Saturday, April 4, 2009

Status Update (Overshare Warning!)

We took M & E to "mighty mites" today, which is a little sports group at the community center for younger kids on Saturdays. M is just too dang silly to focus on playing well, but E is a natural. They were playing with basketballs this morning. Guess who made 80% of his shots? Of course, they had the hoops about four feet off the ground. :-) E was totally focused on the instructions and quickly picked up everything but dribbling, which is harder when you are only about 3 feet tall. M was just silly, as usual. The two male teachers were both named Paul - M immediately named them Thing One and Thing Two. So no surprise M's current career goal is "clown."

Just had my annual check-ups with my CNM and my endocrinologist, and I am happy to report that all's well! My endo is kind enough to order a HcG test with my thyroid labs (the tumor that I had produced HcG) and it was totally negative! I am so happy to celebrate another year cancer free.

My CNM said I had lost 8 pounds since my last visit and tried to encourage me to get below a certain weight. I told her that if I try to lose weight - if I even think about trying to lose weight actually - I will more likely than not gain weight. I told her that to lose weight I just have to focus on being happy. And I cannot be happy if I think I need to lose weight. She was kindly skeptical.

My endo also noticed that I lost weight (she thought it was more the 8 pounds but she doesn't weigh me - Gosh I love her). She asked me what I had being doing to cause the weight loss and I told her we bought a house and I got happier. I explained that I have noticed that the happier I am, the healthier and leaner I become. She thought that was totally sensible. Did I mention that I totally love her!? (Dr. Leanne Swenson, in case you want to go see her yourself). Dr. Swenson noted that I seem to, hormonally at least, be going through an early menopause, due to the hysterectomy. She said that the reason I feel little to no symptoms is because I am reasonably active. She said that active women experience few, if any, of the symptoms of menopause. Yet another reason to get moving!!!

Shane says he's noticed that the happier I am, the less fatty, sugary foods I eat, which makes sense. Fatty, sugary foods work like anti-depressants for me. When I am naturally happy, I don't need them.

In other news, Shane got the word that there is no more funding for him staring May 1. Financially, I feel mostly prepared for Shane to be laid-off but I still have moments of terror - and moments of elation. We Shane first told me I sort of jumped for joy - mainly because I think Shane will be so much happier in another job. We have a semi-decent savings cushion and once we get our interest-free loan from Uncle Sam (because we were new homeowners in 2008) we can pay off one more law school loan and be that much closer to debt-free living. I am grateful we started living the "Ramsey" plan all those years ago. We've not been able to scream "we're debt free!" yet but we are getting close. Given that we started $125,000+ down the hole, I'm feeling good (of course, if you count the house, we are still quite a ways down the hole, but I'm not counting the house right now).

Since I'm the whole "status update" mode, I thought I'd review how I'm doing on my New Year's intentions:

1. Breathe.
I am doing pretty well at this. I notice that the faster I catch myself holding my breath, the quicker I can release the tension by "aerating" it.

2. Un-round my shoulders.
Also doing well here. I've noticed that as I've released the tension in my shoulders, I've released some old emotional pain. Big surprise there, right?

3. Hug my kids etc.
Well, I'm good at hugging, not so much at the "etc." I find it very hard to listen to M because he has a hard time telling a story coherently and E is sometimes just plain ornery - and thus hard to listen to. But the more I focus on dropping my own storyline and being present, the easier this intention is to meet.

4. Never take the amazing Shane for granted.
This one is piece of cake!

5. Walk & bike whenever walking or biking is an option.
We had a mini-spring earlier in the year and I took full advantage of it. I love the late season snow, since it truly helps with the hydration come July, but I miss being able to bike to work. E and I took a nice walk this evening with Sophie - it was great for us to just be together enjoying the natural world. He is my nature boy.

6. Pay attention to my home's appearance etc.
So not going well. Need to pay attention to this more, definitely.

Well, that's a lot, but I haven't posted in awhile.

4 comments:

  1. Some doctors refuse to believe what you're telling them because it goes against their medical knowledge and that can't be challenged!

    Just recently I asked my doctor to write me a scrip saying that I need to be on my formulaic birth control instead of the generic. I told him about the bad side effects I had from the generic. Like constant stomach cramps, dizzy spells, extreme moodiness. He told me that he highly doubted those symptoms were caused by the birth control pill. Oh really? Then how come for several months before that I was on the mini-pill and had no symptoms, I switched to this generic and had awful symptoms, and now have lived through a week of the formulaic brand with no symptoms. Thanks doc, but I think I know my own body better than you know about this generic pill that's only been on the market for the last 6 months.

    And I guess all the women that posted on all these online forums about the pill that had similar symptoms to me were all crazy too.

    It makes perfect sense to me that you would weigh less when you are happy. Some doctors forget there is a spirit/body/mind connection.

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  2. I can sense the happiness! You do look amazing! Keep on being happier-I know that I have been the happiest I have ever been lately, I just wish that caused me to lose weight!

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  3. I think that connection makes sense, too. And how can you NOT be happy when the sun's finally out? At least, it is here, even if it's supposed to snow tomorrow . . .

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  4. The sun was shining today and it was awesome!! We had a great day - the boys helped me start cleaning upstairs and we also bought some new basketballs. We walked over to the elementary school and played for awhile as the sun set and turned the mountains pink. I love Spring!! :-)

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