. The only things he asked me to do, apart from keeping right on with the good habits, were to add a calcium pill with Vitamin D and a baby aspirin to my daily multivitamin.

My current total weight loss since the middle of May is 14 lbs., and still dropping. I feel really good and very powerful! It's good to make choices that feel right. Looking forward to a birthday weekend up at Dad's this weekend. I'm sure Dogzilla will want me to walk him tirelessly, especially since he has gotten so trim again with the baby carrot treats. For a twelve year old beagle, he can still jump up on those rock walls with the best of them! We should all be so spry at the equivalent age of somewhere between 80-90 years old!

I think that's about the size of it on the health front for me. I just had to share!

Change Is Good

I've come to the conclusion, after all these years, that change is definitely good for me. At least on the fitness and weight fronts. I seem to have a body that adapts incredibly well to routine. It's incredibly efficient at maintaining if I try to do the same old, same old day in and day out. So, the real secret for me is to almost constantly be mixing things up. I've been doing the Weight Watchers CORE plan for about 3 weeks now, and it still makes sense to me. Non-starchy veggies are my friends. The starchier ones, like corn, lima beans, sweet potatoes and white potatoes are not my enemy, but I do make a conscious effort to monitor how much of them I eat and how often. Lean protein is a good thing. I've been eating lots of chicken (the rotisserie chicken, plucked of its skin, is still a very good thing), lean pork and beef cuts, and both fresh and canned tuna and salmon. Whole grain products, like whole wheat pasta and whole wheat couscous and cereals with 5+ grams of fiber per serving, are also things I include in my diet, but I do keep a real close eye on how often I eat them and how much. Usually, they are a once a day thing and kept to the smaller portion of the meal. I've been able to consciously experience just how much I actually LIKE eating this way. There's so many things that I actually find very appealing. I love fresh apricots, and this year has been very good for them. I really enjoy fresh tomatoes and peppers of all colors. Fresh parsley and cilantro add new dimensions to just about anything you stick them in. I've made a really good Moroccan-spiced chicken breast. From a Weight Watcher recipe. Mind you, I changed the technique a little bit, but it still came out very good. Instead of just plopping a mix of ground cumin, coriander and cinnamon on the boneless chicken breasts and then sauteing it in a couple tsp. of oil, I mixed the dried spices with the oil and rubbed that on the chicken, which I then cooked in a non-stick pan sprayed with high heat PAM (btw, throw out all your other cooking sprays as this high heat version of Pam is well worth it!). I browned the chicken on both sides and then tossed it into a murderously hot (450 F) oven for about 10 minutes, until the juices ran clear. I wound up with deliciously moist chicken that paired nicely with some whole wheat couscous that had been cooked in chicken broth and that I stirred chopped fresh apricots and chopped cilantro into. I've decided that for weight loss, I should actually listen to my hunger levels (which is part of the CORE plan), and eat somewhere between 1200-1600 calories most days. Because there actually ARE whole days when I'm just not very hungry. Especially if I am good about taking in fluids.

When it comes to exercise, I need to average 45-60 minutes of something in addition to my "normal" activities. Now, sometimes, that's vigorous housework or carrying stuff up and down the stairs at my apartment (I have an ungodly amount of stuff that I donate to charity when I get into my "purge" modes and it all has to be toted down to my car to get hauled off. And, yes, I do know there are charities that would come get the stuff, but that would defeat the point of me hauling it down the stairs. Going down stairs means you have to come back UP them, see?). Lately, I've dragged out my modest array of fitness tapes and begun to work my way through them depending on my whims. I've been using a couple of The Firm tapes. Discovered that I am hideously uncoordinated at step aerobics, but my solution is to just keep moving my butt up and down the step when I get lost or to keep marching in place or squatting or lunging for stuff that is on the floor that I get lost trying to keep up on. Eventually, I'll get the moves but right now, it's important to just keep moving and sweating, IMHO. I like the whole CORE plan because it does encourage activity, diet alone not being enough. You get to earn a few extra weekly points to spend on stuff that isn't part of the CORE foods list, for things that might surprise some people. I like to "earn" my daily low-fat, artificially sweetened yogurt every day. That means I need to do at least 2 points worth of activity every day. I also find it both interesting and appropriate that WW seems to give you the most points for an activity in the early going of that activity. I think that makes sense, especially when dealing with a group that, for the most part, is unaccustomed to regular physical activity and who, given the chance, will overestimate their efforts. I know. Been there, done that. Keeps people from thinking they can earn 10 points a day for indulgences by exercising every day for hours on end. It encourages the efficient use of time for maximum fitness benefits, near as I can see. I mean, I can find 45-60 minutes to do something physical most days. That's reasonable. I mix it up between core training, cardio (like stepping and walking), yoga (I have a tape) and vigorous cleaning (moving boxes, gardening at my dad's, moving furniture around).

