Thursday, June 21, 2012

Carrots are good for you... right?


Well... that's what they say, isn't it???  I know that carrots pack a nutritional wallop - but I am here (thankfully) to testify, that they pack a wallop in other ways.   The previous post said I was recovering from a concussion.  Wellll.. since that time there have been two more.  Three concussions in as many weeks. The final blow - as it were - came from a can of carrots accidentally hurled from a grocery bag being swing around - not unlike that deadly weapon of the ancients... the sling.  Instead of a leather thong and cup, a plastic handle grocery bag... instead of a rock... yep... a can of carrots.               
So why, why, WHY is this posted on my WLS blog?  Well for me, the key factor in getting over a plateau, kick starting loss, or just maintaining... is exercise.  I have been sidelined by my doctor.  Her diagnosis Post Concussion Syndrome.  Her orders 4 - 6 weeks from the most recent injury - of WAY dialed back activity.  Full days of full weeks at work, not recommended. FMLA paperwork has been filed, just in case I need it. 

So my trusty bike, sits in the garage - a sad, sad thing for me!  I am not to exert or do anything dangerous (I was told that bungee jumping and skydiving, were out).  It is extremely hard for me to be sedentary, but I have no choice.  Its not only a matter of following doctor's orders... (my medical Dr. and the infamous Dr. Whatchamacallit) I myself know, it would not be safe. I am dealing with a month long disastrous headache, and big time vertigo among other delightful symptoms.  Sitting back and watching life go by... sitting and watching my Jen do all the heavy lifting, literally and metaphorically around the farm, and sitting and watching the summer prance by are unsettling, depressing and make great big sadness in my soul.  So I am relying on my buds, to safeguard me, from my own perception of what "rest" is... to remind me how serious this really is and that a brain injury - as "funny" as the circumstances by which you got it... is nothing to make light of.  Praying for patience and healing.

Keepin in real...

Monday, June 4, 2012

Year 3: In Review

Captainsblog, Stardate: 65891




Yesterday was my 3rd Re-Birth Day!
Wow, It's been a heck of a year, lots of triumphs and challenges to be sure!   I AM going to try to blog here more... I really am!


So year three, lets see...  my year three goals were:

  • Keep up this blog better - no, sure didn't but I am carrying this goal forward and have a strategy in place to do better!
  • Take a spin class - not yet
  • Integrate more exercise into my hectic schedule - might help with that whole extra skin around the middle thing, I have going on - LOL! - early in year three I was kicking this one's ass... and I haven't done AS well lately.
  • Climb a rock wall (carryover from year 2) - stil not yet - BUT Jen bought me a gift certificate to do this, for my birthday - so we'll be doing it!!!
  • Complete a century bike ride! - well, not a century - but we DID ride like 68 miles!
  • Tackle Mt. Baldhead - YES!
  • Get more creative with my food choices within the given parameters - I'm kinda in a rut - meat, cheese, eggs (and then repeat) - yes I have gotten more creative, incorporating more salads etc
  • Get more SLEEP! - Sometimes?!
My year 3 has been charged with LOTS of emotional stuff, some very challenging partings, that stressed me out - BIG time.  I fully admit that the stress levels created times when I turned back to long-established bad habits.  All I can claim, is an attack.. of being human.
I have paid the price in putting a few pounds back on, but... this is life, its a process, its not something at which you get to do something once, and if you don't do it perfectly, you are hosed.  So I am regrouping.  The past 2 months have seen a prolonged time of being sick, and I am now recovering from a concussion.  As soon as I feel stable and safe from dizziness, I am back on that bike! I miss it - Truly, I love getting on a rail trail , getting in the zone and just whoosh...


So in closing this post, what I'd say is this... while I am not where I want to be today... I AM so much better than I was, I have kept after it most of the time, have stumbled , and gotten up... I am absolutely dedicated to not, going back to where I once was... I am still a far, far cry 


So I guess I should post a year three pic, here you go:



Me, close to my heaviest, and me, 2 weeks ago - interesting that there was a ten year period of long hair, in between these two short haired pictures.  So looking at this - I guess I can cut myself a bit of a break, but only - a little one.

And YES my friends, i DO still miss my hair (those who have followed this blog know this is an ongoing lament - LOL).

Peace OUT My Peeps!