Mental Manatee Mentors Part 3--CLOSED (Page 76)

Sweet little piglets all!

I put these up on FB--people seem to think these are oddly-colored eggs, but they look normal to me! Pretty!

In any case, most fun and ultimately most delicious.

4agoodlife - 2013-04-02 1:30 PM I put in an hour on the trainer yesterday. Felt a definite difference with the bike shoes... smoothness and muscle use. Need to adjust my left clip. Much harder to unclip... Not good since my left is my bad knee. Thinking two more days on trainer then I'll take on road.

Smoothness is a good way to put it.  It's amazing how much effort is wasted (physical or mental, don't know which) by having your foot slide around on the platform pedals.

Hey all--craptastic day today--I couldn't even get a workout in to decompress thanks to a stupid paper I needed to finish!  The worst part of my day: my mom emailed me to let me know that my dad is having heart surgery tomorrow! I guess its a common procedure, where they run a probe or something into his heart to see what the blockage is--totally outpatient and very normal; of course if they find anything, then they will be keeping him and possibly try to fix it....but I am still really worried. My dad is acting normal, smiling, and working on his stamp collection, but I know he is scared too. Please keep him in your thoughts. 

Thanks manatees.

Just got boring old white 'n orange adidas...But they make my feet happy, so I go with 'em.

The weather is so beautiful today, I decided to ride my bike to work.  First day of outside riding this year...always, always, always trepidation about flats.  Almost backed out because of it, but told myself to HTFU.  So I get to work--oh, we were just trying to call you to tell you it's slow and don't come in!  I'm kinda glad I didn't get the call, because I likely would've jammed on the ride, and just gotten on the trainer... In the end, I rode the long way home.  Three bridges later, drop my bike off at the LBS to finally get narrower handlebars installed.  And maybe some new red bar tape....

I'm not sure which is brighter, the eggs, or Mutti's smile. It is nice to see her smiling.

I have a few little pre marathon questions.

1. I'm going to be doing quite a bit of traveling in the next few weeks (pre and post marathon) Should I get some compression socks? Does it really matter which type I get? I am not going to run in them so I have no need for "performance" types (whatever that means) but it's a little hard to decide when the spectrum is from like $10 diabetes socks all the way to $60-$70 CEP versions. 

2. How careful do I need to be about the amount of walking I do while site seeing? I plan to spend as much time on my rear doing some R&R (and going to a Red Sox game) the day before but how about the entire week before? I need this spelled out a bit for me.

I just received the update from my mom. Dad made it through surgery with no issues. They said that he has only minor heart disease, with very little blockage. They are concerned by the large amount of fluid around his heart and lungs, so they are keeping him for at least one night, maybe two. 

Thats the good part---They want him to get more active to get rid of the fluid, BUT, due to the diabetes, he has some major foot issues happening, as in swelling, and a great deal of pain. He can't put his feet up, as it hurts his chest, and then his feet get tingly. He doesn't want to move around because then it hurts his feet. So I am curious as to what the docs will tell him to do...I was thinking he can at least get a bit active by moving around his upper body--(Hand-bike thingy????), I don't know, Its best left to better minds then mine probably. Sadly, its most likely easier to get him to change his eating habits than it is to get him active; the least amount of pain, and he refuses to do anymore....Sorry to whine, but to know how little it would actually take him to get better, and yet he doesn't want to even try cause "it hurts" (this isn't new, he has been like this for 20+ years), it just makes me sad. I HOPE this wake-up call really does flip a switch, he can really drive me up a wall, but I am not ready to say goodbye just yet.

Thanks again pod for letting me vent.

1. Old-lady compression hose is great, usually available at your corner drugstore, not too dear, and does the whole leg.

2. Pretty careful. I'd say at the very least don't walk any more than you would in an ordinary week, and preferably a lot less.

I just received the update from my mom. Dad made it through surgery with no issues. They said that he has only minor heart disease, with very little blockage. They are concerned by the large amount of fluid around his heart and lungs, so they are keeping him for at least one night, maybe two. 