Currently, I've lost about 8 lbs., which is pretty reasonable. I am aiming for 1-2 lbs. average per week. Knowing my body as I do, I expect it to do this in fits and starts. I mean, I'll loose 4-6 lbs. one week and then somewhere between 1/2 lb. to 2 lbs. for several weeks. In the end, though, I know it works out to 1-2 lbs. average over time. Which is healthy and which is the measure of doing stuff that becomes a permanent way of living. And I am NOT a fanatic about anything. I reorganized my pantry/dry goods earlier this week. I put canned fruits and veggies, vinegars, healthy oils, sauces, dressings and whole grains where they are easily accessible. Things I absolutely cannot resist for the most part got tossed out. There was surprisingly little of that stuff in my house. The top shelf, the one that is above eye level and that I actually have to reach for holds the graham crackers, the two boxes of Girl Scout cookies, the jar of mini raspberry Three Musketeers, and the jar of mixed jelly beans. Believe it or not, I can actually have these things in my house and not gorge on them. But I want them up high and mostly outta sight so I am not tempted by them constantly being in my face. I also threw out my takeout menus. All of them.

Well, that's enough rambling on. I think I'll go clean something. I'm sure the tub could use a swabbing down.

The Merry Month of May

Perhaps it should be the COLD month of May. Although, come August and September, I'll probably look back at the slightly below average temperatures of May with longing. It is nice to sit here with the windows open this evening, though.

Not a whole lot happening in the past month, truth to tell. Nothing terribly exciting at work or at home. Of course, not a lot of going anywhere much what with the stinkin' price of gas! I have been up to visit with Dad and Dogzilla. Last weekend, I had to adjust Dogzilla's harness to fit him better. The baby carrot treat diet seems to be working wonders on the boy, and he's slimming down to a reasonable weight for an old beagle boy. He even showed some surprising vim and vigor over the weekend, running on his leash like a young dog. Of course, he was one whupped pup come Saturday evening since the day was so nice for walking him to his heart's content. Honestly, he was practically tripping over his little dog feet he was so tired, but he kept hopping out of bed to check on me in the living room during the evening. I think he was afraid I'd be sitting there eating sub sandwiches without him, and no lack of sub sandwiches or assurances from me could convince him otherwise. I finally went to bed around 10:30, just to get him to stay put. Which he did. It was rather like watching an over-tired two year old, the difference being that Dogzilla did not run himself into a wall or a coffee table in a fit of giddiness and then have the mother of all temper tantrums. He just kept wanting me to put him back to bed! Silly old dog anyhow. It's good to see him still feeling frisky at somewhere around 12 years old, though.

