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today was doctor day. my asthma has been a bit out of control, my iron levels needed checking, and there was this little thing about my blood pressure shortly after we arrived that was a concern for the first doctor i saw out here. i felt really lucky to get an appointment so quickly (i made the appointment 3 weeks ago - and that time frame is almost unheard of in cali) without needing to be in the office at 8 am.
so, the good news is that my iron levels were good from my test a year ago. since i've been on the same regimen for my iron ever since, we're assuming they're still good and are now going to try to wean me off the ultra high iron intake i'm on. i've been taking 5 - 27mg softgels a day, plus the iron in my daily centrum (which amounts to 100% of what a person is supposed to have). we're going to bring me down to 3 softgels a day then check my iron in a few months and see how i'm doing.
my cholesterol was also good, although the good cholesterol was a little low - not one of those to be concerned things, just something to note and keep an eye on. everything else looked good though, which is nice. being overweight has had it's downside in more ways than one, but my blood work has almost always been good, other than the anemia. i've been wanting to cut back on my iron intake for awhile, but have been afraid to without knowing what the results of my last blood tests were, so it's nice that i can finally start trying to wean off the iron. hopefully my body will start picking up the slack when it needs to.
one interesting bit to note was that i apparently was not starting menopause last year. perhaps it was the stress of the move and maybe a 2 or 3 pound weight gain that so drastically affected my period. lately i've been more spotty than anything, but i think my weight has stabilized again, at least for the time being. we'll keep an eye on this as well.
as for my asthma, i'm apparently on the lowest dose of my current medication that a person can take. so, we're increasing that until the medication is all gone, then i'll be switching to a new medication that's apparently stronger and better formed for getting into the lungs the way it's supposed to. and i'll be starting to do peak flow checks at home where i breath into this tube that measures how strong my lung capacity is. this will tell me when i'm in trouble and need to go see a doctor again. hopefully everything will get back under control again pretty quickly. i think i've tried the new medication they gave me once and didn't like it, but breathing is a far more important thing than liking what i have to take to keep breathing.
the bad news is my blood pressure. it's still elevated. not a lot and not in the danger zone yet, but the fact that it hasn't gone back down since we've settled in is a bit of a concern for me. i figured the trip, with its high stress and meals of processed foods, was what brought it up. we've settled back into our premove diets, for the most part, and i've even become more active with work, so i'd hoped my bp had gone back down. since it hasn't, it's time to reevaluate a few things and make changes - most of which i have mixed feelings about. fresh fruit and veggies are a very cool change, but they are an expensive change. still, some of the things we need to cut might help make up for the higher price in the healthier food.
so, we're making food changes to help both saxy (high cholesterol) and me (high blood pressure). the big concern is the fish saxy needs to eat. i doubt we can serve fish 3 times a week, but we have to aim for at least once. fish is not cheap, especially the kinds of fish they talk about in the health book we picked up - salmon, halibut, mackerel, and herring. and we have to add fresh fruits and veggies to our meals. we're going to have salads with dinner every night, and decrease the size of our other portions. we already eat low fat, everyone else eats low sodium so i have to cut my salt intake, saxy needs to quit smoking again, and we both are going to have to cut our soda intake and start eating something for breakfast - which saxy likes to skip ("no time" he says - yea, right!).
we've also discussed setting up a routine with walking involved in the evenings. we'll come home, have supper as a family, clear the dishes, and walk for about 30 minutes as a family, which we also hope will tire the boy out. i'm also going to try to build up to 30 minutes or more of walking during my breaks at work.
so, yea, changes. changes for the better, i just hope we can make them a habit. we're even trying to bring the kids in on it, getting them more fruit they can eat; whole wheat bread instead of the cheap white stuff, and so on; buying healthier, low sugar cereal; and stuff like that. i know we need to do this - we've been at risk for some time now. i just worry about keeping up with the expense.
so much changing going on for us recently. it's hard to keep up, much less to keep motivated. but i want to see my little ones grow up, and their little ones grow up. these problems aren't serious yet, so, hopefully i can take care of them the way i'm supposed to, keep on track most of the time, and get everything back under control. that's the goal anyway.
for now, i'm off to install mt into a new section of alden.nu for my writing journals. finally feeling up to doing it, so might as well get it done and get those transfers made. :)
word of the moment: campestral
of or relating to fields or open country; rural |
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