Yup, ain't getting any younger. 2009 seems destined to clue me into that particular reality. This Spring I was diagnosed with diabetes. Not entirely unexpected since it runs rampant in my family and I am not in good physical shape, it was still a blow. Next week I will have a final test to determine if I also have high blood pressure; I will wear a special cuff for 24 hours that will takes readings every half hour. Based on daily readings from back in April and May I will certainly come back with a positive diagnosis. Which will likely mean permanent medication. And I will have some blood tests to check if I am still anemic despite daily iron supplements. I have no idea how that one will go. I have seen more of doctors in 2009 than I had in my entire adult life up 'til then.
On big factor is the BMI (Body Mass Index) where I really don't come close to being in optimal range. I need to lose weight. The ten pounds I lost in the Spring have all come back. Interestingly enough, I found a (the?) critical factor was not the cutting out of junk food but regular (i.e. daily) exercise. I started by walking 45-60 minutes a day back in late winter and eventually progressed to using the elliptical trainer a couple of times a week. I slacked of on this totally, and need to get back to it. Guess it's time to start up. While I have been carrying around extra weight for many a year now, I guess it's really starting cost me, health-wise.
A new twist: my hips hurt. This past week for no apparent reason I started to have pains in my hips. For a couple of days it was in both but now seem to have settled in my right hip. As far as I can recall, I have done nothing to bring this on. But this dull ache is enough to have made sleeping tough 2 times now, and sleeping normally is a challenge enough for me on a regular basis that no extra hindrance is welcome. Hopefully this new problem will vanish as suddenly as it appeared and I can forget it. Hopefully.
It's weird that with my health and well-being on the line that I am having so much trouble being motivated to take better care of myself. Is this some latent suicidal tendency that I have never recognized? That might explain my bizarre eating habits...I don't want to be flippant about such serious stuff because I've never considered killing myself, but what logic circuits have blown out that I cannot come to eat like a normal human being with so much on the line? Good question...
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Sunny end of summer days
Ah, the last days of summer are upon us. The temperature plummets at night, getting down to the freezing point, but climbs back high enough on a sunny day to make me sweat.
I enjoy these days very much, whether they happen just at the end of summer or in late Spring. This goes back to my days of delivering newspapers for The Montreal Gazette, when I would get up at 5:30AM six days a week. It is so enjoyable when the air is brisk at that hour, yet there is the promise (that will be fulfilled!) of a warm day ahead.
Today is one of those days, and luckily I was here in Matane to appreciate it. Usually I drive ~55 minutes through the mountains into the Matapedia Valley to school in Amqui. My carpals and I leave at 7:10AM and get back around 5PM (or later, as often is the case). Today I had work training here in Matane, which meant that I walked 15 minutes to Victor Côté school, came home for lunch, and also walked home when the day was over. Home by 4PM.
So I got to enjoy walking in the beautiful sun, and even had time to stop on the bridge in the middle of town to watch a bird (I don't know what kind, all waterfowl look the same to me!) gulping down some small fish in the current. Didn't see any salmon, but the water level is so low that they probably all grew legs and walked upriver by now. All in all hard to beat that feeling.
And I will be walking back downtown later, and might even sit on a terrace while drinking an alcoholic beverage. Gotta bask in what's left of that summer sun. Of course the days are getting shorter and it'll be quite cool on the way back from the bar, but I'll probably not be feeling any of that!
I enjoy these days very much, whether they happen just at the end of summer or in late Spring. This goes back to my days of delivering newspapers for The Montreal Gazette, when I would get up at 5:30AM six days a week. It is so enjoyable when the air is brisk at that hour, yet there is the promise (that will be fulfilled!) of a warm day ahead.
Today is one of those days, and luckily I was here in Matane to appreciate it. Usually I drive ~55 minutes through the mountains into the Matapedia Valley to school in Amqui. My carpals and I leave at 7:10AM and get back around 5PM (or later, as often is the case). Today I had work training here in Matane, which meant that I walked 15 minutes to Victor Côté school, came home for lunch, and also walked home when the day was over. Home by 4PM.
So I got to enjoy walking in the beautiful sun, and even had time to stop on the bridge in the middle of town to watch a bird (I don't know what kind, all waterfowl look the same to me!) gulping down some small fish in the current. Didn't see any salmon, but the water level is so low that they probably all grew legs and walked upriver by now. All in all hard to beat that feeling.
And I will be walking back downtown later, and might even sit on a terrace while drinking an alcoholic beverage. Gotta bask in what's left of that summer sun. Of course the days are getting shorter and it'll be quite cool on the way back from the bar, but I'll probably not be feeling any of that!
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