An echocardiogram and a catch-up with friends

So the only reason I went to the gym today was my self-imposed two-week challenge. I told myself on Sunday that I would go to the gym 5 out of 7 days of the week. I chose 5 days so as not to stress myself out with saying that I needed to go everyday. On Monday, I was forced to stay at work a bit late and had a dinner planned with a friend already, so that was day number 1 that I had to miss and Saturday's gym hours don't mesh well with my work schedule, so I knew that would be no gym day number 2 this week. Thus, despite not wanting to go to the gym today, I went anyway to fulfill my two week challenge goal. It wasn't that bad since I just did cardio, but man, cardio is kicking my butt lately.

Anywho, today was my first day on primary care. I had my lectures for my program today (OB/GYN) nice and early - from 6-8 a.m. and then I didn't have to work until 9 a.m. I spent some time checking up on emails and then I drove over to the office and talked to Nasur for a bit. In the morning, I worked with a doctor and because I don't have the ability to document or see their schedules, I'm basically a medical student. This is good because I don't have to do much work, but bad because I feel pretty useless. Anywho, we had a patient with a bicuspid aortic valve. This just means that there are two parts to the valve when there are supposed to be three. This leads to some heart problems later in life on occasion and usually requires a valve replacement. My dad had a bicuspid aortic valve and he had his valve replaced. This condition is somewhat hereditary - if your parents or siblings have it, your chances of having it are slightly increased - not super substantially, but somewhat. Anywho, upon telling the doctor this, he asked if he could listen to my heart. I said sure and he told me he heard a grade I systolic murmur, which is like the quietest murmur ever. There are lots of causes for it - could be a valve problem such as my dad's - it could be anemia or it could be a trick of the ears ;-) In medical school, you're pretty much told that unless you're a cardiologist really listening for heart problems, it's usually missed because it's that quiet. But, the doctor said he could hear it and then scheduled me for an echocardiogram. So, I had the afternoon off to go have an ultrasound of my heart.

Now, ultrasound techs aren't doctors, so they're not technically allowed to say what they think or what they see. But, when she got to that part of the ultrasound, she showed me my aortic valve and it had the Mercedes Benz sign, meaning my aortic valve is normal, thank you very much. 

When I got home, I took a lovely nap until 6:30 p.m., got up, and then went to the gym with my perfectly healthy heart and came home and made a sandwich while video chatting with my two roommates from college. It was really lovely being able to catch up with them. We usually have a video chat every 1-2 months to catch up on each other's lives. It's always great hearing from them and knowing that I've got some friends in warmer climates if/when I need to get out of Michigan. The temperatures have majorly dropped this week - like 50s to 60s during the day and I am super jealous of their continued summer weather. I can't wait to move out of this cold state!

Lunch: leftover chicken parmesan

Breakfast today

Tomorrow I have clinic in the morning and then have the afternoon off, so I think I'll do a good hard workout at the gym tomorrow afternoon. Then I'm going to have dinner with one of the other interns at the Original Pancake House. They have chocolate chip pancakes that are to die for. I'll keep it chill by just getting them as a side item because the portion is smaller.

Also, yesterday, we went out to dinner as a program for fun and I took the bacon off my sandwich and didn't eat it. That's a HUGE thing for me because a) bacon = meat candy and b) see reason a.  But, it looked like it was really cheap bacon that had been waaaay overcooked and I didn't want to waste the calories on something so mediocre. I also didn't eat my coleslaw because that's all mayo anyway. Good for me!

Okay, that's it for me, folks. I'll catch you tomorrow.

Getting into the swing of things again

Today started out rough. I had such a hard time getting out of bed. Physically. Like my back hurt so much. I've never had pain like that before. I had to use the wall to walk myself to the bathroom and getting into the shower was a struggle. I just stood under the hot water, willing my muscles to calm the eff down. Eventually, they quieted themselves, but today was still a struggle.

The rest of the day was okay. It was Columbus day, so the clinic was pretty slow. I had one surgery at the end of the day and then I walked my butt over to the medical education building and worked out. It was just a cardio day - 40 minutes of the elliptical. I had the place to myself until about halfway through my workout. Two men were in the teeny room with my sweating butt for the second half of my workout. But, I'm glad I went. Does my back feel better? Not really, buuuut it's hopefully a step in the right direction!

