Day 457-458: In Heat Monday

Good weekend for me, hope yours was good as well. Some of my highlights...


As noted already my wife & I started our weekend with a date night & saw Winnie The Pooh movie which I have renamed appropriately The Eeyore Movie. Best line from the movie, "Send the Pig." -Roo

Did C25K-W1D1, felt great.

Brunch w/ Mom. Gave her a gift from Hawaii; Koa wood wine stoppers. She gave me my birthday gift; Bass Pro gift card which I'll use towards my hunting license; sweet!.

Saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Should rename this film to "HP7, The Rise of Neville Longbottom". We went at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, my wife & I were the youngest in the theatre by at least 10 years, kind of funny.

Grilled a delicious Garlic-Dill Halibut fillet. OMG it was so good.

Went to see son play in a soccer camp, on way home we got some ice cream because y'day was national ice cream day; I went with pretzel-marshmallow ice cream! Thankfully it wasn't liverwurst day.

Listened to the world cup game on radio, what a let down that was. You are welcome Japan!

Wife downloaded all of the Hawaii pictures from the cameras. Up top there you see one of them, our deep sea fishing trip results; 2 mahi-mahi (left) and 3 skipjack tuna (right).

Monday is here & so is the heat wave. Bring it on I say, but please let the power stay on. Today we get to better ourselves in any & every way we choose. How cool is that?

For me that means doing C25K-W1D2 after work. Going to drag our youngest son with me, he jiggles more than he ought to.

What about you, at days end how will you be better than when you woke up?

 
Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 453-456: Lets Talk EEYORE, Shall We

This weekend sure seemed like it took a long long time to get here. Odd because I was so stinking busy with work and getting kids to and from places thsi week that I would have thought the week would have flown by. No doubt the power-outage we endured at the beginning of the week messed up our timing and left us playing catch up the rest of the week.

Our power came back on Tuesday afternoon. In all for us it was out for 30 hours. Total cost to me was $30-40 of dairy products, lunchmeat. No big deal. Some of that I probably could have saved but just to be safe I pitched it.

When I opened the freezers after the power resumed, they were still frozen solid. You really must avoid opening these during an outage. Let just a little warm air in there and the time to defrost drops faster than the weight of a recruit in boot camp. Get this... some 30,000 people not far from us, still do not have power! Thats 5days and an since the power went dark on them; yikes!

Since returning from Hawaii I have not been able to get my mind back into doing the things I need to do. Not sure why, guess I have mentally still been on vacation. Cardio particularly has not been something I've been able to get going again.

In effort to kick start my Cardio Caboose again I have decided to go through the nine-week C25K program. Even though much of it I can do when I get out there and do cardio, I feel right now I need some structured help to get back to where I want to be with my fitness. So this morning I went out there and did the first week one workout. If you don't know what C25K is, google it, I used this link.

The walk/jog combo ofthis workout felt good, and was just what I needed to be sure I accomplished a workout. So I will keep at this program until done if for no other reason to join the ranks of C25K veterans.

Lets talk EEYORE, shall we... last night was date night for my wife & I. A movie & dinner was on tap. A brief debate about which movie to go see took place. Allot of desire was there to go see Harry Potter 7 naturally. But since it was also opening day for Winnie The Pooh, or as I call it, The Eeyore Movie. The debate was short really, we wnt I saw Eeyore!

Eeyore also went to the mvoie with us. Up top you see him buckled in for the ride to the theatre. Since soda costs so much he brought his own to the show...

My wife wouldn't let him bring the pop into the theatre. Even worse, when we were watching the movie she took him from me and stuffed him in her purse! So he didn't even get to see the movie he starred in. I am thinking Academy Award for him by the way.

Have a great weekend; which you will if you go see the Eeyore Movie!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 382 - What Would You Prefer?

Having a great week here; how about you?

As tempted as I am to not say anything about the picture there, I shall. This is one of those posts where I didn't have a corresponding picture immediately come to mind. Certainly I could have found something that goes along with the main topic below, but I'm just not in a symmetrical mood. Instead, you get a random picture today. There I am with Eeyore back in the summer of 2002; easily 310 if not 320 pounds I was then. I didn't care, i was hanging with EEYORE! Reflecting today, one of us seriously needed to consider more salads and less buffets.

