Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010

Well got up again today with my blood pressure sky high. 184/89 was the number right out of bed! Not sure what the hell is going on there, but I have an appointment tonight to see what is going on.

Saw Dr. Etherton today and upped my Taztia back to where it was when I saw Polly Anna. I'm going to start eating right for a month or so and just see if it works! I like oatmeal and my diabetes book says straight cut oatmeal is awesome. We'll see. Got to watch sodium intake as well.

More to follow...

Feb. 10, 2010

Checking in!

Been a week since I logged into the blog. Still on course with healthy eating. Don't know if I have lost any weight because I just weighed myself yesterday. 330 pounds to be exact.

I had the epidural steroid injection done yesterday and it has gone quit well. My leg has actually quit aching, so I'll keep my fingers crossed on how long it will last. My wife, Anita says I was my usually wacky self under sedation. Babbling about useless BS, I'm sure.

I don't remember much about the procedure and wasn't really knocked out, just something to "take the edge" off, but I must have slept the entire time!

I have started using my iPhone apps to track my health. I use the Livestrong app for logging all my food, exercise and such. it's a pretty cool app. Yesterday while in pre-op for the procedure, they checked my blood pressure and sugar levels. My BP was 171/84, which is pretty high. My blood sugar was 112, which is good. I checked my BP again at home and it was 174/89. I re-checked it again this morning, straight out of bed and it was 173/84, so it looks like I need to see Doc Etherton soon! Reminder...appointment Thursday at 4:45 PM, we'll see.

I have a BP app called BP Buddy that works really well. Log all your data then email to whomever you want! They have a glucose Buddy too, so I'm going to use that one also.

Enough of the health stuff, let's talk bikes!

Still way up in the air as to what i want to do. Part of me wants to build from frame up, if I could control the costs, that would be sweet. I have also found a Cannondale F7, which is a decent bike, but from everything I've seen, the components are junk. That's the thing, most of these bikes are all the same, it's just when you add the derailleurs, shifters, brakes, etc... is where you get into the money. I'd still like to find a Kona Hoss to build on, but who knows, I change my mind like a "princess" looking at prom dresses!

I'm in no real hurry, cause we still have about 3 inches of freakin' snow on the ground, but I'd love to get active real soon!

Anyway, pretty proud of the way I've handled my food intake for a week. It started a day at a time, now hopefully a week at a time and monthly, you get the picture! I have roughly 68 weeks before next June or so, when we really have to make the decision, well probably about this time next year would be more accurate, but if I can stay on course until then, surely the last few months would be cake! I know, don't call me Shirley!

Later...

Friday, Feb. 4, 2010

Rain, rain here in Southern Indiana. Sucks. I hate winter anymore. Used to be when I was a kid, I loved the snow, etc... Now, once Christmas is done, I'm ready for Spring and warm weather.

Dietary went good again yesterday. Oatmeal for breakfast and an apple and banana. Lunch was a Lean Cuisine and dinner consisted of Fajita Quesadilla from Los Bravos. Another pretty good day for me anyway. Wonder what makes this so hard?

Started researching bikes again. I have had Specialized in the past and really liked the way they are built. The thing with so many of these mountain bikes, is the components is where the cash comes in. You can get in a decent MTB for anywhere from $450 to several thousands. I certainly don't feel the need for such a high end bike, but you also don't want something that will fail while out on long rides, especially if the Colorado trip comes to be.

Since I last bought my last bike, they have come out with the 29érs. These beast's have 29"wheels instead of the normal 26 inchers. For a big guy like myself, this may be the ticket. It's funny in the MTB circles, I'm what is referred to as a "Clydesdale", big and huge, like the Budweiser horses! Awesome, I love Budweiser products, especially the Bud Light Lime!!

I'm in no rush currently to buy a bike. I'm going to research and use what I learned in my Dave Ramsey course, cash is King! I did see a sweet deal on a Kona Caldera, but doubt I get it. I would be interested in a Kona Hoss, their "Clydesdale" offering, which is a sweet machine. It looks like they dropped the Hoss for 2010, but maybe there is some leftover deals out there to be had.

Lot of choices these days for sure in the biking world!

February 3, 2010

Day 1, lets see how it goes! I have never been very good at losing weight, but have wanted so bad to get back into shape. I ran track in High School and loved to run. I ran the 440, now the 400 meters in 53.2 seconds, which ain't too bad! I used to run all the time when younger and would again love to do so.

One of my passions would be to compete in a triathlon. But again, ol' fat ass can't do that now, being over 300 lbs. can he? Coincidentally, there is a couple of triathlons in our area every year, and I'm sure probably more if I looked. The first is in June and it's a Xterra sponsored triathlon at Scales Lake in Boonville.

