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Status update
Mar. 5th, 2011 06:52 pmLast Saturday at this time I was hanging out at the Chicago Kotei. It was a wonderful day and I keep meaning to write something about it so I won't forget it, but that hasn't happened yet.
Today started unpleasantly with a dream involving a choice between drowning in cold, stormy ocean waters or getting bitten to death by a shark. This was followed by a dream where I was in a hotel somewhere and I needed to get to an airport for my flight home but I wasn't sure where the airport was and I had reason to believe that I was already late for my flight. I grant that missing a plane is less dire a fate than a shark attack, but I am getting really tired of airport-based nightmares. It's especially a downer now, when I am contemplating going to a bunch more Kotei this spring.
On Tuesday I got back the results of my blood test. Very good news: My blood sugar was normal--I'm not a diabetic. Yet. But every year is another year to improve my eating habits, my exercise program, my weight. Another year of trying to swing the odds in my favor. It's enough. Slightly bad news: my cholesterol is in the borderline-high range. This slightly depressed me as I have been eating a fiber-rich diet for some time now and I had hoped that this would help control any cholesterol issues I had. Apparently not. Or it is, and without it my cholesterol would be out-of-control. Anyway. My doctor sent me some info on how to control cholesterol with lifestyle changes, all of which I am currently practicing. I went to the Mayo Clinic site for more info and decided I can still improve by adding more fish and olive oil to my diet. If I continue my current trend of weight loss that will also help. I am to be retested in three months; I guess if it doesn't improve in that time I'll have to take drugs. I hate taking drugs, not because I am morally opposed to Big Pharma (nasal steroids are my new best friend) but because I find remembering to take them to be such a strain.
Tuesday was also the day of my mammogram. This was easy for me because Bryan West is across the street from work: I walked in, did the paperwork, got scanned and walked out. I expect I will get the results sometime next week. I am expecting a positive finding, not because I have any reason to think I have breast cancer but because I got a false positive last time and I can't think of a reason why this time will be different. So then there will be a bunch of follow-up test and bills and whatnot. It is annoying, but when my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer I swore that I was not going to be like her and ignore any signs of trouble, so I guess I will live with the annoyance.
According to the UNL Extension service, I can start planting cold-tolerant vegetables like peas and radishes in mid-March. That is contingent on being able to plant at all; my soil is currently too wet to turn over and we are supposed to get more rain and snow next week. Still, I need to be starting seedlings this weekend: tempus fugit and all that.
Today started unpleasantly with a dream involving a choice between drowning in cold, stormy ocean waters or getting bitten to death by a shark. This was followed by a dream where I was in a hotel somewhere and I needed to get to an airport for my flight home but I wasn't sure where the airport was and I had reason to believe that I was already late for my flight. I grant that missing a plane is less dire a fate than a shark attack, but I am getting really tired of airport-based nightmares. It's especially a downer now, when I am contemplating going to a bunch more Kotei this spring.
On Tuesday I got back the results of my blood test. Very good news: My blood sugar was normal--I'm not a diabetic. Yet. But every year is another year to improve my eating habits, my exercise program, my weight. Another year of trying to swing the odds in my favor. It's enough. Slightly bad news: my cholesterol is in the borderline-high range. This slightly depressed me as I have been eating a fiber-rich diet for some time now and I had hoped that this would help control any cholesterol issues I had. Apparently not. Or it is, and without it my cholesterol would be out-of-control. Anyway. My doctor sent me some info on how to control cholesterol with lifestyle changes, all of which I am currently practicing. I went to the Mayo Clinic site for more info and decided I can still improve by adding more fish and olive oil to my diet. If I continue my current trend of weight loss that will also help. I am to be retested in three months; I guess if it doesn't improve in that time I'll have to take drugs. I hate taking drugs, not because I am morally opposed to Big Pharma (nasal steroids are my new best friend) but because I find remembering to take them to be such a strain.
Tuesday was also the day of my mammogram. This was easy for me because Bryan West is across the street from work: I walked in, did the paperwork, got scanned and walked out. I expect I will get the results sometime next week. I am expecting a positive finding, not because I have any reason to think I have breast cancer but because I got a false positive last time and I can't think of a reason why this time will be different. So then there will be a bunch of follow-up test and bills and whatnot. It is annoying, but when my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer I swore that I was not going to be like her and ignore any signs of trouble, so I guess I will live with the annoyance.
According to the UNL Extension service, I can start planting cold-tolerant vegetables like peas and radishes in mid-March. That is contingent on being able to plant at all; my soil is currently too wet to turn over and we are supposed to get more rain and snow next week. Still, I need to be starting seedlings this weekend: tempus fugit and all that.
