Colonoscopy disaster

Ok-- before I launch into explaining this disaster, let me say that I am a believer in biochemical individuality (or whatever you want to call it) because I KNOW there are many ways that my body is different from other people's. In some ways this is positive and helpful and in others ways it is not.

One "good" way that I am different is that my body MOST of the time resists any illness based on "germs" that get passed around. I have only had the flu twice in my whole life. I get maybe one cold a year, at most.

You can count on one hand how many times in my life I have vomited. When vomiting/diarrhea things are going around I may get an upset stomach for a day and some "loose stools" and that's about it. I always end up taking care of everyone else who is sick and I somehow don't catch it 90% of the time.

Now, when I went to my initial appointment with the gastroenterologist (to schedule a colonoscopy) I warned him about two things: One, drugs that knock other people out don't work on me and, two, constipation is my natural state and always has been. It has been a source of jokes between me and my husband for years.

When they gave me the solution I was supposed to drink to clean out my system before the procedure, I told him, (seriously) that it might not be enough to work on me. And I also told him that I doubted whatever he gave other people to knock them out would work on me. I guess he thought I was joking.

Ok, so Sunday I fasted all day and at 4:30 in the afternoon I mixed the Nulytely they gave me and started drinking it. I consumed the whole gallon within two hours. I got so full and bloated and I felt like puking...........yet the hours ticked by and I did not go to the bathroom.

To spare you the literally "crappy" details, suffice it to say that I did not "go" for the first time until after 9pm, almost FIVE HOURS after drinking the stuff. (It is supposed to start working within an hour). I was up half the night going but I could tell when we arrived at the hospital the next day at NOON that some of that stuff was still in my system. I was STILL visiting the restroom and what was coming out was not "clear" as it should have been.

Ok, fast forward to the procedure, I'm in the procedure room and they give a shot into the IV of whatever the hell they give you to put you to sleep. I continued to talk with a nurse about my diet and weight loss. I felt buzzed, like I had too much to drink, but I was still very awake.

The doc told the nurse to give me another shot. Then I fell asleep but woke up several times. At one point, I heard the doc tell the nurse that they could not give me any more of the drug they were using to try to make me sleep. I heard him tell her to give me a shot of benadryl to help keep me out for a few minutes and he was going to wrap things up.

Later, he told me that the prep was not good and that I have to do it again with a different prep that lasts for two days. He also said he wants me to have general anesthesia so that I stay asleep. He said that every time I woke up I tried to sit up and that is not good with what they are trying to do.

In spite of the "bad prep" he found two polyps and removed them. They have been sent for biopsy. One really WEIRD thing is that he told my husband while I was in the recovery room that he couldn't see certain areas and there seemed to be something like corn blocking his view. I DON'T EAT CORN often and haven't had any for months. Corn? I have to wonder what the f*ck was he seeing.

I don't have a medical background so have no idea what he could have seen that looked like corn. Yikes. Something about it is creepy to me.

So I called this morning to reschedule and I am waiting for the nurse to call me back with the date for my next procedure and instructions for the prep. They also said that our insurance company is not going to want to pay for the second procedure nor for the general anesthesia, so he is writing them a letter explaining why. Even so, at the end I may end up having to pay for all or part of this. YIKES!

Today, I feel sort of "detached," probably some residual affect of all of the drugs they had to give me to try and keep me down. But I got up early and kept my appointment for my mammography. That is done! They said they will mail me the results.

When I was leaving the building, I noticed another medical building next door that was an OB/GYN. Since I haven't had a pap smear in 15 years and my doc is bugging out about it, I thought I'd get that over with too. So I walked right over and made an appointment before I chickened out.

So I have an appointment there for the end of the month. My doc will be thrilled!

I'm having an intense and totally irrational craving for TACOS, of all things. Ortega makes whole grain taco shells that are about 55 calories each and have a lot of fiber. Although I don't do well with a lot of grains, I am going to indulge myself and make tacos for dinner tonight.

