February 8 - The latest concern from peeps is my 5K running adventure which commences tomorrow. There are some worries about my weight and getting that much exercise. I'm here to reassure you.

With my taste buds starting to flourish, I've been eating voraciously this past week. Shamrock shakes, lobster bisque, steamed mussels, French onion soup, BBQ chicken wings, etc. Just now I even attempted to eat a stromboli for lunch. I was not successful but I get a pat on the back for the attempt. Due to all of this eating, my scale said 122.8 this morning. I'm feeling fully confident that I will be able to maintain my weight even with running four times a week. I promise to not only post regularly but also to weigh myself on the morning of post days and report in.

I'm also pretty aware of my limits and will be careful to not press them too hard (although a little pressing is healthy!). Yoga on Tuesday was intense. We did standing postures and there was one in particular that I simply did not have the core strength to complete. The instructor was egging me on, telling me that I could do it. I finally had to give her 'the look'. Many of you know (and fear!) the look. She physically backed up a step and then you could see the realization dawn on her face that I wasn't being a wimp, I simply have no muscle tone at this point in time. She apologized for forgetting that I'm still recovering and gave me a modified pose to do.

Meanwhile, I received my first homework assignment from the running program. I was supposed to do a brisk 30 minute walk yesterday. Things were still really sore from yoga so I postponed my walk until tonight. See? I know what the word moderation means.......sometimes.

Okay, hopefully that's enough reassurance that all will be well.

Fun stuff: Tonight I'm headed to the theater with Scott to see Warm Bodies. A zombie romance movie. How hilarious is that?? Can't wait! Tomorrow it's running in the morning, snowshoeing with Kit around lunch, and then a 3 Doors Down concert in the evening. On Sunday I'll be at El's house helping her celebrate her son's first birthday and then I'm off to see Movie 43 in the evening, possibly with Ray, or Jamie, or alone. Or maybe I'll break open the Lego Star Wars Saga Wii game I just bought and have myself a gaming night.........always good to stay open to numerous possibilities. :-)

JT snapped a picture of me this morning..........

I then snapped a picture of JT so that those of you who have never met him, have a visual.

Snow is coming down fairly heavy right now. I hear we should have 6-7 inches by 6:00. For those of you who are local, be safe out there!

February 5 - Okay, I've been reprimanded by a few peeps for the lack of posts recently, and with good reason. So today I will spit out a hodgepodge of health updates and see where we're at.

I'm still losing hair by the handful on a daily basis and I'm not sure why. I can only assume it's because I don't have the healthiest diet going on. Although I'm drinking a gallon of whole milk (sometimes more) every single week. Isn't calcium supposed to be good for nails, bones, teeth, and hair??  I went to see my stylist a couple of weeks ago to get my hair trimmed and even she commented that I only have about half the hair that I used to. She asked if it was a relief to have some of it gone since walking around with 18 pounds of hair on your head can be a burden at times. I considered her question seriously for a few minutes but in the end, hair loss does not denote good health, and that's all I've been wishing for, for many months now, so nope, can't see the silver lining in less hair.

The weight issue. Well, not quite as stabilized as I had hoped. Yesterday I weighed 120.2. A week or two ago I had dropped down to 118 but managed to pull it back up. I've really been trying to beef up the eating. Saturday I grazed continuously throughout the day and I weighed myself right before bed. Scale said 125.6. Weighed myself again Sunday morning and the scale said 120.4. Not sure what more I can do about it. I've actually been trying to pay less attention to it because fretting about it so much wasn't doing me any good. And hey, so long as I feel okay and have energy to make it through the day kicking ass, it's all good, right?

Eating is simply weird. You would think that soft foods would be doable and some are, but some are not. Rice for example is a struggle. The kernels are too small to chew very well but too large to swallow comfortably. Meanwhile, my new all time fave snack is something we used to eat constantly as kids, a celery stalk smeared with peanut butter. It sounds like something I should not be able to manage to eat at all but amazingly, it goes down really well. No idea why. Maybe because celery is mostly water?  Meanwhile, spicy foods seem to be out for now. Recently tried some guacamole, salsa, a pepper popper.....made my tongue burn like a son of a gun, and not in a pleasant way! This has me slightly worried. I'm a huge fan of spicy. It's one of the reasons Korean food is one of my fave foods, because they know how to do spicy! I'm hoping the tongue sensitivity is a passing thing and not the new norm. Only time will tell.

