Category Archives: Health

Health, Writing

All-Consuming Activities

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The problem with dieting is how all-consuming it is. Or maybe it’s not dieting as much as it is weight loss. I’m on a losing streak right now. That’s good. I was at a weight set point for the better part of a year and a half. It seemed that no matter what I did I couldn’t get below 254 pounds. I inched a pound or two below it, then bounced back to 258; back to 254 then to 260; to 254 then to 263. I’ve read about these weight set points, that somehow the body gets comfortable at that weight and breaking through it is difficult.

I finally did that in March, however, even before I began a healthier diet on April 1. Whatever I was doing in February-March—probably just eating less and exercising a bit more—was working, for I slowly dropped below 254, ending March about 251-252. On April 1 I began a rigorous eating program to control my Type 2 diabetes, and the weight had dropped almost as fast as my blood sugar. I’m down to the 241-242 range right now, with no lower set point in sight. I was last at 240 in 2001, losing 30 pounds for my daughter’s wedding. Can I break through that this time? I believe I can. I suspect the next set point is somewhere around 230.

But the problem is, this concentration on weight loss and blood sugar control is all consuming. It seems that every waking thought, and probably the dreams I don’t remember, is on this. I talk about it, think about it, write about it, obsess about it. Even yard work isn’t yard work: it’s multi-tasking exercise. It’s the same as with genealogy, same as with writing. I have had to put genealogy aside for a while, for my writing life is consuming whatever part of me is not being consumed by weight loss and establishing healthy eating habits.

The new writers critique group is consuming me. I’m thinking about it all the time, trying to figure out what I can do to put it on a footing that will be sustainable and valuable to all who attend and for our church that is sponsoring it. How to increase sales of my e-books is consuming me. The John Wesley small group study is consuming me.

Hopefully you get the picture. I need to just turn off for a while, think about civil engineering. No, that tends to consume me as well, whenever writing and critique group and health and genealogy aren’t consuming me. I don’t feel like I’m at an equilibrium. It’s kind of like a short, light verse poem I wrote a few years ago.

The Desperate Prayer of a Man Without Enough Hours in the Day

Again
I offer You
this simple fix:
increase
the daily hours
to twenty-six.

Of course, that wouldn’t really work, for then I’d be wanting twenty-eight or thirty. So I really need to reach an equilibrium. I’ll put that on my to-do list.

Health

A Few Words on Health

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I’m in The Dungeon on a very rainy Sunday afternoon. Easter Sunday. He is risen! This is our fourth day of rain, with two more expected. Mostly it’s been moderate rain. It was heavy on Thursday evening, but since then just wave after wave of light to moderate rain. The creeks are all full, with some out of their banks. Just taking a minute to write about my health before I get to my main writing.

On March 1 I went to the doctor for my quarterly appointment. The results were not good. My fasting blood sugar was up, as was my A1C (the long-term measure of blood sugar). He had told be to begin testing myself for blood sugar three months before that, but I had never done so. So on March 1, with very bad lab results, he put me on Lantus, a slow acting insulin given with a shot. That would be along with the two pills I already take for Type 2 diabetes.

This did not make me particularly happy. I went home with the Lantus samples he gave me, but didn’t go right out and fill the prescription for the works. Lynda was in OKC with the kids, helping with Ezra’s birth that morning. I wanted her around before I started shooting up, just in case I had an adverse reaction to it. Plus, I had no idea if I could really give myself a shot. I finally got the stuff for testing my blood sugar, but had a lot of trouble getting blood out of my fingers. It turned out I was missing the small apparatus that one uses to launch the lancet that pricks the finger that gives the blood that goes on the test strip that feeds the meter that measures the blood sugar and makes a display. Finally, on March 31, I had the contraption and all I needed to measure blood sugar and take my shots. The evening I had my first reading: 399.

Ouch. That was high. That week I was still at the very busy point, working late, not taking proper lunch hours or getting any exercise. My weight was beginning to go down some more, my body having finally passed through a weight set point. That was about the only good news for my health. But that high reading was like a light going off. That and the fact that, by measuring blood sugar several times a day, I was going to have knowledge of what my eating was doing to my body. April 1 I began a new regimen. Chips—gone, and not just for lent. Diet soda, which I think somehow feeds the carb beast—gone. Bread—gone. Other carbs, not just sugary things but any type of carb I could think of—gone. Exercise—increased.