I stopped at the market on the way home from the mammography to get the ingredients then I came home and got everything ready for tonight. I cut up some lettuce, onion, tomato, avocado and black olives to have on the tacos, and I am going to use fat-free greek yogurt for the sour cream. I arranged everything all pretty-like on a platter. I also put a salad together. YUMMY! Everything is pre-prepared so it will be a breeze getting dinner on the table tonight.

Anyway, I am not really "with it" so I'm going to go lay down for awhile. Have a great day everyone! And I appreciate everyone who checked up on me. Online friends are real friends-- so many have proven it to me again and again! You guys are the best!

ADDED LATER: Forgot to say that when they took my "vital signs" at the hospital, my body temp was only 96.6, probably because of the thyroid issues.

January Progress Report & Prep for colonoscopy (Yikes!)

Greetings friends. This has been a strange and sometimes stressful week for me, but, more on that later........

I entered a women's fitness challenge over at the JP fitness forum. Many of the women are doing the NEW RULES OF LIFTING FOR WOMEN program, but you can do any program.

The challenge is for 6 months and you must post your stats and progress pics monthly at the first of every month. If you've been following my blog, you know that I haven't weighed myself a lot during my weight loss, but got weighed only when I went to the doctor. This is because of compulsiveness with regard to the scale.

Anyway, I thought a 6-month challenge would be good for me, so here I am. Here's some progress pics, one from August 2009 and one taken earlier today.






My weight today is 270 pounds, representing a loss of 15 pounds this month and a total weight loss of 160 pounds since last March. I wanted to mention that I started taking thyroid meds at the start of this challenge, as I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism at that time.

I am positive that most of my weight loss for the month is fluid as I did nothing but pee when I first started taking the pills, and lost 10 pounds in ten days. I've been checking my weight once or twice a week and it fluctuates wildly. Just a few days ago, I weighed 265.

I also lost 5 1/2 inches this month, with the biggest loss coming off the waist (FINALLY).

At the start of the challenge, I recorded my initial stats and my goals for the challenge. Here they are, followed by my stats for today:


Body Stats (as of January 5, 2010)
age: 51
height: 6'3"
weight: 285
neck: 16”
chest: 46.5"
waist: 49”
hips: 55
thighs: 25
upper arms: 15.5
calves: 16.5


Health Stats (as of 12/28/09)
Blood Pressure 142/74
Cholesterol - 170
HDL- 45
Triglycerides -113
Fasting Blood Sugar -96
Resting heart rate - 62 BPM


Goals for the 2010 Challenge
1. Lose 60 or more pounds (I CAN do it)
2. Lift weights 3 Xs week based on NROL4W
3. Begin couch to 5k program in spring (to prepare for ½ marathon in Sept)
4. Eat adequate protein, continue to eat clean
5) Get blood pressure down more & improve other health stats
6) When gardening season starts, grow as many of my own veggies as possible
7) Buy a nice cocktail dress to wear out on my anniversary in July

February Body Stats (as of January 31, 2010)
age: 51
height: 6'3"
weight: 270
neck: 16”
chest: 46"
waist: 47”
hips: 54
thighs: 24
upper arms: 15.5
calves: 16.5

I feel REALLY strong from the weight lifting and clearly have put on muscle, but still have enough body fat covering everything that you can't see it in the pics. Not yet anyway.

Ok......... on other fronts, I have been VERY anxious for the past two weeks and I KNOW it has to do with the colonoscopy tomorrow. Not the procedure, but what they might find during the procedure, as cancer runs on my dad's side and he had cancer of the colon.

So I have been "off" with my food and exercise, often eating too much and skimping on the cardio. I admit it, there's a little voice saying "Why exercise and eat less if you're gonna die of cancer anyway."

So, I have not been buying potato chips or ice cream....... but rather eating a bit too much at dinner and sometimes going heavier on the carbs than I know I should.

By this time tomorrow, I will likely know whether or not there is anything to worry about up there, and if there isn't, I can go back to normal and refocus on my fitness efforts, and if there is, well, I'll just have to deal with now, won't I?

