And the Doctor Says...

After a LONG conversation with someone at Kaiser, I was given a new doctor and got an appointment. Today I got to meet him and was actually pleased. I'm not thrilled with him, but so far so good (and no bad stuff yet). He was very understanding and supportive of where I am and what I've been through.

Ironicially, the Physician's Assistant who made me so irritated also works for this doctor. She seemed puzzled that I was a "new patient" but that I looked familiar. Oh well.

Anyhow, after talking to him, he thinks that I have heat-induced migraines, which is not what I expected to hear, but actually makes sense to me. He prescribed medication for it that I'm to take at the onset of the migraine. One of them I can't take within 12 hours of taking my pain medication (which means I will probably never use it), but the other one is for the nausea (so maybe I can prevent myself from doing a technicolor display for the neighbors while on my front lawn).

I guess I'll have to wait and see how it works once I have need of it.

I also went walking with my friend. She's been so supportive and helpful through all of this and is rapidly filling a "hole" I've had in my life for several years of a close female friend that is there for me to lean on when I need it. I hadn't even realized how much I needed that.

Anyhow, while out hiking I got a rock in my shoe. Jokingly, I said, "Oh, I'd better take that out...being prediabetic and all, get a rock in my shoe, then I'll have to get my leg amputated." My friend seemed confused until I explained how having high blood sugar over time essentially disables the nervous system and immune system, so extremities lose sensation (not sensing things like rocks in shoes), wounds develop, and because of the weakened ability to heal, infection can set in and then get severe enough that limbs need to be amputated.

Stunned, she looked at me and said, "I thought you were joking, but you weren't kidding!"

I'm still struggling with the blood sugar, but both my naturopath and my new doctor have told me that by losing weight and staying active, I am actually doing the best things I can be doing for myself.

Oh, and I nearly forgot. My blood pressure, for the last couple of years, has consistently been around 125/85ish. Not terrible, but getting pretty close to worrisome (like 5 points higher and it would be worrisome). Oddly, every time I went to Kaiser, I was told, "Oh, your blood pressure is good." Every time I've thought, That's weird. Are they just surprised that for as big as I am, it's not higher, or do they actually consider that decent?

Today it was 85/60. That's actually quite low, but again, about 5 points away from concerning. Nonetheless, the nurse kind of freaked out. I was pleased though, because it was yet another sign that I'm on the right track, even if things are going slowly.

Best of all, the Kaiser scales show that I've now lost 30 pounds.

Still have a ways to go though.

Even Oregon's "Heat" Is Too Much For Me

After a long journey home (36 hours, door-to-door, only four hours sleep on the floor at JFK, which is the WORST airport I've been through, STILL), I was really looking forward to cooler weather and time to myself.

The dog suffered pretty badly while we were gone, unfortunately. She's allergic to fleas, which she'd contracted, so she scratched them to the point of a staph infection and developed a hotspot. I was embarrassed to take her into the vet, but the treated her well and at a pretty reasonable price (I LOVE our vet). She now has a shaved spot on her hind end, but at least is on her way to recovery.

More than I can say for myself. I went to the gym to do some choreography to music I had JUST cut. It wasn't that hot--right around 80 degrees. I was there for only a couple of hours and not even working that hard, but was not feeling well by time I was done. "Not feeling well" meaning I had to lie down in front of a fan and NOT MOVE or I felt like I was going to hurl.

I managed to cool down a bit and then it occurred to me that if I hopped in the car and cranked up the air conditioning, I might cool off much more quickly.

The cooling off worked.

The nausea did not go away.

Just when I was thinking I was going to make it home (I was pulling into the driveway), I was proved wrong.

If any of the neighbors saw me leaning over the bushes in my yard, they are probably wondering what type of issues I must have. I rather doubt that a severe reaction to heat is one of the things that would cross their mind.

I'm now much less worried about managing the physical events of the triathlon. I think I can complete them, but the shape I will be in afterward is a bit more concerning. Looks like driving home might not be an option.

Time Flies When You're Not Paying Attention To It

The past few days have seen very little formal exercise activity, although at least my pants are still getting looser.

I had another heat episode, and this time it wasn't even triggered by exercise. Despite drinking plenty of water (I drank even though I kind of had to force it down), I ended up with another good bout of heat exhaustion, narrowly missing a repeat performance of a public biohazard deposit.

It took 12 hours of sleep to drain the light-and-sound hurts headache and get over the must-be-within-10-degrees-of-horizontal-or-I'm-going-to-hurl stomachache.

And then we went out in the sun for another long day of walking around being tourists. I seriously debated staying behind, but I'm glad I didn't since I was only partly yucky feeling at the end of the day.

Then my dad left and we ended up with a day that felt like we still had jetlag--unable to get up before noon and dragging around the rest of the day.

Today we did more walking around, I got my last bit of shopping in, and now I'm wrapping things up to get ready to go home, where I will have two husband and child-free weeks and then things will go back to "normal."

