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Yeah Mark, I know, if I'm going to torture myself, I should at least make it worthwhile and eat something really decadent. But the upside of crappy frozen pizza is, they don't put a whole lot of cheese on it, so less icky feeling for me than if I ate a good pizza. :p

Update 8/6/13: I'm having a surprisingly good day! Yesterday I was exhausted and felt crappy, I was really gassy and had bad heartburn for some reason (probably the after-effects of the pizza), and I just didn't feel well generally speaking. I struggled through yoga last night and then zonked out and slept like a rock, nearly slept through my alarm! I never, never do that - my usual way of waking up is to crack my eyes open anywhere between 3 and 5 AM, look at my alarm clock, work out the math in my head as to how long I still have to sleep (I get up at 6), and then drift back off into a light, uneasy sleep, waking up every 15-30 mins to check what time it is now. But last night, I didn't wake up even once, and I only finally woke up at 6:10! :p I feel very rested, completely the opposite from what I felt like yesterday. :) I wish I could sleep like that every night!

So I went to the gym today and that went great too. My shoulder hasn't given me any pain today, it feels like it's finally fully healed. I was able to do all the machines I wanted (except the abdominals, I'm still avoiding working the abs until we get this bleeding thing figured out) and I did all the reps I aimed for and barely even felt tired - didn't even break a sweat! My arthritis is even quiet today, not even a twinge of pain from hips nor knees, which is pretty much unheard of lately. So I'm having a very good day - I don't know how I lucked into this, maybe I'll eat pizza more often! :p Ha ha.

(Oh, and Mark, I had a DVD on in the gym while I was working out, of course it was K-pop music videos. My co-worker was in the gym for a bit and she complimented the music, she said she really liked it - hah! Okay granted, the music was Lee Hi - that's the female singer I posted a video of awhile back, the one that you said actually didn't make you want to puke. But still, I got complimented on my awesome taste in K-pop - yeah!)

So yeah, it's oddly a really good day. I don't trust it and I certainly don't expect to have a day like this again soon, but I'm also trying to enjoy it and make the most of it. I'm trying to eat healthier, too. For breakfast I had a homemade smoothie (almond milk, ice, soy-based protein/vitamin powder, honey and almond butter) and, okay, a donut. That was my one unhealthy food today - I am sometimes nauseous or just have no appetite in the mornings, so if I do have an appetite, I like to give myself a little treat. :) Snack was a can of sardines (healthy omega-3s) and a cup of miso soup (it's cold in my office, needed soup to warm up!). I also had 2 mugs of tea during the course of the morning. Lunch was a pasta salad (pasta, peeled cucumbers, hardboiled eggs, light viniagrette dressing - I didn't have anything else in the house that I could quickly throw in a pasta salad, but normally I'd add stuff like tofu and tomatoes and green peppers too - I can eat that stuff as long as the skin is removed). Dinner is cornish hens, which are currently cooking in the crock pot. I adore poultry in the crock pot, it's so easy and it comes out so nice and moist and juicy! And we always use the leftover juices to mix in with some instant mashed potatoes, yum yum. I know instant mash isn't the healthiest thing, but I wouldn't qualify it as junk food either. So yeah, the only really bad thing I've had today was the donut. I consider that a pretty successful day diet-wise.
 
[Lunch was a pasta salad (pasta, peeled cucumbers, hardboiled eggs, light viniagrette dressing - I didn't have anything else in the house that I could quickly throw in a pasta salad, but normally I'd add stuff like tofu and tomatoes and green peppers too - I can eat that stuff as long as the skin is removed). Dinner is cornish hens, which are currently cooking in the crock pot. I adore poultry in the crock pot, it's so easy and it comes out so nice and moist and juicy! And we always use the leftover juices to mix in with some instant mashed potatoes, yum yum. I know instant mash isn't the healthiest thing, but I wouldn't qualify it as junk food either. So yeah, the only really bad thing I've had today was the donut. I consider that a pretty successful day diet-wise.[/QUOTE]
Cat, you are making me SO hungry! lol on prep day no less. I have been craving doughnuts lately which is odd because I nornally don't eat them. If I get this gut thing figured out and get back to eating normal food I'm totally going to gain weight because I will eat doughnuts and bread and steak, and dessert!
 
Sorry Cindy! For a minute I forgot how torturous it is hearing about/seeing/smelling food when you're prepping! :( I swear, the last time I did prep, the few times I ventured to the couch in between potty breaks, there were pretty much only food commercials on TV. It all looked amazing, it was like a special kind of torture! I remember thinking, even tortured prisoners get bread and water, and don't have to watch these commercials! :p I hope you can eat something really delicious when your scope is over.
 
Sardines!!! Did you throw that in there just to see if we were really reading your posts? My dad loves those slimy little bastards! I could never look at them and think anything but bait!!
 