I also have my mammography on Tuesday.

Greta asked me if I feel better yet from the thyroid meds. Yes I do, Greta. Thank you for asking. My feet are less cold, my skin less dry, I am sleeping better and have more energy and focus during the day. I think the vitamins I started taking are helping too.

Greta asked how many kids we have. Between the two of us, we have seven. Jeff has a daughter, Sarah born in 1979 and a son Andrew born in 1986, plus my son Thomas, whom he adopted as I described in my last post. Thom was born in 1984.

For kids I gave birth to, I had the triplets in 1975 (Michael, William and Kevin), one son born before, Robert, born in 1975; and as I already said, Thomas was born in 84.

Anyway, Tom had the opportunity when he was 12 or 13 to go to Florida and meet his natural father. I did not try to influence him in any way. At first he said he wanted to go, then when it came time, he said he didn't need to do that.

He thinks of Jeff as his dad, not as a step-dad or adoptive dad. He calls his natural father "the sperm donor." LOL

When he decided not to meet his natural father, he said that Jeff had always been there for him and provided for him from when he was small, and that his natural father had never done jack for him and was showing up late in the game and trying to have "fun" with him.

His natural father never once paid a dime of child support and Tom knew this. It is why the judge wanted Jeff to adopt Tom instead of just changing the name. Jeff was supporting him and being his father unofficially.

I occasionally offer to contact the other side of the blood family for Tom and he always declines. This is his choice. We explained that curiosity about it would be normal and that Jeff would not feel hurt or jealous if Tom wanted to pursue relationships with his natural father and his family. He doesn't though. At least not so far.

Anyway, thought I'd leave you with a few links. There's a gal over on the JP fitness forum who also has a GREAT blog where she posts all kinds of studies related to health and fitness. There are side bars on BOTH sides of the blog!

Some of my favorite entries from her blog include:

Three strength training sessions a week keep bones strong without medication

Trained body burns more fat with gentle endurance exercise

Weight Loss Faster With Vitamin D


Also, another of the gals in the challenge will be competing in this year's WARRIOR DASH in her area. So I am wondering if I am up for that?

Check it out http://www.warriordash.com/

I will try to post tomorrow after the colonoscopy!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

xoxox

Perfect Ten Update #4

It's time for my fourth Perfect Ten update!


MY PERFECT TEN CHALLENGES

1) Begin the NROL4W program (THE NEW RULES OF LIFTING FOR WOMEN - LIFT LIKE A MAN, LOOK LIKE A GODDESS). Awesome program! Starting it is the best thing I ever did!

2) Begin Training for the New Haven Road Race: I only ran twice this week but as my goal race is 8 months away I am not concerned.

3) Lose 20 pounds by the end of the challenge. I may be very close to this already. We'll see when I post my monthly progress report over the weekend.

4) Improve sleep habits: Not bad this week! (knock on wood)

Now, for something that you probably don't know about me.

I actually had to adopt my own youngest son.

"WTF?," you may be saying.

Yeah, actually, none of my boys belong to Jeff biologically. When we got married, my youngest son assumed that his name would change when mine did. He started writing " Thomas Locke" on his school papers and we had to go into the school for a little chat.

From there, we went to see the probate court judge in our town about legally changing Tom's name. To make a long story short, the judge thought it would serve Tom's interests better if Jeff simply adopted him-- and believe it or not, the cost was about the same.

Something about the law, Jeff and I BOTH had to adopt Tom even though I was his natural mother. So I actually went through the adoption process for my own son. Weird, huh?

Interestingly enough, Tom never liked his middle name, so I allowed him to pick his own middle name when he was adopted and he changed it to "James."

People always say that Tom looks like Jeff and we laugh, as they aren't actually blood related.

That's my update for this week.

Check out my legs!

Well, I needed a dress for the funeral today and I DID find one at the Coldwater Creek outlet. I LOVE their clothes. This is an $80 dress marked down to $20 --- I could not believe my luck.

