Health Update #2

My recovery is progressing nicely and I've been cleared to do light exercise, which means 20 minutes a day on my Peloton bike.  That may not sound like much, but it's a welcome step for me.

Weight-wise, I'm down 31 pounds and have adjusted to the diet - it's actually not that bad.  I haven't eaten beef in over a month and don't really miss it.  My pace of weight loss has slowed as I can eat a bit more so it looks like I'll need to loose weight the old fashioned way of combining diet and exercise.  Still 30+ pounds is a nice jump start.

The only frustrating thing is my surgeries keep getting pushed off.  I'd rather get them over and done with but it seems that my lack of a medical degree and any board certifications have combined to render any of my opinions somewhat irrelevant in the matter.  I am amazed at the almost comical inefficiency of information transfer between medical professionals in the US healthcare industry and am seriously thinking of creating an investment fund to tackle that problem.  That will have to wait until the boss clears me to resume working again.

It has been fun to watch the rivalry between my Gastro specialist (Dr Raina) and my wife - Dr Raina is with Mercy hospital in Baltimore and they've just had a major renovation so have all the latest toys.  MB is with the University of Maryland and they a bit behind on the update curve and he loves teasing her about their latest new shiny toy.  It confirms my theory of human development - we actually stop developing at age 3, with the exception of our vocabularies which just allow us to express our playground teasing in more sophisticated ways.

Personal Update (Spoiler Alert: Pancreatitis Sucks)

Some of you (Ok maybe nobody!) may have noticed a lack activity on this blog over the past few months.  It's not due to a declining interest in the hobby.

2018 is turning our to be a less than ideal health year for our family and now it's my turn to contribute to the "medical drama".  It seems that I have developed a severe case of pancreatitus, which is rather painful when it flairs up.  I'll spare you the tawdry details but its a serious condition that will require some future surgery and 6-8 weeks of recovery time.  The recovery time scares me the most as I don't do well being bored and my lovely yet fierce wife has made vassals out of my business partners (Quislings, the lot of them) to effectively ban me from the firm for the duration of my recovery.  It's obvious they are WAY more afraid of Mary Beth than me, which I can't really dispute.

The extent of the surgeries is still being determined but my intent is to get them over and done with as soon as possible.  I knew marrying a surgeon would come in handy and that's coming through in spades hear!

Once past the "slicing and dicing" there are some much needed lifestyle changes in terms of diet and exercise that need to be made.  I will try to document them here both to force me to be open with success and failures and maybe help any other 50''ish gamer dealing with similar issues (I promise not to be too moralizing....).  Right now I'm on a clear liquid diet, with the occasional cup of no-fat yogurt.  No whining hear because the "being alive thing" was not a completely guaranteed outcome last week.  The end goal is to transition to a permanent low-fat / low-carb diet and I want to see if I can make that fun and not a chore.

One of the silver linings here is my little "drama" has jumped started my weight loss program as I'm down 15 pounds in 10 days.  Not the most healthy of paces but a good start and one not to be wasted. Those of you who've met me in person would all agree that I could stand to loose a "few" more pounds and now's a great time to do so.  I need to set a viable weight goal with my doc's and then will track that progress.

Humans are very odd creatures - we can clearly understand the need to do something (eat better, loose weight and exercise) but never really act on it until something really bad happens and forces us out of our slumber - we just have to touch that stove top to see if it's hot.  In my case, the stove top was pancreatitis, which after experiencing has shot to number one on my list of things not-to-do again.   Lets see if the faint corking popping sound all of you heard 10 days ago really was me pulling my head out my ass - health wise.

One last comment, I often make fun of my wife and she is both an accomplished surgeon and uncompromising professionally.  She is also kind and loving and the rock of my life.  I'm still amazed she hasn't wisened-up and realized she can do better than me.  Perhaps there is truly no accounting for taste in love.  Never-the-less, I am am beyond fortunate to have her in my life.

Enough of this swarmy, Hallmark card stuff.  Today's a big day as my menu expands to now include a 1/2 cup of no-fat cottage cheese.

Jealous aren't you?