I Never Get Sick

Achoo!!  Don't get too close [Photo Credit:  Jupiter Images]

I never get sick, says the girl who is currently coughing up a storm, has a congested chest, runny nose and can literally feel the weight of heavy eye balls sitting inside her head.  How dare my immune system let me down.  I had a weird stomach bug for Christmas but aside from that I haven't had a cold since...well I can't remember but definitely not in 2011.  I'm pretty sure I've had the flu at some point but that was even longer ago to even remember.

Too bad there is too much going on at work for me to stay home right now.  I went to the gym anyways on Tuesday, came straight home yesterday and today I'm planning to stick with my Yoga class.  Unless you are seriously ill they say that physical activity can be helpful even when you just feel like putting your head under the covers and never coming out.  I have some NyQuil gel tabs to help me sleep at night.  I've also been drinking Emergen-C vitamin Drink Mix.  A co worker gave me a couple packets and I figured why not?  It's fruity and actually doesn't taste too bad.  I might be too far gone for it help but I could use the vitamins so it can't hurt. 

My usual swipes of blush and powder did not make it to my face this morning.  Feeling sick is my excuse to look like crap.  That's also my excuse for being a little bit late this morning and eating Nutter Butters for breakfast.  Anyhow, the plan is to feel better by Saturday so I can enjoy my weekend.

Be The Match

July is African American Bone Marrow Awareness Month and it made me think about what led me to the bone marrow registry in the first place.  Just after college an old high school friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer.  I hadn't spoken to him in a long time but I think being struck with a potentially deadly illness propelled him to reach out. We were friends, but like many do after high school we had lost touch.  I remember visiting him in the hospital.  He'd had surgery and was so drugged up and in so much pain he couldn't say more than a couple words to me.  Fortunately, I'd never had much cause to visit a hospital but I didn't think it would affect me the way it did.  That "hospital smell," the shiny white washed floors and the presence of suffering and illness made me weak in the knees.  For a moment I actually thought I might pass out as I stood there and did what I could to be of comfort to him.  He battled this illness for well over a year and even towards the end when I could visibly see the cancer snaking its way up his neck he was always hopeful that he could beat it.  At some point in his illness he required a bone marrow transplant and my family got tested to see if any of us were a match. Nobody wants their life disrupted by surgery and having never even had an overnight stay in the hospital even as I was giving blood I was scared of what might happen if I matched.  But my fears were not important.  My friend is someone's son.  He is an older brother.  That is what was important. His life matters and seeing him in need and fighting for his life meant that I needed to do what I could to help even if it required anesthesia and a needle.  No one in his family was a match and neither were any of us.  Nobody was.  Though he put up a valiant fight he succumbed to his illness.  I will never ever forget him.  He was so young and had so much left to do in this world.  I am saddened to think about all that he and his family have missed out on.

Would I feel the same way if it was a stranger?  I may not have that physical connection that comes with knowing the person in need but the circumstances are the same.  The bone marrow donor must be a close match.  When even family members may not be suitable donors it makes you realize that it’s really like searching for a needle in a haystack.   If I am that one match that someone needs I'd have no choice but to help.  When we got tested, our information was sent to the National Marrow Donor Program^® Registry, as it was called then (now Be The Match Registry^®).  That meant that technically, I could get a call at any time regarding donation for someone in need.  According to Be The Match Registry "On average, one in every 540 members of Be The Match Registry in the United states will go on to donate marrow to a patient."  There are two ways to donate.  One way is to extract bone marrow through a needle in the back of the donor’s pelvis.  This is always done under anesthesia. The other more common method is called Peripheral Blood Stem Cells (PBSC).   For five days the donor receives daily injections of a drug called filgrastim to increase the number of blood forming cells in their bloodstream prior to donation.  Then, a needle is used to remove the blood and separate out the blood-forming cells.  It is very similar to giving blood.  You can read more information about the steps of donation here.  Could I  do it?  Would I have the courage to undergo that procedure for someone that I've never met? The answer is yes. Getting that call means there is someone that might die without my help.  I am living my life just fine; why not give someone else the same chance to do that too?  The amount of discomfort and fear that I might go through is minimal in comparison to what a person facing a serious illness and possible death is dealing with.  I also think about if the roles were reversed.  I would want someone to step up and be willing to do the same for me.

It's especially important for ethnic minorities to be on the registry as a volunteer donor.  Race is a factor in determining if a donor is suitable or not.  Patients are more likely to be a match to someone of their own race and ethnicity. Many African Americans and others of diverse backgrounds have trouble finding a match, so racially and ethnically diverse donors are urgently needed.  The pool of diverse potential donors needs to go up in order to increase the chance that patients will find the life-saving match they so desperately need.  