This I have done. The next evening my sugar was still high at 379. I began taking Lantus, just two units at first, intending to step it up until I got down to the 100-140 range. To my surprise, the shot was easy and painless. That needle is so thin that I didn’t feel it at all. I assume it’s working, and some of the good stuff is getting through the needle and into my flabby tummy. The next evening it was down to 279, and I upped the dose to four units.

[Lost a bunch of this; not really wanting to have to re-create it.]
I’ll give the short version. By the beginning of last week my Lantus dose, my blood sugar, and my weight had all “converged” at better numbers. Almost all my blood sugar readings are now between 100 and 140, with many of them 100-120. I had one reading below 100, prompting me to lower my Lantus dose from 10 to 9. My weight is down to 245, the lowest it’s been in 10 years. My blood pressure, as measured at those stations at Wal-Mart, was 87/59 a week ago. I began cutting my blood pressure pills in half, and yesterday it was 110/61. I’m hoping to be off that completely in a month.

Meanwhile my energy level is up. On Saturdays I normally take an old saw and work on cutting up a tree that fell. Normally I can get one piece cut (7 to 8 inch diameter oak) before my arms give out. Last Saturday I was able to cut two pieces with no problem, and could have done more I think. I’m walking 20 minutes at lunch after eating, and almost that much evenings after supper. I think walking after eating is doing more for me than walking before.

Today my mother-in-law took us out to eat after church. This is the first time I’ve eaten out since my March 31 awakening. Chinese buffet. I ate too much, but the selections I ate were better than I normally do. No potatoes or heavily breaded items. Lots of vegetables, not much fried rice. It will be interesting to see where my blood sugar is before supper.

All of which is of little interest to my loyal blog readers, but I’m writing it anyway. My next doctor appointment is on May 24th. I’m actually looking forward to it. I’ll probably post something here, saying what his expression was like to see a reformed, transformed patient.

Health

Blog Topics Wide Open

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The siege within the whirlwind is still winding down, enough so that I can at least begin a post during an afternoon break. I’m not sure how much time I have or when I’ll post it.

My problem is what to blog about? What would hold the interest of my 13 followers and four or five regular viewers? I could blog about my writing: the new on-line magazine article assignment I received, or the problems at Suite101 due to the Google Panda update, or the little bits of progress on various projects. I could blog about my foraging half hour in a used book store this afternoon, coming away $17 poorer in cash but much richer in volumes. Or I could blog about the engineering work I’m doing. I could also blog about how my short story is not selling on Kindle, but I’d also have to say how I’ve been way too busy to do anything to promote it.

But instead, I think I’ll talk about my health, because of the major change that occurred at my last doctor visit. I’ve had Type 2 diabetes for about 10 years, normally under control, but lately with blood sugar edging upward. Two visits ago he told me to begin testing sugar once or twice a day. I didn’t get going on that however, and last visit (Mar 1) my blood sugar was very high, so he put me on Lantus, a long-acting insulin that I have to inject every evening. That wasn’t what I really wanted, but I’ve only myself to blame for being so long about getting serious at fighting the disease.

I waited to begin until Lynda returned from her extended trip to Oklahoma City. Plus, as busy as I was at work, I didn’t have time in the evenings to do my homework and know what I was doing. So it was March 31 before I began sticking myself and April 1 before I began taking the Lantus. The good news is that the shots are very easy, much easier than I imagined they would be. The bad news is the blood sugar testing procedures are a little harder than expected. I think I’ve finally got the routine down, but I lost a few days of proper testing.

My sugar is on the way down. I’m not where I need to be yet, and I’m not happy about taking the medication, but I think I’m on the right track. I made a recording form and am using it. Hopefully when I go for my next appointment on May 24, the results will be good.

