WE DID IT

We started our "Losing it--if not the weight, then our minds" blog. No one will want to read it because it will be boring, but it's to help keep us accountable.

Tonight I got that strange pain in my armpit again. I was scared out of my mind for and thought, I didn't change my diet quick enough and I'm going to die--again! Not that I actually died the first time but I thought I was going to. But the pain went away after about five minutes so maybe, just maybe I'm not too late.

Pam will be there, daily, hourly, if I need her--she's that kind of a girl--to encourage me, to keep me on track. It's good to have a cohort in this business of changing my life for the better.

I met Pam when I was assigned to be her visiting teacher. I went alone the first month because my partner was a young mother and couldn't get away. I was glad because I got to meet Pam alone and we both knew we would be friends. (For those who are Mormon you are probably wondering why I didn't already know Pam, if I was in her ward. That is because 24 years earlier they had split our ward and then, wonder of wonder, they put us back together. Anyway, Pam wasn't in the original ward, she had moved in just a few years earlier so I didn't know her from before. Is this confusing enough?)

So, blog number four. Not that "Walking in Starlight" ever gets written on and not that the Cookbook gets written on much.

So, what things are new with you?

WHAT AM I DOING IN THE HOSPITAL?

What was I doing in the hospital this morning? I don't know for sure and it turns out neither do the doctors.

I had started an email this morning when my left arm went "wonky." No other way to explain it. In about a minute I had pain--bad pain--in my left armpit. (I gotta stop using cheap deodorant.) Then I had pain in the right armpit. (I am an equal-opportunity-armpit-pain kind of girl.) Then the pain hit my back.

I am not the kind of person who goes to the doctor or hospital but the pain was bad. If "ten" is a "the pain is so bad I'm going to pass out or die" it was a seven. This was not pain for sissies. I told Phil about it and he said we better go to the hospital.

I couldn't go with hair like that! I plugged in the curling iron and did my hair. Phil paced the floor and said things about my priorities that I will not repeat here. (Bless his heart.) It's a good thing I did my hair because about the time we would be halfway to the hospital I threw up. Throwing up in the toilet is much nicer than doing it in the car. (That's the only good thing I can think of to say about throwing up.)

I threw up my fish oil pill, which floated merrily around while I tried to drown it with contributions of my stomach, which was only water. If I had to throw up I'm glad I had something interesting to watch. You can't imagine how amusing a fish oil pill can be during a tempest in a toilet.

So, they ran tests--how much this will cost me I can only imagine. I had "leads" stuck on every available inch of my skin and I was hooked up to wires. The cuff for blood pressure cut my arm in half every time I got semi-relaxed. (They don't allow relaxation in hospitals. It's a rule.)

They wheeled me by the cafeteria at lunch time on my way to get an x-ray. Roast beef, the technician said as I inhaled, salivating on my gown. I will never taste roast beef again because I am changing my diet.

They said I DIDN'T have a blockage that made part of my heart die but that's about all they could say. After four hours they sent me home. I am supposed to have a stress test next week--which I have decided I aint havin'. Because I'm changing my life and I won't need it. Besides that, people die after stress tests. I've heard stories.

And when I was ready to leave do you know what was written on the prescription pad. "Take and aspirin a day." Does that sound familiar? "Take two aspirins and call me in the morning." I aint callin'. Most expensive dang aspirin I'll ever take.

So, I'm still here, a little nervous that this may repeat but having positive feelings that it won't.

Here's a tip for those of you who are local. Timpanogos hospital is not busy, it's somewhat relaxing. You can almost doze off, until the blood pressure cuff pumps it's self up, that is. I recommend it. But change your life with me, and you will never have to go and the blood pressure cuff will have to retire to Hawaii.

EATING CARROTS BRINGS LOWER RISK FOR STROKE

The other night I was reading blogs, my newest hobby. Phil was sleeping in front of the TV, his newest hobby. I knew he was sleeping, even though his back is to me, because a PBS pledge drive was on and the subject was menopause or women's health or some such thing and he wasn't changing the channel. Since I was reading blogs I wasn't paying a lot of attention until the woman speaking said something like, "Women who eat nine carrots a week have a mumble-mumble % (I didn't exactly get the numbers but it was big, at least 65%, maybe as big as 85%) lower risk for stroke."

I perked up, turned my chair and watched. She mentioned that we should be eating other fruits and vegetables too.

Since I have a noise in the left side of my head at night that I somewhat-laughingly call my "stroke vein"--I can hear my heartbeat--I decided nine carrots were feasible for me. I started right away with two carrots. Not those little convenient "manufactured" baby carrots but the real deal, peeled and cut into "sticks."

Did you know those baby carrots are made from normal sized carrots, cut and trimmed? The ency ones are from the carrot tip. (Just a bit of trivia the produce man gave us one day.) Besides that the manufactured carrots get slimy if they are in the fridge for very long. They give me the shivers.

Carrots have always given me hiccups and now it seems they make me sneeze, too. But if they calm the stroke vein--and it seems to, after only three days the noise is diminished--it's worth it. Hic. Her information differed a bit from the info. I've copied below. The Harvard study quoted said five carrots. Hic. The woman on TV--whomever she was--said nine. Hic. I am going to eat nine. For life. Hic, hic, hic. Sneeze. I may be annoying but hopefully I won't die of a stroke. I'll be around to annoy for a l-o-n-g time. Hic.

Men benefit too. Heart disease is lowered by adding carrots and oranges to their diet.

From another article I found: "Beta-carotene is a powerful antioxidant, protecting the cells of the body from damage caused by free radicals. It is also one of the carotenoids believed to enhance the function of the immune system. Beta carotene also appears to stimulate cell to cell communication." This was from a blog called: Diet Cures Change Your Diet - Save Your Life, in a post entitled Beta Carotene and Strokes. They quoted the same study, below but recommended one and a half carrots a day which makes ten and a half a week. I guess I can do that. This blog has lots of interesting articles.

Spinach seems to be important too. Hum. I love the salad in my cookbook blog that uses spinach. Maybe I better eat it at least once a week and go heavy on the spinach, light on the lettuce. Shannon's salad is tasty too and has spinach too. I love canned spinach--I know, most of you are gagging--but it probably doesn't count as it's been processed to death.

Here's the link to the article, which was a Harvard study. I've copied some of the info below.

"...studies suggest that eating lots of fruits and vegetables containing Vitamin C and beta carotene are associated with a lowered risk of heart disease and stroke...

"...Eating spinach, carrots and oranges appears to be especially beneficial. In a study of the diets of 87,245 female nurses, Harvard medical School's Joann Manson found that women who ate at least five servings of carrots a week had a 68% lower stroke risk than women who ate carrots once a month or less. ...In another study, Dr. Dilip Pandey at the University of Texas in Houston found that men who ate plenty of foods containing vitamin C and beta carotene were 30% less likely to die of heart disease. The amount of vitamin C in one or two oranges and the beta carotene in one or two carrots was enough to have a protective effect, said Pandey."

Hic.