Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Is it a weighty issue?

The weight was something carefully planned out and thought about too. I knew that in periods of illness and hospital stays that there can be a good degree of muscle wasting. As such, I began to prepare for this at the beginning of 2007.

As you are aware I worked up my endurance stamina by training for and walking the 26.2 mile Seattle marathon in November 2006. After the endurance training I had planned to shift my training focus and to pack on more muscle for balance improvement, hopefully a return to scuba diving, a return to hiking, and yes I have been aware that brain surgery is emminent at some point. It was just a question of when and timing.

Although in my adult life I never considered myself obese in anyway...just needing to lose a few pounds but very healthy and strong, I reached an apex weight of 172 in 1997. From there I fluctuated as most people do until I finished grad school in 2004. Look back at my graduation photo in the archives of 2005.

Amazingly I am the weight now that I was in Junior High or 14 years old! This morning I checked in at 118.4 lbs. I have not owned a full length mirror since we moved here in 2003 and I bought one today and was rather surprised.

I am back to eating fully though which is really nice. I did not at all enjoy being sick, nauseated, and vomiting. It is one thing I really can't stand.

At any rate I sort of planned for a weight fluctuation of 10 lbs in either direction. After the cyberknife radiosurgery in 2004 I gained 12 lbs (I think bringing me to 165) from taking the steroids. I had planned for this gain in weight and have been maintaining between 125 to 129 lbs. Realistically I did not plan to go that much lower but as long as I am where I am at is ok. I will put it back on quickly when I start working out again. LOL My hope is that the fat I have not been able to lose gets sucked off and eaten instead of the muscle I have been building. Then hopefully I will have an easier time becoming more toned and less flab. (hehe)

Weights since hospital

One my first time getting out of bed and walking around the hall there - 123.6 or .4
Next day I was wearing my heavy duty Vasque cross trainers - 124.6

Then at home I have recorded
9-29 118.2
10-01 118.4 morning; evening 120.8
10-02 119.4
10-03 118.6

1 comment:

Steven said...

BECKS!

OMG, I can't believe I've been so stressed and busy that I forgot to check my Gmail!

I am SO glad you're doing well! I've been catching up on your posts. Oh, and I've decided to have my right AN taken out next year! I was reading in the ANA Journal this month how getting them taken out small makes such a tremendous difference. They did a study in Europe and 50% of the "watch and wait" people lost their hearing compared to those who opted for treatment as soon as it was discovered.

Of course, those were NF1, but still, it really got me thinking. I'm going to tell Dr. Vanloveren to start the paperwork when I see him next June. Crazy, ain't it? We met on the Cyberknife message board when I was first diagnosed, and I was dead set against rescision, and here I am choosing surgery instead of RT!

The balance and hearing has gotten a bit worse, but one place lately I've been noticing it is my handwriting. I was always borderline dyslexic before, but now my handwriting is darned near illegible to myself! Yay for the Internet! I can type everything and don't have to say "WHAT??" when conversing with someone. :)

Okay, time to stop hijacking your blog and give it back to you! You're in our prayers down here in Florida!

-Steven

PS *I* want a hospital where I can watch the sun rise over Mt Hood! :)