Here is today's [phone] documentation of breakfast:

I had other photos from the day, but my phone hasn't yet uploaded them to the cloud or wherever they go, so I guess you'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Update: Here are the rest of the day's photos:

Tomorrow's goal is to do some strength training post-work. I'm pretty sure I'll be pretty dead by the end of the day because it's a surgery day, but I'm going to do it for you! Anyone want to join me on my slightly less than two week challenge? Lisa's setting some goals for herself and is going to join! We'd love the company.

Committing to myself

Okay, you guys. It's been a loooong time since I've posted. Sorry about that. I work crazy hours and when I get home, vegging is all I want to do. I promise to stop that.

I've been in North Carolina for exactly two weeks and I pretty much love it. Charlotte is a great city - it has the city feel, but at the same time it's not a big city and there's not crazy traffic or any of the gross stuff that comes with big cities. I also really love the people that I've been working with. They're all about teaching and letting my try my hand at things. And if I'm struggling, they encourage me instead of yelling at me. Feeling comfortable when you're being taught and trying new things makes a HUGE difference in your success. I'm used to being terrified into silence or being too scared to try anything new. Now, however, I'm a baller at closing skin with subcuticular stitches(translation: I can make it look like your incision was never there) and I'm quite independent with my patients. Makes me feel good. The only thing I don't love about this program is that their gynecology numbers are kind of on the low side and I want as much gynecology exposure as I can get.

I've been really bad about getting up and moving since I got here. I typically get up around 4 or so to get to the hospital around 5 or so and then when I get home around 5, I'm pooped. And this wouldn't be too bad because you get a lot of exercise walking around the hospital and standing during surgery, buuuut they have snacks EVERYWHERE and I have been taking major advantage. They also feed us lunch, and occasionally, they feed us breakfast. It's great that it's free, but when there's free food, something in me snaps and I eat way more than necessary. Tomorrow, this stops. I'll be eating breakfast at home, taking pics for you, and making an effort to make a legitimate dinner again (with photos for you). I'm also going to use the free gym at the hospital to work out.

Sooo, now it's time to set up another challenge for myself - it's just one to help me feel better. My challenge is to eat breakfast everyday at home and to work out every day after work. I've been having major back pain for the last 2 days and I know it's because I'm sitting a lot at home, neglecting my core, and not working out. Now that I've made the goal and made up my mind to stop being a bum, I'm going to commit. It's just taken a while to get situated and even though I have a little less than 2 weeks left, it's better than nothing! So, yay for my slightly less than 2 week challenge!

Catch you guys tomorrow!

Two-Week Challenge Day One

Gah. So, my two-week challenge started off on the wrong foot with me not exactly waking up to go to the gym. And by not exactly, I mean, I woke up at 5 and promptly set my alarm back to 7 because both my hips and knees were aching. I'm guessing my hips hurt from sitting in the car so much and that my knees were hurting because they suck. Sooo, I shall be extending my two-week challenge to Tuesday, May 17 since I didn't go to the gym. But I did have a nice breakfast!

Anyway, this morning was also rough because Carrie is super annoying. She's one of those people who overshares and doesn't care if you want to listen. She just volunteers pointless things. You could be doing data work-up or simply trying to read your e-mail and she just continues to chatter away. So this morning I got to hear about how Grace (her two-year-old) insists on calling her "Carrie," and how she had a strange dream about tornadoes, her house sinking into the ground and then being washed away. Yup, I'm definitely better for knowing all that...


I sought refuge in the lab as soon as I could, made two samples, and cleaned the lab while hoping that Mike would give me something to do. After talking to Matt on the phone (something that made my morning infinitely better), I found something to do waiting in my inbox for me! Hooray! The bad thing is that it's another fallout project. It seems I am always the person who gets the projects where stuff is falling out and I have to work on fixing it. Hmm. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but it was nice to have something to do.


At lunch, I made an English muffin pizza which I haven't done in forever. And because I have sushi (and it makes such a lovely addition to pizza), I had some of that too. Yum!

After eating my scrumptious lunch, I got my gym stuff ready and printed out an Amazon gift card for Mark since his birthday is Thursday. I was planning to give it to him Wednesday, but he is going to Florida with his girlfriend my competition Wednesday-Sunday. So, I shall be missing him sorely this week.


After lunch, I worked on some different samples to try to figure out why one of them is chock full o' copper (and super green) while the rest of them are fine. Then, I went to the meeting regarding our product that has fallout problems. Apparently this is much worse than the last product with fallout and so the meeting, which was scheduled for a half hour, turned out to last an hour and a half. But, it was an hour and a half spent actually doing stuff, so I didn't mind at all. Although, I must say, it was kind of weird being the only girl (there were five men) and the youngest person there. And it was even more strange that they wanted my opinion. I'm just a lowly researcher and developer.


