Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Weight Loss and such...

I've been doing Weight Watchers for a little over a month now. It's been going well. I've lost 7.6 pounds, 12.4 more to go! It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. I can be so lazy, and just want to eat whatever I see. I just try to make sure that what I see is healthy now. Poor Vance had to eat all the bad stuff in the house (such suffering!) because I'm too cheap to throw out perfectly good food.
I really like it when I get positive comments from co-workers and friends, but it's still frustrating when some of my clothes aren't quite fitting yet. I hope once I've hit my goal I can stay motivated. I miss certain foods a lot. I still have a bite of chocolate once in awhile, and Darcy made an amazing low-fat chocolate lava cake Sunday Night, which I fully enjoyed.
The Tallahassee Irish Step Dancers had our recital, ending the year on a high note.
I danced with a big ole' ugly white brace on my leg, but I suppose it's worth it to keep me dancing next year. I sprained my ankle two weeks ago in rehearsal and almost wasn't able to perform. We had a good sized crowd and lots of fun.
You know, if I didn't have to work to pay the bills, I'd dance all the time. Dance classes, maybe competitions. I just love to move with music.
Alright, I'd better get back to real work now.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

STOP SMOKING NOW! I MEAN IT!

I just got back from visiting my Uncle who is dying of Lung Cancer in NC.
I don't know why people continue to smoke when it kills you. I understand that it's an addiction, but when you've seen the effects, what other impetus do you need?
I spent the weekend wiht my 58-year old uncle who won't see another birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or much else past a few months. He's got 4 tumors in his brain, spots on his lungs, and tumors on his kidneys. We all visited, and my sister and I said goodbye, and knew that this was preventable. It's a personal choice.
Please get your loved ones to stop smoking.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Health Stuff

What a time I've had lately. I was having these weird headaches, for about two weeks. Now, I've had migraines, but these headaches were different. Top of my head, not super-painful, but very nagging and made life not vey fun. So after two weeks of this, I gave up on the OTC drugs and went in to the Doctor.
By the way, I love my ARNP. She has been awesome through all this crap I've been dealing with.
Back to the story. My ARNP, Kim, said the headaches were 1 of 3 things.
1) A different type of migraine that I'm just not used to
2) Caffeine withdrawal
3) Something else
So she gave me a shot in my butt and some different migraine meds to handle option 1, nothing she could do for option 2, and scheduled me for an MRI to rule out option 3.
So Vance takes me to the MRI place on a Saturday a few weeks back. Nice people, lots of renovations, no biggie, takes about 30 minutes.
Fast forward to that Monday morning. I've come in late to work b/c my stupid headache was back. Walk in my office, to the phone ringing. It's Kim, and apparently they've found something on MRI. Okay, that was just to rule stuff out! They weren't supposed to actually find anything! She says words like "pituitary tumor' and 'hemorrhage' and I manage to write down that they've made me an appointment with a neurologist at noon. That day.
So I walk out of my office quite stunned, but Praise God I have wonderful supportive co-workers. They help me calm down, and offer to drive me to the appointment, etc. I decline, and call my Vance. He's so good to me. So he works it out with his office and I pick him up to go to the Neurologist.
We get to 'The Headache and Head Pain Center'. I figure, this must be the place for me. The neurologist was very cool, top of his game, ran me through a barrage of neurological tests in a rapid fire way that left Vance and I very reassured that I was in good hands. He explained to both of us that I had a pituitary tumor and that there had been a hemorrhage in it. He wanted more specific MRI-type tests done to get a better idea of what was happening in MY BRAIN. (Trying not to really freak out at this point.) So wonder of wonders (and again a little scary b/c they could get it scheduled so quickly) we head back to the MRI place for some more tests. Only this time it's a little scarier b/c they've found something. Not as friendly on the staff side this time, but whatever.
We waited for the films b/c that was the quickest way to get them to the Neurologist. Of course, being the geeks we are, we peeked at the films in the car. Kinda weird to see those typical brain-scan looking pictures and know that it's your head on the film.
Later that afternoon I finally got the phone call from the neuro guy (I got tired of typing neurologist..oh wait, I just did) that there's nothing else wrong other than the HEMMORHAGE IN MY BRAIN. Yeah. I'm totally OK with all of this.
So the gist of it is, my hormones probably made something pop in my brain but it's okay 'cuz these things usually just work themselves out in time. But if I have another top-of-my-head headaches I have to go back in.
Sigh...just another day.