When your summer goes sideways

 Typically, the end of the semester is exhausting.  We are running around trying to make sure students have what they need to graduate.  We are pulling together the stage and program for commencement.  We are hosting the Board of Trustees while fielding last-minute commencement hiccups.  For me, I am usually preparing to travel as part of the executive cabinet and travel as part of the hosting team for a conference or two.  Basically, by the end of May I feel spent and trashed out.  This May was going to be different.  I had amazing plans to reconnect and relax.  It was going to one of the busiest seasons for me but that was going to make June that much more relaxing.

What is the saying, "If you want to make God laugh, show God your plans"?  My May actually went off really well.  I had an amazing three days with my college bestie in Virginia.  I had a decent birthday with my family.  I had found some workable and cheap solutions for a few issues that had popped up for our conference scheduled to start June 1.  Then May 31st punched me in the face.

I was getting ready for bed when my little came and said, "Grandma is about to take Grandpa to the hospital."  I flew off the couch to get an idea of what was going on, then immediately changed clothes and flipped my internal switch from sleep to fight mode.  My dad was having pain so bad he couldn't sleep.  So that begins the debate of local or drive to Temple.  This time we stayed local but ended up at Temple anyway.  Instead of running my conference, I was running the conference from my dad's hospital bedside.  He got home from that hospital stay just in time to celebrate his 71st birthday at home.  I don't know what it is about the time around our birthdays (May 24-June 9) that makes the universe attack, but there we were.

Okay, so the conferences (I was only scheduled to work one on-site and the other long distance) were both successful; my dad was alive but with neph tubes, so I know we have a long road ahead.  While my dad is in the hospital, we have to reschedule my mom's eye appt, which was going to determine if she needed surgery on her eye.  That got rescheduled pretty easily; okay, one issue down.  GymGirl has been having some intense pain going on so we visited a new specialist in June and got a new diagnosis for her and an order to another specialist for an October visit.  

So not too bad, right?  I can still salvage my June.  I have an appt with an endocrinologist to check in on my Hashimoto's, and since that is the whole morning, I scheduled a nail and hair appt for that afternoon.  Meanwhile, my mother goes to her eye doctor appt.  Guess who definitely needs surgery?  Cool cool cool, it's summer so I can take time off without an issue really.  Let's get it on the books.

So the week of June 22, I take my dad to Temple for a follow-up, then take my mom to Houston for eye surgery.  Both of those things go well. We even got to Rose City Pride and had a great time as a family.

I relaxed.  Okay, the end of June is going to be good.  We have some unknowns, but we got this.  Why did I relax?  June 30, guess where I was?  Back in the ER with my dad.  This time we were able to stay local, but man, the level of care- well, really, it was the communication that was the issue.  Unlike stays in Temple where my dad's care is my focus, with him in Lufkin, I could and needed to keep my scheduled appts for the girls.  Eye doc, dentist, and most importantly hair!  So I was popping in and out of the hospital and having to hope I could catch the doctors.

I spent the 4th of July waiting for my dad's intestine to wake up after a blockage.  It was not fun but he did get to go home the next day.  Some people spent the 4th looking at fireworks; I was watching an ileostomy bag, praying it would fill up (it did).

Then I had to take him to a follow-up in Temple.  Cool cool cool, another exhausting start to a month but I got this.  That Thursday, July 9th, I'm on my way to a board meeting when my husband calls and lets me know Gymgirl has a new symptom with her migraines.  We are advised to take her to the ER.  This was my 3rd hospital in 7 days.  While we are there, her heart rate is sky-high, and her blood pressure isn't coming down.  She got a clean CT of her head so we are sent home.  But the heart rate thing is bothering us.  So we scheduled to see the pediatrician.  That appt is two weeks out, and in the meantime we are surprisingly good as a family and healthwise.

Now during all of this, a person I thought was a friend was moving out of the area.  I thought for sure we would have one last hang out.  But no, I wasn't important enough for that.  Cool cool cool, I figured that person had been a user, but you know, hope springs eternal.  Then the board I serve on had a major shakeup that we are still finding our way through.  

Each day of July at work is a march towards welcoming the students back.  Meetings to make sure residents' halls are ready, the admin side of things is ready, and the big campus kickoff is good to go.  I love my job, and the work I do really does line up with my purpose so I really enjoy going to work. I love the hard projects and having campus fill up.  The only issue is that I need to be at work to do this type of work.  I really don't have a remote-friendly position.  I tend to pack June with appts so the rest of the year is easy so much for that!

Gymgirl goes to her pedi appt, and we get a new diagnosis to add to the pile plus another specialist referral.  My dad has a phone dr appt that doesn't happen but does make me late for work; I really, really, really dislike being late for work and that was last Friday.  

Monday we welcomed our first-time freshman to campus!  The academic year is underway.  My Fall will be crazy busy with not only work but with my dad's appts and probably a major surgery.  I need to go back to endo for a follow-up.  I need to take Gymgirl to all of her appts.  

The point of this rambling mess?  This summer was not the summer I had planned.  This summer really wasn't fun or relaxing.  In 2026, I have been in the ER with hubby, GymGirl, LiL'Bit, and my dad.  I have been in four different hospitals in three different cities.  All I can do at this point is gird my loins and pray for a decent Fall semester.  Oh, by the way, did you know Gymgirl is a high school Senior?

#MealtimeMiles - Lunch runs

So this week, I have been committed to moving a mile during my lunch break.  It occured to me that if I would walk/run/move a mile during my lunch break each day that I would have moved 5 miles each week.  Now part of the motivation comes from Run the Year 2019.  For RTY, you commit to move 2019 miles.  Now some people run that many miles.  I'm not there yet.  For me, the goal is to move 2019 miles, walk, run, crawl if I have to but move.

