Sigh. MIA - and up another 7lbs

It's been a frustrating time as I've struggled with the heat. Ugh. I really hate summer in south Texas. Have been a little out of control with eating. I think it's partly hormonal and this perimenopause nonsense. Weight is up and I've slacked off on the cardio. My waterproof heart rate monitor is on the fritz. Every time it does pick up my heart rate, it says it's over 200. And it's not. So I'm back to wearing my old uncomfortable one that is not waterproof, so I can't use it in the pool. Finally got into that when family visited. Need to get out every day to get that kind of workout in. Definitely felt it in the muscles, especially when I was lifting and playing with my 25+lb great-niece. Now THAT is a fun upper body workout! :-)

Had another gall bladder attack after walking around Sea World on Wednesday. I know it's because I've been eating some junk I shouldn't have. So I'm going to focus more on that and just getting out and MOVING! Or just dragging out the mini-trampoline when I'm watching TV. Had a fun time with my dad, sister and niece here for a visit. We went to the zoo while they were here, too.

My niece, Lydia and I got matching shirts at the zoo and wore them to Sea World. And we got soaked by the dolphins! She later got soaked by Shamu as she was selected to participate in the show. Such a fun day!

App't with cardiologist

I was dreading the cardio appt, but it went VERY well. Since the thyroid tests proved it's not my thyroid and the thyrostim is not drastically affecting those numbers, (I TOLD ya, doc!) we're back to looking at the heart. He's suggested 2 fish oil caps twice a day and a workout routine designed to strengthen the heart and get me down to a lower resting heart rate. The workout is 5min cardio followed by 10min cool down (not resting, just lower impact). Next week 10min cardio, 10min cool down and building up the cardio each week.

He said it can take 3-6 months to work, so he wants to see me again in 6 months. I can do the workout more than once a day, as much as I can tolerate. He said he had good results doing this with another patient who was actually passing out a lot - which I have not done. I'm just happy he didn't try to push meds on me. He did say that the one test was a possible indicator of heart disease so he also asked if I wanted to do a CT to check for calcification in the arteries and I'm willing to do that as well. Scheduled for Apr 30.

Hot baths - BAD!

I love my baths too much to give them up. They definitely don't like me, though. BP of 97/49, pulse of 173 when I got out of the bath a little bit ago. Sigh. Drinking water to try to cool off.

Wednesday Weigh in - 177.4

Spring in Texas is NOT my friend. Got over a cold, but the tree pollen has been VERY high for the past few weeks and it's kicking my butt pretty bad. Sleep is off, eating is off, walking when I can. Got blood work results (NO, autocorrect, I did NOT want to type bloodworm!) ordered by the cardiologist and thyroid levels were FINE, but another test which I didn't KNOW he'd ordered was twice the normal level.

The interesting part, it was something Kendall's doctors in Denver told Ken & I to get checked, but my senile doctor at the Academy didn't know what I was talking about. Hmmmmm, looking forward to asking him why he ordered that test and what it means. Research on WebMD showed that it's tied to high cholesterol, which I've NEVER had so it's a little weird. Wondering if it's related to the macrocytosis that has my family doc puzzled. I look forward to talking with her about it. (It was tied in with the clotting issues my son had, so I'm really curious about it. I asked his CF doctor today and she wasn't sure either, but said she would look into it and ask the cardiologist about it.)

Checkin' in

Weight has stayed the same. Being sick is getting old and I think it's moved from a cold to allergy problems and weather changes. Just feeling crappy is not fun. I've had migraines threatening and developed a couple times, but my meds worked eventually. Picked up my blood work results from the base and dropped the papers off at my civilian doc's office so hope to hear from her soon.

Moment of truth - Weigh in - 178.4

Sheesh, this is ridiculous. So I'm going to bite the bullet and put the number out there so I can move on from here. This is actually down 3 pounds since yesterday. After 3 weeks of PMSing (yeah, so not fun!) my period finally started. Happy Birthday to me! :-P First day - I usually have major salt craving so I feel like sitting down with a bag of Fritos and a can of bean dip. But I won't! :-) Tonight we're going out to Coco's Chocolate Lounge for my birthday dinner, so my indulgence will be there.

I went to get my blood drawn for the follow-up Thyroid panel with the cardiologist and I am BACK on my Thyrostim. I'm sure that my body was completely off balance and out of whack because I haven't taken that for 2 months, so I was DONE! Started taking it again on Tuesday. Coincidence with the weight drop? Due to the time of the month, it could be anything.

Tomorrow morning hair app't, then we'll be leaving for a wedding in Louisiana this weekend, so I'm sure my exercise pattern will be off for the next few days. Will get back to it on Monday. :-) Hopefully the spring break crowds will be gone at Sea World and I can enjoy walking there again. (Although I think some schools have next week as SB, too, so it might still be bad.)

Walking every day!

I have been doing great at walking and getting 10,000 steps in. Sea World is open every day in March, not just the week of Spring Break. It has been great walking with no crowds to maneuver around. It's almost been like a ghost town! Today I went on the roller coaster and was one of two people riding! :-) Here's a pic of the Great White:
Alligators chillin', the Steel Eel coaster

Atlantis water rideGhost town Sea WorldOne of my dolphin friends