The Organ Recital

What I look like

Did I learn this term from one of you, my faithful readers? It refers to what happens every time old people get together. "Have you heard the latest on my gall bladder?" "What's up with your heart?" I have a small list of things derived from an essay I once read about "things old people do that I swear I never will" and oversharing on bodily functions (and dis-functions) is prominent on my list. However, health is certainly a concern, and vital to our well being, and fundamentally, keeping track of my health is the main reason I started this blog. I very much appreciate updates from my friends about their health, because I care. There's a time and place for everything, and here is my current organ recital.

Weight loss 

I continue with my weekly 5.0 Zepbound injections. After my July hiatus, weight loss has resumed. It is, however, slower than at the beginning. This is to be expected in any weight loss, and no reason why this should be different. It takes fewer calories to maintain my smaller body, after all. There is no prize for remaining on low doses of the drug, and if I totally stall I will increase. But it takes weeks or months for a stall to be real, so I kind of have a major checkpoint/ assessment in mind for November as we go into winter.

I've learned some things while being on the drug, and re-learned other lessons. I've been eating all my life, and off-and-on dieting for at least forty of those years. The big thing is, when I don't pay attention, my weight will go up. That seems somewhat true even with the effects of the drug. I will drift towards eating too much of things that don't further my goals. I don't way overeat like I have in the past, I'm less inclined to finish what's on my plate, and at the margin I'm more inclined to choose healthier things, but I still love chocolate ice cream!

For decades, I've set my preferred tastes and food choices. I find with the drug, some of these are not so great anymore. High fat and greasy things don't sit well in my stomach. Even, to my surprise, some sweets don't feel so great. I'll go to a restaurant, automatically choose from the menu the same way I would before, and then it doesn't always feel great. This is feedback after I've eaten it, because from habit my desire for certain foods is the same, and while I'm eating it the taste is generally good. During my disastrous Intuitive Eating phase, I would pay attention after eating something. I often regretted something, but that was intellectual - I knew it would not further my weight loss goals. But it was almost never a physical regret. The exercise of "keep eating those cookies until they make you feel sick" never ever made me feel sick. That's not true now. I am more prone to nausea is general now (though I've not actually gotten sick). Sometimes, after overeating something, my regret includes a physical regret. When that happens, I'm trying to sit with that feeling for a while. I want to inhabit this feeling, so that I learn on a really visceral level that different choices will make me feel better in the short term, not just further what seems a distant and remote goal.

But I'm down 25 pounds! With daily weighing, at least once a week I'm seeing a number lower than any before on this current loss trajectory. So progress, for sure. I'm shopping my closet, as I'm now weighing less than the day I retired - I'm in the range of clothes I already own that have been sitting for while.

 My eyes

 I have had a condition for almost a year now where my left eye is oozing sticky stuff in an annoying and unattractive way. This predates my cataract operations. (The operations themselves went well and I continue to be thrilled with not wearing glasses, but not having them to hide behind makes the ooze even less attractive.) I learned long ago the ooze is just tears, not an infection. My eye doctor has given me drops and referred me to an eye micro-surgeon. My primary care doc speculated it was an artifact of allergies and tested me extensively and had me get a sinus CT. I have a mild allergy to dogs (thanks, Bixby, who is currently on the back of my chair leaning against me) and take a daily claritin, but the CT did not show any evidence of chronic inflammation. I finally saw the eye surgeon, and she confirmed it's just tears, my drainage is blocked, and she wants to bore a new hole from my eye socket to my nose. Yuck, but it will eventually prevent a lot of daily yuck (constant wiping and washing of my eye has led to irritated skin around my eye and nose). And, she will remove some ugly (to me) skin tags and a keritosis on my lid at the same time. And, after this is done and healed, she wants to go ahead and do an eyelid lift, which she thinks is (borderline) medically necessary, the magic words for insurance! The boring operation will be in November. I might have a black eye at Thanksgiving, but there are few other risks.

My neck

I have a pain in my neck, literally. My range of motion is somewhat limited, and it hurts most of the time. This has been going on for some months, because I always assume aches and pains come and go, but it hasn't gone yet. The limited range of motion is partly why I haven't been hot to ride the Vespa - doing visual checks over both shoulders is vital to staying alive on a motorcycle, and I can't do them well, and it hurts to do them at all.  I went for a PT assessment, and now I do a series of stretches multiple times a day, with a weekly visit to the facility, where they massage it. I bought a stand that can hold my kindle or even my ipad up at eye level, keeping me from bending over a device in my lap. I still use my hands to turn pages or scroll or click, but it's surprisingly comfortable and was easy to get used to. I also got a microwaveable wrap that covers my shoulders with a stand-up neck collar, so nice to have warm heat. Also, many more frequent breaks from whatever activity. Staying in any one position for a long time isn't great. The PT is just a week old, jury out on how it gets better.

Exercise 

Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, all is well! I am grateful every day for health and strength. I remain faithful to my 2x weekly strength training, but have fallen away from the more vigorous cardio. Every day, I have an excuse why not. I'm working on that, because I do believe, down in my body, that it makes a huge difference to everything. 

I bought an ebike, and it is SO FUN! Riding it is weather dependent, of course, and I'm timid about traffic on roads and tight slow speed maneuvering on crowded paths and trails, so I'm not riding it that much yet. I live at the top of a short steep hill, and climbing back up at the end of every ride was a deterrent to riding a normal bike, and that barrier is gone now. Except for the steep hills, I keep the electric pedal assist at the lowest (but not off) setting for most of my rides. I've done some exploring of parks, and ridden the twelve miles that are the whole length of the parkway by my house up and back. As we get into fall, I hope to ride more. The bulk of any indoor cardio is on my BIL's old stationary bike, usually with blasting loud music. This will help with getting outdoors on the actual bike too.