I've started the Weight Watchers CORE plan online, and so far it's working well. It doesn't involve nearly the amount of obsessive journaling that tracking daily points does. I don't do real well with anything that involves obsessive journaling. As clearly evidenced by my neglect of my blog! Anyhow, it's far easier to use their little online planner thing to track the weekly points I get. Near as I have figured out, you are pretty much safe if you stick with skim milk, green leafy vegetables, lean skinless protein and a little fruit. Which actually makes sense to me. It hasn't been hard to accomplish these general guidelines. I've been very careful with the whole grains/cereals category. Near as I can tell, you either count points for those things OR you may have them once a day. At any rate, it was good for 6 lbs. this week, and I don't expect to do anything much different next week. Fortunately, I am definitely NOT fascinated by 100 calorie packs of anything and most of the junky little snack things that allegedly count for one point. I'd rather use such points as I am given or that I may earn through physical activity for things like real cheese and salad dressings that don't taste like fat-free hell. My premise on those things is that a LITTLE of the real deal goes a very long way compared with buckets of the fakey stuff. I am actually trying to eliminate a lot of the processed and over-refined stuff, like white breads and pastas, so this way of eating makes sense. You do get to eat CORE foods until you are satisfied. Mind you, that doesn't mean you get to eat as much as you want until you are stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey. There's a difference between being satisfied and being overstuffed. The goal is to recognize hunger and to recognize when that hunger has been eased. It's about pushing back from the table with plenty of room for another bite or two and choosing not to take those bites.

So that's the big stuff about what's up with me. I'm taking some vacation at the end of the month. Got a nephew graduating from high school on what would have been my mom's 72nd birthday, so Dad and I are planning to go to that with my brother and his wife. This is the nephew that's done a lot of high school theater and who wants to be a youth minister when he finishes college. Afterwards, we are going to a wedding for one of my cousin's daughters on my mom's side. I'm sure a lot of Mom's kith and kin will be there, and I'm sure we'll all have a great time catching up. Somehow, Mom will be with us all in spirit!

Seriously, now. That's it. LOL

Spring!

Sigh. I've shamefully neglected my blog, leaving everyone with the impression that those of us who survived The Great Earthquake were still buried here in snow, with nothing being further from the truth! As to said Great Earthquake, I managed to sleep right through any shaking at my house, which leads me to believe that I've joined the rest of my family, who I've always sworn could sleep through a tornado blowing the house down. At any rate, spring has definitely and FINALLY sprung. There are daffodils and crocuses in bloom, along with forsythia and lilacs and any number of trees. Practically overnight, it seems. Anyhow, it's gorgeous. Low humidity, temperatures ranging from upper sixties to upper seventies in the day (although I see my little weather bug says it is 80 outside right now!) and falling into temperatures that are wonderful to sleep in with the windows open.

Let's see....I've been reviewed at work. I got a good raise for retail. I got to write a whole bunch of reviews for cashiers and other front end support positions. Now we get to deliver them. Yee-haw. Dogzilla has been to the V-E-T for his spring checkup. He got a rabies shot and tested for heartworm (all clear). The vet did suggest, ever so kindly, that we get some weight off the dear old boy, so he is on the baby carrot treat regimen. The first weekend I was up, he spent much of the weekend spewing baby carrots onto the floor with surprising vigor for a chubby old beagle, but this past weekend he seemed to take them quite readily. Of course, I had to keep pointing out the chunks lying on the floor that he missed, but at least he was eating them and not spitting them out. I'm going to have to keep an ice cube tray in the freezer this summer. No mean feat that, given the way Dad likes to cram the freezer full. I do come by my own packed freezer via a genetic predisposition, I guess!

I'm taking a few days vacation at the end of May/beginning of June. I have a cousin whose daughter is getting married on May 31, which happens to be my Mom's birthday. This is on her side of the family, so I told my Aunt Mary that it would be like Mom was with us at Stephanie's wedding. My youngest nephew will graduate from high school that morning, and I think they're having the party on June 1. I'm planning to take the Friday before off, along with Monday, Tuesday and Weds. afterward. I can spend an extra day with Dad and Dogzilla, without rushing to get home on Sunday night, and then I'll have a few days to do whatever I want when I get home. Perhaps I'll do some more clearing out and reorganize the kitchen or something. I'm sort of in the mood to do that kind of stuff.

Well, that's been my life in a little nutshell. Really. It IS spring here in central Ohio!