Back to Retail Therapy--Shopping Is Exercise, Right?

Another later morning between jetlag and a very late Moroccan time schedule (staying up until 1:00 or 2:00 and then sleeping in past 10:00). After a not-terrible (diet-wise) breakfast at a cafe at 1:00 in the afternoon, we decided to try to get to the medina.

After a crazy journey there (five people in the back seat of a very small compact car, with someone we'd just met over breakfast and two people we didn't know at all), we got to the medina.

I got a bunch of shopping done for presents for friends and was pleased that I was even somewhat able to communicate this year.

"Communicate" being used loosely as at one point I wasn't sure if the guy was saying that he was impressed that an American was speaking French or laughing at how terrible the American spoke French. Considering my French skills, it was probably the latter. On the other hand, considering he was trying to impress a customer (as they usually do), there is a slight chance it was the former.

Or maybe I'm just trying to flatter myself and WANT to believe my dad when he tells me how impressed he is with my French.

Hmm. It's actually something I feel good about myself with right now, so I'll take it as a positive.

Not that I can quit studying.

Unfortunately, not much exercise got done, unless you count standing/walking around a medina for about four hours. While carrying pounds of three-year-old daughter and/or pounds of purchases.

It still felt like Ramadan as we didn't eat in the medina though and even had to wait awhile after getting back to my father-in-law's house.

I'm having a hard time relaxing on my "vacation" between issues with the dog, things coming up over email with my volunteer work back home, and not being able to control my diet or exercise plan very well.

Or maybe I'm just whining because of my control issues and I can't control anything here.

Nah.

Finally, Ramadan Is Over

I'm not sure if I had mentioned that it is (was) Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims, where they fast during daylight for a full month.

Which means that most restaurants are closed during the day and it's not very polite to eat or drink in public since 99% of the population is fasting. Well, except for young kids, elderly, sick/pregnant, and tourists.

This made today a big day for celebration and feasting since it is an official holiday.

There was a TON of food today. Except not so much of it was healthy. Cake for breakfast, sweet pastries for lunch. A nice meat dish, to be eaten with bread.

Not a veggie or fruit in sight.

I got glares as I raided the fridge for vegetables and did not partake of what was served, but I felt like I didn't have a choice.

Dad and I took a post-lunch walk down the promenade again. It seemed much shorter in the daytime and at a not-meandering pace. It was also ridiculously hotter and I went straight into the bathroom and turned the freezing-cold water on straight over my head.

In the evening, we again visited my mother-in-law, where sugared tea was served.

A hypoglycemic's dream.

A hyperglycemic's nightmare.

We got back very late and went to bed.

Hopefully tomorrow will be something more like moderation.

M...o...r...o...c...c...a...n Time

Our plans for today were to go to Rabat, visit the Medina, and be back early enough that I could for a walk. But being on Moroccan time, we left so late that things didn't quite go as planned. We were dropped off by a friend of the family in the middle of the city, and right as I got out of the car, I severely twisted my left ankle and did something else to my right foot, perhaps banged it on whatever my left foot twisted on; I'm not sure.

So I hopped around for a few moments and then recovered enough to limp around. We visited some tourist sites, then went to my husband's mom's house, where I iced both feet for awhile before we headed back to Temara.

I did get in a quick walk with my dad, against the advice of my in-laws, as it was near dark and they consider the "forest" a very unsafe place in the evening. I was relieved I at least got in SOME exercise, even though we were late for dinner.

My dad was very worried that we'd made some sort of faux pas, but with the blood sugar numbers I've been posting, I didn't really care as I need to regulate this somehow.

Then this evening I got bad news. Well, the news wasn't bad, but it could have been.

Essentially, I got a voice mail that someone had found my dog.

Which meant she was lost.

Which meant that the person we had looking after her...we didn't know what happened.

After about an hour of frantic phone calls (at $2.95/minute roaming charges), I arranged for one friend to pick her up, the original dogsitter to collect her, and several others who could fill in as "back-up" if the original housesitter couldn't, our doggie was back.

And so are levels of stress that had just started to melt away.

Getting to Work Out Is More Challenging than the Workout Itself

So being on Moroccan time is really making sticking to my workouts challenging. After my dad arrived and we all took jetlag catnaps, we ended up going down to the beach. It's too bad the water is SO polluted or it would be a perfect place for me to practice swimming in open water.

We sat on the beach instead, but by time we got back it was dark and time for dinner. Disappointed that I wasn't even going to get in a walk, I was trying to figure out what sort of strength-type training I could do, using my body as resistance (pushups, crunches, etc.) when I found out we were going for a walk on the "promenade."

Unfortunately, this was a walk where instead of being for exercise was more for socializing and enjoying each other's company. I explained to my dad that when we take a walk with family, it's usually more of a meander.

So my workout today was just a meander down the promenade. Not exactly what I had in mind when I brought my running shoes here.