In other health related news, I’m finally losing weight again. I reached some kind of set point at 254 pounds. It seemed that nothing I did would get me below that. I’d hit that then bounce up three pounds; hit it again and bounce up five; hit it again and bounce up two. It’s been like that for more than a year. I’ve been bouncing around in a narrow range. Finally, two weeks ago (before the start of testing/insulin taking) I dropped just below that. In those two weeks I’ve lost 5 1/2 pounds, and I’m at my lowest weight since 2001.

I’ve read that everyone’s body has these weight set points, and that dropping through them is difficult. I don’t know if this is true; I haven’t done real research on it, but it has seemed to be a reality in my weight loss attempts. I hit one around 280-282, and it took me time to lose to below that. The next one was 254, and I’ve hit that twice in the last decade. Finally I’m past it. It’s time to lose twenty-five pounds in a year. I’m sure I have another set point, most likely around 230 or so pounds, at which I’ll find it difficult to lose more. That’s okay. I won’t mind losing 25 pounds this year and leaving more for another.

All of which may be of no interest to anyone reading this except me. That’s okay. It seemed a good topic on a day when I couldn’t take a lot of time to write.

Health, miscellaneous

My Winter Cold

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Almost every year I have a summer cold and a winter cold. I thought maybe I would miss the 2010-2011 winter season, but unfortunately it’s here. It started as a tickle in my throat on Sunday. Normally my colds start in my head, not in my throat, so I was hoping it was nothing more than a sore throat. Not so, however. Last night the tickle was worse, and I woke up this morning barely able to speak. During the day it got better any time I didn’t have to speak, worse when I had to speak.

Now, tonight, it’s moved to my head as well. Stuffy nose, pressure behind the eyes, tired feeling. I’m sure it’s not flue; it feels like every one of my previous 50 or so colds, just that it went from throat to head instead of the other way.

So, I’m going to take it easy. I’ll cut back some on my computer time, meaning I’ll post here a little less frequently. But I will post as I get the chance.

Health, home improvements, Writing

Improvements in Body, Mind, Outlook and…Pick-up Truck

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When I wrote here last, on Sunday, I was in the midst of a difficult weekend. Pick-up truck—in the shop, uncertain problem. Wife—in Oklahoma City on the way back from Santa Fe. Arthritis—flared up to the worst it has been ever, I think. Writing—not doing well, as it was too painful to type, almost to write.

On Sunday the rheumatoid arthritis fare-up was on the mend, but not yet gone. By Monday evening, it was gone completely. I couldn’t get into work on Monday, due to having no vehicle. So I completed installing the top rail on the deck, and cleaning up from the project. The joints between boards aren’t professional, but they look acceptable to me. With all the work with my hands on Monday, you’d think I would be hurting by evening. Yet I felt better than I had for months. Go figure. Saturday I should complete the second coat of deck stain and be done with it until spring, when the top rail will have seasoned enough to add the stain. Oh, I have a few more screws to drive in the top rail.

Tuesday through today I’ve been working almost exclusively on the flood study for the City of Bentonville, related to our street improvements for SW “I” Street, and adding two adjacent road projects done by the highway department (for which they should have done a flood map revision but never did). This has been a particularly frustrating job. I finished the computer modeling some days ago, and have been working on the mapping. Of course, as I did the detailed mapping, I discovered that some further tweaking of the computer model was justified. Almost all of that is done now. I might be able to finish the map-model-map iterations tomorrow, leaving the engineering report and actually making a submittal for next week. The tunnel end is getting closer. Of course, at the opening of that tunnel is the Perry Road flood study for Rogers, Arkansas.

Today, in a mere hour, I was able to write my next article for Buildipedia.com. Later I proofed and tweaked it, and sent it to my source for review. Tomorrow is the deadline, and it’s good to not be writing it at the last minute. Tonight, after posting this and reviewing one other blog, I’ll work on writing for another hour. I might do some typing on passage notes for my harmony of the gospels, or write an article for Suite101.com. I have four or five in various stages of development for them.

And last, on Monday I got my wife back and on Tuesday I got my pick-up back. That’s the right priority, don’t you think? The pick-up problem was the battery cable terminals, which were shot and wouldn’t hold contact. While the darn thing was in the shop, I had them fix the driver side door, putting a new handle on it. Now I don’t have to crank down the manual window and reach outside to open it. This makes it less of a redneck truck, but should do my left shoulder a world of good.