A few more coworkers have commented on how much better my speech is sounding. Again, always good to hear. I think I may have even laughed the other night. Scott (my paramour, my new 'friend', the guy I'm seeing, crap, dating after 40 gets tricky!) told me he's allergic to fish. I asked, being the sushi lover that I am, if I'm supposed to avoid kissing him on days I eat fish, or more specifically, the unagi rolls that I love to make. He asked what unagi was. I told him it's eel. He said "Eel huh? Lets just assume I'm allergic to that okay?". This sent me into a fit of giggles! Or whatever passes as giggles for me nowadays. I'll have to ask him if my laughter was recognizable for what it was. :-)

My taste buds seem to be coming back by leaps and bounds for the past month. Sweet is still off but I ate a piece of brownie the other night and I could actually taste a hint of chocolate and sugar so we're finally on the way! They said it would probably take 6-12 months and it has now been 4 1/2 so for once something seems to be tracking with what I was told. Woo hoo!

I walk around freezing my butt off constantly. Actually, I was just complaining recently that I have no butt. I'm hoping that once I start running this Saturday, maybe I'll acquire a butt. I walk around hitching my jeans up all the time because there is nothing back there to hold them. Anyway, I bought a space heater for the house which I've started toting around with me. It's currently sitting next to me, keeping me warm as I type. I will then carry it into the basement with me to the bathroom so that it warms that room while I shower. And thank goodness our safety guy at work has no problem purchasing space heaters for our cubbies. I have that baby blowing on me all day long while sitting at my desk. I just can't seem to get warm! Ever!

The gagging thing has completely stopped. Guess Dr. C was right. I just needed to get used to this lump of flesh in my mouth. I noticed that the scar on my thigh from the skin graft is already starting to fade which is really cool. The stiffness in my neck has improved quite a bit although there's still some tightness and pulling, especially when I try to look up. But I have confidence that in a few more months I will have full mobility once again.

Sleep is still a hit or miss thing. Last night I turned my light out at 10:00 and was up at 12:30 for 15 minutes and then back up at 3:30 this morning, for good. I'll probably be dragging a little at yoga tonight but hopefully it means I'll sleep more soundly tonight. I take whatever I can get when it comes to sleep. I would say that it's all good because I'm still functioning but I mentioned to JT yesterday that my memory isn't worth a pile of beans anymore. You can just imagine how that makes OCD girl over here feel! I would say I still have "radiation brain" going on which is very similar to "pregnancy brain" but honestly, I think it's more likely the lack of solid sleep for 7 months straight. Hopefully my brain cells don't get used to stagnating so much. They need to snap back to attention the moment I'm able to sleep 8 continuous hours! 

I think that's about all that I have to report on the health front so, we can end with some fun stuff.

Work is slowly progressing on the remodeling project. I'm a bit bummed that it's taking longer than expected but I think it's just because I'm getting anxious about my house being in disarray for so long. I'm still hoping that I'll be able to get the rest of the hardwoods put in by the beginning of the summer.

I'm finally solidifying some of my travel plans for the year. In the next few weeks I plan on heading towards Syracuse to visit Patilda one weekend and Samammy and the kids another weekend. I contacted JBB and we're making a plan for me to visit her in NYC this fall at which point we will be discussing details of our Hawaii trip that will be happening in the spring of 2014. I contacted my father and I'm making a plan to visit him and Mary in June. I spoke to Luke and it sounds like there will be a backpacking trip in September that I can go on and bag a couple of peaks for the year. I still need to talk to Andy and Kim about a trip to Idaho, probably in August. I need to check in with the manservant too since I'm planning on dragging his ass with me. I also need to contact the local caving group and start attending their meeting again so that I can get in on a spelunking expedition this summer. And on top of all of that, I think I'm going to schedule myself for a 3-4 day cruise some time in the next couple of months. Just me. Just to take a break and soak up some sun.