I am just a regular woman who goes to work in an office every day.  I am not in the military, a doctor, or a firefighter but I could still save a life and that is huge in my book.  I’ve seen what a bone marrow transplant can do.  Over 10 years ago my younger sister had a close childhood friend that was diagnosed with Leukemia.  Not too long ago I stumbled upon her Facebook page which led me to her blog.  That sick little girl I saw in a hospital bed is now a beautiful young woman who has gone to college and has a real talent for photography.  The average time it takes for the bone marrow donor to resume normal activities is 1 to 7 days and in return she and her family have the chance to experience a lifetime of memories.  While the idea of donating scares me, if I can make that possible for someone else and give them that second chance I will.

You can get more information at BeTheMatch.org.

Injured List

According to the weather report it was going to be a gloomy day so we decided to postpone our day date.  Mj went on his Saturday morning bike ride as planned and I just expected to spend the day at home relaxing.  I didn't think we'd end up at Kaiser Permanente.

I got the call right after I got out of the shower.  He said he dislocated his shoulder and that we'd be taking a trip to the doctor.  I found out which location had walk in hours and was ready to go by the time he made it back home.  He started biking with his friends last year and now he has all the gear that goes with it.  He has a road bike AND a mountain bike.  He has the tight spandex outfits in bright colors and the weird shoes that clip onto the pedals and everything.  Today they went about 25 miles east to the mountains for a 12 mile bike ride.  It was freezing, there was snow on the ground in some spots and the altitude was really high.  Poor guy.  About half way through the ride he took a toss over his handlebars and his shoulder was unfortunate enough to connect with the only rock in sight.  I don't know how he managed to clip his shoes out of his pedals in time to detach from his bike.  He had to half walk half ride his way back with a jacked up shoulder for 6 miles.  He's such a tough guy.  You would never even know how much pain he's in.  His tolerance is pretty high and he's not a whiner like I am.

Those bones should not be that far apart

Kaiser is so efficient.  We were in and out of there with X rays done and Rx in hand pretty quickly.   The bustling pharmacy is staffed with an army of white lab coats taking orders and getting people their drugs.  Turns out he has pulled the ligament that is supposed to hold his shoulder to the bone and it's separated pretty far.  They put him in a sling and he'll need to follow up with an orthopedic specialist to determine if it can heal on it's own or if it will require surgery.  He's going to be out of town next week for work so it'll have to wait until the week after.  He and his buddies had a mountain biking mancation to Utah planned for the end of next month.  At this point who knows if he will be recovered enough to do that.

It was only a matter of time before SOMETHING else happened.  He has a bit of an accident prone past.  Years ago before we met he sliced his face open in Army drill team tossing swords in the air.  I can't remember exactly how many broken bones he's had.   He busted his eye brow open two years ago playing basketball while overseas and had to get stitches.  The eyebrow scar it left is actually pretty sexy but that is besides the point.  He routinely comes home from mountain biking all scraped up and this is his second major spill.  I love it that he has a hobby he enjoys that gets him out with his friends and keeps him fit but I don't love it that it can be dangerous.  A car could run him over on the streets and they get to speeds of up to 45 mph on those skinny tires.  If you hit a pot hole or an unexpected dip you are done.  Mountain biking is even worse.  The terrain is rocky and slippery with gravel and dirt.   A biker could tumble off the side of a mountain if things went really wrong.  Thank goodness they wear helmets.  I suppose it could be worse.  He could be on a motorcycle.  Well, actually that will never happen because I already told him he better not ever even think about getting one of those.  Nope.  Not on my watch.

I'm at The Gym

me approaching those double doors

 I've had quite the love hate relationship with the gym and working out over the last few years.  Mostly hate hate if I'm being honest.  I boycotted the place for close to two years and only worked out sporadically after my work schedule changed from getting off at 3:30pm to getting off at 5:00 pm.  Morning work outs are so never happening for me and I have only so many precious hours each night.  After a hard days work I feel entitled to come straight home and relax.  I never made excuses for myself.  I just knew that when the right combination of cosmic forces came together just so that eventually I'd be back.  I could not force myself to go and that was that.

So where have I found myself twice a week every week for going on 3 months?  The gym!  It is practically a miracle but somehow I found it within myself to start going.  It was a goal of mine for the new year but I actually started taking action in December.  I went once or twice before Christmas.  Then, when I had that long 10 day Winter break from work I went quite a bit.  I was hoping it would kick start me into the habit of going once I went back to work and it did. 