Back to 2011, after four consecutive days of getting in the exercise, today will be a day of rest. Four on, one off; seems like a ratio one would adopt if serious about getting results. We'll put that to the test here and look to maintain that ratio going forward.

When comparing how I feel, how I think, how I perform when I choose to exercise consistently vs. when I choose to do my Jabba The Hut impersonation; it is easy to realize that I prefer myself when I exercise consistently.

That's me, what about you; what would you prefer...
Living without music or without T.V.?

Drinking a cup of mustard or ketchup?

Having a beautiful house and ugly car or an ugly house and beautiful car?

Running a marathon or giving a speech before a thousand people?

Exercising consistently or getting your Jabba The Hut on?

Having x-ray vision or bionic hearing?

Being the sand castle or the wave?

Being related to Charlie Sheen or Charlie Brown?

Have Fun being Healthy & Happy today!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 349 - Brass Tacks & Eeyore



source

 So the PET Scan results. I asked for a recount but the tech my medical oncologist's office was very clear that the electorate from Florida did not in any way vote on my scans results. Too bad, because I'd pay some nice long $$ for a recount.

Brass tacks; the scan showed activity up near my jaw which if there had to be activity this is where they would have expected it as that is the area where the lymph node my forehead drains into. So while that news was unwelcome, the scan cannot determine where just a single node is infected or more than one. And just how infected; just a tad of initial infiltration, or more than a tad (I think the medical term for more than a tad is TAD aka big-tad). That won't be known until my surgical oncologist gets in there and see what I have in there for her on April 13th.

Brass tacks pt.2, the scan also showed activity in my left knee. Now I wondered going into the scan if this might happen. Some of you who have been with me here for a while may recall I get gout flare ups 2-3x a year. For about 10-days now I have been fighting such a flare up. I chose not to mention in any recent blog posts as it was just another dose of sorry news and my posts have been gloomy enough.

My medical oncologist feels that this activity certainly could be gout related, but is not willing to rule it out on my word; smart! He has scheduled me for an MRI for this Saturday and also a blood test and consultation with him next Thursday.

The MRI will hopefully rule in/out whether it is gout, arthritis, a chicken wing bone, or melanoma that is causing the angst between my knee & I.

The blood test will be the usual battery I take annually as follow up from my 2001 colon cancer, and it will also include a LDH level test. This specific test is supposed is run for many reason but for patients with melanoma, it is used to determine if the cancer has metastasized (spread) to organs beyond the skin or lymph nodes. Sounds like a winner; I'll take one! I kind of thought that is what the PET Scan was supposed to do too, and I believe so and if so I should feel good that the scan only showed activity in the jaw area and knee. Right?

That is just one of the zillion new questions I have in mind. I look forward to seeing my medical oncologist earn his pay next Thursday when I hit run him through my gauntlet.

ENOUGH...
Enough cancer news for now. There will be plenty more to come in the comings weeks, I'd like to move on to something non-cancer related & more positive. However this post is long enough as it is and I do not write long posts for a reason. Therefore I will share that more positive hunk of my day yesterday for tomorrow's post.

Until then, remember...
When stuck in the river, it is best to dive and swim to the bank yourself before someone drops a large stone on your chest in an attempt to hoosh you there.

-Eeyore


Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 288 - Saturday Scrapbook

Saturday is here, and this weekend I am NOT SICK, sweeeet! So looking forward to some fun this weekend, although I have nothing planned at all... what about you, any plans?

Today I have a bunch of photos for you. Ok, not a bunch, just a few. More than 1, less than 10 is what I am thinking; let's see how many I find. Here we go...

Up top there you see a shot of me from yesterday, just decided to pose & shoot in the mirror. That is not a pic to celebrate any milestone being achieved, nope; it is just a pic for the fun of it. Below here is another from the side striking a dopey smile...

I did not eat this apple-fritter for breakfast...