And with images of sandy beaches, glorious sunsets, and warm breezes filling me head.....I'm off and running for the day! :-)

February 1 - OMG! Has it really been that long since I posted?? I am so sorry. What a slacker!

So, shingles are definitely all gone. I have a follow up appointment with Dr. K on 2/12. Not sure it's really necessary for the shingles but meanwhile I have a laundry list of other stuff to discuss with her. I'm going to see if she'll give me another script for the thrush, I'll probably cave and get the flu shot, and I need to talk to her about birth control. It feels so good to have a doctor that I can get an appointment with and who doesn't leave me sitting in the waiting room for over 2 hours!

Eating is continuing to improve. Last night I made chicken cordon bleu for Scott and I managed to eat some as well (drowned it in sauce!). He's coming over again tonight and I'm making a black bean/kielbasa recipe that my friend Karen sent me. So my diet is definitely expanding which is good because I signed up for that running program. It starts next Saturday and I'm def going to have to beef up my food intake once it starts! Below is a picture of Scott and his daughter Jessica (13 years old).

I'm still loving yoga and signed up for another 6 sessions of it. There hasn't been any more meetups that I've been interested in going on. A lot of the social ones revolve around eating and/or drinking. I'm waiting for more hikes!



Improvements:
- 20% of food tastes meh, 40% of food tastes okay, 20% of food tastes rotten.
- I've had a couple of nights in the past week or two where not only did I sleep through the night but I even hit my snooze button a time or two!

- No Improvements:
- Sporadic sleeping still happening.
- I still have thrush.
- Back of tongue still swollen.
- I'm still not producing spit.
- Garbled talking.
- Bullfrog effect still going on.

January 20 - Every single day is incrementally better. :-)

The shingles are pretty much gone. My ear is still aching off and on but I expect that to be gone within the next week. The lump behind my ear has totally disappeared as well.

Alas, I still have thrush. Whatever. I will keep managing it the best that I can.

I've been being really good about sucking on things fairly often. Dr. K was right about the lemon flavored candies. They especially help. And I've noticed that even when I'm not sucking on things, it seems like there is more saliva flow.

In fact, last night for dinner I ate shrimp egg foo young. No choking. Still took a lot of milk to get it down but it went much easier than anything to date. And as a plus, it was actually kind of tasty! I did an "I ate solid food" dance in the middle of my kitchen. I also ate some more of it for breakfast this morning. Guess I'm a little excited about this development. ;-P


Improvements:
- Gagging has stopped!
- 30% of food tastes meh, 30% of food tastes okay, 40% of food tastes rotten.

- No Improvements:
- Sporadic sleeping still happening.
- I still have thrush.
- Back of tongue still swollen.
- I'm still not producing spit.
- Garbled talking.
- Bullfrog effect still going on. 

I've been to yoga twice now. Love it! I hopped on-line and joined two different Meetup groups here in Rochester. One is a casual group for 30 and 40 year olds. The other is an adventure group. Yesterday I went on an hour and a half long hike with the casual group. Fun stuff! This coming Wednesday I'm going to an orientation for Fleet Feet of Rochester. They have a 12 week program where they teach you how to run and it ends in a 5K at the end of April. I'm in, baby! 

On the fun side of things, I've been on 4 dates with Scott. He's an absolute sweetie! Meanwhile, I took my ad back off the dating site after a measly 3 weeks. Dating is exhausting! I'm going to concentrate on all the other activities I have going on and see where things fall..........

January 13 - Have I mentioned my super powers? I have them you know.......

The first super power I lay claim to is having 9 lives. Between being run over by a van when I was 14 years old, to the emergency appendectomy a couple of years ago, to the recent tongue cancer, it would seem that life is trying really hard to rub me out but I'm refusing to cave to the pressure. And hey, if I've only used 3-4 lives at the age of 43, maybe I'll live to be 90 after all!