My rigorous exercise regime:

• Two work outs per week minimum at home, the gym, or any other form of exercise of my choosing for a minimum of 30 minutes.  So far, I've mostly been going to the gym and doing the Elliptical but I could do classes or home exercise videos or anything else. 
• Every other week those two work outs need to be 60 minutes minimum and include some hard core cardio.  I usually do 1 hour on the Elliptical where I burn between 500-600 calories but it could be anything else that gets my heart pumping and my body sweating...a lot.
• Thorough stretching at least 1 time per week up to and including the splits.  This could mean doing an exercise video or just making the time to get some stretching in on my own.
• I also throw in a minimum of 100 crunches while I'm watching TV or whenever randomly if I didn't do them at the gym.

That's it.  I am so not hard core.  Some would call my work out schedule pathetic but I don't care.  It's what's working for me right now.  I figure some is better then none and if I push myself more then I want I will grow to hate it and go on strike again.  If I worked part time or not at all I could definitely see myself going a lot more and enjoying it but not with an 8-5pm full time job. 

When I've had a long day at work and didn't get enough sleep the absolute last thing in the world I want to do is drag myself to the gym, change clothes and spend an hour sweating but I've been doing it.  I used to exclusively do the treadmill.  I can't believe how long its taken me to discover the Elliptical.  I can burn more calories on it in a shorter amount of time AND it's still low impact.  I used to only listen to music but right now the only thing getting me through those work outs is TV.  There are tons of flat screens around the gym and mounted on some of the machines.  A couple weeks ago it was Basketball Wives on VH1 and Judge Judy on KUSI.  I watched Hugh Hefner and his new fiance on CNN and there's always Dr Oz or catching up on the local news.  I also downloaded some new uptempo techno work out music.  Whatever gets me through the work out.  On my light days it makes it easier to go knowing that I will be in and out.  I'd like for at least one work out per week to be at the gym to keep me in that habit and so far I have.  I've even exceeded my work out minimums some weeks just because.

And what is my reward for giving up my beloved couch, DVR and pajamas right after work every day?  I feel better about myself and a little bit less like a lazy bum.   I'm getting my long lost flexibility back too.  As a former gymnast it made me feel sad and down right old when my splits started to get too uncomfortable.  I'm back to putting my face to my knee in the splits on both sides.   I love food but have a tendency to under eat so even with just these work outs I've lost weight.  My mom wouldn't be too thrilled but I'm not mad about it.  I weigh less then I did on my wedding day and the only downside is that some of my pants are hanging off of me.  Not a cute look.  It sucks getting myself there sometimes but I really feel great after a work out.  I enjoy feeling fit, toned and active.  It's not just about losing weight.  I'm giving my heart, my bones, my body what it needs and that's a good thing.  If  I was physically unable to exercise I know how upsetting that would be so simply because I CAN is a good enough reason to go.  Getting back in the gym was a long time coming and now that I'm there I need to stay.

You Never Know

I can pin point the exact moment my stomach started to rebel.  Monday night about an hour after dinner I ate a piece of string cheese and was munching on some grapes.  My stomach started to feel bloated and I looked pregnant.  Then came the nausea and I lost my appetite for anything except laying down.  I fell into bed feeling run down and didn't sleep well making the next morning even more hellish.  I felt achy and slightly dizzy as I plopped myself into my car Tuesday morning to head for work.  I contemplating calling in but decided to tough it out.  Armed with my tervis tumbler filled with ice cold water which is the only thing I could stomach I tiredly drove to work.  I sat at my desk and logged into my computer wondering how I was going to make it through the day.  I couldn't focus.   Annoyed and defeated I finally just told my supervisor I wasn't feeling well and wanted to go home.  It just didn't feel like it was worth it to sit there and suffer.  I walked into my house around 11:15 am got undressed and immediately slipped under my cool sheets and went to sleep.

Before falling asleep I thought of my friend who had texted me a week ago that he had been battling a stomach virus for about 3 weeks.  "How ya feeling," I texted him.  Knowing that I probably can't feel half as bad as he's been feeling.  "Going back to the hospital now...to try to find out what's wrong with my stomach."  Poor guy.  He said he's lost 20 lbs already because he can't keep food down.

