I am several days into my new diet and exercise plan and so far it is going great.  I have been pleasantly surprised at how many foods fit into my plan.  There are so many great options!  I’m truly enjoying this so far, and at this point I have plenty of calories to work with in my daily allowance.  I know that number will become smaller as I lose weight and it will become more difficult to stay within the limits, but right now it is not that hard.  It’s really just a matter of being aware of what I’m doing and looking for good options to fit the guidelines.  

I have also begun working out again.  My goal is 5 days per week.  My doctor recommended 30 minutes a day (he says that’s all that is needed for good health and that many people overdo it).  He told me to do what I could (even if it was only 5 or 10 minutes) but to do it consistently and eventually I’d be there.  The specialist I’m seeing for the blood clots told me not to allow my heart rate to exceed 130 right now.  My heartbeat was irregular during the blood clot stuff (which is what they would expect) but I think he wants me to be careful until they confirm that it is back to normal.  I have another ecocardiogram next month.  I have been wearing my heart rate monitor to keep track of that as I work out.  I was very happy to find that I can do 30 minutes with those limits on a treadmill and in the pool without too much trouble.  Believe it or not, it still feels like a workout, but a doable one.  That will help me keep going and not dread every workout quite so much.  Right now it actually feels good to be moving again.

 Yesterday, I asked Chet to go for a walk outside with me for my official workout.  We knew that my pace wouldn’t be a workout at all for him, but thought it might be fun.  We live in the country and there isn’t a sidewalk.  It’s a gravel/dirt road and once you get off our small street cars are going 45-55mph – I don’t generally like walking outside at home, but it was a beautiful day and I thought it would be fun with him.  I have to say it was a real eye-opener for me.  There is a huge difference from walking for 30 minutes on a treadmill with no hills and a set speed and walking in our neighborhood with many hills and very uneven terrain.  I was really shocked at just how difficult that walk was for me.  We didn’t go far at all, but it was quite difficult to keep my heart rate at 130.  We walked 15 minutes out and I had to rest several times to get my rate down where it needed to be.  It took much longer than that to get back home (35 minutes vs. the 15 it took to get to what I thought would be midway and a good turn around point).  Apparently the heart wants to keep going at a higher rate as the workout progresses.  I had to stop quite a few times to get my heart rate to drop back down to 130  and had to move very slowly to try to keep it from spiking back up. By the end, it wanted to jump above that number every time I moved.    I was truly exhausted when I got back home.  I guess you could say I got an interval workout without intending to get an interval workout.  I also noticed that my muscles felt a little shaky by the end.  They were definitely fatigued.  I’d say for now that was also a strength exercise, too!  That experience was shocking to me and a stark reminder  of just how sick my body is after all that has happened this past year and how seriously I need to work on getting better.  On a happier note, I did burn over 600 calories!

I haven’t noticed any changes in my hearing since my last post.  I’ve had some “popping” which I also had during the times my hearing changed in the past year, but nothing major has happened at this point.  My former ASL instructor has invited me to audit another class she is beginning next week and I think I am going to take her up on it.  It will be great for me to review and practice and possibly make some new aquaintances.

On another note, I learned last night of the death of someone I knew a number of years ago.  She was only 47 years old and in basically the same place in life that I am – married the same number of years, has 3 children, 2 of whom  are married and has a 21 month old grandbaby and another due in Sept.  She died in a tragic car accident.  I am again reminded of just how fleeting life is and how important it is to live each day as if it could be your last.  It could be. She was a faithful christian.  I’m sad that she’s gone and my heart goes out to her family, but I also know that she finished her race victorious.  It is a reminder  how important it is to stay faithful to the end and to make sure that we are living the way God wants us to and using our lives to serve Him and bring glory to Him.  Fix the things that need to be fixed; focus on what is truly important;  love your family and others in your life; serve; persevere.  These are the thoughts going through my mind today. 

After a long absence, I’m back in cyberspace!  The trip to Oklahoma for my uncle’s funeral went well.  We had a wonderful memorial for him and I felt it was a fitting way to honor his life.  It was good to see so much extended family.  Chet and the kids were able to get quite a bit of work done to help mom which was good.  I was sick the entire time with a bad chest cold, so wasn’t able to help much at all, but was glad to be there in spite of that.  It was also wonderful to spend some time with Kinsey since she’s still living in Florida.  Now we are home and it feels good to be here to stay for a while!  I’ve been busy nesting and getting settled back in.  I’ve been gone a lot more than I’ve been home for the last 5 weeks or so!  

I’m happy to report that my breathing has improved considerably.  I’m out of shape after a year of not doing much physically, but I’m able to do things without getting out of breath like I was most of last year and that feels great!   I have more energy, am sleeping much better and just feel better in general.   I’m also not sure what to think about my hearing.  There have been a number of times over the last  couple of weeks that I’ve had to turn my hearing aids down because they were just too loud.  I wonder if my hearing is fluctuating a bit and sometimes getting better instead of worse, but I don’t know if that is even a realistic possibility.  Of course I know that God can do things whether they are likely or “possible” according to our medical knowledge or not.  I just don’t know what to think.  It’s all so subjective and affected by so many variables that it’s hard to say what’s going on.  I guess time will tell.  The last two times I lost hearing it was 2-4 weeks after I had a bad cold.  I’m curious what will happen now, since I just had a bad cold again.  Time will tell here, too, I suppose.  A new factor in that is that I am now on blood thinners and using the CPAP.  I don’t know if those things could change the outcome or not.