Mark, there was a thread quite awhile ago that David had started, about how sardines are really healthy & beneficial. The thread is here:
http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=31694&highlight=sardines
Ever since having read that thread, I've been trying to eat more sardines. I like them (they're too fishy for me to handle when I'm nauseous, but as long as I'm not nauseous I do fine with them). I have a hard time with a lot of healthy foods, so I take what I can get. I usually eat sardines once or twice per week.

Back to the subject of my diet & the heartburn I was experiencing - it was weird because I very rarely get heartburn. I assumed it was from the pizza. But then I realized, it was the cucumbers in my pasta salad! I thought back to the last time I ate cucumbers, which was awhile ago, and I had heartburn then too. How odd, because cucumbers seem cool and refreshing, not at all like something that would cause heartburn! So I'm moving cucumbers to the no-no list. Sigh, yet another veggie I can't tolerate. That's just great.

I'm thinking today is a rest day but I guess it'll depend on how my GI appt goes - if it's not great, then I may need to work off some frustration in the gym. So we'll see! If it's a good GI appt, then I'll be content to have a rest day.
 
Hawkeye, sardines do not give me heartburn. Most foods do not give me heartburn - my GERD is odd in that it is severe and I reflux the majority of the time, but I typically do not have heartburn. I do get fishy burps/vurps from sardines if I eat them before a workout (I had them as a snack at 11 AM yesterday, hit the gym around 1:30, and had a few fishy burps halfway through my workout). But other than fish burps, I don't get any bad effects from sardines. Fish burps are a little gross but certainly tolerable, so I'm happy to continue eating sardines. :)
 
I loved sardine when i was a child. I liked to eat them on crackers. Once I'm able to tolerate gluten again I'll to try them once more.
 
I don't really get heartburn but I don't eat raw cucumber because I can taste them for days afterwards through burps! I'm not eatin' sardines either...I don't care how good for me they are:)
 
Cindy, you don't need to put them on crackers - I usually don't, I just eat the sardines right out of the tin. Yum yum!

Mark, that's fine, more sardines for me! :p

Update 8/8/13: Yesterday was a rest day. I had a really good GI appointment so I didn't feel the need to work off any stress, ha ha. :) My GI agreed with me that I need another colonoscopy soon, so he put in an order for one, and he also was on board with switching up my meds after the scope. Even if the scope shows nothing, he's okay with me trying either Apriso or Pentasa. I'm hoping the scope shows *something* - I am going to do a crazy ton of abdominal exercises before the prep, to get the bleeding going. If my GI can at least figure out the source of the bleeding, then I'll be happy. He seemed to feel some inflammation in the LRQ when he palpated my abdomen, and he said it's likely that I'm in a mild flare. So, colonoscopy soon (not sure when, the scheduling dept hasn't called me back yet). I'm almost looking forward to it - my last colonoscopy 3.5 years ago was squeaky clean, no inflammation, everything looked totally normal, and the dozen or so biopsies all came back normal too. This time around is different with the bleeding though, and the flare symptoms are all different, so this scope could be a game-changer. Trying not to get my hopes up too much though because I know that usually just leads to massive disappointment.

So, yeah. That was a good, productive GI appointment and I'm quite happy with the plan. That takes a lot of worry off my mind - that even if I have a normal scope, I can still switch meds. And if the scope shows something, well that's even better! :) But having those worries taken off my shoulders made me rather complacent last night, so I sat on the couch and watched TV and didn't even think about exercising. A little stress/worry in my life is kind of a good thing, as it pushes me to get off my butt and work it out. Regardless, I'm going to the gym tonight - I'll have to find something else to be stressed about. Oh, I know - I have to go visit my family this weekend - yep, that'll do it! Anytime I have to see my parents and brother all at once, that is definitely stressful. :p Usually my brother shows up high, then as he's coming down he gets very annoyed and picks fights with people (usually with my mom), then she turns it around and tries to guilt trip both me and my brother, I shut down and retreat inside my own head because I'm just not having any of it, and we all leave angry - then later my mom will call me and make lame excuses for my brother's behavior but not actually apologize for anything. Oh yeah, the thought of that dynamic is going to make me hit the weights hard tonight! :p
 
Cat you look gorgeous! So proud of you, I know you've struggled so much and it is a wonderful thing you are doing for yourself :)

I am so inspired by you! My problem is I just don't know where to start. I used to be very fit and muscular and after 10 years on and off pred I don't even recognize my body anymore. I've gained 25 pounds which is a lot because I'm 5'3". I don't mean to jack your thread, I just wondered if you have any advice for me and others in my shoes.
 
What did you used to enjoy doing mountaingem? I would say start there but start slowly, listen to your body to see how much you can do and slowly build it up!

I only started exercising in January and I have build up my fitness a lot, I have been surprised at how quickly I have build up muscle and made visible changes in my body and strength. :)
 
MountainGem, no worries about jacking the thread! What type of exercise did you like to do back when you were more fit? Being on pred for that amount of time has probably robbed you of some bone & muscle mass, so weight-bearing exercise will be great for building yourself back up again. Do you have arthritis or other issues besides the IBD? I have arthritis in both hips, and I find that both stretching and strengthening exercises are well-tolerated, but stuff like jogging & walking cause me pain. I can sometimes do lower-impact cardio like bike riding, elliptical, etc. My favorite things are weight lifting and yoga, so I mainly do a lot of those, and that's been really beneficial for me.

