Run!
I started running regularly. At least twice a week and then my yoga once a week. I even invested in running sneakers after my first “run in” with shin splints.
For the first time in my life I feel I’ve earned the right to wear my track jacket!
Body Worlds 3!
I went to Body Worlds 3 today with Tarrah. It was soooo cool! We learned so many new things. Tarrah thought she’d be grossed out, but surprised she wasn’t. Few random facts we didn’t know:
- Capillaries are thinner than a strand of hair, it takes 20 capillaries to equal the thickness of hair!
- Your right lung is slightly larger than your left lung.
- Lance Armstrong is super human, his heart is 30% larger than the average human heart… so he can get oxygenated blood to his legs and other muscles faster and for longer periods of time than most!
- There’s a disease called Smoker’s leg, that is common in smokers. Their capillaries in the peripheral arteries will clot causing the leg to turn grey/black… it can be treated but also results in amputation commonly. ICK!
- A baby embryo at 4 weeks old looks a lot like a worm.
- The spleen is way smaller than you think… but can balloon up to like 6x it’s size if you have leukemia.
- The funny bone is actually a nerve very close to the surface of the skin.
- The human heart will continue to beat, even when out of the body and cut into pieces. An electric impulse causes it to beat. (the biggest challenge in artificial hearts - an energy source to keep it beating)
The exhibit totally made me want to apologize to my body and try to treat it better. I feel like I’ve been torturing it with not enough excercise. I’ll never smoke in my life though.. wow… you see photos and videos of black lungs of smokers but nothing compares to seeing real human lungs of a smoker… photos and videos don’t do it justice. It was appalling it looked like it could not be alive in your body in that state. The human body is so risilient! I’m shocked at some of the conditions of the organs we saw. There were several aortas shown of people with normal to high cholesterol and it was so disgusting what high cholesterol does to your aorta and that’s the largest artery! It turned into a lumpy spongy fat curly mess instead of a clean smooth artery for blood to flow through. I can’t imagine what the smaller arteries must look like!
I recommend it to anyone. It’s totally worth seeing. At the end of the exhibit they added an ostrich and girafe, which were also very cool. It was neat to see how feathers grow out of a bird.
I’ll never take my body for granted again…
Yoga Update!
I’m into my third month of yoga now. Going 1-2x a week… I take level 1 hatha yoga… nothing crazy. But, I notice I am getting more flexible, but most importantly I feel better. It relieves all the stress from work and makes me feel relaxed and stronger at the same time… I know that doesn’t make much sense, but it’s true!
Damien has been pushing me to walk him everyday now too since he’s been feeling better. We walk the entire neighborhood now and he just loves it. His back legs are starting to thicken back up with muscle. So both Damien and I are getting stronger! 
I wish I could say the same for Mandy, but she’s not doing too well… her tummy is getting bigger every week, so I know her time is limited. She has outlived the doctor’s life expectancy estimate with soft tissue sarcoma cancer though… so that makes me feel good. She’s a tough cookie! Plus she doesn’t act sick really. She’s full of energy and a really happy dog. Our goal is to keep her that way.
now playing: Yeasayer - 2080
We have an answer!
After 8 hours at the vet yesterday, we have an answer! Our regular vet referred us to see a specialist on Saturday and we were lucky enough to get an appointment the same day! The appointment was at 2pm and we started with a checkup for Damien and they found his heart beat was weak in his hind legs and wanted to do an EKG to check his heart. Since his blood tests were from a month ago they wanted to do more of those as well. They also wanted to do an ultrasound to check out his intestines, spleen, liver and other organs to make sure they look ok. 3 hours later they found that Damien’s adrenal glands were small and wimpy for his size and breed. They said that indicates he may have Addison’s disease but they need to look into it further and do a special blood test where they take blood, give him a steriod and take more blood samples to check his cortisol levels. The test would take 2 hours. So we hung out and waited another 2 hours while they did those tests. $1400 later we left the vet. Ugh… gotta use that Care Credit card again for these vet bills… Today we got a call from the vet that he tested positive for Addison’s disease! Good news that we finally found some sort of answers! They say it could still be more that that… they’re not sure yet… but he can be started on Prednisone right away and monitored. In a month he will have to go back for blood work. Hopefully he will get better soon on the Prednisone. He’s been even more lethargic than normal the past 2 days.
Healthy eating out!
I don’t eat out too often, everyday I go home for lunch and probably 2 to 3 times a month we go to a restaurant.. which isn’t too often from what I hear from my friends! But when we do I tend to eat waay too many calories, sodium, etc. So I found this article really interesting!
Cloudy weather & you can still be healthy!
Even when it’s cloudy outside a 10-15 minute walk can give you the same amount of vitamin D! It’s good for your skin and your mood! Researchers suggest 10-15 minutes spent outside at least 2 times a week to get your vitamin D intake. After 15 minutes, it’s suggested you put on sunblock though… because that’s when the UV rays start harming your skin!
Taken from this New York Times article.
I’m such a believer in this! Not so sure about the cloudy days… but I don’t spend a lot of time outside on cloudy days (and there aren’t many up here in northern LA county!), maybe it’s time I start!
Excercise, it does the body good.
I’m trying to build arm strength up to prove to Josh I can do one push up. I haven’t been able to yet. So this has been of some help:
http://thetrainingstationinc.com/exercises.html
Probably because I’m not exactly a regular at a real gym (i know the excercise machines that our HOA provides isn’t exactly a gym), I was not aware of what to do to build muscle where I want it.
now playing: x-games!
coachella 2007!
I will post more about this at a later time.. lots to tell and I somehow got strep throat yesterday.. I blame it on Coachella and it’s germiness! I have to go to the doctor and get some meds.. every muscle in my body aches right now. ugh.
biking
After pizza, I decided to try to bike more than my usual (usual as in one week.. ) 6 miles. I was thinking 7 miles so I could make it home before dark.. but I made it to just about 8 miles and home as it was just past dusk. And with one mile left my bike chain slid off while shifting to first going uphill. Josh has to adjust that for me.. it only happens shifting to first. I managed to get it back on and finished the last mile with dirty greasy hands. I could so ride my bike to work- only 4 miles away.. but i’d get all sweaty and would need a shower. 
Wish there was a gym at the town center.
So riding 45 minutes - I burned 430 calories - all of the pizza I ate for dinner. Strawberries for dessert! I’m gonna be so in shape come time for jetskiing! or so I hope if i keep up this regimine…
now playing: new young pony club - ice cream
2 more days!
On Wednesday night, Tracey and Lori Beth will be here! I can’t wait to see them both. Then on Saturday evening we’re celebrating Christmas and I’m having as many dinner guests as I can fit at our dinner table for a yummy Polish dinner and of course hundreds of homemade desserts!
On another note, Damien has been living crate-less now for almost 2 weeks and he’s been doing really well. He only tore stuffing out of Mandy’s pillow one day while she was at the vet. Nice, huh? She comes home to her pillow stuffing tore out. She’s doing amazing since her surgery. She puts more weight on her back right leg again but she still has a lot of muscle to build up in it and it may never be the same as it used to be. We just have to keep moderately walking her.
