Back Went Out Saturday Morning and Still Struggling with Back Pain Through Monday Evening

A short update for this week. I did not get this posted on Sunday per normal. My back went out Saturday morning and been battling the pain. I have never had back pain like this before. I was moving a cooler to clean it out Saturday morning and my back immediately started hurting. Carrie had to help me in and out of chairs. I actually spent the night in my recliner Sunday evening as it is so difficult to go up or down stairs.

I took off work today as I can barely walk around. I did make it to the doctor today, so I received a shot for pain and prescription medication to take over the next few days to help with pain. It is a waiting game at this point to let the swelling in my back go down. I can tell a different after the shot, but my doctor warned not to get too aggressive with things as it is helping with pain, but the pain will still be there when the shot wears off.

We had a fun weekend planned in Lawrence to do Christmas shopping. Although I went in with Carrie, I ended up staying in the car for most of the time we were in Lawrence. 

Here I am on Monday evening writing up my post for last week. We did make it out to the rally Wednesday evening to welcome back our Ichabods Soccer team after finishing second in the NCAA Div II tournament. They had a great season and I am able to say I went to three or four of their home games thanks to my sister-in-law Erin who had a friend playing for the team.

That is all for now as I am going to rest some more and hopefully be back up walking around here soon. Until next time...

Oliver Lost Weight After Stomach Issues but Doing Better Now... Hoping Continues to be Healthy

Sleepy Oliver

Oliver finally seems to be back to his old self. He turned 12 back in June and then the first week or so of July he had a lot of teeth pulled. Since he had his teeth pulled, he had not been doing well. Eating oddly, although he has eat odd since he was a puppy, but mainly having bowl movement (BM) issues. Multiple visits to the vet, various bills, and finally this past week he got back to "normal".

When we took him to the vet on August 1 to get a shot to help with a urinary tract infection they had found the week prior after taking a urine sample. We wondered if this might have been what was causing him to have BM problems for most of July. As he was having stomach issues, we decided instead of pills, we would get the shot. While he was at the vet on August 1 they recorded his weight and found he had lost more weight. We noticed we could feel his ribs and bones on his rump. Sure enough, he had been losing weight. They told us to start having him eat a can a day. Typical Oliver though, he decided he did not want to eat the wet canned food any more. So, we switched him back to his kibble on Saturday and he is doing much better. 

Since he has started eating regular, we did start giving him treats again as well as his chicken he loves. It was tough when he was having BM issues but still hungry to leave the house and not give him a treat or biscuit. He would look at us as if we were made at him with big old puppy dog eyes. Yet he still greeted us when we would come home from work or being gone.

For now, we are happy he is doing better and make to himself. Hoping no more setbacks for him with eating, weight, or health. Thank you for the comments and share of concern for our baby Oliver. 

Nothing to Say First Part of February… So Rambling Away I Go…

One of those weeks where I cannot think of anything to write about, so I see this as being a rambling post for this Sunday update. Let’s see where this takes me as I write.

We are already five days into February 2023. Hard to believe that January has come and gone. With Carrie being in the hospital in January (see Not a Fun Start to 2023), that made the month fly by and not in a good way. She finished up her last IV appointment this past weekend, but will be taking antibiotics orally for the next two weeks. She is doing well and I appreciate everything who has asked about her status since I did the update a few weeks ago on her hospital stay. Carrie and I will be happy once she is off of the antibiotics and the infection is completely gone.

Now that we are into the month of February, I find myself starting to wonder about our camping sites for this year. We have not made any plans, but we have begun to think about spots. We have thrown out the idea of visiting a camping site near an away football location for Washburn next Fall, but still discussing to see what would make sense and whether it would work out. I think we want to try some new places for our camping sites, but no decisions made yet. Hoping by March we will have some sites booked and planned out for the summer.

In about a month, we will have March Madness, but still a lot of basketball to play before the madness begins. We continue to enjoy attending home Washburn basketball games. We are 8-2 at home, but 1-8 on the road. We missed a few home games when Carrie was in the hospital, but we have been back to the most recent games. Our next home game is February 11 and only three more home games for the season for Washburn.

Kansas Jayhawks have been frustrating to watch here recently too. We lost three games in a row a week or so ago and we were swept by Iowa State this season. KU is 18-5 on the season but 6-4 in conference play. Frustrating to watch at times, but still a lot of season to play.

