Health Posts

12Aug
0

C25K Hiatus

Maybe you noticed that I haven’t been updating my C25K progress lately. And then today I took that page down. Why? Because I can’t run anymore.

Anymore = indefinitely.

I went to the foot doctor yesterday. Apparently my feet are “not anatomically designed for running”. What does that even mean? I have feet. They work (sort of). One in front of the other!

But apparently running is a problem. Something about everything in there being defective in some way, causing pressure in all the wrong places but especially on my nerve. So to avoid further nerve damage, I can’t run for the foreseeable future.

I like running though. And I certainly don’t like being told that I can’t do something. This might be a tough one for me. But I guess now is as good of a time as any to learn how to swim better. Or take my bike out. Pretty much anything that will give me exercise without another cortisone injection.

Posted by Caro in Fears, Health, Life, Rants and raves, Sports, Things to do
09Aug
0

I Suck @ This Right Now

Sorry for the epic neglect folks. Life is BUSY at the moment. Here’s a quick status update on a lot of miscellaneous fronts. And read all of them, cuz some are kind of exciting :)

1. Work: Same shit, different day. I’m still working 3 jobs. I still hate working 3 jobs. A major source of my blog neglect lately has come from one job in particular, wiping me out so I have NO energy to blog when I get home. I mean 4 grants + coordinating a scientific conference? I’m one person, and I work there 20 hours a week. Whew!

2. Marla: She hurts. I saw a neurologist and got an EMG and NCV on Friday. SO STRANGE. They put things on my foot then shocked me with a cattle-prod-thing. Get the results on Wednesday.

3. Italy: Um….I have done NOTHING Italy-related in a month. I’m starting to feel bad. But I have other things on my mind…..

4. Love Life: Well, I’m 7 years into my current relationship. We live together. AND WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!

J took me on a weekend adventure, and wouldn’t tell me anything. I had a feeling, but then again, I’ve been waiting for a while for this and thought maybe I’d have to keep waiting (boys are kinda dense). But then he took me to Sea World, where we did a behind the scenes penguin encounter. Apparently everyone else on the tour knew but me. I have tons of pics and a video of me/us petting penguins. Then we went into the back of the exhibit, and magic happened :)

Basically you can go right up to the barrier that separates the staff and the penguins, but you can’t go onto the snow (oh yeah, it’s about 20 degrees in here!). J and I walked up to this barrier, and as luck would have it, a penguin was intrigued and waddled right over to us. The little guy came all the way to the barrier and stuck his beak through it. SO AWESOME. I think I squealed in delight, and then said (to the penguin) “I love you!”. J thought I was talking to him, so he said, “I love you too, (pulled out a ring) will you marry me?”

And so we’re engaged. And we’re 100% ecstatic about it. I feel lucky to have found the love of my life, who is also my best friend, and to know I will spend the rest of my life with him. I mean, he proposed with penguins. This is clearly the guy for me! And that brings me to #5…

5. Wedding Planning: I’ve been engaged for 9 days, and I think I have a venue set. We’ve come up with our first two choices for dates (2011) and are waiting to hear back from the event coordinator. I went out to dinner with some of my friends 2 days after the proposal and they had made a bet as to how many spreadsheets I had already created (2). A week later, I have 5 total. Although the big day is over a year away, I’m not wasting a minute. Planning a wedding is kind of fun (remind me I said that if I start getting stressed 10 months from now). J is totally wonderful too. He is totally interested in this, at least so far, and while I’m the lead on the wedding planning, he’s taking the reins on the honeymoon.

So yeah. I’ve been a busy bee. I really don’t want my blog to turn into a wedding planning frenzy, so I’ll do my best to keep variety. I’ll also do my best to keep up, rather than go for weeks with no posts. And on that note, I’m going to bed. Good night world! :)

Posted by Caro in Blogging, Health, Life, News, Things to do, Travel, Weddings, Work
21Jul
0

Cramps

I have horrendous cramps.

Not that kind.

These cramps are in my feet. Mostly the bad foot, but also occasionally the “good” one. What’s going on here? Seriously I’ve had 15 spasms in the last hour. My toes are curling all over themselves. They’re also splitting into some really funky shapes. The muscle or tendons or whatever tightened as much as it could, tightened some more, and won’t let go. It’s like a crocodile clamping down on a victim. No bueno.