Mj came home from work and served me soup and 1/2 grilled cheese in bed.  I'd spent most of the day in that bed and laying on the couch.  I still felt a little on the crappy side and had hardly any appetite by the time I went back to bed that night.  I felt better when I woke up Wednesday morning.  Still a bit "off" but at least glad to be feeling "functional."  Around 4pm I get a text from my friend.  "I might have stomach cancer."  I am shocked.  He is under 40 and just retired from active duty military.  He was so excited about living life as a civilian and worked so hard only to have to deal with this?  You never know when life as you know it is going to change.

Life really looses it's luster when you don't feel well.  That day I was useless at work and that night I had little enthusiasm for anything.  I just wanted to feel normal so I could enjoy and carry on with my life as usual. Whatever mini  bug it was had passed and by Thursday I was feeling 100%.  I am back to my happy normal functioning self but my friend is still in the hospital.  He doesn't get to spend 40 hours a week at work.  When he doesn't get enough sleep he won't get to dread work and count the minutes until it's time to get off.  He won't hit that stupid traffic jam on the way home today and feel that nagging twinge of annoyance at only having about 4 1/2 hours at night to eat dinner, relax a little, and go to bed only to get up and do it all over again the next day.  I'm sure he'd actually be quite thrilled with all of those things right about now.  Things we sometimes take for granted.  It was just another reminder to me of how important our health is, how fleeting it can be and just how lucky I am to be well enough just to live my life.  Every aspect of it including the parts I complain about.

Movin' My Lazy Butt

Saturday I did something that I sadly have not done in quite a while. I put on some tennis shoes and some spandex and got my lazy butt moving. Nothing big. I just tagged along with Mj to the rec center for basketball and used the time to get in a little bit of exercise for myself. I strapped on my i pod and started walking. Let's just say I really needed it too! Friday date night was a Comedy Club/dinner date where I devoured some cheese sticks and a giant greasy [delicious] Chicken Casadilla, DESSERT and had no problem meeting my 2 drink minimum requirement.

My neighborhood is a little suspect so I am not very comfortable walking around there lest I run into the barefoot, basket pushing mentally ill folks talking to themselves that I normally only see at a safe distance from my car. I don't have room for exercise videos in the house and I can't seem to drag my butt to the gym at 6:00pm after getting off work. It was much more doable when I got off at 3:30pm. Making matters worse, they shut down the old Active Club when they built the new Sport Club and I have not upgraded to Sport level. No excuses! I am truly to blame for being so lazy and not figuring out a way to fit in exercise.

After about 1 hour of brisk walking I found a corner to do some stretching and could feel that I have lost a lot of my flexibility over the years. I used to be a regular gumby and now I have to struggle a little bit to get my nose to my knees. There was a ramp railing and I put my leg up and did some stretching and plies that reminded me of my old ballet classes. Which I dearly miss. I could just feel my body aching to dance and leap and arch gracefully. It's the gymnast in me. I miss movement. I miss pointing my toes and extending my fingers just so. I miss standing on my hands in a perfect split and coming down in a lunge and the feeling of exertion it takes to control the movements of my body and push it further and further. Granted, I know I will never be able to do what I used to but I can't think of much better exercise then standing on my hands even if it's just cartwheels and back walk overs. Yoga and Pilate's is a great way to maintain and I haven't been since August when I went along with my mom. You know you are out of shape when you are sore and doing the stick up your butt walk just from walking and heavy stretching.

My old gymnastics days along with diet is what's kept me in shape to this day. Appearance wise anyways. Despite my lack of working out the abs and the little biceps don't seem to go away no matter how much I neglect them. I am so grateful for the foundation of fitness it has left me with but it has also made me complacent. Just because I don't need to loose weight [of course this is debatable] doesn't mean that I don't need to work out. My endurance is down and my flexibility is lacking. My heart and body needs a work out to stay healthy.

I'm not into making promises I may not be able to keep but I am going to see what I can do about getting myself active again. The last time I had a work out routine and was going to the gym regularly was in 2008!!! It's been far too long and even if my mind is lazy enough to keep me away from the gym it's obvious that my body still craves it.

A Kidney For My Dad

Great news today from my mom. They found a donor kidney for my dad. It is supposed to arrive around 3pm today and he is scheduled for surgery around 5pm. My dad started Dialysis earlier this year. His kidneys finally shut down on him after many years of poor eating and exercise habits that ultimately led to Diabetes. He was on insulin for a while before the kidney's finally quit altogether. He is AB+ so they didn't expect the wait to be long and it wasn't. Thank goodness.

