Tuesday, March 06, 2012

4letter word: slather some margarine on that wonder bread

(** WARNING ** This possibly comes under the heading of Too Much Information, so if you don't care that much about my health, just move right along. I won't even notice you're gone, because ... well, you'd have to read it to find out. ha.)

So today, my doctor's orders are that I can eat white bread, white-meat chicken, chicken noodle soup without vegetables, tub margarine, 1 or 2 eggs, and nilla wafers.  That's up until 2:00.  After that, I can have jello that isn't red or purple, hard candies, gatorade, honey, sugar, and clear liquids.  Lots and lots of clear liquids.  and that's it until tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.

Is that not the nuttiest diet you've ever heard?  But it's just for 24 hours, because tomorrow I'm going in for a colonoscopy.  They're recommended when you hit 50.  If you're not in a medical family, you can probably ignore this, but I am, so I'm doing my duty and going.  I'll let you know how it is, but I promise to spare the details.  I bet Debbie knows what I have to do tonight, but I'm polite, so I'm not talking about it.  Just be assured that you will almost certainly have a more pleasant evening than I will.

So, that's not technically about the 4-letter word (diet).  The 4-letter word update is that I had my checkup with my regular doctor today (it's medical week here at Chez BeaN).  You may remember that last fall my cholesterol was WAY too high and my doctor gave me six months to try to get it down through diet and exercise.

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE............

The good news is that I lost four pounds, and since I gained weight over the holidays, that is even better than it sounds.  Since I'm in this for the long-haul, that is great.  I don't want to starve myself to lose ten pounds in three months and then gain it all back when I go back to eating normally.  I want to learn better eating habits, and I really do eat more healthily now.  So a 4-lb loss tells me that this will work eventually.  I just have to keep doing what I'm doing. 

The bad news is that my cholesterol did. not. change.  In fact, it was slightly higher-- 264.  And my bad cholesterol is up, from 178 to 185.  Without completely re-vamping my life so that all I do is exercise and fix raw foods, I don't see how I could do any more with diet and exercise to combat this.  The doc says this is clearly genetic, and since at least one of my sisters has high cholesterol, too, it's not a huge surprise.

So I have to start taking a statin.  I'm kind of bummed about this.  But if I don't like it, if the side effects are bad or it doesn't do any good, then I can stop.  No one is holding a gun to my head.  Dean says that statins are no big deal and I'm being a baby to dread it (well, he didn't say that, but he might possibly have inferred it). 

So that's it for me.  I'm off to eat another piece of white bread before 2 p.m.

10 comments:

  1. You're probably on your way to the colonoscopy right now, so I hope it went well. I'm surprised they let you eat at all the day before - I always get put on a clear liquid diet for an entire day before. And the worst part for me was the anesthesia - the pain-relieving part of it makes me sick to my stomach. So now I get pain, but at least I'm not sick for the rest of the day. Just remember, now matter how unpleasant the whole colonoscopy deal is, it is far, far better than colon cancer. And try to find Dave Barry's column on his colonoscopy, it's one of the funniest things I've ever read.

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    1. drinking the prep stuff was FAR, FAR worse than the actual procedure. No big deal. But excuse me, young lady, you are not 50, why are you talking about colonoscopies like you have them all the time? do you have some kind of risk factor?

      off to hunt down Dave Barry. I luuurve him.

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    2. OK, for those of you who just can't get enough of the whole colonoscopy scene, here is the link to the Dave Barry column: http://bit.ly/cAhNeq

      My experience was pretty much exactly the same except for two things, one of which I will not describe because I do like you to come back occasionally, and the other was that I did not sleep through it, I was awake the whole time. Which means.... get ready for it... you get to WATCH the journey through your colon on a screen in front of you. Like something out of Magic School Bus. Mrs. Frizzle showed up at the end with that little lizard thing and talked about polyps.

      OK, ok, she didn't. But read the Dave Barry article. Oh, and I didn't get Dancing Queen, either. Dangit.

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  2. Family history - grandfather died of colon cancer, aunt with multiple polyps, mom has had polyps so in I went at 45 and ta-da, polyp found. Given the family history and the polyp I'm on an every three year schedule, plus I have to get endoscopies every two years because I have GERD and an eroded esophagus which can lead to esophageal cancer. So I am VERY familiar with the whole process. The endoscopy procedure is only the clear liquid then nothing after midnight since they don't need to look at the (ahem) lower half of the digestive track. Yeah, drinking the prep stuff is just nasty.

    Glad you made it through okay. I wouldn't mind watching; I kind of like all that medical stuff. Magic School Bus! *snort*

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    1. Oh, well, that explains it. They found one polyp on mine yesterday, so depending on lab results, I will go to a 3-year or 10-year schedule. He said it didn't look very suspicious, so I'm optimistic for the 10-year version.

      Julie says we should keep chatting, so I have a question for you: what's up with your blog? I miss reading it.

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    2. I miss it TOO!!!! Karen!

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  3. Okay, ick. Both of you!

    Barb, glad you are done with this. Karen, glad you are well and staying alert to these issues. Now, can we STOP talking about it?!

    (Kidding, off to read Dave Barry's version, you two, chat away. Healthy hugs to you both.)

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    1. I know, it is ick. Sorry about that. Loved the Dave Barry column, though.

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  4. White bread - yuck! Hope you are doing well.

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  5. I have a friend whose very fit / careful about food, but just has genetically high cholesterol too. Bummer.

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