Also, (and this is hard to believe, but it's true) this is a standard size XL and it fits-- not well, but it fits. I wore a black blazer over it to hide the remaining lumps, bumps and arm flab. It is probably sized BIG and made to fit a normal woman loosely- but still, your amazon walking out of a store with a standard size at a discount is a NEVER. It was a huge moment for me.




Last year I was a size 5X and special ordered all my clothes. I literally almost cried when I put this on and it fit. It SO makes me look forward to a whole new wardrobe when I get to my goal weight. Anyway. DH hasn't seen me in pantyhose for years and had me pose for the leg shots.


So today was the funeral for Michelle's uncle. DH took the morning off from work and we went to the mass and the funeral -- it was snowing and somehow the beauty and purity of it seemed to match the day

When we came out of the church, the snow collecting on the trees looked so beautiful that I had tears in my eyes. I snapped this pic for you but it didn't really capture its full splendor.




Michelle's uncle was a widower who had no children, and he was estranged from everyone else in the family except for Michelle-- so there was no family gathering after the funeral. So sad.

Jeff went back to work and I offered to take Tom and Michelle out to lunch. Your amazon splurged big time! I hosed down a 12oz steak, baked potato, huge salad and then split a piece of cheesecake with my son. I also drank two glasses of white wine and OMG-- was that ever yummy! I seldom eat meat or drink, so today was unusual.

Normally, today would be a work-out day (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays) but I am feeling kinda "spent" so I am going to do it either later tonight or tomorrow.




On the way home from lunch, my son needed to stop at his house-- so I got to pet his room mate's dog, Tank. That's a pic of Tank and Michelle above. Tank is a pit bull and Rotty mix and has he sweetest disposition you can imagine.

He's 130 pounds though, so when he's playing and gets enthusiastic, he bowls you right over.

Anyway, I'll post my Perfect Ten update tomorrow. I just wanted to share my new dress with my homies! I'll be posting my progress pics and stats over the weekend so look for that as well.

Have a good day everyone!

XOXOX
xo
x

Tuesday's Workout, Bear Friend's question, and some news

Hey kids! I hope you're all doing well. Today was one of those days when I did NOT want to work out. I tried reasoning with myself and when that failed, I had to b*tch-slap myself and drag myself, kicking and screaming, to the work out area!

Once I got going, I was glad of it. Today was "workout A" and last time I did this, which was last Friday, I had upped the squat and bent-over row to 90# and barely pulled off two sets of each of those. In fact, I almost couldn't complete my last squat and then could not rack the bar and had to drop it onto my sectional sofa.

Today, I did three sets of squats and bent over rows with that weight and was fine with it. It is amazing to me that one can have strength gains like that from one week to the next.

Anyway, here's today's work out:

Warm up - Yoga poses

Squat
10/90
10/90
10/90

Push-up (30 degree)
12
12
12

bent over row
10/90
10/90
10/90

Step-ups
10/25e
10/25e
10/25e

Crunches
50
50
50

Side bends with 25# plate
10
10
10

So, I am glad that I forced myself!


The other day, Bear Friend asked in the comments why the reps and sets change. Well, body building means that you are constantly, well, er um, building!

To build your muscles, you need to constantly challenge them, feed them well, and give them adequate rest. I must always ask my muscles for a little bit more than what they want to give, this break-in phase that I am doing is getting my body used to that.

I started with 2 sets of 15 reps for each exercise. First, the number of reps decreased every other workout, while the weights INCREASED. After a month of this, the number of sets got bumped up to three.

At the end of the break-in phase there will be 6 more phases and each will get more difficult-- I'll be doing crazy-ass shit like one-legged deadlifts and squats, leaping into the air while pressing weight over head, etc.

During the six months, you NEVER let your body rest on its laurels. The weights, sets and movements change frequently and you keep yourself steadily progressing. It is not an easy thing to make the commitment that for 6-months you will live outside your comfort zone and ask a lot of yourself. That is one of the main reasons I am doing this-- aside from the physical results that I hope to achieve.