Cody officially moved into his apartment this weekend.  We are now empty nesters for the time being.  It feels different.  Not bad or good, just different.  The kids have been gone a lot more than they’ve been home for quite some time now, but knowing they aren’t coming home at all is strange.  I have some nostalgic “mommy” moments where I think about my little babies growing up and wonder where the time has gone, but mostly I’m very happy for them and looking forward to seeing where their lives go as adults.  They have all been amazing blessings to us!  They are all faithful christians and responsible, caring adults making good choices in their lives.  What more could a mom ask for?

Chet and I have decided to start a calorie-based diet today.  I’ve had to spend quite a bit of time familiarizing myself with how many calories foods have and figuring out where to start and come up with ideas for meals, snacks, etc.  I have always had an idea of what foods are high calorie vs. low calorie, but not much idea of the exact numbers for figuring into your daily limit.  It will take some time to get used to it, but I don’t think it will take too long.  I am also going to start working out again today.   Per my doctor’s orders, it will be pretty minimal, but it will be a start.  Today I will clean out the cupboards and get rid of any food that would not be good for us and our plan, and work on some meal planning for the rest of the week.  

I’m getting really excited about Cody and Jessi’s wedding!  It’s only a little over 5 weeks away!  I’m also looking forward to Kinsey coming home then.  Don’t know for sure how long she will stay, but it will be wonderful to have her back!  

That’s what is going on in my world at the moment!  I will keep you updated on things and now that I’m home again, should be blogging more regularly again.

I arrived home last night around 11pm (from a week-long visit to Florida), to a house full of balloons and flowers for me! My husband outdid himself with 4 large bouquets of Irises from our garden and 2 large bouquets of balloons in the living room. When I went in our bedroom, there was another large bouquet of balloons waiting for me there, too! He wanted to surprise me for my birthday! I guess it’s official – I am now 50 years old! My birthday is today and we’ll be celebrating with our children tonight with a family dinner in Minneapolis.

My trip to Florida was wonderful! I missed my hubby, but was willing to “represent” the Minnesota family,along with Kinsey, for our niece’s graduations. Chet’s parents picked me up from the airport in Ft. Lauderdale and several people stopped by the house to say hello that same evening. It was also a church night, so I got to see lots of friends there. I had to do some experimenting to see what would work the best for me to hear, and found that my neckloop does not work with their assistive listening devices, but my personal one worked well (that’s what I do at our home congregation). I still don’t understand nearly as much if I can’t lip-read and I was seated in an area where I wasn’t able to do that very well, so I missed some, but learned what I would need to do for the other times I would be there. It rained or was overcast most of the week, and there were warnings about rip-tides and currents the whole time, so I didn’t go to the beach to swim. My niece’s graduation party was near the beach, so I did get to see it at least! 🙂 We had a wonderful time celebrating their big day with friends and family. We also had a family party for Kinsey while we were there. It was a good gathering to honor her! I have a friend in Florida who is an ASL interpreter, and she spent time with me just about every day! We had a great time and she spent a lot of it teaching me signs, answering questions, and practicing with me and encouraging me! The church there offers interpreting and I was able to take advantage of that opportunity several times. It was such a great learning experience! I was able to see some of the things we talked about in class in a real life situation. I was able to see the difference between singing, speaking, and praying. I was able to learn some new vocabulary that is used in the church setting. I don’t know enough yet for that to help me a lot in understanding what was being said, but since I could also hear much of it, it was a great combo.

I have found that I am really functioning quite well with the hearing aid the clinic loaned me recently. I was surprised at how well I did in Florida, even in group situations. My testing showed that I have 55% word comprehension with the hearing aid, but with lip reading I believe I am doing much better than that. It has me thinking that I should probably wait to have the cochlear implants done until I have another episode. I’ve heard stories about people who have done great with them, and also of people who have done very poorly with them and choose not to even use them. I know the doctors and audiologists say that natural hearing is always better, so I think that since I’m functioning so well (MUCH better than I was even 2 or 3 weeks ago) that I should keep that for as long as I can(remember that when you have the cochlear implant surgery most people lose all residual natural hearing they had left and are profoundly deaf without the implant). I guess the question remains whether I should go ahead and have the ear that is not aidable implanted and have the hearing aid for the other or just wait and do both together if/when the time comes. I’ll have to look into that further, but I have time to figure it out.

While I was in Florida, my Uncle Jim died. He has had many serious complications from his diabetes for the last 2 years. We got to visit with him while we were in Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago. I’m so glad. He didn’t suffer at the end and my mom and sister and niece were able to be with him as he passed. We’ll be heading to Oklahoma again next week for his memorial service and burial.

It seems like so much has happened in such a short amount of time. I guess that’s because it really has! It’s only been 2 months since my most recent hearing loss episode. Since that time I’ve had to work at adjusting to that, educate myself about cochlear implants, deal with the insurance company about that, make decisions about the specific device I might want, try to increase my knowledge of ASL, was hospitalized in April, went on Coumadin and had to educate myself about that and about blood clots, had a sleep study, started using a CPAP and had to educate myself about that, had many doctor appointments and blood draws, planned 3 grad parties for my daughter, lost my uncle (who I have been close to), traveled to Oklahoma and Florida, all while physically recovering from the blood clots in both my legs and my lungs and from having been on steroids for nearly a year. Whewwww…….no wonder I’m tired. After next week’s trip it will be nice to have a little down time before people start arriving for the wedding in early August.

I know this is more of a “catch up on what’s going on” post than a particularly thoughtful or insightful one. Several have told me they like to keep up with it all, so here it is! I have a lot to do today to take care of things after having been away (like pay bills!) but I will do the things that are a priority and also spend some time relaxing and enjoying my birthday! I suppose I’ll have to change out of my pjs at some point! Thanks for checking in on my blog! Please pray for my continued recovery and for safe travels next week for my family and comfort for those grieving the loss of my uncle.