The Big Flu

This weekend, I had the worst bout of stomach flu I've had in my adult life. It could have been food poisoning, but everybody I was with came out of it fine, and I was still pretty quivery the next couple days (up to today), so not sure what-all can be made of it.

In any case, I went to a brew at Mattox's place, and hung out with him and some other folks, and had some good chat time. It was my first time witnessing an all-grain brew, and it was certainly fun to watch. It will likely be fun to actually do one of these days, but we'll see what happens. Afterwards, Heidi and I met some other folks (Richard and Libby and a friend of theirs) for dinner at Red Rooster, a fabulous French restaurant in the city (I cannot recommend this place highly enough, even considering the rest of this story). Afterwards, we went to a party that Tracy and Kristin were having at their place, which seemed a lot more fun than I was able to appreciate. About twenty minutes into a good conversation with one of the guys there, I was pretty sure I was going to be sick. I figured we should go, as throwing up in a friend's bathroom during a party... not so good. It was good we went when we did, as we weren't even out of the city before I had to stop to take care of my dirty sinful business in a Jewel bathroom. Before we got home, I needed to puke again in a church parking lot. Over the next five hours, I ended up eliminating pretty much everything that was in me, out of whichever orifice was most convenient. I'm still a little achy from the violence of the sickness, but feeling significantly better.

As we were heading home from my mom's last night, Heidi said, "Well, except for the puking and the vomiting and the nausea and the explosive diarrhea, it was a pretty good weekend." I couldn't agree more.

Pharyngitis

Woohoo! I finally have a name and treatment for my persistent ailment! Fortunately, it's not strep, because that would suck. A lot. But I'm on yet another set of antibiotics, which should do an effective job at beating down the illness, and I can continue to live my life, sans pain (sorry, if you really took that entire last clause as French, it would mean "without bread;" I actually meant "without pain," but decided to keep it as such because this aside is kind of funny).

Progress

So I'm now 20% into the Body for Life Challenge (17 days out of 84). The first couple weeks were kind of tough, maintaining the focus, and reminding myself I needed to go to the gym and so on, but I'm settling into the routine. I haven't lost any weight, but I've gained muscle, so that means I've lost an equal amount of fat (I haven't been measuring that, but I might start). I'm not in severe pain anymore, but rather the occasional ache, and I'm a little tired from the exertion. But I feel a lot less lazy than I did before, which is nice. Seems getting up and forcing myself to do something has improved my motivation in a lot of ways. Yay me!

Ugh. Sick.

This is inconveniently timed. But sort of expected. I'm starting out on a long, arduous journey, that involves a lot of pain and a dramatic restructuring of my nutrition and activity habits. And I get sick. I actually haven't been feeling too well since Saturday, but I guess I'm acknowledging it now. I won't let this come between me and my workout, but perhaps I'll spend the bulk of the rest of the day sleeping. Nevertheless, it's annoying.

Being Healthy: the Beginning

So the caffeine thing? one of the best decisions I've ever made for my general well-being. Don't get me wrong: it sucked massively those first 4-5 days, but now I have more energy, it's sustained through the day (yesterday was a little sleepy, but I hadn't gotten enough sleep, due to not feeling very tired at night previously), and when I do sleep, I sleep better. Now, I can't blame caffeine entirely, as my source of caffeine up till now has been Diet Coke, and that thing is all chemicals that are foreign to your body. But I have noticed my reaction to this stuff had changed roundabouts my 35th birthday, and I was constantly tired, with caffeine only giving me a temporary boost. I've also noticed recently that my road rage has decreased, but we've also been having fabulously beautiful weather here in Chicagoland the past few days, so I can't necessarily attribute it all to evicting Mr. Addiction Monkey. What it boils down to, is that losing caffeine was a great choice for me, probably the best I've ever made for my general well-being, but I'm not going to evangelize the caffeine thing to everyone, as different people probably react differently.

Also, today was my first day on the new diet/workout regimen. Heidi took my "before" pictures yesterday (and let me say, that seeing a full-body shot of me in workout shorts, not trying to impress myself in the mirror, elicits a pretty hefty "ewwww"). I must say that I had a lot of apprehension going to the gym this time around. Perhaps my last few gym experiences weren't so good, and this one did end up being only OK, but the point is that I'm there, and will continue to be there. I might look at another gym, but this one's proximity is a big bonus.

