Day 158 - My Towel, Mine!

Look what I got! Yep, the yoga towel that Jody hooked me up with via her recent give-away arrived.

It took only a day to get here. The company that shipped it for Jody was nearby in Indiana.

There you see the towel, sort of, it is it's wrapper.

You also see a bonus, a Full Bar, hmmm. Never tried one until yesterday.

Not bad, sort of like Captain Crunch squished into a bar.

Also a hand written Stciky-Note on it from Cheryl of Bottled Fitness congratulating me and wishing my enjoyment with my towel.

Ok, enjoy it I shall...

Well, I am trying to enjoy it. Which end goes up?

It doesn't come with instructions. Ah, a label...

Figured it out.

Right after getting untangled I went downstairs and hit the home gym, with my towel.

Ah Ha - it wipes away sweat. No, it sucks it up, fast!

This photo cracks me up, I look like I am about to fall asleep in that towel.

Certainly it is soft enough to sleep on.

Very nice towel Jody, Thanks again!

Ok - Fill in the blank: Wednesday is a good day to __________ ! To what?

For me this is a good day to go have some more of my cheek removed. Yeah, wish I didn't need that but as I shared yesterday it is needed and I am not waiting. So a morning of work and an afternoon with the plastic surgeon. I'll be in and out in an hour and on my way so no big deal procedure wise. Just want it done, healed and well, done.

When I awoke it seemed a fine day to strength train so I got in a great session with my dumbbell routine. Five sets of push ups & sit ups too. As noted abouve yesterday after work I also got in a session with the home gym. These sessions were closer together than I would have usually spaced them but for good reason. Just as it was two weeks ago when they removed the skin lesion I it will be again today; I'll need to take a week off of the weights. So four of the past five days I have hit them as hard as my heart could. Kind of like a squirrel storing nuts for winter. Yeah, I am guessing strength training doesn't quite work like that.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 157 - Beast's Brief Return...

Tuesday morning is here. What is in store for you this fine day?

Ok, so the picture riddle from yesterday, it was a blood pressure cuff (pictured there). Dr Fit ToFat nailed it early in the guessing. I figured she, or anyone out there in a medical profession, might get this quick, and she did. As usual some cool guesses all around. An arrow, LOL. A pop-up canopy, hmmm. A waistband, yeah I could see that.

Those riddle pics were taken this past Friday while at the doctors office. Yesterday I shared the good news from that visit in being able to get off the BP pills. Got some more good news yesterday in that my annual physical blood sugar was normal. Each July I have all my blood numbers checked when I get my annual physical. For some reason this year they forgot to do the sugar. Not worried about it, even being the obese one I have been my sugar has been fine; thus all I needed to do was go in and get it checked at my leisure. LOL, going to the doctors office and leisure being in the same sentence, please. So I had it checked on Friday as well and all my blood numbers checked out good for 2010.

Ok, enough delay. I have hemmed & hawed over whether to share this or when. Well, I knew I would, so it was a matter of when. Needed to wait until I talked to my mother & sister before I felt it fine to share this outside the family.

The news is good news in the end but still it has been as tasteful as cat-box cuisine to chew on. The skin lesion which I had removed on my cheek, or mole as many have come to call it, was sent off as a matter of protocol to screen for cancer and sure enough it came back positive as Melanoma in Situ.

"What the &%#$ is that" was my first question to the doc when he called. Simply put, it is the absolute start of melanoma, stage zero. With the spot removed the follow up treatment for this is nothing heinous like chemo or radiation. However I do need to have them remove some more tissue along the sides of what they already removed to ensure they got it all. That and at my annual physicals I need to add a more extensive inspection for other mole looking ninja like spots.

All that said, I was pissed off (still am) as the advice of three docs I've seen since last November summed up as, "Sure, get it removed, but it doesn't present as having any real cancer characteristics." Pissed or not, sometimes luck trumps the scientific eye I guess. That isn't easy for me to say as I don't put much stock in luck.

Bottom line, I did get lucky. I am not a vane guy. But a bit of vanity did factor into my decision to have this removed now. That, and the fact that I am a colon cancer survivor (2001), so I figured since the spot was slowly growing thus better to get it removed when still fairly small just to be safe.

