Long time, no see
Yes, yes, I know...
I keep saying I need to update more and then I don't.
But, I really feel like the mundane details of "I got up, I had breakfast, I went to the gym, I came home, I had a sandwich, and I watched Star Trek reruns until dinner time" sort of waste...space? Bandwidth? Something.
Time, for sure.
So, I'm going to make a cumulative update, to indicate that progress is being made on the Get Veazey Healthy front. I've 15 lbs. already this year between working out, eating better, and having given up soda for Lent. I already wasn't drinking that much of it, but I want to see if I can cut the stuff out entirely. To date, I'm actually missing it some, just because the local Chick-Fil-A (where I went with my parents after Duke won the ACC title for the 15th time) has started serving Cheerwine and our family tends to drink a lot of tea. Since we drink it a lot, it's not always around when I want something not-water to drink.
But, I'm also working out twice a week with a personal trainer. He's given me some exercise schedules that I can start using to work out 4 or 5 times a week, while continuing to meet with him twice a week to measure progress. I haven't noticed any real development of muscle myself, but that's mostly because the trainer's been setting the weight up for me on the cable machines. I'm hefting slightly heavier free weights for some of the exercises, but 12 lbs. still feels incredibly heavy when working fast-twitch muscle fibers. I feel better, that's for sure. I haven't been having as many headaches lately and they tend not to last as long. I'm still having some episodic problems with big ones, but there is a general upward trend.
And that's without doing neurofeedback. My home kit arrived sort of late and missing electrode paste, which put it off even further. And apparently the keyfiles necessary to operate the program had expired before I was able to set it up. So, I've only just gotten some new keyfiles and will start doing my own home neurofeedback very soon. I expect positive developments there, as well. It's been 2 months (ish) since I've done any, so I think a lot of my headache problems and some of my conversational difficulties (stumbling over words, forgetting trains of thought, etc.) have come because I'm not forcing my brain to think right. I know I don't seem to be struggling that much to write this entry, but that's because you're not able to count the number of times I've hit "Backspace."
So, long story short:
I'm doing generally better than I was toward the end of my stay in Asheville. Living with my parents isn't the most unimaginable form of torture. There's still tons of room for improvement. I'm hoping that between babysitting for my neighbors and getting a job somewhere else I might have more to update about.
Update on Amanda:
She's doing a ton better. She's managed to wean herself off her knee brace for the most part (per her physical therapist's instructions) and is borrowing her father's electric wheelchair for some getting around now that she doesn't have to keep her knee straight all the time. She's going to be disable for a year, though, because of some arthritis in the knee that's developed; but, that's good news because it means she can qualify for Medicaid and save a metric buttload of money on medical bills. She's still living out of her parents' living room, though, as she can't go up and down stairs yet. But, she's made a lot of progress and I'm very happy about that.
I keep saying I need to update more and then I don't.
But, I really feel like the mundane details of "I got up, I had breakfast, I went to the gym, I came home, I had a sandwich, and I watched Star Trek reruns until dinner time" sort of waste...space? Bandwidth? Something.
Time, for sure.
So, I'm going to make a cumulative update, to indicate that progress is being made on the Get Veazey Healthy front. I've 15 lbs. already this year between working out, eating better, and having given up soda for Lent. I already wasn't drinking that much of it, but I want to see if I can cut the stuff out entirely. To date, I'm actually missing it some, just because the local Chick-Fil-A (where I went with my parents after Duke won the ACC title for the 15th time) has started serving Cheerwine and our family tends to drink a lot of tea. Since we drink it a lot, it's not always around when I want something not-water to drink.
But, I'm also working out twice a week with a personal trainer. He's given me some exercise schedules that I can start using to work out 4 or 5 times a week, while continuing to meet with him twice a week to measure progress. I haven't noticed any real development of muscle myself, but that's mostly because the trainer's been setting the weight up for me on the cable machines. I'm hefting slightly heavier free weights for some of the exercises, but 12 lbs. still feels incredibly heavy when working fast-twitch muscle fibers. I feel better, that's for sure. I haven't been having as many headaches lately and they tend not to last as long. I'm still having some episodic problems with big ones, but there is a general upward trend.
And that's without doing neurofeedback. My home kit arrived sort of late and missing electrode paste, which put it off even further. And apparently the keyfiles necessary to operate the program had expired before I was able to set it up. So, I've only just gotten some new keyfiles and will start doing my own home neurofeedback very soon. I expect positive developments there, as well. It's been 2 months (ish) since I've done any, so I think a lot of my headache problems and some of my conversational difficulties (stumbling over words, forgetting trains of thought, etc.) have come because I'm not forcing my brain to think right. I know I don't seem to be struggling that much to write this entry, but that's because you're not able to count the number of times I've hit "Backspace."
So, long story short:
I'm doing generally better than I was toward the end of my stay in Asheville. Living with my parents isn't the most unimaginable form of torture. There's still tons of room for improvement. I'm hoping that between babysitting for my neighbors and getting a job somewhere else I might have more to update about.
Update on Amanda:
She's doing a ton better. She's managed to wean herself off her knee brace for the most part (per her physical therapist's instructions) and is borrowing her father's electric wheelchair for some getting around now that she doesn't have to keep her knee straight all the time. She's going to be disable for a year, though, because of some arthritis in the knee that's developed; but, that's good news because it means she can qualify for Medicaid and save a metric buttload of money on medical bills. She's still living out of her parents' living room, though, as she can't go up and down stairs yet. But, she's made a lot of progress and I'm very happy about that.