ALL SYSTEMS GO, CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF

It is very possible that I am being overdramatic about my surgery. Yesterday I passed the last hurdle that was gnawing at me. I returned to my family doctor on Monday for my blood chemistry test, EKG and physical exam which was required by the surgeon prior to surgery. I was nervous about one issue. I was anticipating one possible problem that had the potential to delay the surgery. Last spring when my anemia was discovered, I spent the the summer visiting a gastroenterologist who seemingly tried very hard to find some cancerous, life-threatening explanation for my iron deficiency. After a series of procedures (for example, a colonoscopy) and tests which actually included a full-body cat scan - nothing was found to explain the deficiency. This seemed not to bother the gastroenterologist one bit and no explanation for the deficiency was ever offered. As I wrote at the time, I needed to be thankful to God that I didn't have some life-threatening problem. I admitted that I wondered why God found it necessary for me to spend $5000 to discover that I was healthy, which is what I thought I was before the anemia was discovered. Nevertheless, on a followup visit with my family doctor, I was given a prescription to take iron pills. I might have done a far better job following this course of action had the pills not been required to be taken three times per day with each meal. Not only was it an annoyance, but one evening at dinner one of the pills got lodged in my throat. Apparently a 325mg ferrous sulfate tablet does not slide down the esophagus with the carefree ease of a butterscotch hard candy. My throat was irritated for nearly 12 hours after this, and I was coughing with great irritation the whole night that this happened. This cured me of my desire to accept the advice of my doctor and take iron pills. I never even finished the first month supply of these pills. I effectively took myself off the iron pills during September of 2015. 

So, fast forward to yesterday. Since I had not followed the advice of my doctor to take iron pills, there was the chance that if I was still iron deficient, that I might not be approved for surgery. It was a nice happy surprise that my blood work came back with my iron levels back to where they belonged. The  current advice of my doctor is to DISCONTINUE THE FERROUS SULFATE TABLETS WHICH I WASN'T TAKING ANYWAY. Consider it done!  The bottom line - I am good to go. Ready to be anesthetized on Friday morning, cut up a bit, patched up a bit more and sent on my way with my hernia issue resolved. I am looking forward to Friday, in that I cannot start mending until I get past the laparoscopic outpatient surgery that awaits me. In the calm before the storm, the persistent pain that I had been feeling is currently gone and on Monday and Tuesday I was able to walk on the treadmill for a full hour. This resurgence of the ability to exercise at all is about to be cut short on Friday morning for at least a week or so. For the next two days, I will enjoy my treadmill hour just a little bit more than usual.

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Your Food Diary For:

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Omelette - Ham and Cheese	400	1	30	40	1,225	0
Instant Oatmeal - Original	300	57	6	12	225	0
	700	58	36	52	1,450	0
L U N C H
Homemade - Crockpot Pot Roast	500	0	9	24	454	0
Manischewitz - Matzah, 2 Matzah	200	42	0	6	0	0
Roundy's - Peanut Butter- Creamy	360	16	30	14	280	6
New England Clam Chowder Soup, 2 cup	360	36	20	10	1,780	2
	1,420	94	59	54	2,514	8
D I N N E R
Homemade - Crockpot Pot Roast	500	0	9	24	454	0
HUGE SPINACH SALAD	250	0	0	0	0	0
	750	0	9	24	454	0
S N A C K S
Apples - Apples, 2 medium apple	160	44	0	0	0	32
	160	44	0	0	0	32
Totals	3,030	196	104	130	4,419	40
Your Daily Goal	2,213	276	73	111	2,300	83
Remaining	-817	80	-31	-19	-2,118	43
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 283 extra calories from exercise today

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After a one month break - I was able to use the treadmill for two consecutive days for one hour each. 

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anesthetize

[uh-nes-thi-tahyz]

verb (used with object), anesthetized, anesthetizing.

1. to render physically insensible, as by an anesthetic.

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I get a kick out of this definition. On Friday I am going to be rendered physically insensible.
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Thinking of being cleared for takeoff, reminded me of this dialogue from the hilarious 1970's movie, Airplane!

Roger Murdock: Flight 2-0-9'er, you are cleared for take-off.

Captain Oveur: Roger!

Roger Murdock: Huh?

Tower voice: L.A. departure frequency, 123 point 9'er.