My son's girlfriend has been caring for an elderly uncle for the past few years. He had a stroke a few days ago and passed away last night. He was blind, incontinent and god-know-what else. Michelle has been living with him and caring for him while putting herself through school. We REALLY like her and her values and hope our son has the good sense to marry her.

Anyway, we want to go to the wake and funeral to support Michelle but of course, I don't have anything to wear. The black dress that I wore to my mom's funeral is a size 5X and literally falls off me now.

So Michelle is picking me up tomorrow afternoon to see if we can find me a cheap black dress or skirt and a pair of pantyhose in amazon size. The funeral is Thursday morning.

It is almost time for the Biggest Loser so I will end this here! But, I'LL BE BACK!





LOL LOL LOL

Sunday's Work out

I had a great weekend and actually did some form of exercise three days in a row-- Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Saturday was just a brief walk-jog in the woods with the dogs, but hey, I'm gonna count it!

Sunday, I started off with a 1 and 1/2 mile run. I was hoping to be able to go for 2 miles straight but I was being overly optimistic about my abilities. LOL Still, I was thrilled to go a mile and a half straight!

Next I went to the gym. Last time I worked out, I didn't have my log with me and realised later that with the program I am following, I was supposed to increase the sets that I do from 2 to 3 as of the last work out. Not having the training log with me, I didn't do it.

So I got myself on track with that as of today's work out. Another two weeks or so and I'll be done with the break-in phase of the NROL4W program. Then I take a one-week break from lifting before beginning phase two.

Here's what I did today:

Deadlifts
10/125
10/125
10/125

DB Shoulder press*
10/30
10/20
10/20

Pullover
10/30
10/30
10/30

Lunge
10/10
10/10
10/25 -- this last set I did something different and held a 25# plate in front of me as I did the lunges, instead of a DB in each hand.

Crunches
50
50
50

Leg Lifts
20
20
20

Side bends holding 25# plate
10
10
10
10

Skull crushers (2 handed)
10/30
10/30
10/30

Last week I had increased my crunches to 50 reps per set, now I'm doing three sets- so I did 150 crunches today-- and Gosh, did it burn!

I am proud of how reliably I am working my abs now. It is one of the few things I was haphazard with up until I started this program.

I don't know what happened with the DB shoulder presses, a work out or two ago I was able to force up 25# DBs for two sets. I tried to go for 30# this time and barely eeked out one set. I dropped the weight to 25# and simply could not do it.

I hated to, but dropped it back down to 20# in order to do all three sets. Progress isn't a straight line I guess.

I do lift both arms at the same time, which is harder. If I do one at a time I can lift a bit more, but I prefer to lift both arms at the same time.

I did get to the gym today and jumped on the cable chest fly machine, which I LOVE and have been missing as I've been working out at home. So I hopped on that bad boy and did 3 sets of 10 with 80# and one set with 90. I cannot do complete range of motion with 90#-- I forced it and did what I could. I'd love to be able to pull 100# on that one of these days.

I read (I think in Arnold's old Body Building book) a few months ago about occasionally forcing yourself through things even if you can't complete more than one or two reps. That's pretty much how I brought my numbers up the machines before I started this program.

Anyway, I have been spot-on with my food and calories and I've been fitting more cardio into my schedule-- so I hope these efforts show up in the scale.

I have my colonoscopy a week from tomorrow, February 1, and have my mammography the following day. Since I'll have to fast for the colonoscopy anyway, I was thinking of morphing that into either a short fast of a few days or a longer modified fast of a week or so (with just protein shakes and water).

I haven't done either of these since July and I've had success with this at earlier points of my journey. It clears my head and my whole system out. Last time I did it an annoying rash that I had for years disappeareed and hasn't returned.

Anyway, I'll let you know if I decide to do this. I hope that you had a great weekend! I got to spend quality time with Jeff, got caught up with work stuff and got in a bunch of exercise, so I am stoked for great week this week!

Be good to you today!