This means it's a half mile swim, either a 11 mile or 5.5 mile bike ride and a 3.3 mile run. The event is almost all basically off road, including the run! It's on June 26th, exactly two weeks after our beautiful daughters wedding. What a good month that would be, if I made the race!

Honestly, I have no idea if I'd be ready for that. I'm still looking for a replacement bike and haven't ran in almost 3 decades. The swim, doesn't seem to bother me. I think if I'm in decent shape the swim shouldn't be too bad!

Shortly after that there is another triathlon, hosted again, by the Evansville YMCA. This is a little more involved. It's a half mile swim, biking 15 miles and a 3.3 mile run. Who knows if I can make it, besides God and myself.

I mention God quit a bit and here's a little background into that.

My Mom passed away September 1st of 2009. Shortly before her death, she asked me to start going to Church. Now, I have never been a Church goer, and quite honestly was a "non believer", doubter at best. Of course, I told her I would, to comfort her, but would probably never go. The night she passed away, I held her hand a told her it was time to go. I wasn't telling her to give up, but it was time to let go. She had fought this bitch of a disease twice before and won, but the third time just proved to be too much. That night, right there, with my sister on the other side of the bed, surrounded by my father and the rest of my family, God finally made an appearance in my life. I have no idea how I managed to get through that talk with my Mom. I'm the biggest wussy, crybaby in the world when it comes to stuff like this, but I made it through and she died right there holding my hand. My Aunt Connie said, "I was her hero". I felt good about that!

I sort of became more of a skeptical believer that night!

Anyway, I started going to Church the Sunday after her funeral and haven't missed too many times since. We go to Hillside Methodist in Princeton, IN and it's a more laid back "non traditional" service, and I actually enjoy going. I'm sometimes still a skeptic and doubter, but I'm getting there Mom!

Today, I cut my usual 4 Pop tarts to two and had coffee. Lunch was a Cafe Steamer, which kind of sucked and we ate at Taylor's II for dinner. Grilled tenderloin, salad and a bowl of chili, no beer!

We, meaning Anita and myself, clean at the Princeton Surgery Center. This is our second job of the day, and quit frankly, I hate it, most of the time. The thing is though, if I don't help, Anita will do it all by herself, which would mean 4 to 4.5 additional hours a day, plus I don't like the fact she's dragging trash out to a dumpster at 10:30 PM. It's a pretty secure area,right next to a hospital in fact, but still I don't like it she's in the dark, by herself.

So we split the work. Not exactly 50/50, but I joke with her it's more like 80/20 with me getting the bad end of the stick!

I told her on the way home, "well I did it, not too bad a day with the food"!

Day 1 is in the books and I actually did probably pretty well. About 450 some more days to go!

February 2

Today was an interesting day at work. Somehow we managed to go from Groundhogs Day to Karl Tanner and the mountain bike trip he took a few years back. Keith, aka... The Swab got wind of this adventure and was immediately ready to set sail for Colorado, of course he's the young pup of the office and is always full of piss an vinegar!

Brian and I wanted to do this since Karl had went. Now I'm 48 and will be 49 on February 13th. Brian is 39. Anyway we got to talking and everyone was all in. Aaron, is also involved and he's under 30, so it's an old guy, an older guy and two pups basically!

We eventually decide, hey let's do it. Not this summer, but next. The summer of 2011 will be the targeted trip. Brian has asked KET...aka Karl tanner if he'd be up for another adventure, so if he goes we'll have some "experience" for the trip.

Now the problem. I sold my bike a few months back to pay of some bills, so I'm going to need another bike, plus the fact that I'm extremely overweight and out of shape! Hell,I've got a year and a half, so I think, I'm extremely motivated to get this done. It's been a dream of mine to do something like this forever. I watched a documentary on Mt. Everest over the Holiday's and thought that would be the ultimate, but that's a $40,000 trip! The MTB trip is $850, a little more in my broke ass range!

So, after today everybody is all excited and searching high and low for bikes for me and Swab.

Tomorrow, we'll see if the healthy living aspect takes shape. I'm currently well over 300 pounds and don't know if I really want an exact number. I'm borderline diabetic and have high blood pressure. Every doctor I see, says the same thing...lose weight. I figure if I could loose in the 100 lb range, I'd be good. I weighed just under 200 lbs when I graduated, and had back surgery in 1986 at somewhere around 230 lbs. I'm shooting for 220 lb range, and I'm 6'3" to boot!

I plan to keep this blog updated, and with the enthusiasm of the "kids" around here and maybe the grace of God, support from my wife and kids, I'll make it. We'll see!