Well, I must be about other business now. I had a more serious post planned for tonight, but will save it for tomorrow.

Health

A Weekend of (Mild) Adversity

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So I worked late Thursday and Friday nights, and by the close of business Friday had completed all the analyses on this stubborn floodplain. The mapping and engineering report await the coming work week, but just having the analyses done is huge. I stayed later still to complete an article for Buildipedia that was due that day. Then went to Lowes, picked up a couple of things for the weekend projects, and priced a new project. Went to the truck and it wouldn’t start. Called AAA. They got there quite promptly. Started me with difficulty.

By this time it was almost 8:00 PM. Drove by the house and picked up some tools, (leaving the truck running), and drove to Wal-Mart. The auto operation was closed. Parked. Turned the truck off and it wouldn’t re-start. Went inside for a battery. They were out of the one I needed, and the young man who came to help me said no other battery they carried would work. He grabbed the starter pack and accompanied me to the parking lot. We drained the starter pack but couldn’t start the truck. Called my neighbor (Lynda still being out of town) who came to jump start me. When he did so, smoke started rising from the battery. He drove me home; exhausted, I tried to read some but couldn’t. Slept well.

Saturday morning, my neighbor drove me into Bentonville where I bought a battery. We went to my truck up in Jane, MO, but couldn’t get the old battery out with the limited tools I had. He had to leave. I went to the auto operation, but they wouldn’t come out to the parking lot to help me. Bought some more tools. I was able to get the old batter out and the new one in, but it still wouldn’t start. It seems the batter cable terminals have deteriorated to the point that they won’t connect any more. Called AAA. They came promptly, towed me to the Ford garage I take the truck to, then drove me to within a mile of the house. Walked home, and it began raining lightly within three minutes, and hard ten minutes after that.

By evening my rheumatoid arthritis was killing me. The worst day I’ve had with it ever, I think. Read and slept. Did some simple chores in the house. I slept fairly well. The arthritis was better by morning, but I had no ride to church, and so had a restful day home. About 1:00 PM I came to The Dungeon, hoping to write, but my computer had started a security suite download and virus scan. So I did a lot of chores in the basement, typed some things when the scan ended, then went upstairs and decided to go for a walk. Watched some football, and came downstairs to do the Facebook and blog things.

All of which should be interesting to no one but myself. But it’s reasons why I didn’t get much writing done this weekend. Without a vehicle it doesn’t look like I’ll get to work tomorrow, unless they fix my truck early and I walk the four miles to get it. Lynda will be home sometime tomorrow, maybe in time to drive me to pick up the pick-up and allow me to salvage a half day of work. Oh, well, I can always work on the last few items needed on the deck and make the day profitable that way.

Health, home improvements

The Flesh is Weaker Still

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Last night the last of the work was completed in The Dungeon. Well, the last required of outside workers, that is. It and the family room are still mostly empty. The heaviest pieces, such as the roll top desk, the couch, and the love seat are in place. Still to be moved are the 13 bookcases, all the books, end tables and lamps, second computer desk, two work tables, and non-functioning treadmill. Maybe I’ll leave that one in the storeroom.

While the last of the work was being done last night, I spent the time with paperwork clean-up upstairs. Much older correspondence and miscellaneous writings brought home from the office when the office moved last November were in a box, waiting for my action. Last night I got most of them sorted and ready for filing and maybe back side copying. I noted some duplication, so guess I’ll go through them page by page after sorting to cull. I estimate 500 pages.

While I have recovered from the weekend labors, my right arm and wrist hasn’t recovered, and my left wrist is getting worse. I don’t know if this is rheumatoid or something else. The left wrist feels like it could be either rheumatoid or osteo. The right is much worse and feels like it could be pinched nerves or even more serious. I’ve already had the carpal tunnel operation on that hand. And that’s the hand that was damaged while I played softball in Saudi Arabia back in 1982, requiring surgery at the Abdullah Fouad Hospital in Dammam. Although I’m left handed, I learned to use the mouse right handed. Maybe it’s a combination of those.

