I’ll be back to normal shortly

All those years of playing smash-mouth football, and basketball, for that matter, may have finally caught up with me. We’ve had an unusually bad year for allergies, and I finally went to a nose specialist to see what I could do to improve my breathing. He said there was probably nothing that could be done unless he corrected my deviated septum.

I’m not real big on going to doctors and I’m even less fond of surgery, but the condition has bothered me so much recently that I didn’t hesitate and scheduled the surgery as quickly as I could, two weeks as it turned out. I finally had it done Friday morning, and was told that it went well; I was home by noon.

If I’d known what recovery involved, however, I might not have rushed into the surgery quite so quickly. They sent me home with a large bottle of powerful painkillers, and, for a change, I’m actually using them. I have a high tolerance for pain and seldom use a quarter of the pills they send me home with. That’s not been the case this time. I’ve had mind-numbing headaches ever since Friday morning, not to mention nausea and alternating chills and heat flashes. This morning is the first time I’ve felt even close to “normal.”

Perhaps that’s partially due to the fact that I finally got a walk in yesterday afternoon. I didn’t realize that I wouldn’t be able to exercise for two weeks after the surgery, though walking is allowed. That’s almost harder than not being able to blow my nose for two weeks.

It seems truly ironic that the main reason I went to the doctor was so that I’d be able to breathe well enough to start jogging again, and now I can’t even think about jogging for at least two weeks, much less lift the weights I’ve been lifting the last month. Hopefully it won’t cause me to regain any of the weight I’ve managed to lose recently.

The mini-fast diet I started in August has worked wonderfully for me. Though I still haven’t reached the 175 pounds goal I set for myself last year, I’ve lost 2 to 2 1/2 pounds per week since I started the diet and am below 180 for the first time in years and years. It fits me perfectly. I find it relatively easy not to eat until lunchtime, particularly when I’ve exercised hard in the morning. I follow the diet at least 5 days a week, but revert to the normal three meals a day when Leslie’s home on weekends. I’ve lost 10 pounds in a month and suspect I’m going to be able to drop well below 175 pounds while still getting stronger. I haven’t felt this good in several years; even my arthritic hip feels better since I lost weight.

Hopefully, this week will turn out to be a minor setback. They take the splints out Thursday morning and I’m hoping that I’ll be back exercising even more the week after that. I would love to see if my breathing improves enough that I’ll have less problems hiking up mountains before the snows return to the Olympics and the Cascades.