Slo no mo

Well, I'm not dealing with the tired thing anymore. Let me 'splain. I was a little concerned because my two recent illnesses were not so much get sick, getting well, and getting sick again, but rather a ramping up of illness, followed by a lull, followed by a ramping up again. I had never been really "well," and it was something that was worrying Heidi, and caused us some pretty serious consternation (which was OK, because most of that was miscommunication, and we talked it through, and now things are fan-tastic).

So anyway, I didn't want to keeep being sick, but more importantly, I didn't want strain in an otherwise darn fine relationship. So I decided to get a multivitamin as I was getting all the crap I got from the doctor. That little bottle of Centrum is probably the best investment I could have made for me & Heidi. Whereas I still have to determine how it's going to treat my health, I'm getting better prety quickly. But the big change is that my energy level has changed dramatically. No more am I getting shagged out at 9:00. No more am I sleeping poorly and getting up in the middle of the freakin' night without a thought of going back to sleep. For everyone who doesn't take one, I recommend a multivitamin (particularly if you drink alcohol and/or caffeine in large quantities). For those that do, good on ya!

The Sickie Chronicles, pt 2

Ugh. I'm sick. Like really messed up sick. This has been one of the worst colds I've ever had. I spoke to the doctor yesterday, and he hooked me up with some stuff to keep my nose from running like a faucet, but it's just a mess inside me. Coughing, snot-nosed, tired old me. Don't have any clever dreams to report, so I don't think there's much of a fever, but I think there might be some. I haven't been eating hardly at all (just guzzling juices like they'll stop being produced), and haven't been thinking very clearly. There's work to be done, especially because I took most of yesterday off, but I may take most of today off, too. And for that matter, most of the weekend.

All wiped out

So I've been really tired. It's very likely the seizure medication I'm on. I wasn't so bad on the previous stuff, but that made me gain weight, so I never wanted to take it. This stuff makes me thirsty, so I never want to take it, either, but I'm afraid it also makes me much more tired. I'm hoping this isn't the reason, and it ends up being something much easier to deal with. I'm going to have to go to the doctor and figure out why I'm so wiped, because this is beginning to be a stressor in my relationship with Heidi. Not a big one so much; Heidi's too cool for that, but it's a noticible one. But it's not so much that I'm tired, but that I'm also just not able to sleep. So I've been lying in bed, dead tired, but awake. So anyway, I'm seeing the doctor tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll be able to think for the rest of the day.

The Sickie Chronicles, Part 1

So my Thanksgiving meal last night consisted of two bites of mashed potatoes, one bite of turkey, and a cookie. I was so full, I thought I was going to burst. It must have been the handful of Sun Chips I had an hour before that. But my dreams were bizarre, not because they were especially vivid, but because when I woke up, I could remember pretty much their entire progression. I'm losing them now, because a good portion of consistent memory is stringing together the memorable scenes into a logical flow, and dreams really don't have that consistent logic, but I'll leave you with an excerpt: At this point, I was in a theatre and watching a play that was fading into a movie, but before I knew it the entiore dream was taken over by the images, and the fact that I was in a theatre was no longer part of the dream. In this part, everything was really simply animated, really simply drawn, over a green background.
Narrator: Gramma Emmy [A Komodo Dragon on a leash appears]
Narrator: Homer Simpson [A newspaper appears in the lizard's mouth]
Narrator: Gramma Emmy reads Homer Simpson [The lizard eats the newspaper]
[The lizard goes to bank of newspaper vending machines, breaks one open and eats everything in it]
Narrator: Gramma Emmy is learning how to read.
[The lizard breaks into another and eats a little off one paper]
Narrator: Gramma Emmy ate three paragraphs, but she says she read the whole page.
[The lizard eats a little out of one paper and sort of rubs its nose around in another vending machine]
Narrator: Gramma Emmy rearranges the words and adds fifteen that she stole, and she calls it her own. (in my mind, this is a reference to plagiarism)