Typing is so painful I must close quickly. Spent a lot of time on the computer yesterday, trying to fix a floodplain model that I thought others had correct. Today is a day of meetings, little computer. Maybe that will help. Writing is a dream right now.

Buildipedia, flood studies, Health, stock market, Writing

Expectations: Some met, some Waiting

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On Monday I wrote that this would be a week of expectations. Many things of somewhat momentous consequence in my life all seemingly coming together. It’s now Wednesday, and I thought I’d give an interim report.

The stock trade I wrote about was for a down market. With the market plummeting yesterday, I made money and closed the trade not too far from optimum. This is my first trade since coming back to stock trading after a two year hiatus. Of course, my friend Gary is right when he commented that a single trade doesn’t mean a whole lot, and that stock trading (as opposed to investing) is more chance than skill. Those that employ this full time would disagree. In fact, on my personal trade development sheet, I wrote where I thought the downtrend was most likely stop. It was right where it did stop yesterday. Time to reassess now, see where investor sentiment takes us (a pause on the way down or a rebound) and plan the next trade.

My flood study, of two tributaries to Blossom Way Creek in Rogers, Arkansas, goes slower than hoped. CAD help is the problem, as horses switched in midstream and I have received nothing to key-in yet. Hopefully this afternoon or the first thing tomorrow morning I can work in earnest. Completing the keying-in this week is in jeopardy. But I’ve used the time wisely in studying in the handbooks a new aspect of floodplain analysis that applies to this project, so that’s good.

No word on those three proposals for conference papers, yet. Today was the published deadline for submitters to hear back. Down to four business hours (five; they are on mountain time).
Edited to Add: The e-mails came through a half-hour ago. All three abstracts were accepted! Two are for 1-hour workshops, and one is for a 1/2 day training class. More about these in future posts. I should say that acceptance is conditional–upon my meeting certain deadlines for increasingly more detail about the presentations, and upon the reviewers liking the extra material. “There’s many a slip,” as Pamala Tudsbury said. [in Herman Wouk’s Winds of War]

Yesterday I spoke with the editor of Buildipedia.com, and we had a great visit. He liked my ideas for the first article in the infrastructure series, and confirmed that I can do that and pitch many other things to him. He liked the three or four ideas I gave him for articles and features. I received the contract in the mail today, complete with deadline, word count, fee, and copyright info.

Weight wise, I can’t seem to lose any more. I have had three or four consecutive days of eating right and getting good exercise. Normally when I do that, especially when I start at the top of a recent range, I lose four or five pounds. Not this time. Two only. I’m not sure what’s going on, unless the extra exercise I’m doing has signalled my body to shut down its metabolism a little. That doesn’t make sense, but I can’t think of what else it could be.

So, two of my expectations have not been experienced yet, the others have or are in progress. It’s a good week so far.

critique group, Engineering, flood studies, Health, Writing

A Day Usurped

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Okay, so this morning I had two things on my mind–well, actually three:
1. Get the reanalysis done for my floodplain project so that on Wednesday all that would be left would be to have the CADD tech change the two maps and assemble a submittal to send off.
2. Attend writers critique group at 7 PM.
3. Help my wife decide on when to go to Oklahoma City: today with Sara and Ephraim; tomorrow the day after them; Thursday; or Friday.

Concerning the floodplain analysis, I had good success on Friday, completing 1/3 of it (as to total computer runs), and less success on Monday, due to interruptions, working sub par due to this cold, and to normal Monday inefficiencies. Still, the morning went well, and by a little after noon I had completed much, and could see my way to finishing it today or early tomorrow morning, making deadline.

I had a couple of conversations with Lynda. She felt she should go on Thursday, but we are under a winter storm watch for Thursday: 4-8 inches of snow, possible ice, possible rain. It all depends on the track of the storm. I suggested she go tomorrow. Sara called at 1:45 PM or so, when I was working on my analyses after lunch, and said they were going today and that Mom needed the cell phone (hers has never been replaced; I’m not going to do it) and would I meet them in Decatur, sixteen miles west. I hopped in the truck and met them to transfer the phone, and headed back to the office to check one thing in Centerton (right on the way) useful for my floodplain analyses.