My second super power is sometimes being a little too intuitive about what a person is NOT saying. It can sometimes be awkward and sometimes really funny. Most recently a coworker was at my desk telling me that he and his girlfriend were heading to Tahoe to see his family for the holiday and he was crabbing about how hard it was going to be to find a flight, how expensive it was going to be, and he was telling me what his options were.....and I just looked at him while he was talking and out of the blue I said "Oh, you're going to propose?". He stopped mid-sentence, his jaw dropped, and his face turned pink. I have no idea how I knew he was going to propose, I just got a vibe. The look on his face was priceless! LOL! Meanwhile, she did, indeed, say yes. :-)

My last super power is having an above average tolerance for pain. As with all super powers, it has its pluses and its negatives. An example of a negative was the emergency appendectomy. All day long I thought I simply had some bad girly cramps. It wasn't until I was laying in bed at midnight and everything was quiet that I took a close look at how I was feeling and decided that medical attention would be a good idea. I took a taxi to the emergency room and less than 6 hours later my appendix had been removed because it had perforated. An example of a plus was the kidney stone I passed many years ago. I didn't know what it was so I took it in to the doctor to find out what was going on with me. The doctor took one look at the grapefruit seed sized stone I had passed and almost fainted in front of me. He couldn't believe I had passed it without seeking any medical attention whatsoever. He told me that people pass stones the size of a grain of sand and they're at the hospital screaming for morphine. I remember being a bit taken aback. Sure, it hurt. It hurt for over a week as I recall but it was ignorable. Hey, maybe that's my actual super power, I have the ability to ignore things like nobody's business! Ha!

You might be wondering why we're talking about super powers today. Well, it would seem that many friends and coworkers out there have either had shingles or know someone who has had shingles. And by the way, it was great hearing all of the stories, I had no idea how common this was, thank you for sharing! And I had to laugh because I suddenly noticed a sign at both Wegman's and Walgreen's yesterday announcing that you should get your shingles immunization today. Wonder how long those signs have been up? I'm so oblivious sometimes. Anyway, my boss told me to let him know if I needed any time off due to the pain, a coworker said they heard the pain can be absolutely debilitating, Sammy says her MIL was taking a double dose of codeine and then sleeping throughout the days because of it. So, I just wanted to state that yes, it hurts. It especially hurts because some of the blisters are inside my right ear causing a constant low grade ache. Not pleasant. But luckily, I have this awesome super power. So no worries, I'm ignoring this latest development, moving forward with life, continuing to be a dating machine, and am happy as a clam. And as a bonus, can you imagine how amazing I'm going to feel 2 weeks from now once this thing has run its course and I'm back to whatever my usual state of health is?? Ahhhh, I can already anticipate the bliss! Something to look forward to! :-)

January 11 - And the cancer saga continues.....

This past weekend I noticed a lump behind my ear and a weird, painful rash spreading across my head. Saw my regular doc today, Dr. K, to find out what's going on. Turns out I have shingles. I had no idea what that was. I guess it's a form of chicken pox. She said even if you had chicken pox as a kid you can get shingles if your body is put under a great stress and your immune system is suppressed. Gosh. Can't think of anything like that happening to me as of late, can you? ;-P

Anyway, it's on the right side of my head. I asked her if that was normal. She said it's not unheard of but not usually where it happens. Figures. I guess there is an anti-virus they can give you if you catch it within the first 4 days. I've had it for 5-6 days now so I just have to wait the 2-3 weeks for it to run its course.

She also checked out the lump behind my ear. She said it's likely an enlarged lymph node. Probably trying to fight off the shingles and not succeeding since most of the lymph nodes in that side of my neck have been removed. She said to keep an eye on it and if it gets bigger, call Dr. C. I told her that it has actually gotten smaller since I noticed it over the weekend so all is well.

