Cholesterol

Apparently there are some family and friends who know about my incredibly high cholesterol that I had not updated of where I was currently at...my apologies!

For those of you who don't know, I had my blood tested for the first time ever, back in late January this year and apparently my OB/GYN was quite nervous about the numbers.  Not ever having had my cholesterol checked before and not knowing a thing about the numbers, as she started to ramble them off I really had no clue.  But from the tone in her voice she sounded quite nervous.

My total number was 303.  My good cholesterol was too low and my bad cholesterol was way too high.  I don't remember all the numbers and don't have the paperwork nearby.  At any rate, she wanted me to see a primary care physician ASAP.  So I did...

This was in late January, and in late February (that's how long it took to get an appointment with a new primary care physician) I met with my primary care physician, worried about her wanting to instantly put me on medication.  After talking to many people at work prior to that appointment they were all telling me, "Don't start taking meds.  If you do, you'll never get off them again."  Great!  So I have to start off with possibly arguing with my brand new primary care physician - no worries - this will work out great.... **sigh**

Well, fortunately she looked over all my information, and asked me lots of questions.  I told her that my husband and I started working out in January, playing racquetball, and that I had a goal of getting healthy.  She was happy to hear that, and because I had no other medical problems or conditions, was not taking any drugs at all and was generally healthy except for the weight and cholesterol, she said, "Well, let's see if diet and exercise will bring your numbers down before we consider putting you on any medication."

I was ecstatic!  Wow!  A main stream doctor NOT wanting to immediately prescribe me drugs! Woo hoo!

So, the deal was that I would come back in less than 4 months and have my blood re-tested and then we would meet and go over the numbers... and go from there.

Well, I went back in mid-June, had my blood taken again and then met with the doctor a week later.

Great news!  It has dropped, not a lot, but it is now at 264, which is a good sign, and I also lost 10 lbs.  So, she is going to give me 6 more months and come back again to see where I'm at and then decide if I can keep up the good habits and keep going down, or if I am genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and that there might be a point where it just won't go down anymore.  From there we can talk about meds, if we need them at all.

She was quite surprised at my progress.  I don't think she has many success stories and that made me feel incredibly good, and proud.

Since then Shannon and I have been continuing the racquetball.  We do at least three times a week.  And now that school has started back up we are back to our daily walks, which are quite intense... the road we walk has been called heartbreak hill.  The incline is extremely intense - so we are definitely getting our heart rates up and sweating and breathing hard by the time we make it to the top!

We have also decided to go back to a vegetarian diet - thanks to our good friend Jenn!  She turned us on to a very funny doctor who has a great blog/video blog with all the scientific data of why a vegan diet is healthier for cholesterol, cancer and many other issues.  We aren't vegan yet, but eventually we will get there.  For now just cutting out meat is our first step, then eventually cheese, milk and eggs.  And, for now we've added back in nuts because apparently they are incredibly healthy and you don't even need to eat that much... though, honestly, I love nuts and am glad to be able to spend our money on that instead of meat!

So, there you have it... for those who knew and wondered... and for those who didn't... well, now you know!

I'm on the road to "recovery" so to speak.  Moving and exercising and feeling good again, and eating healthier and healthier each day!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Jared had an exciting physical training last Wednesday.  He called it the insanity workout.  It was about 1 1/2 hours of just non-stop craziness apparently.  I cannot remember everything he said he did but, from what I can tell that workout was specifically for endurance building only!  Kudos to Jared for only being sore in the calves - that's quite impressive!

On the Alex front we FINALLY have a date of when he's flying the coop!  His plane tickets are for September 4th!  He is very amped and excited - cause he's going to Ireland for a year!  Sadly, his old classmate from the Waldorf School of Cape Cod, who is Alex's age of only 19 years old has ALS (at type of leukemia) and just had a relapse and is back in Boston Children's hospital.  She is looking at alternative types of possibilities since she's just recently been through chemo and a bone marrow transplant.  So, she'll still be in Boston when Alex is heading out to Ireland.

