Sick(ish) day

Today was another weird day. Because my doctor was in the office for half the day and doing colonoscopies for the other half of the day, he sent me to the OR with some of his partners for an interesting surgery. It was slated to be a long one: from 8:30 a.m. to at least 3:30 p.m. if not longer. I geared up by sleeping in as late as possible, eating a suitable breakfast and hoping for the best.

For the most part, med students don't do much but retract and watch during surgeries. Such was the case today. That being said, you have more time to tune into your body or your thoughts. Usually, it's both. I'm thinking about things or how much my back hurts/feet hurt/stomach hurts (cuz I'm hungry) and so on. Usually, it starts with my back hurting and then after 3-4 hours, I realize how hungry I am. Not the case today as I got to sit given that it was laparoscopic and there were screens to watch and for some reason, I never got hungry - I got nauseous. Like really nauseous.

And then I was called upon to do some pretty integral retracting and bam - a really terrible headache hit me. Around 1 p.m., I had to scrub out to take some ibuprofen, hydrate, and eat some grapes, hoping to settle my stomach. I went back in, was actually needed, and then bowed out at 2:30 p.m. to go home because I couldn't stop burping and was afraid I might throw up. The nurses were all worried that I'd pass out (some people pass out because they can't stomach surgery), but it wasn't that at all. It was me feeling like I was going to vomit at any time and that my head might explode.

I can home, whined to Nasur about how awful I felt, and then took a 3.5 hour nap and woke up with my headache being left-sided and much better, but definitely not gone. And since orals are tomorrow, I'm studying my bum off. But I'm still tired and will probably go to bed soon. So, no workouts and no photos for you. There are some on my camera, but I'm not feeling it. 

Here's to hoping tomorrow is much more awesome!

Today's positive: doctors being kind enough to not scold me for feeling awful.

A hate-hate relationship

My stomach hates me and I hate my stomach. I don't know why I'm nauseous so much lately, but I am. I got nauseous last night and thought it'd be gone by morning (because it usually is), but nope. Still there today. I ate a normal breakfast despite the nausea thinking that I'd feel better with some food in me. WRONG. Miserable. Just miserable.

So I came home and ate some light clam chowder with saltines, some salty pretzels, hit the gym, felt fine at the gym, came home, felt gross again, ate salty pretzels, spent waaaaay too much time in the bathroom, went to school and visited with friends, came home, spent more time in the bathroom, and am now sitting here confused as to whether the noises in my stomach are hunger noises or pissed off noises.

So, yup. That's my life.

Also, today on the way to the gym I put my heart rate monitor strap on, forgot I'd done that, went looking for it everywhere, called the gym to see if it was in the lost and found...all while wearing the damn strap. My mind is clearly gone. Whatevers.

Food photos for the day:

Counter to success

After giving it some considerable thought, I've decided what I want to give up this Lent for the sake of my own health. I haven't yet decided if this will be for 100 days or just for Lent, but I'm sure I'll figure that out eventually. The most important thing is that I'm going to give up sweets and weighing myself. I want to focus on being more healthy, rather than focusing on a number, so I thought that both these things would help me get back on track.

I've tucked my scale into the bathroom closet (so as to avoid temptation) and I will hopefully easily avoid sweets since I don't keep them in my apartment. That being said, I think if I'm offered a sweet, I'll simply say, "No thank you," or "I'm good." I don't want to make myself feel compelled to give a reason because then I won't feel as though I have to explain my future diet either.

I'm also going to try to go this 100 days without eating after 8pm. That'll be hard (I think), but I'm pretty sure if I can use this as extra motivation, I could kick the habit for good.

Anyway, today was my second "full" day on psych. I'm discovering that "full" days on psych are not full days at all. Today I worked from 8:30 to noon, which was awesome. Yesterday I got to leave at 2pm. I like it. I think this will help me get my butt to the gym more.

My goal is 3-4 times per week. I haven't been yet this week. It was my intention to go today after class, but I was suuuuuuper hungry. So I came home for a snack and then decided I could watch a lecture while I digest. Next thing I knew, I was super nauseated. I waited three hours for my stomach to settle and ended up making some soup and eating some salty pretzels for dinner. I'm guessing that my body is detoxing a bit from all the hell I put it through yesterday. So, I will try again tomorrow. I'm bringing my gym bag to work with me so I can just go right after since my drive to work is right past the gym.

Food photos for you:

Breakfast feast since I've found that eating more in the AM helps me avoid 11am hunger pains

Lunch, which I got to have at home!

Afternoon snack, which may or may not have made me nauseated

Dinner: light clam chowder with saltines

Salty pretzels to help settle my stomach...didn't work.

I also decided to add this little counter at the bottom to count my success. It'd be cool to see the numbers creep closer to 100 (or in the case of the gym, 42-56).

Counter to Success!
Gym days this week: 0
Total gym days during this challenge: 0
Days without sweets or weighing myself: 1
Days without eating past 8 p.m.: 1