After the meeting, Mike and I started working on some of the stuff we decided at the meeting (everyone else there kinda just gets to go, "Wow. That sucks. You're the chemists. You figure it out. We'll put a spin on this bad news.). So my day ended up being very productive.


Then I went to the gym. I was kind of dreading this because I was afraid Mark was going to make me do tons of cardio want to vomit and so I really just wanted to go home and cancel. But, I went and then we ended up doing strength training pretty much the whole time. So I even did more cardio on my own after. Crazy, I know.


I got home and heated up some gnocchi I got at Trader Joe's yesterday and watched last week's Grey's Anatomy and 30 Rock.

After that, I did some Just Dance 2. I don't know why I stopped playing that game. I love it. I danced for a little over a half hour and have now settled down to tell you about my day. Shortly, I shall wash up for bed and then head to sleep early so that 5:00 a.m. is not terribly painful (though I doubt there will ever come a day when that's true).


Also, don't forget to check in for my calorie totals and daily affirmation!

An A-Maize-Ing Weekend and a Two-Week Challenge

Hello again! I'm so glad you're still reading this despite the fact that my updates have been sporadic and sometimes pointless. This weekend I went to Ann Arbor to see some of my friends who are graduating and join them in graduation festivities. It seems so crazy that at this time last year, I was making my way to the Big House to see Obama speak and leave the University I once called home. Oh, nostalgia.

Anywho, my first stop was Lavender Graduation to see a few people special to me graduate.

Anthony and me

Matt and me

Cohen joined me for this very long ceremony and then, Matt, Anthony, and I enjoyed a lovely dinner afterwards.

[Rachel] Cohen and me

Sushi for dinner - yum!

I also attended Matt's Native graduation where he was honored for being an amazing undergraduate and received a Pendleton blanket (read: really expensive Native blanket)

Matt

Alumni and graduate

After Native graduation, Anna, Matt, Anthony, and I headed out to celebrate a bit more and called it a night at around midnight as we were all pretty exhausted.

Saturday I got my hair cut and then Anna picked me up to hang out on North campus. The lovely thing about hanging out with Anna is that we love (and hate) all the same things. So it's really easy to talk about everything going on in my life because she understands everything I'm saying without me needing to provide any background information. After seeing Anna, Matt came and picked me up so we could head to see Needtobreathe, my favorite band, in Spring Arbor.

Though the concert was alarmingly short, I had a good time. Unfortunately, they only played their best-known songs, so we missed out on quite a bit of good music. But, they played a beautiful acoustic song at the end and I was glad we were able to go.

After the concert, Matt and I headed to meijer to grab some strawberries and Lean Cuisines. As a little note, I'd like to say that it's ridiculous how supportive my friends are in this health journey of mine. Matt is not the only one who suggested ways to keep things healthy this weekend and I really want to say thank you to them - it's making this a lot easier!

After we got back, we settled in to watch Singin' in the Rain, which I think, is officially our movie. And then because we're like an old married couple, we headed up to bed to read for a while before going to sleep. It was perfect.

Today I met up with Anthony, Cohen, and Anna for lunch at Cottage Inn. I was really craving marinara sauce (I don't know why) and the pizza really hit the spot. Plus, it's always more fun sharing a meal with friends, despite the waitress being really angry for no apparent reason.

After lunch, Anthony went grocery shopping with me. We headed to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's where I got tons of delicious (and nutritious!) food. But, sadly, after grocery shopping, I headed home. I spent the majority of my drive home in a funk because now that the school year is over, I don't have a central location to visit to see all of my friends. You have no idea how hard this is going to make the next few months. Sigh.

So, let's move on to something a tad happier. I've decided to do a two-week challenge. This is nothing official, but something I'd like to do for myself. I have decided that since I've been a bit derailed due to my sinus infection (I'm still draining - ughs), I need to get back on track. Thus, everyday for the next two weeks, I am planning to do the following:

1. Go to the gym every single morning (gah)
2. Log all of my calories (and post a snapshot)
3. Drink at least four water bottles of water
4. Not go out to eat (exception: my birthday)
5. Play Just Dance 2 once a day

I'm hoping forcing myself to do this for the next two weeks will set a good tone for the next few months. My goal is to lose 10 pounds in 28 days. That's about 2.25 pounds/week. I know that's a lot, but I'm certain that if I can stick to this, I can do it. So by May 30, I should be at about 218 pounds. Let's do this!

How are you guys doing? Have you ever set goals for yourself? What helps you to achieve them?