Ok, this post has exhausted me. Luck or not, good news in the end or not; I don't like the taste.

So let me end on some positive fun news and right my off attitude. Negativity is not part of my mission to get healthy here so I must move on fast and with a smile. And what better way than to say THANK YOU to Jody. She had a give-away last week, and what do you know, she drew my name! Jody is a fantastic blogger & person, and she drew my name, and I am getting a cool yoga towel! No I do not do yoga, maybe someday; but I do sweat when I workout and shall make good use of it.

Thanks again Jody. And to the rest of you if you don't follow on with Jody, doubtful as she is quite popular, but if you don't give her a read; you will not be disappointed.

Enjoy the day folks. Enjoy it with all you have to give.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 90 - Versatile Blogger Award

Good morning everyone. Let's see if I can pull this post together quickly. I've been pushed by Jody to go tackle Stanton Hill often and this morning she is getting her wish; this one's for you Jody! Many of you may know Jody, but some may not. She is a very popular and accomplished blogger and I highly recommend reading what she has to say. Actually, I would suggest you start with her post HERE from yesterday re: The 2010 Team Sarcoma Initiative. Great cause and amazing job she is doing in leading the fight on this rare form of the beast. But I don't recommend her post from today, oh no. It is about pancakes,yes PANCAKES! The pictures she has there; amazingly! Be warned, they are so inviting - you don't want to be like me and actually start sniffing the pc screen in hopes for just a small whiff. I said sniff people, not lick or nibble! What do you think I am goofy? Seriously, check out all of her posts, sniff the screen, and join her cause if you can,and say Hi.



Thank you to my friend at First Steps for honoring me with this Versatile Blogger Award!

Rules, the rules for the award are as follows:
1. Thank the person giving the award
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Nominate 15 newly discovered blogs.
4. Let your nominees know about the award.

So let me play by the rules now...

1. THANK YOU once again! If you are not following First Steps, you should!

2. Seven things huh. So far I have shared 17 unknown facts with you with past awards, and I don't want to give you any duplicates; thinking... Ok, here are my 7 for this award...

1. I have dyed my hair light brown for about 8 or so years now. If I didn't I would be all grey. I don't mind grey hair, but I went grey in my late 20's and that was just too young for me. So in my mid-thirties I learned to dye in and do so once a month.
2. My wife does most of the work on the bills. She is an accountant/financial management type and it all comes natural to her. Oh how I love my wife!
3. My favorite band is Chevelle, hands down! 
4. I believe what comes out of Hollywood has never been as anywhere near as good as it was when John Wayne was alive. 
5. I grill our dinners outside 80% of the time; cooking indoors pales to cooking outdoors. 
6. I have stared down the barrel of a gun and into the eyes of the man willing to pull the trigger and talked my way out of a bad ending.  
7. I bond with my kids while playing darts; the more we play the more talk. The more we talk the more I am involved, I know, I understand and thus the more I can influence their making better choices.

3. For nominating 15 newly discovered blogs, I am not sure 'what newly discovered' means really. Newly discovered by me I suppose, not new to blogging necessarily. That's my interpretation. My 15 here are mostly newly discovered by me, some not as new as others but hey I have only been here 90 days now - In no order of anything here they are...

1. Kristen-Conversations With My Inner Skinny Chick
2. Luke-The Super Fatlete
3. Christine-Phoenix Revolution
4. Michelle-The Garlic Chronicles
5. Seth-Fit WIth A Purpose
6. Dan-At Darwin's Table
7. Going For 96
8. Lisa-In Weigh Over My Head
9. Allan-Almost Gastric Bypass
10. Debbie-Weigh Down
11. Michael-Free The Wolf
12. Vickie-Vickie's Voice
13. Rick-Fat Bastard
14. Lynda-Taking Less Space
15. Grace-Grace's Fat Chance

 4. On my way to do that now... enjoy the award folks, my pleasure to honor you. I could have honored so many many more too!

Go gett'em this Friday!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!