Thats the good part---They want him to get more active to get rid of the fluid, BUT, due to the diabetes, he has some major foot issues happening, as in swelling, and a great deal of pain. He can't put his feet up, as it hurts his chest, and then his feet get tingly. He doesn't want to move around because then it hurts his feet. So I am curious as to what the docs will tell him to do...I was thinking he can at least get a bit active by moving around his upper body--(Hand-bike thingy????), I don't know, Its best left to better minds then mine probably. Sadly, its most likely easier to get him to change his eating habits than it is to get him active; the least amount of pain, and he refuses to do anymore....Sorry to whine, but to know how little it would actually take him to get better, and yet he doesn't want to even try cause "it hurts" (this isn't new, he has been like this for 20+ years), it just makes me sad. I HOPE this wake-up call really does flip a switch, he can really drive me up a wall, but I am not ready to say goodbye just yet.

Thanks again pod for letting me vent.

I just received the update from my mom. Dad made it through surgery with no issues. They said that he has only minor heart disease, with very little blockage. They are concerned by the large amount of fluid around his heart and lungs, so they are keeping him for at least one night, maybe two. 

Thats the good part---They want him to get more active to get rid of the fluid, BUT, due to the diabetes, he has some major foot issues happening, as in swelling, and a great deal of pain. He can't put his feet up, as it hurts his chest, and then his feet get tingly. He doesn't want to move around because then it hurts his feet. So I am curious as to what the docs will tell him to do...I was thinking he can at least get a bit active by moving around his upper body--(Hand-bike thingy????), I don't know, Its best left to better minds then mine probably. Sadly, its most likely easier to get him to change his eating habits than it is to get him active; the least amount of pain, and he refuses to do anymore....Sorry to whine, but to know how little it would actually take him to get better, and yet he doesn't want to even try cause "it hurts" (this isn't new, he has been like this for 20+ years), it just makes me sad. I HOPE this wake-up call really does flip a switch, he can really drive me up a wall, but I am not ready to say goodbye just yet.

Thanks again pod for letting me vent.

Sigh, what is it about fathers and their stubbornness. 

I told him that last night. That, and also if he needed a new heart, he should totally go all exotic, like for a baboon heart, as then I would be uniquely qualified as a zookeeper to take care of him; he said he would prefer a gorilla! 

In completely random news, my ex-mother-in-law was Baby Fay's chief nurse.

NO KIDDING!  Even worse, my mother is as stubborn, if not more so! I, of course, am not stubborn AT ALL....

Dang, lady, I've been there. My dad had pretty uncontrolled diabetes for nearly 60 years, as well as fairly serious heart disease and a whole host of other crap.

I'm glad he made it through well. And yes, there are a lot of  movement options--and yes, "how little it would take." Best thing you can do is encourage ... and personally, I'd tell him you're not ready to say goodbye to him yet.

I told him that last night. That, and also if he needed a new heart, he should totally go all exotic, like for a baboon heart, as then I would be uniquely qualified as a zookeeper to take care of him; he said he would prefer a gorilla! 

I just received the update from my mom. Dad made it through surgery with no issues. They said that he has only minor heart disease, with very little blockage. They are concerned by the large amount of fluid around his heart and lungs, so they are keeping him for at least one night, maybe two. 

Thats the good part---They want him to get more active to get rid of the fluid, BUT, due to the diabetes, he has some major foot issues happening, as in swelling, and a great deal of pain. He can't put his feet up, as it hurts his chest, and then his feet get tingly. He doesn't want to move around because then it hurts his feet. So I am curious as to what the docs will tell him to do...I was thinking he can at least get a bit active by moving around his upper body--(Hand-bike thingy????), I don't know, Its best left to better minds then mine probably. Sadly, its most likely easier to get him to change his eating habits than it is to get him active; the least amount of pain, and he refuses to do anymore....Sorry to whine, but to know how little it would actually take him to get better, and yet he doesn't want to even try cause "it hurts" (this isn't new, he has been like this for 20+ years), it just makes me sad. I HOPE this wake-up call really does flip a switch, he can really drive me up a wall, but I am not ready to say goodbye just yet.

Thanks again pod for letting me vent.