Heading back to the office, about 2:45 PM I witnessed a four car accident right in front of me. I circled around the block and hung around about half an hour until I could give my contact information to one of the emergency workers, and drove the mile to the office. So far no one has called to take my statement. Others probably had a better view and so they may not need my observations.

So, with time lost but with no wife to go home to tonight, I decided I would stay at the office till 6:30 PM, rush to writers guild, getting Sonic on the way. That would almost make up for the Decatur run and the accident time. But no, the VP in charge of Production dropped by, asking me to assist that afternoon and help with an unexpected floodplain issue in Covington Louisiana. So from about 3:45 till 5:45 I huddled with one of the young engineers, then with the said VP of Production, including a conference call to our Dallas office where the project manager who botched–I mean supervised–the original work could hear our findings.

That done, I went back to my computer and saw an e-mail from another engineer, saying he knew I was busy but he had finally made the changes to the wastewater lift station project I checked last week and it had to go out tomorrow and could I look at it by mid-morning. He had the specifications done that I insisted he do before I signed off on it, he said. I told him to get it to my by 6:20 PM and I’d take it home. I also wished, by this time, I had not committed to going to writers guild, cause I sure could use the entire evening at the office.

The lift station documents in hand, and the writing I was to share tonight in the truck, I rushed to writers guild, picking up my discount Sonic burger along the way. And nobody else showed up. I waited half an hour, knowing there would be a message on the answering machine at home, saying it was cancelled because of people not being able to attend.

Had I known writers guild wasn’t going to meet, I would have stayed at the office until my floodplain analyses were done. But at that point, I was about a mile from the house and fourteen from the office. So I came home and entered the Dungeon, deflated from the day’s usurpations, very tired from the emotions, and possibly from the effects of my lingering cold, so I decided to not bother with the two articles I was going to write tonight. This post will have to do. I’ll pack a bag to take in tomorrow and spend the night in town, either at the office or at my mother-in-law’s so I won’t have to fight the snow on Thursday. I’ll stay in town Thursday night as well.

Right now, I feel both sad and mad: sad at the missed opportunities and the tiredness, and mad at the usurpations. My choices are to fight the emotions with food or with writing. About the only writing I could do tonight is to critique a poem over at Absolute Write, but the way I feel I’d probably dash some budding poet’s spirit with an overly-harsh critique, and I don’t want to do that. So the forage in the fridge it is. I seem to remember seeing some vanilla ice cream in it.

ETA: Oh, and when I got to the writers guild meeting that didn’t happen and opened up my Sonic burger with mayo and added ketchup and took a bite, it turned out it had mustard on it instead of mayo. The perfect unauthorized substitution for an usurped day.

Health, Writing

Marking Time

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My health is improving. The coughing associated with the pneumonia is gone, I think. I’m still on an inhaler that pumps some kind of medicine in me four times a day (when I don’t forget), and that will go on for another 84 pumps. Still sucking on cough drops and occasionally taking some over-the-counter cough syrup. But really, I cough almost not at all. The stomach flu I had lasted only 24 hours. I’m still fighting a garden-variety cold, but I think that is waning now. So, praise God for feeling better.

I think my immune system is below normal, so I’m not yet ready to go back to an exercise regimen. Perhaps next weeks I’ll resume light calisthenics and walking. I’d like to get back to purposeful weight loss efforts, rather than just what might come off as my body fights this or that illness. When the fight is over, the weight comes back on fast.

Writing is where I’m really marking time. The only writing I’ve done since Dec 17 is the one article for Suite101.com. I have three other Suite articles started, and will hopefully get them published within a week. Tonight I plan on going back to writers critique group, and sharing with them the 490 line poem from Father Daughter Day, “The Legend of the Mill”. I shared this last time I was there, but the poets in the group were absent, so I’ll do it again. Can’t say that I feel like doing much writing yet. Motivation must lag immune systems in regrowth.

Of course, having grandson Ephraim around is a pleasant distraction. He may leave today with his mom, or she might leave him for us to watch a few more days then bring to her and her returning husband next weekend. I got to rock him last night, singing hymns and praying with him. He always lays down and stays there when I do the honors, unlike when Lynda does it. He will usually object to being laid down and insist on more rocking. Must be grandpa’s touch.