Posted by Caro in Health
13Jul
0

Running Log

Mostly to self-motivate, but also to get others into it, I’ve started a new page on this blog to track my progress at the c25k. I did workout #4 last night and am feeling pretty good today.

Anyone looking for a great starter program, this is for you.

Anyone looking to kick my ass into shape, monitor my progress and let me have it if I’m slacking!!

Posted by Caro in Blogging, Health, Sports, Things to do
08Jul
0

C25K

When it comes to some things in life, I need a little motivation to get started. Like working out. I mean I love the idea of being in shape, looking good, feeling good, and being able to do fun outdoorsy activities without getting winded. But do I like going to the gym? NO! Are you crazy?

Over the past few months I was blessed to have a friend who felt the same way. Coincidentally, he lives a mile away from me. So a couple of times a week we go get pumped at the gym. It’s awesome. Sometimes you just need that little bit of motivation (a person coming over) to get you started. And I know once I’m started, it’s all good. Get me TO the gym and I will workout.

But then summer came. My gym buddy works for a school, so his lucky ass gets summers off. So he surfs all the time, and doesn’t have the time or desire to come to my janky apartment gym.

What have I been doing since summer vacay started? Well, lots of things. But sadly, not one of them has been “gym time”.

Then I saw some tweets from @itsKrust about C25K. What is that? So I google it, and it’s pretty awesome.

Basically it’s a running program designed for the person who is 100% completely out of shape and is literally starting at 0. Hence the name “Couch to 5K”

3 workouts per week for 9 weeks and you’ll be off your couch running about a 10min mile pace for 30 minutes. This is my cup of tea. I did the week 1 workout 1 yesterday and found it quite easy. So I mixed it up a bit. Added a 1.5 incline and sped up the walking portions. Also ran the last 5 min. Not too bad. I think I’ll skip ahead to week 2 next time.

The only potential setback I might have is that my current workout schedule is 2 days a week. This means I’m going to have to actually get off my couch on Saturday or Sunday to do the 3rd one each week. J said he would do it with me on Saturday. For him, this really is couch to 5K.

Wish us luck!!

Posted by Caro in Discoveries, Health, Life, Sports, Things to do
28Jun
0

Cranking It Out

I’m laying here on my loveseat, enjoying the Netherlands vs. Slovakia game (despite already knowing the outcome) pumping myself up to crank out some posts. I slept funny on my neck 2 nights ago and it hurts. Not just a little. The pain randomly radiates down my shoulder blade. So I’m propped up with pillows, a heating pad, and a glass of wine (alcohol: the oldest analgesic known to man. Or something. lol)

Let’s see how many I can do :)

Posted by Caro in Blogging, Health, Life, Things to do
18Jun
0

Waterboarding

Today I was a victim of this method of torture.

I was scheduled for a pelvic ultra-sound to rule out a cyst. Apparently this requires that you drink 4 glasses of water before the exam. FOUR.

I was pretty thirsty when I woke up this morning, so the first 2 weren’t bad. But let me tell you, that fourth glass was pretty torturous!!

On the bright side, this is kick-starting my pre-hydration for Texas this weekend. Unless I pee it all out in the next hour.

Posted by Caro in Health, Random, Rants and raves
10Jun
0

Ruined

My new boss has RUINED my diet.

Now before I lay this all on him, I need to take some of the credit. I had been working to get in shape, drop a few pounds, and tone up a bit before Rhianna’s and Jessica’s weddings. Did I succeed? No. Not really. And this was my own damn fault, because I skimped on the gym about 1/3 times that I should have gone, I ate a TON of chocolate (please refer to the title of this blog – that’s my life motto, which unfortunately allows me to eat any and all things chocolate), and with stress comes less than stellar willpower to snack on salads and fruits and veggies instead of chips and cookies.

But while I’m not overjoyed with where I ended up, I’m OK with it. Because I did lose a few pounds, I am in way better shape (yay being able to run for longer than 2 minutes at a time!), and I see the slightest bit of definition in my muscles. Score.

So why this angry blog you ask?

Because I had reached a happy equilibrium where I was eating the foods that I wanted to in moderation (aka no deprivation!) and working out somewhat regularly, and not gaining or losing weight. A nice happy balance between food, exercise, and my clothes fitting nicely. Again, score!

And then my boss ruined things. With bagels.

