Health Results, A New Couch, and Set Boundaries.

Since the July long weekend my body has been betraying me.
Each month a little more than the last. Enough so, that it warranted a visit to the doctors to take a deeper look at my over all health, based on the symptoms I'd been having and in short, feeling shitty all the time.

Lot's of blood work, x-rays, and stool samples, 3 weeks later, we have the results.
First of all, I'm thankful that the results are, although not great, it's not super bad.


My overall health is listed as follows:

*X-Rays revelled torn muscle in my elbow.

We're not doing anything about this yet. It will take time to heal. If the pain persists, I might qualify for cortisone shots twice a year, which will help immensely with the pain and allow my body to heal the elbow.

*My thyroid number is way off.
This explains some of my unstable bowels, the unbalance activity with my acne, my hair, and being extremely tired all the time.  We're upping my thyroid meds considerably, and will have blood work to check my THS levels again in 8 weeks. This is very much a normal practice when monitoring any one's thyroid. It helps tweak the right amount of mgs dose you should receive.

*Bad Cholesterol is at the high end of normal. Booo
*Good Cholesterol is at the very low end of normal. Boooo
*Sugar levels are high. Actually only two points shy of becoming a type 2 diabetic.
*I'm class 2 obese.  :( Ouch.

It's no secret I'm heavier now than I have ever been in my life. I've been fit my whole life until 10 years ago. My body handled the stress of a parent dying by gaining weight.
Of course, I contributed to this too. I became lazy,lost interest in everything.
As I got my mental health back in check (nervous breakdown when my mum passed away) I never got back into being active.

I must change a few diet practices right away, bring my sugar levels into check, and lose some weight. My doctor has suggested to aim for 40 lbs over the next year and a bit. Then we'll go for the other 30-40 lbs. I carry all my weight in my mid-section. For a woman over the age of 35, this increases my chances for all sorts of cardiac diseases.
I WILL BE DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS ASAP!

As far as my cholesterol, I have to make some small changes that will have a huge effect.

*Switch from margarine to butter. I did not know margarine is pretty much only a few molecules from being plastic, and I put that stuff in my body! Same reason I never touch coffee mate. It has the same ingredients that hospitals use to make casts. ew.
*No cooking with oils, or sprays (I don't really use those anyways)
*Cut back on the cheese intake. :(
*No processed foods.
*Learn more about good/bad carbs and which ones turn into sugar.
*No more hot chocolate in the horrible coffee at work, to mask the horrible taste.
*Work out.

I will start with walking up the hill of death 4 days a week to start, then add weights to my routine at home. I have a gym membership but never go, and probably still won't go. Doing things that are fun, and distracting while getting a work out are more my thing.  My active friends are going to be so happy!!!

These are all changes some people do naturally, others, like myself, will benefit from making these changes.

I'll keep you posted. Might be blogging about it more as I'll want to hear from you and your experiences, whether they're personal ones or of that of a friend going through the same issues. I LOVE food, so cutting back and making changes will probably be my biggest feat.

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I moved in my new pullout loveseat today. Okay, actually I was completely useless in the process of moving it. It's effin heavy! And the bed kept popping out. :(
My friend RN moved this beast of a beauty 98% by himself. I helped. Only with maneuvering it onto a dolley so we could roll it most of the way, but that in itself was hard. We got it in my apt, and its much bigger than it looked at my friends house.
I promptly took a bath, then a two hour nap on the new couch. Bliss.

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Earlier this week, I emailed the curator and archivist about a change of pace at the museum. We arranged to discuss my options Friday. The office space is super small, even if you whispered you'd still hear the conversation.

The meeting was great! Everything was well received. I'm excited about the new tasks I'll be assisting with. 

Everything from painting the new gallery (in renos right now), data base cross referencing with the collections. Collection care (itemizing, cleaning artifacts, documenting, and storing items in proper acid free materials).
Victorian Teas over Christmas, decorating the House for Xmas (which is part of the museum) and a few more things. It will be nice to have a variety of tasks, rather than just documenting pictures into the data base for the rest of my volunteering career.

I went for drinks with CC after work, where she voiced her disappointment that I had not shared my interest in changing positions with her, and how she could have helped.
I informed her that I did not need her assistance, but thanked her for her concern.

We ended up having a long long talk, 4 hours long. And I laid down some boundaries in order for us to continue a healthier friendship.
She took it amazingly well. But most of all I got her to agree that our friendship and work relationship are to be kept separate. I don't mind hearing about the occasional venting, cos we all do it, but requested it be kept to only serious things.

So there you have it my devoted stalkers, that has been my last 24 hours.