Losing it Update: Cough Like You Mean It!

Let’s start with the weight loss. This past Saturday, I weighed in at 258.4, so we’ll go ahead and round that down to 258. I have not seen that number since then, and weighed in at the doc’s office at 261, but since I have to rely on my home scale, we’ll call it 258 and a 7lb weight loss thus far (and will throw in a give or take .5lbs to be fair).

The 6 week mark marked the time for me to go in for a physical. I had wanted to be able to go in on 6 solid weeks of exercise and eating better but (here comes my laundry list of excuses summed up in one sentence) a lot of things got in the way of that, not the least of which has been the un-June like heat we’ve been experiencing out here in the East. As a result, I haven’t been able to exercise as much as I would’ve liked, but I’m managing.

I had forgotten what all was entailed in a physical. For some reason, I was pretty nervous about the whole thing…I mean, really, I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think I’d get some form of bad news through the process so I guess this was just the beginning of that inevitability. My doctor and I talked about my medical history and that of my family as well as what other concerns I had about my current medical state. Towards the end, the suggestion was made that I get a tetanus shot...great! I asked if I could get a sucker for my troubles like my daughter does when she gets shots…nope!

The exam went fine for the most part…blood pressure a little high, but other than that, doing pretty good, though there was a particular moment where I was asked to cough like I meant it…which gave me a chuckle. She also asked if I was exercising regularly. If you’ve never told a doctor that one of the things you do to exercise is jogging in place while playing a video game you should try it, the incredulous look you get in return is priceless. “Does that really get your heart rate up?” She asked. I thought, “lady, if there’s no difference between jogging and playing the game and sitting around and playing the game then guess which option I’ll choose?.” Of course it makes a difference! I’d actually lost 14 during a previous fitness challenge pretty much doing exclusively that. It was on to the shot and blood work after that exchange.

Let me just say that I am not a huge fan of shots/and or needles in general. In fact, knowing this, I was asked to leave the room when my wife got the epidural on our first child. So as you can imagine, I was less than thrilled that in addition to getting blood taken, I had to get a tetanus shot. Two days later, my arm is still sore from that particular experience.

Afterwards, I asked the nurse if I was now safe to step on a rusty nail. That got a laugh and a hardy “no!” Tetanus isn’t to be messed around with though. In fact, shortly after the death of General Robert E. Lee his horse, Traveler had the misfortune of stepping on a rusty nail and that was it for him. So it is no joke. Here is an interesting nugget from Wikipedia, (so it must be true). The rough surface of rusty metal merely provides a prime habitat for a C. tetani endospore to reside, and the nail affords a means to puncture skin and deliver endospore into the wound.

The results came in and I’m borderline high on my cholesterol which I'll go on some medication for, and not out of the woods on my blood pressure which I am being asked to take daily, so I feel like I fall into the category of having a lot of work left to do. Here’s to some harder weeks ahead!