The man eats two bagels every morning. Two. Gigantic. Bagels. Toasted, with cream cheese. We share tight quarters – if I were to stick my arm all the way out to my right, I could probably touch him. So yeah, I smell them, and boy do they smell delicious!

So I’ve started indulging in bagels. It started as once every week or two, then once a week, and now I’m eating one – in addition to breakfast and lunch – every morning at work. The bagels in the cafeteria are gigantic so of course they require 2 little packets of delicious cream cheese. So if I were to start tracking POINTS! with Weight Watchers again, I would be fucked. Because this bagel + 2 cream cheese is at least 10 points, and I only get 19 per day.

My clothes are getting tight. As previously noted, I can’t afford to buy a whole new wardrobe. Back to the gym I go. And for the love of god, if you see me eating a bagel slap it out of my hand!

Posted by Caro in Food, Health, Life, Money, Things to do, Work
10Jun
0

At Least You Can Laugh

My sister has a VERY bad track record when it comes to hear health and well-being. She’s broken several bones in some seriously freak incidents, had a couple of surgeries (see previous point), and gets these weird mystery illnesses. She also is a klutz. So much so that our uncle made up a name for her – Katrinka – because that sounded like the name of someone who would fall a lot. (I would like to pause this post for a second to express complete shock and amusement that my spell-check actually likes the word “Katrinka”. wtf). Basically, when there is a minuscule chance something can go wrong, it does.

In keeping with this theme, she has recently had a minor surgery to remove an ovarian cyst that just wasn’t going away. Just a couple of weeks later this girl texts because she’s broken out in hives on her chest. OK? What do you want me to do about it? Texts keep pouring in. “Hives are moving up my chest and down my stomach.” “It’s on my neck now.” “I can’t breath and I’m freaking out.” Finally, “I’m going to the ER.”

So she goes. With a 4 year old.

After shots of adrenaline, benadryl, and steroids, I get a text complaining about the needles. Then another one, “My blood pressure is 72/40. Is that bad?” LOL yes, yes it is. Good thing you’re at the hospital.

So they release her, now armed with Prednisone, Benadryl, and an EpiPen. Next day she heads to the doctor for labs so she can find out what in the hell she is apparently very allergic to. Today the labs came back and I got this text:

My doctors called. My lab work came back negative & they’re like ‘so that’s good’. How is that good? We are no closer to finding out what I’m allergic to. And they’re like ‘u have to make an appt in August so until then keep a lot of Benadryl on you’. Ummmmm …? FAIL doctors office! LOL

And this is why I love my sister. Because her body hates her and even though none of the doctors can figure out why, she is able to laugh about it and entertain other people with her misfortunes.

Posted by Caro in Family, Health, Life
27May
1

Contacts & ebay

This will be a multi-part post.

1. I wear contact lenses. I <3 the concept cuz I’m blind and contacts simplify my life. This point isn’t news. Moving on…

2. I previously wore Proclear contacts in one eye and Proclear Toric in the other. They were really all I knew, so I appreciated them without question. Then this year I went in for my eye exam and ordered a 6-month supply of contacts. Thing is, I was convinced they had my prescription wrong. After a couple of weeks I decided to get my prescription checked. Long story short, I ended up with a variety of contacts in a variety of strengths from a variety of manufacturers. I almost re-ordered the Proclears, Toric in both eyes this time. Then I decided to milk the free samples a little longer and requested an “extra moist” lens.

BEST IDEA EVER. I got these Biofinity Toric lenses and they’re a godsend. As expected, I see well. I also don’t have to worry about them drying out after like 3 hours. Sorry Bausch & Lomb, but I won’t be buying as many bottles of eye drops per year. I hope you’ll live!

OK this is turning into an infomercial for Biofinity. I’ll stop now, but I just had to throw it out there to anyone who has contact dryness issues and/or astigmatism!

3. I slacked off on choosing a new lens. As a result, I can’t return the unopened boxes I have of my Proclears. So now I’m stuck with $110 worth of lenses that I’ll never wear. This is sad for my bank account (wah) and brings me to #4…

4. Can I sell contact lenses on ebay?? This is kind of a challenging question. Would anyone actually buy contact lenses on ebay? If so, does said person have an astigmatism AND super shitty vision? We’re talking -7.50 /-0.75×150 (whatever the hell that means). At $60/box retail, I feel like I could make some cash here if someone else has my same special-order prescription.

It all boils down to one simple question: Is this worth my time??

Posted by Caro in Health, Shopping
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