Getting Healthy Ain’t Pretty

Earlier this year I shared a post about accountability. The idea was that if I publicized some of my own health goals for 2020, I could leverage the community to hold me accountable and maybe inspire someone to make a health plan of their own. Well, a week after that post I got a call from a very good friend of mine. He said he had been putting off having hernia surgery for years and that my piece was just the push he needed to schedule the surgery.  

Awesome! This goes to show that we never know what will have an impact on others; even small things we say and do can make a difference. 

With that, I gladly give you my first update of the year. I’ll be honest, it is not necessarily all pretty. The first major change I’ve made is that Stacy (my wife) and I have been going to the gym each weekday morning from 5-6am. That’s going pretty well thus far and I’m enjoying spending the extra time with her. Second major life change: I have not had a sip of alcohol since New Year’s Eve. This is not a huge accomplishment per se, but I am a social drinker so this has taken getting used to as I am quite social. I’ll save my additional thoughts on alcohol for a later post, but let’s just say club soda and limes – a lot of limes – have been my friends lately.

Additionally, here’s what I signed up to do over the first 90 days of 2020 and the current status of each:

• Dentist – DONE; No cavities.
• Optometrist – Can’t go until March (insurance reasons).
• Dermatologist – DONE; No prescription changes, but they recommended some cyst removals. More on that shortly.
• Physical Therapy/Functional Movement Test – DONE; No additional torn ligaments (I have some meniscus tears in my knee) but they gave me some at-home exercises for both my shoulder and knee to strengthen specific muscles.
• Annual Physical – Not Done; May not be needed until later this year, see item below.
• Holistic Evaluation with an Integrative Physician – Half Done; Met with a nutritionist and we are going to do a bunch of interesting/innovative tests (bloodwork, fecal, sensitivity, genetic testing). I’m really excited about this part because I think it will drive most of my behaviors moving forward. However, because I just went on antibiotics I have to wait to do the tests. More on that in a second. 

As stated earlier, my health journey has not been completely smooth. I went last week to a plastic surgeon to have two cysts removed from my forehead. This was my first and hopefully only trip to a plastic surgeon. Sitting in the waiting room, I was looking around wondering what everyone else was there for. The surgeon removed a lipoma and a small osteoma from my head. The procedure went well, and I was sent home with some stitches.  

But then, three days later I promptly came down with a sinus infection that caused visible swelling around my eyes and nose, hence the antibiotics mentioned above. I was starting to feel a little better and the forehead pain was decreasing so I went to the gym. I was doing some of those at-home exercises mentioned above when a workout band slipped off my foot, sling-shotting the band back at me and smacking me square across the face (nose, eye, and forehead). I cannot even begin to describe to you the pain. 

(I’m thankful, though, that my injuries were so limited, as it really could have been worse. Let this serve as an unofficial PSA about the dangers of workout bands.)

In summary, my forehead is bandaged from the stitches, my nose and sinuses are still visibly swollen, and now I have a scraped up nose and a semi-black eye. :: sighs ::

On the brighter side, the lack of alcohol, better eating, cyst removal, and more consistent working out has seen my weight decrease by about 10 pounds in 2020 thus far. So, there’s that!