Meanwhile, I DID get another prescription for this damn thrush. It's the same med that had me throwing up last time but I got it in pill form this time instead of a suspended liquid. I have to take a pill today and a pill tomorrow and voila, hopefully the thrush is gone. And hopefully since it's 2 days of meds instead of 2 weeks, I won't be doing the throwing up thing. She said if the thrush keeps coming back she can put me on a continuous dose of this med every 2 or 4 weeks, whatever it takes. Although she wants me to start sucking on citrus lozengers and/or using the synthetic spit during the day to see if that helps keep it away.

I ended up not going bowling with Match Scott last week. We were e-mailing about our bucket lists and I mentioned that I want to go golfing in Scotland. So, instead of bowling, he took me to one of those indoor golf simulators and we did the Scotland course. How sweet is that?? Tonight he's taking me to a comedy club. I just had to text him and verify that he's had chicken pox so that I didn't accidentally expose him. Talk about embarrassing! Sheesh.

Weight is pretty much the same. I think the scale said 122.8 this morning. Now that I've stopped losing it, I can own my skinniness and feel good about it. Everybody keeps telling me how fantastic I look and it now makes me smile instead of shooting the look of death at them. :-)

Now that I'm back to work, the snowshoeing and skiing can only happen on the weekends. And heck, that's only if we get more snow. It's been raining all day today and it's supposed to be 56 tomorrow, so bye-bye snow. So, I have now taken up yoga. I figured it was a good way to strengthen muscles without burning too many calories. I've only been once so far but I really liked it!

That 7 hours of continuous sleep that I got the last time I blogged WAS a fluke. I'm still only sleeping 3-4 hours at a time. That's okay, I get lots of e-mailing, house cleaning, and reading done during the wee hours of the morning. Plus I was at my desk by 7:15, 4 out of 5 days this week. QED is definitely making out in regards to my insomnia. :-)


Improvements:
- Gagging is happening only a couple of times a week!
- Weight has stabilized!

No Improvements:
- I have shingles.
- Sporadic sleeping still happening.
- 10% of food tastes meh, 10% of food tastes okay, 80% of food tastes rotten.
- I still have thrush.
- Back of tongue still swollen.
- I'm still not producing spit.
- Garbled talking.
- Bullfrog effect still going on.

January 3 - Success! Woo hoo! {Insert image here of Q doing a little soft shoe shuffle of happiness} Got on the scale yesterday and it said 123.4. The exact same weight I was on Christmas! I've stabilized. Finally. Phew.

So let the exercising continue! Tuesday was a bump day. Match Amherst, who turns out to be Match Rich, seems to be a slow play type of guy so there was no outing with him. Yesterday I was once again a cleaning maniac. Tonight, tomorrow, and possibly the weekend, my manservant will be in residence so that we can clear out the two main floor bedrooms for the remodeling project. I imagine there's going to be lots of heavy lifting and manual labor involved. My non-existent muscles are gleefully looking forward to it! I've also got a full dance card for the weekend. Bowling with Match Scott tomorrow night, snowshoeing with Match Steve on Saturday, haven't heard back from Match Tom about Sunday so I'm now slotting in Match Chris instead for another round of snowshoeing. I swear dating is like having a part time job............

I'm also still trying to eat real food once in a while. Sandi, fabulous friend that she is, bought me a fondue pot for Christmas. I made a blue cheese/cognac fondue the other night. I managed to dip 4 cherry tomatoes, a stalk of celery, and 2 bagel chips. Granted it took me 2 glasses of milk to swallow everything and there may have been a couple of choking incidents..incidences...hmmmm... but whatever. I'm going to continue trying to eat real food and one of these days it will be possible to do it without it being hazardous.

Both Leo and Kunkel mentioned yesterday that my speech sounds MUCH better than before the holiday break. Yay! I always love to hear that. Most girls want to be told they look skinny or that they're having a good hair day. I just want to hear that my enunciation has improved and that I sound less like I have a cheek full of chewing tobacco. LOL!

I think I actually managed to sleep for 7 hours straight last night instead of the usual 3-4 hour bursts. Hopefully it wasn't a fluke and will continue.

Okay, that's all I have to report. 2013 is already kicking 2012's ass! Rock on!