Now I have the horrible bug that is going around and am on my second day of almost no voice, which also means no work. I desperately need extra sleep but during the day the whine of saws cutting through cement and/or re-bar precludes anything as restive as that, although I am very pleased to say that my dead neighbour's second funeral only lasted for one day so I don't have to deal with that cacophony whilst sick.
So there will be no birthday bubbles this weekend either. By the time I get to have any it will be Halloween bubbles time and one of the best reasons for partaking of bubbles will have passed me by. Perhaps I'll take a rain check and slot it in when circumstances come together in a more fortuitous manner.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
I forgot one small birthday detail...
I decided to have a birthday weigh-in and the result was 78.5kgs, down 1.5kgs. There has not been a '7' at the front of my weight for about 11 years so this is a major breakthrough for me. I'm cautious about celebrating this yet as the waist is still the same, so maybe not a consolidated loss, and I have just had intestinal issues which may have interfered with the result. What it does do, is prove to myself that it is possible to get on the scales and actually see a number that starts with '7' and there is no mysterious curse/bad fairy/rule of the universe that forces me to have numbers starting '8' or higher when I get on scales.
Happpy Birthday to Me!
I had had visions of a pleasant late lunch somewhere down by the riverfront, glass of bubbles to hand, the breeze wafting in from the water and lounging its way across some French colonial style balcony; food and conversation to accompany. Well, that's not going to happen.
Late Thursday evening found me at the local international medical clinic with stabbing pain in my lower right abdomen. I had been in bed and drifting towards sleep when I was rudely and insistently brought to full wakefulness by the sudden onset of this acute pain. An hour later, it had continued unabated and I found myself panting rather than breathing, which I took as a sign to make my way to the nearest medical facility. After much poking, prodding and ultra-sounding, I was sent home with a supply of anti-inflammatories and anti-spasmodics to ease the pain, and an appointment for the following day. Despite whatever it was that so violently interrupted my life, I enjoyed the lovely, floppiness inducing, cosyifying effects of the meds and had the best sleep in a long time. Following a few tests the next day, it turned out that I was hosting a large population of non-specific bacteria i.e. there was a lot of the little buggers but no-one knows what they were. These kinds of unidentified bacteria are common in Asia (come on, where are all the researchers who want to name some new discovery after themselves) and are dealt with in a heavy handed manner. This saw me partaking of a cocktail of anti-parasitic, anti-bacterial and antibiotic meds. The results were rather spectacular and it seems that I have finally been purged of my inner troubles. This will not have me racing to eat bread again however, as the gluten thing has been raised in the past so will need to be addressed separately, and soon. A final parting comment from the rather odd young doc I saw has me quite bemused. It went along the lines of "You're in really good shape considering everything." Yeah, well that's because I have had to work bloody hard at it unlike many 'normal' people who take their health for granted.
Just to add birthday insult to bacterial injury, my dead neighbour's 2nd funeral started this morning. At 6am, discordant plinkey-plunkey music starting spewing forth from loudspeakers, just in case the first go round didn't work and ghosts were still chasing his spirit around the streets of Phnom Penh. As I have previously noted, the wealthy dead here don't seem to have a very good idea of getting on with the business of passing over, and remain as earth bound spirits desperately clinging to their worldly excesses. Just f**k off already old man and leave the rest of us in peace!
What to do about my birthday then? I'm going to go shopping, with a high level of intent to purchase, and next weekend, I will hopefully be sitting on a balcony somewhere down by the river with a glass of bubbly to hand, celebrating my happy late birthday!
Late Thursday evening found me at the local international medical clinic with stabbing pain in my lower right abdomen. I had been in bed and drifting towards sleep when I was rudely and insistently brought to full wakefulness by the sudden onset of this acute pain. An hour later, it had continued unabated and I found myself panting rather than breathing, which I took as a sign to make my way to the nearest medical facility. After much poking, prodding and ultra-sounding, I was sent home with a supply of anti-inflammatories and anti-spasmodics to ease the pain, and an appointment for the following day. Despite whatever it was that so violently interrupted my life, I enjoyed the lovely, floppiness inducing, cosyifying effects of the meds and had the best sleep in a long time. Following a few tests the next day, it turned out that I was hosting a large population of non-specific bacteria i.e. there was a lot of the little buggers but no-one knows what they were. These kinds of unidentified bacteria are common in Asia (come on, where are all the researchers who want to name some new discovery after themselves) and are dealt with in a heavy handed manner. This saw me partaking of a cocktail of anti-parasitic, anti-bacterial and antibiotic meds. The results were rather spectacular and it seems that I have finally been purged of my inner troubles. This will not have me racing to eat bread again however, as the gluten thing has been raised in the past so will need to be addressed separately, and soon. A final parting comment from the rather odd young doc I saw has me quite bemused. It went along the lines of "You're in really good shape considering everything." Yeah, well that's because I have had to work bloody hard at it unlike many 'normal' people who take their health for granted.