Why bother?  So it is not about losing weight.  I do have plenty to lbs to lose but I am a point in my life that I know the scale does not reflect my worth, hotness, or health.  I want to be healthy.  There are skinny people with ideal BMI that can't run a mile!  There are obese people who finish ultra marathons so yeah, the scale is a lier if you are measuring health.

As a goal oriented person moving 2019 miles gives me a goal.  Now according to RTY, I would need to move an average of 11,000 steps or about 5.5 miles a day to get 2, 019 miles this year.  I"m not there yet.  I am part of a team and while the other two members only record runs, I'm recording everything.  It is important to me that I see my number growing and if I only count runs than I know I'll abandon the whole thing.

Right now I'm getting a mealtime mile each day, with a goal of 6,000 steps each day.  Now that should translate to 3 miles a day but Samsung Health says that for me it is only about 2.5 miles.  What the hell?  Anyways, not important, the point is to move.  In theory if I move more than my weight should come down with it.  I am not going to change my diet.  Being gluten-free, plus the allergies in my family, are hard enough.  I have started bringing 10 boiled eggs to work with me on Monday.  They are my emergency breakfast/lunch/snack eggs.  Unless I have a mealtime meeting, I am not allowing myself to go out for a quick bite.  Thankfully I really like eggs and love egg salad.  I think this will help me save money and eat healthier too.

Will any of these change stick?  I'm not sure.  Will anything about me change?  I'm not sure about that either but I like the challenge.  This week so far, I've hit my steps before leaving work each day.  Twice, I've gone out for 30 min runs, which have gotten me just over 2 miles per run.  I haven't stepped on the scale or done measurements but I feel good, with a bit more energy.  I have also noticed that my left ankle hurts so I"m not sure about tomorrow's mile but we'll see.  Surely I can crawl a mile!

So join me.  Get in your mealtime mile!  Move a mile and then eat that Whataburger!  Just commit to moving.  We can't wish our way to health.  Who knows maybe by the end of the year, I'll be able to walk up a flight of stairs and not be breathing so hard at the top that I want to die!

FYI: This picture is from the one and only time I ran a half-mary distance.  Still haven't run a half-mary race and that is totally cool!

Mamavation Monday: joining a sisterhood

So I have recently heard of a great place called Mamavation. It's a space for moms to help each and motivate each other to become healthier! As you know since last Feburary, I have been on a personal challenge to become healthier. It started with wanting to run a 5k before I turned 33. I met my goal, one week before my 33rd birthday I ran my first 5k. I was only 30 secs or so over my goal time of 36 mins.

This is where I journey starts but to be honest I've been slacking. I am still all wheatfree but I have stopped running. The reasons why I stopped running are two fold. One I stopped because I got sick then I seem to lose motivation to start running again. Then I started again but got refocused on trying to build strength and get rid of the batwings. I was doing great. I went from zero girl push ups to being able to being able to do 5 standard "man" push ups. I was happy and sweating and working out with DH. Then the holidays and sickness struck again.

Today I am getting off my butt and jumping back in. So that is the purpose of this post. I need to be accountable. I need a kick in the ass. I am about to hit the hardest part of the year. I have Ravebaby's birthday next Monday and then Christmas, followed by DH's birthday and our 11 year wedding anniversary and close on the heels New Years. I don't want to make a New Years resolution. I want to make a lifetime commitment. I want to join the Sistahood of Mamavation.

DH's health

So DH is doing well.  He goes to the doctor on Thursday and we've heard nothing from the blood test so I'm going with no news is good news.  His blood pressure is coming down.  I'm happy about the down turn in the blood pressure but I think this also means that he needs blood pressure meds.  I'm still hoping that a change in diet and a major change in activity level will help him lose a few pound and he'll be able to come off the meds.  I guess we'll know more on Thursday. 

The gout meds have helped a lot.  He is down to one does a day for the pain.  I think this is another time that we'll have to wait for the doc to see if he needs a med for the gout to help him get rid of the acid build up.  Still seems weird for him to have gout.  DH is just a few months older than me so he's 32.  Not exactly 'gout age.' 

I'll keep you posted.  I'm hoping for good news on Thursday. 

Busy 7 days

We've been so busy over the last week.  We started with Halloween.  I work until 7pm and then had to run Audrey to see her grandparents.  Poor kid was exhausted from her trick or treat time in the afternoon so she was not in mood play.  She kept laying down and demanding to go to bed.  Then she was so tired it took her forever to go to sleep.

My little flamingo princess.

Over the weekend DH had starting suffering from a lot of big toe pain.  After a visit to the chiropractor, DH concluded he must have gout.  He would be seeing the doctor on Thursday for high blood pressure and now gout.  Thursday was a long way away.  I took half a day and went with him.  Good news/bad news time. 
Good news:  It's gout and we can treat it.
Bad news:  The medicine will make your blood pressure go up so he's now on a blood pressure med.  Also a major change in the diet since DH must lose weight.  (So on top of wheatless, nothing fried and cut down/out the sugar!)

Friday was spent waiting to hear how DH's medicine was working and labs.  We won't hear on any lab results for 2 weeks!  That seems like forever but that should give enough time for all of the medicine to work and if anything that requires attention before that she'll call us in.  Still it's a long wait and it's hard to watch DH constantly taking his blood pressure and me freaking out with every up tick on the meter.  So needless to say it was hard weekend but DH is doing what he needs to and I'm proud of him for stepping up.  I'll keep everyone posted.