Baseball season is right around the corner. Recent news from YouTube TV is that MLB Network is gone from the service. While we have not had Royals broadcasts in a few years, I was able to watch MLB Network or even subscribe to MLB.TV through YouTube TV to watch games, but all of that is gone. Contract disputes between MLB and YouTube TV have the service removed. 

I have read a few thoughts from others that they think it will be renewed as Spring Training begins, but guessing that is not the case and lose it completely. While it makes sense it would be removed around this time as it was added a year ago at this time just before Spring Training was starting. I am surprised that only a one year contract was done between the two entities. Granted, I will be able to watch games that are on ESPN, TBS, etc., but it was nice to have all the games (except my local Royals) to watch.

I would be remiss if I did not share that the Kansas City Chiefs are in the Super Bowl a week from today. I am a bit superstitious, so it will be interesting as we lead up to kickoff next week for the big game. Yes, I realize what I do has no impact on the outcome, but it makes me feel better and connects me to the team. So, get ready for the big game and hoping that two weeks of being off will give time for us to heal and be ready to play.

That is all the rambling I can do for today, so have a great week. 

Exercise, Weight Watchers, and Journey to Healthy Weight After Two Months of Weight Watchers

I started Weight Watchers back on August 14, 2022. I have been consistently tracking what I eat each week even when I knew it was going to be well over my points for that day. I have had a few days where I have gone way beyond the points for the day. I laughed because when I started Weight Watchers my daily points was around 42. After the first week, that dropped to 32 a day. I am enjoying the process and I think it is going well.

Here is history of my initial week through this weekend.

Date	Weight	Change	Since Start
10/28/22	236.8	-.6	-20.4
10/21/22	237.4	-1.2	-19.8
10/14/22	238.6	-4.2	18.6
10/7/22
10/1/22	242.8	-4	-14.4
9/25/22	246.8	+.4	-10.4
9/18/22	246.4	-5.4	-13
9/4/22	249.6	-1.2	-7.6
8/28/22	250.8	-2.4	-6.4
8/21/22	253.2	-4	-4
8/14/22	257.2	0	0

Overall, I have lost 20.4 lbs since my start. I am happy with the progress but still a long way to go. The only week I did not weigh in was the week of October 7. We had just returned from being out of town and did not get weight tracked that week. I am happy overall with how I have done after two months. Only one week where I gained week at weigh-in time, so not bad. I want to lose about another 30 - 35 lbs.

I was doing my day to weigh-in on Sunday morings, but realized if I moved my day to weigh-in to Friday morning, that might look a little better. Actually, this is a recent change where I started to do my weigh-in on Friday morning. The largest weeks to lose weight were August 21, September 18, September 25, October 1, and October 14. I am not sure why those days I lost more weight than other weeks. I know at some point I will have a period where I will gain weight or not lose anything at all. I am prepared mentally for those to occur and will not be discouraged.

I like how my clothes are fitting and I feel great! It is amazing what losing double digit pounds can do for my own internal image. It makes me feel great and I do not want to go back to the weight I was previously or how I felt when I was larger. I told someone recently that the largest I have been in my life was during 2020/2021 as I did nothing at all during that time except work, eat, drink, and sleep. I knew I had to do something when we started going back into work and my work clothes did not fit. Things had to change!

 So, I am off to a good start and a long way to go. I am enjoying exercising and I have things that keep me motivated. For me, that’s what it takes to keep me working out is to have motivation for the workout. For me, I like having an Apple Watch that tracks my workouts, heart rate, etc., so I can see that mapped out on my progress. The Weight Watchers app that tracks my weekly weight and let’s me know how I am doing also helps to keep me motivated. As I mentioned, I know that at some point I will have gains but hoping the losses are larger than the gains. I have to keep the motivation and encouragement to myself to keep this going.

As we move into winter months and it continues to get colder, I want to make sure I can run at least once a week. I am thinking about joining the Student Rec at Washburn again, but then I feel bad when I go months without using the gym. So, I am still thinking about it on whether I would want to join the gym just to be able to use the treadmill or weights. It is making sense to me and the cost is low, so I might do it at some point.

I will post another update around December/January, so hoping to still be positive and good news about my weight loss the next time. Until then, I will keep my bike riding, running, and walking to stay active.

Enjoy your workout and until next time, keep the workout going…