Just to add birthday insult to bacterial injury, my dead neighbour's 2nd funeral started this morning. At 6am, discordant plinkey-plunkey music starting spewing forth from loudspeakers, just in case the first go round didn't work and ghosts were still chasing his spirit around the streets of Phnom Penh. As I have previously noted, the wealthy dead here don't seem to have a very good idea of getting on with the business of passing over, and remain as earth bound spirits desperately clinging to their worldly excesses. Just f**k off already old man and leave the rest of us in peace!
What to do about my birthday then? I'm going to go shopping, with a high level of intent to purchase, and next weekend, I will hopefully be sitting on a balcony somewhere down by the river with a glass of bubbly to hand, celebrating my happy late birthday!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
today's weigh
weight - 80kgs (borderline to major breakthrough, must push past this)
waist - 31 inches (ditto)
It seems I need to walk for about an hour in total per day otherwise it all grinds to a halt. This doesn't have to be all at once and even seems more effective in a couple of smaller bursts. I managed 750 metres in the pool on Friday and now am feeling it a little in my shoulders and buttocks - that must have some good long term results. Bring on the tight buns! (ROFLMAO) Stomach issues returned and some improvement has happened over the past couple of days of no dairy and no gluten. A number of other niggly issues are also improving.
This is actually not a good thing and requires a visit to the doc to discuss the possibility of Celiac (Coeliac Br.) Disease. Also it's common in Hashi sufferers and is even linked to the onset of Hashis. I would feel depressed about it if I wasn't in fact feeling quite mentally chipper. I even managed to have a massage today without bawling my eyes out the whole way through, which has happened twice recently. My poor massage lady must think I'm a right nutter...
waist - 31 inches (ditto)
It seems I need to walk for about an hour in total per day otherwise it all grinds to a halt. This doesn't have to be all at once and even seems more effective in a couple of smaller bursts. I managed 750 metres in the pool on Friday and now am feeling it a little in my shoulders and buttocks - that must have some good long term results. Bring on the tight buns! (ROFLMAO) Stomach issues returned and some improvement has happened over the past couple of days of no dairy and no gluten. A number of other niggly issues are also improving.
This is actually not a good thing and requires a visit to the doc to discuss the possibility of Celiac (Coeliac Br.) Disease. Also it's common in Hashi sufferers and is even linked to the onset of Hashis. I would feel depressed about it if I wasn't in fact feeling quite mentally chipper. I even managed to have a massage today without bawling my eyes out the whole way through, which has happened twice recently. My poor massage lady must think I'm a right nutter...
Friday, October 8, 2010
So how's this exercise thing going?
The first week went very well. I managed to eat usually reasonable cheap, tasty and healthy salads at a variety of locations withing a 20 to 30 minute walk from work or home. Some were better than others - reviews coming soon. I dropped 2.5kgs which took me back to 81kgs. Quite a bit of muscle pain was experienced but nothing that a few light-weight painkillers before bed couldn't resolve before the morning, and starting it all over again. Mentally, I felt more alert and enjoyed the challenge of 'finding' my dinner.
Then came the 'episode' with the gate. Long story short, I've got some bad bruising on my left arm & hand, which got stuck in it, and a very painful left hip and knee, which were involved in breaking it open. This was all due to the idiocy of the person who moved the padlock from it's regular, accessible position, to one where it was impossible to open and left me stuck in the bloody gate, on the street, at night with robbers and murderers running around. (I don't think the locals quite understand the concept of 'serial killer' but they do seem to have several operating rather successfully, and unimpeded by investigation, in the city.)
The upshot is that I haven't been up to walking much at all. Being determined, I managed to and from work (only 10 mins each way) but by a mid-week, sneaky extra weigh-in, it was apparent that this is not enough and it was crawling back up. As we have a 4 day, long weekend this weekend, I decided to stay and sort myself out so with the aid of anti-inflammatories, I managed about and hour and 20 mins walk yesterday and plan on swimming each day for the rest of the holiday.
Everyone has gone to visit their rellies in the countryside so I'm having a very peaceful time and restoring my inner calm.
Then came the 'episode' with the gate. Long story short, I've got some bad bruising on my left arm & hand, which got stuck in it, and a very painful left hip and knee, which were involved in breaking it open. This was all due to the idiocy of the person who moved the padlock from it's regular, accessible position, to one where it was impossible to open and left me stuck in the bloody gate, on the street, at night with robbers and murderers running around. (I don't think the locals quite understand the concept of 'serial killer' but they do seem to have several operating rather successfully, and unimpeded by investigation, in the city.)
Everyone has gone to visit their rellies in the countryside so I'm having a very peaceful time and restoring my inner calm.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)