Instead I ate this Chobani with fruit concoction...

A peek into one of my desk drawers at work, Hot Sauce & Excedrin are essential tools of the trade;
also the name of a bad Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute garage-band...

Oh come on, BOIL ALREADY...

source

My truck dashboard is where Eeyore calls home...

Crime is up and as well so is the attitude of this victim...

source



Last but not least, my weights-workout board...

Always a work in progress...
with the addition of free weight equipment you can see I am still noodling routines.
I also have scribbled in a core-routine including planks inspired by Yum Yucky.
Ignore the shopping list there, I was pondering a new creation; the Adult Ho-Ho Smoothie.


HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 163 - Harry & Eeyore

Hope all had a good weekend. I do believe I did. Ate very well and got in some walking to keep the calorie burning at least on medium. This coming Wednesday I go see the surgeon so he can remove the stitches from my cheek. Hopefully he will give me the green light then as well to resume weight lifting. Oh how I hope so.

For a good part of last week my wife and daughter we away kicking up in Orlando at Harry Potter World. It was a gift we gave her after she made the National Honor Society last year. She is seventeen and she is a huge HP fanatic.

They brought back lots of goodies including a bunch of chocolate stuff from HP World; frogs, wands, and they stuff seen in the movies. My wife on the other hand is a huge Walt Disney fan. So there was no way she was going to Orlando and not taking in some WDW too.

From there they brought me back the Eeyore you see in the picture there. As I was delirious from all the chocolate in the air I almost ate the poor guy. But at the last minute better senses prevailed and this Eeyore has joined the other 30+ in my collection.

Food porn, been a while since I've shared any, so here is last nights dinner...

Grilled Garlic-Lime Chicken Breast, Minnesota Wild Rice, Hot Love Sauce.

What do you collect as a hobby, if anything?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 109 - Eeyore's Got It

Good morning everyone. Hope all are having a fine week!

A huge thank you to all of you for your heart felt posts & emails yesterday for my wife & our family.

Her surgery could have brought us devastating news, or, excellent news. Thankfully it was excellent news. Bottom line, the problem has been removed, no cancer in sight more importantly. Now all she has to do is heal & recover.

No doubt the events of yesterday were all in God's hands and we thank God for the resulting great news. We also look to God for a speedy & full recovery for her. She should be home Friday and then home for a month or so before being able to get back to work.

Her father stopped in the hospital gift shop and got her a "Chewy-Bamba". A what, you say? In the picture on the left, a stuffed chihuahua that goes by the name of Chewy-Bamba. Press the button in his foot and he dances, shakes those maracas and sings La Bamba, and does so rather loudly. If you knew her father, you'd completely understand why he thought that was the appropriate get well gift.

On the right is one of my Eeyore's. Yes, one of them, one of about 30 I have. A different story for another day. But I must say that I agree with Christine, in her comment on my post yesterday she stated that 'Eeyores are chemically formulated to heal whoever is hugging them'. She says it is Scientific fact, now I don't know about science having proved this, but I know it is certainly true.

That Eeyore there in the picture, that is our Get Well Eeyore. Whomever is ill, gets him to hang out with. It started back in 2001 when I was recovering from cancer surgery and he hung with me through the coming months of treatment. From that point on he had the job of Get Well Eeyore.

His last tour of duty was the Spring of '09 when my Mother had surgery. He hung with her a week or so. When he came home he was somehow dirty. My Mom doesn't recall how he got dirty so she naturally blamed me. However it happened he needed a bath, so into the washing machine he went. And without proper thought, he then went into the dryer.

Look at that picture closely, see anything odd about him? I set the picture to a larger size than I usually post just for your review. See it?... No, ok check out his hair, or the black mane of hair more specifically. See it?? Yeah, it melted in the dryer! So our Get Well Eeyore is also cooler that most other Eeyore's now, because he sports an afro!

I don't know why, Eeyore & his 'fro crack me up.

I'll be at the hospital a good portion of the day today and then this evening I should be able to get back reading & commenting on your blogs.

Be well everyone!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!