So, with that in mind Alex is stopping in Boston for the day first on his way out.  He'll have to take the T line from the airport to the hospital and back again while dragging ALL of his luggage.  He's such a sweetheart! HA!

I am very proud of Alex, as is Shannon, and we are excited for this new opportunity, and yet, feeling sad that he will be gone for a year.  I may have mentioned this before but he is going to try and set up a blog once he gets there to keep all of us up-to-date on what he is learning, seeing and doing.  If he does set one up I promise to link it up here and on facebook.

That's it for now.  Lots and lots of changes.  Our oldest is out the door first, but he will be back.  It's my baby going to boot camp that will be even harder!

Not A lot of New News

Not a whole lot new to update you on.

Alex is still waiting on his passport and from there he will figure out his flight over and when to get started.  For now he is learning a few things about Callan, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland.  Though Callan seems like a smaller town in the county of Kilkenny, it seems that the vikings are definitely part of their history there - which is quite cool.  In Kilkenny, the city, there looks like quite a lot of tourism to do.  Hopefully Alex will get the chance!

Jared has started physical training with his Marine recruiter.  He will be going every Wednesday morning to increase his strength and endurance - doing pull-ups, push ups, crunches and running at least 1.5 or more miles.  Then every 2nd Saturday of each month he is doing some 'bonding' with other recruits.  Yesterday was his first time.  They played combat soccer with about 30 or 35 recruits, no using of the hands to shove or push but they could use their bodies to push each other out of the way to get to the ball.  If you used your hands you had to go to the side and do 2 minutes of some sort of calisthenics - which was a good thing because trying to play soccer with that many people on a small field was quite difficult, but luckily people were out on the sides quite often. HA!  They also did some line running where they had to take turns rotating who was in front, run in unison, and learned some marching and turning along with some of his first cadences.  He came home tired but seemed quite pumped up about the whole experience!

Military Mom

It was a long day for Jared yesterday, most of it spent sitting around, waiting doing nothing.  But here is what happened and what is next.

As I said in the previous blog, he was taken to Raleigh on Monday afternoon so that he can take the ASVAB and then he stayed the night there and woke up at 4:30am yesterday morning.  He did end up having a roommate, another guy who was about Jared's age.  Apparently they go by last names so the other guys name was Williams.

Williams came in with some envelope that Jared did not receive so Jared asked about it.  Williams told him that it was the test results from the ASVAB and that he just happened to be at the right place at the right time to get it.  Apparently, whoever gave Williams his envelope said that Wiley had scored the highest they had in this past quarter!  Jared scored 95% on the ASVAB!

After they had breakfast they were bussed over to the military's building nearby for their physicals, and, a ton more paperwork.  Jared said he was asked the same questions over and over again - mostly whether he was a terrorist or anarchist.  I guess they really want to make sure that if anything happens later that they can say, "Well, we asked 100 times if they were a terrorist and they said no.  What more can we do?" (Smile)

Then he just sat around in the lobby of this place and watched TV or chatted with some of the other inductees.  Jared thought that he was to go over his career choices after finding out his test score but that seemed to not be the case so it was just waiting until the time came for all of the young inductees were done - then they had them come together to take their pledge in a group, and then sign their official forms to join the military!

So, it's official.  Jared has joined the Marines.  He will be meeting with his recruiter later this week or early next week to decide his career choice - in which he should have any choice he wants with such a high score on the test.  And, this Thursday he and the other 14 or 15 young men and women who were with Jared will all be going to a Durham Bulls baseball game in Durham and before the game starts will be out in the park to do their pledge once again in front of all the people in the audience!

Jared's ship out date to boot camp at Parris Island, SC is November 26th, right after Thanksgiving.  Boot camp is 3 months, and when he completes that he will immediately be trained for the next 8 weeks or so for the career path he has chosen before he gets shipped or placed wherever the Marines want him to go.

We are so very proud of Jared and so very sad to see him go.  A four year commitment is such a long time - and yet, really it will go by in a blink of an eye for him.  But we know he will be successful and find himself and his path along the way.  We love you kiddo!

And now I am a Military Mom - a whole new job and a whole new life to learn...