Captain Oveur: Roger!

Roger Murdock: Huh?

Victor Basta: Request vector, over.

Captain Oveur: What?

Tower voice: Flight 2-0-9'er cleared for vector 324.

Roger Murdock: We have clearance, Clarence.

Captain Oveur: Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?

Tower voice: Tower's radio clearance, over!

Captain Oveur: That's Clarence Oveur. Over.

Tower voice: Over.

Captain Oveur: Roger.

Roger Murdock: Huh?

Tower voice: Roger, over!

Roger Murdock: What?

Captain Oveur: Huh?

Victor Basta: Who?

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I sincerely hope that the banter in the operation room on Friday morning is a bit less confusing among the surgeon, and his assistants...

* * * * * 

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BLOOD TEST RESULTS

During my initial 'wellness' visit, December 24, 2014, my blood was tested.   I will confess that I was concerned when the results indicated that my glucose levels were elevated.   The report that I received from my doctor last December had my 'fasting glucose' level at 114 mg/dL.   The initial report came with the advice to visit www.diabetes.org for more information.   If I was not officially pre-diabetic, I was on the wrong track and headed in that direction.

Two months later, after I had dropped more than 50 lbs, my blood was tested again.   I was most interested in this glucose level.    This time the reading was 74 mg/dL   (normal range is 70-99)

I am no longer speeding down the tracks headed into a diabetes or pre-diabetes.   I successfully switched tracks.

I was speeding  straight towards pre-diabetes, my efforts

over the past two months, had me 'switch tracks' and now
I am on a very different path headed in a new direction.

However, my blood tests, show a new minor problem, 'Mild Anemia.'   All of a sudden my Vitamin D level is 'insufficient.'  (Maybe McDonald's McChickens, Burger King hamburgers, Hershey's chocolate milk and Klondike ice-cream have lots of Vitamin D!)   The recommendation is to eat foods rich in Vitamin D, or foods fortified with Vitamin D or increase Sun Exposure.   Sun Exposure might be problematical while it is 10 degrees outside.   Considering what was going on with my body and by body chemistry two months ago - this report was very satisfying.

I consulted the 'Vitamin D Council' website to find out why people might not be getting enough Vitamin D

For a number of reasons, many people aren’t getting enough vitamin D to stay healthy. This is called vitamin D deficiency. You may not get enough vitamin D if:

• You don’t get enough sunlight. Your body is usually able to get all the vitamin D it needs if you regularly expose enough bare skin to the sun. However, many people don’t get enough sunlight because they spend a lot of time inside and because they use sunscreen. It’s also difficult for some people to get enough vitamin D from the sun during the winter.

• You don’t take supplements. It’s very difficult to get enough vitamin D from the foods you eat alone.

• Your body needs more vitamin D than usual, for example if you’re obese or pregnant.

I can see that getting enough sunlight might have been a problem for the past few wintry months in Chicago.   I had recently been taking a Vitamin D supplement.  I have now increased the amount from 1000 IU to 2000 IU.  I am still considered obese although I am nearly certain that I am not pregnant.

Next thing to do was get a list of foods rich in Vitamin D - so I know what foods to add to my menu.
I consulted webMD.com:

Foods that provide vitamin D include:

• Fatty fish, like tuna, mackerel, and salmon

• Foods fortified with vitamin D, like some dairy products, orange juice, soy milk, and cereals

• Beef liver

• Cheese

• Egg yolks

To get vitamin D from food, fish is a good option. Six ounces of cooked salmon has more than 600 international units (IU).

MONDAY MENU

breakfast  2 poached eggs, 2 slices turkey 'bacon' cup OAT MEAL, 1 prune          355 CALORIES

lunch        Jimmy John's #14 Bootlegger Club UNWICH w/provolone cheese       280 CALORIES

dinner       APPLEBEE'S Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad (no dressing)                    370 CALORIES

TOTAL CALORIES CONSUMED     1005 CALORIES

CALORIES BURNED

6AM    elliptical machine 32 minutes             440 calories

7PM     DAYS INN Stairmaster 30 minutes   400 calories

total calories burned     840 calories

NET CALORIES     165 CALORIES

APPLEBEE'S GRILLED CHICKEN CAESAR
SALAD (NO DRESSING) 370 CALORIES