Perfect Ten Update #3, Today's Workout, and running, running running........

It's time for my third Perfect Ten update! I have not once been late in posting my updates and I am VERY proud of that.

I realized something today that makes this challenge even more special to me. The end of the challenge coincides with my one year anniversary of starting on this journey. That makes me more determined than ever to really kick butt during the coming weeks!

MY PERFECT TEN CHALLENGES

1) Begin the NROL4W program (THE NEW RULES OF LIFTING FOR WOMEN - LIFT LIKE A MAN, LOOK LIKE A GODDESS). I just completed my third week on this program, making me half-way through the break-in phase.

I wanted to mention that, my arms, especially the triceps are one of my problem areas. So I've been throwing everything at them but the kitchen sink for the past 7 months with very little improvement.

All of a sudden I see/feel a BIG difference in the strength/muscularity there and I KNOW that the push-ups and the heavier weights are creating these changes. These exercises that I am doing are standard, foundation-building exercises that body builders have been using for decades. There's nothing fancy-pants or new fangled about it.

It figures that putting aside the gimmicky stuff and and putting some honest work into the basics is getting me the results I've been longing for! The work outs are difficult, but the results spur me on and I am eager to see how things go in the coming weeks and months.


2) Begin Training for the New Haven Road Race: This has not been going well. Between the weather, illness and an overwhelming schedule I have only been averaging one walk/jog of about a mile, once per week. I HAVE been working the backs of my thighs like crazy though, as this is supposed to be good for female runners.

Today, I got up early to take care of some business and household things and get a good groove going on my day so that I could get outside. This worked! I went out this morning and did my two-mile jogging interval routine and I was able to run for at least half of it!

I worked up a good sweat there, came home and rested a bit, then launched right into my weight lifting routine! I was a bit off on my food earlier in the week. I was feeling anxious and eating a bit more than I should. I am back on track now on all fronts and feelin' good!


3) Lose 20 pounds by the end of the challenge. Although I am not weighing myself until my monthly progress report (about a week from now) I feel confident that I've gone down a bit and that I will have no trouble reaching this goal.


4) Improve sleep habits: My dog getting sick and keeping me up all night, then getting a bad cold had my sleep all messed up for about two weeks. This week, (knock on wood) I was able to fall asleep at a reasonable hour most nights. I hope the trend continues.

Now, for something that you probably don't know about me. I was in my thirties before I learned to drive. I don't like driving. I only do it when I have to.

Before I go on to post today's work-out, take a gander at this "before" pic of me that I came across yesterday when I was searching for photos for my garden post.




Holy crap! Look at how fat my arms, legs and gut are! Jeepers creepers-- if this doesn't keep me on track, nothing will!

Also kids, just wanted to note that I removed my weekly fitness totals from the sidebar on the right and replaced it with monthly inches lost. I post my workouts now both here and on the Daily Mile, so it is redundant to have that on the sidebar.

Today's Workout

Warm up - Yoga stretches

Squat
12/90#
12/90#

Push Ups (30 degree)
12
12

Step-ups with DBs (18" Box)
12/25#
12/25#

BB Bent over rows
12/90#
12/90#

Side bends with 25# plate
10
10
10
10

Single-arm, DB Skull Crusher
10/25#
10/25#

DB Preacher curls

10/25#
10/25#

Crunches
50
50

Leg Lifts
20
20

Cool down - Yoga and old school floor exercises -- mainly for flexibility


I upped the weight for the squats, step-ups and rows, and it was at the upper limit of my abilities. I could barely rack the barbell after the squats and as I was coming up on my last rep I could barely get my body to come back up.

So, I have reached that stage where I am not going to be making giant gains in strength from work-out to work out. I will have to increase the weight periodically to improve, but it won't be as frequent.

This is a good thing! It's a sign that you're moving out of the "beginner" phase when strength gains are rapid.

Anyway, I feel good heading into the weekend! I'm on track with the food and the exercise and I am feeling strong inside and out!

How was your Perfect Ten week?

xoxox