That's about when I woke up, and realzied that I remembered the entire series of the dream, which had to do with a road trip, Harry Potter (there was a long Harry Potter interlude), some goofy game involving explosive lemonheads, talking with my friend Scott about movies that are coming up, walking through my old high school, watching some play about tolerance that had my friend Amy and someone who looked like Samuel L. Jackson in it, and then it sort of faded into a street scene where Gramma Emmy had her day. And no, I never had a Grandmother named Emmy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! A little recap on what's been happening the past couple days: I had a friend in town recently, my friend Chris who was my first roommate in film school, and just finished a stint doing assistant edition on Curb Your Enthusiasm. One of the great things about that man is that we don't talk for a year or so, and when we do, we just pick up right where we left off. And that guy can talk! We talked about a lot of stuff, more-or-less focused around women and films. Unfortunately, I had spent most of the night before in the bathroom with stuff coming out from both ends. The initial theory was that I had food poisoning, but I felt feverish most of the day, and barely ate anything (I think all day I ate a kudos bar, a slice of Chicago-style pizza, and half a slice of pie). He and Heidi, both being extremely social, chatted away while I slept a good deal. But the kicker that it wasn't food poisoning came today. I just got up from 13 1/2 hours of sleep. Now, those who know my sleep patterns know that it's difficult for me to get a full 8 hours, and that I hardly ever sleep past 6am, even on days off. I just got out of bed at 10am, and that's from going to bed at 8:30. I'm still a little zonked, but that may have something to do with spending more than half a day in bed. The Kudos bar I had for breakfast isn't really sitting all that well, but I feel a little better than I did yesterday. So, I guess this is good proof against overeating during the holidays. I have a little bit of work that needs to happen over the next couple days, but damn if I feel like doing it.

Child's Play

I just found a new charity: Child's Play. It's created by gamers for gamers (in a way). It's all about giving kids who have long-term stays in the hospital something to do, be it video games, listening to music, or watching movies. I don't remember much of being in the hospital when I was way young, but what I do remember was pretty traumatic. This, combined with how I reacted when that little girl I never knew had cancer, combined with the fact that it's a charity started by die-hard gamers, all makes me kind of a shoe-in for it. It bugs me that there are no Chicago hospitals currently involved, and even the hospital I went to (Boston Children's Hospital) back in the early 70's isn't there (hell, I don't even know if it exists anymore), but I still feel it's important to give, just so some kid in D.C. (the closest hospital I could find to Boston) might be a little bit happier.

Addiction

I think I'm addicted to caffeine. Now, there's no surprise there, but I think I'm really heavily messed up on caffeine. I find myself increasingly wiped out and in need of more caffeine in order to stay mobile. I'm not looking forward to going cold turkey, but I have this horrible feeling that my options are becoming limited. I'll need to finish off the case-and-a-half of BAWLS that I have in my kitchen, but I need to get that done with quickly and then I have a few days after my upcoming spinal shot where I can be grumpy and headachy and perpetually tired as I go through caffeine withdrawal.

Admittedly, my lack of energy can be blamed on a lot of things: stress, improper nutrition, lack of exercise, whatever. But all those were significantly worse at other points in my life, and only recently have I been constantly wiped out. I am a lot more busy right now, but I'm also downing caffeine like there's no tomorrow. Admittedly, I really like the taste of BAWLS and Coke, and coffee is now supposed to be magnificently good for you.

Meh. Maybe I'll not give up ALL caffeine, but just take it easier and go back to my previous ways, while attempting to reduce stress and increase nutrition and physical activity. Boy that really does sound like I'm addicted. Oy vey.

Back again?

Ah, I love the puns I can throw in these titles having to do with my back. Ah well.

Anyway, I was lying on a lump on the ground at Ravinia on Saturday. I thought it would do a little good. Boy, was I mistaken there. Now, I have mild pain down my right calf again, and if I lie on my back or on my right side, my right heel is numb. My legs felt a little weak walking to the El today, too, but that might be because I was sitting around moping yesterday so much. Anyway, I'll call my doctor today, and maybe she'll even return the call this time. Oooo, imagine that!

Significant Improvement

So my back is doing remarkably well. I find myself babying my back in ways that would just cause less pain a week ago, but it doesn't hurt at all now. I even find myself occasionally slipping into some old bad habits, just because I don't have to worry about some sudden twinge practically killing me. This is quite nice. I still want to be careful, and I'll still be doing physical therapy, but I think I can go ahead and go to a real gym and get crazy in the near future. Yay rah!