He is so happy and I am so happy for him. He's been doing Dialysis 3 days a week for four hours at a time. It is time consuming and can be painful. Ultimately, Dialysis simply can't do what a real kidney can. He sees people walking into the Dialysis center looking progressively sicker and more worn down then the week before. On more then one occasion a patient has been taken from the Dialysis center to the hospital due to complications and he doesn't want to be next. He receives his Dialysis through a surgically created fistula connecting two of his veins together. It left some scarring and when touched you can literally feel the blood rushing beneath his skin. I still don't understand the actual mechanics of it all. It's been hard to see him looking so thin and weak. Dialysis takes its toll on the body after a while but thanks to this transplant he can leave all of that behind.

My eyes welled up with tears when my mom told me. I am happy that this is finally happening but it is also very scary. That kidney HAS to work. I am just hoping that everything goes well and that my dad can be on the road to better health again very soon.

• Bad news. My mom called me around 3 pm and said the transplant is off. Apparently, my dad was the 2nd one offered the kidney. The first couldn't accept it due to some medical reason and so by the time they got it prepped for my dad they felt the kidney was not fresh enough. What a roller coaster. My poor dad is so disappointed. They were at the hospital and getting prepped for the surgery. I can only hope that another comes up for him very soon.

Back To The Gym For Some Yoga

So, a monumental thing happened today. For the first time all year I went to the gym. This is huge for me because I have really fallen off the wagon this year when it comes to exercise. I am so far off the wagon that the wheels have rusted and broken off. It all started around the holidays. Probably around November. I just got really lazy-no excuses. Then, by the time February rolled around and I had still not gone back to the gym. I had a schedule change because I switched offices and went from working 7:00-3:30pm which I have done my whole working life to 8:00-5:00pm and going to the gym that late just seemed undo able. At least in my mind. So, I just didn't go. I used to be a gymnast, then a cheerleader in high school, then I took ballet classes for about three years. I have had a gym membership for a while so in between anything else I was doing I could always get to the gym for some exercise. I'd do weights and run on the treadmill. Last year I'd started doing Yoga and Pilates there pretty regularly. I also went through an exercise video phase when I couldn't stand going to the gym and wasn't doing anything else. That started around the time of my major weight loss and I used to do one every day without fail. I guess I felt the world would end and I would get fat if I didn't. I found that it was a nice break from the gym and did keep that up for a while. Since I've re arranged my little studio last December there really isn't room for exercise in the home. I have been maintaining my weight with diet alone and so I guess I'd just been feeling like I can get away with it-but no matter what size you are the heart needs exercise. This isn't the first time I've quit the gym. I've kind of had a love hate relationship with it for a while. Sometimes it just seems like such a chore. After a long day at work, usually the only thing I want to do is get home. I'd love to get back into ballet for variety but the classes are expensive and not in my budget anymore.

I went straight to my mom's on Saturday after the Spa and spent the night. It's still really hot (82 degrees even at night) so I was definitely better off there then at home. We had a really nice visit. Hanging out, watching a movie, running errands. My mom knows I am "off" the gym so when she mentioned she was going to Yoga she didn't really even ask me at first. Then, she said "would you like to go?" I said no at first and then for whatever reasons just decided to go ahead and go. She's been wanting me to and I was there. So why not? I ran around getting dressed and out the door in about 5 minutes flat and off we went. It felt good. I love movement. I love pushing my body to do more. I can tell I am out of shape because I was fatigued not too long after class. Yoga didn't used to make me sore at all.

So, I am not making any promises yet about when I'll be going back. I somehow have to get over this whole schedule hang up, get some motivation, and stop being so darn lazy. I just haven't figured out when all of this is going to happen yet. They are building a brand new 24 Hour Fitness near my house and if I upgrade to a Sport membership I could actually go to it instead of the dank and funky Active one that I was going to before. I think that when MJ comes back I might be more likely to make an effort with his influence but for now at least I broke my no gym streak for the year.

Eat This, Not That - The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution From Men's Health

Eat This, Not That - The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution From Men's Health

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I really like Men's Health's "Eat This Not That" concept. The idea is not about dieting and eliminating an entire kind of food but more about making better choices and still getting to eat foods you like. Without compromising your waist band. Here is one of the latest about healthy food swaps at fast food restaurants. I used to and still do have a tendency to try to separate foods into "good" and "bad"-what I can eat and what I can't. This in turn kind of gets me into that food restriction mode which is not the healthiest thing for me. The idea of basic food swaps sort of reinforces the notion that I CAN eat little bit of everything if I want to. By simply swapping secret sauce for mustard and ketchup I can still eat that delicious hamburger and save myself some calories so that I don't feel guilty about eating it. I don't have to eliminate entire food groups because I have decided they are "bad."