My advice for you starting out is, start slowly, and if something hurts then don't do it or work around it. Don't push yourself through pain, listen to your body, and ease into it. If your body says rest, listen to it (that's been the hardest thing for me to do in this flare!). When I started lifting weights, I started by lifting very light weights twice a week. That went okay so I gradually increased the amount of weight and the number of reps I was doing, and within a couple months I was up to 3x per week. I always give myself a day in between lifting weights so that my muscles can heal, and often on the non-weight days I'll do yoga or cardio. But it took myself awhile to get up to that point, and it helped that I was in remission during most of the time that I was exercising. But, I'm in a mild flare lately (started flaring in May I think) and I'm still able to work out about 4 days a week, so it is possible to get some good workouts in even in a flare.

Honestly, if you're looking to lose weight, it's more about diet than it is exercise. My weight has not shifted much at all since I've been working out, although I have converted a lot of flab into muscle. My healthy pre-IBD weight was 136. Then I got sick and gradually lost weight over the course of a year, and dropped down to 115 at my lowest. At that point, my GI put me on Entocort, and I went up to about 140 lbs, so I gained back just a little bit too much. I was struggling to lose a few of those lbs, and then I was put on steroid suppositories for hemorrhoids, and those steroids made me gain another 6 lbs so I was at 146, my heaviest weight ever. That 6 lbs came back off once I stopped the suppositories thankfully, and I'm now back at 136 lbs and maintaining that. I still have a bit of a flabby tummy from the Entocort (I have a hard time working on my abdominal muscles lately, anytime I try it seems to cause me to bleed!) but my arms & legs are coming along very nicely, my back looks toned, and my hubby tells me that my butt is looking smaller and more toned too. :p I honestly don't care how I look though, my fitness goals are all about feeling better inside, being healthier, being in a better position to fight my illnesses, halting the progression of my arthritis, etc. It's still kind of weird looking in the mirror and seeing muscles! Particularly in this flare, I feel like sick girl, but in the gym and in the mirror I'm healthy girl. It's weird.

Sorry, that was a long ramble. I hope that helped a bit. Keep me posted on how you're doing! I'm obviously very excited about fitness and I'm happy whenever I can inspire someone on the forum to hit the gym! :D
 
Update 8/10/13: I had a rough day yesterday. I was planning on taking a rest day anyway, but then I found out an old co-worker had passed away. I knew he had cancer and wasn't doing well, but I hadn't heard any news from him in awhile, and I guess I just felt like no news is good news? I had actually been thinking about him on Thursday, I realized it had been awhile and I wanted to drop him a line. But on Friday, I found out he had died. That made me really sad, and when I get sad or depressed, I get super fatigued and can't do anything. I was barely functional and it wasn't good.

I'm feeling somewhat better today. We walked the dog first thing in the morning, then hit the gym around lunch time. At the gym, I warmed up on the Arc trainer. And I felt sluggish, like my legs just weren't going to move as fast as I wanted them to. Then, I did the assisted chin-up, and my arms felt strong, fresh, and just generally great. I figured out pretty quickly that I must have sapped my legs' strength by walking the dog - I'm not sure if it's a flare thing or what, since I'm sure I've walked the dog and hit the gym in the same day before.

When I go to the gym, I'm kind of like a little kid going to Disneyland for the first time. Like, a kid wants to go on ALL the rides. And I want to use ALL the weight machines. I know a lot of weight lifters will do a leg day and then an arm day, etc so that they can go to the gym every day. But I'm not like that, I like to do it all each time I'm there. I tend to alternate arms & legs, so I'll do an arm machine and then a leg machine and then an arm machine, etc. And I found that I felt great on all the arm machines, but tired & fatigued on the leg machines. It was a weird dynamic, going from struggling to feeling strong and back again.

I'm going to rest up the rest of the day. I feel wiped out!
 
Cat, I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the gym. I can understand your fatigue because every time I do things I get extremely tired. We went to the Garlic Festival today and walked around (slowly) for about an hour and I have been so tired since then I can barely move ! Ireally need to get my "go" back.
I like reading about your time on the arc trainer. That was my favorite machine when I was still going to the gym regularly. I miss it!
 
Cindy, I love the Arc trainer! It's pretty challenging and you definitely work up a sweat on that thing. I usually do it for about 10 minutes or so to warm up before lifting weights - I usually do the assisted chin-up machine first thing after my warm-up, and the Arc trainers are right near the chin-up machine at my gym, so I can keep an eye on it and see if it's available. I like hopping quickly from machine to machine without a lot of time in between, so I like to hop directly off the Arc trainer and go right to chin-ups. :) Oh, and I like that the Arc trainer doesn't seem to affect my arthritis negatively. Jogging, and to a lesser extent biking and walking do affect my arthritis, so cardio is not always my friend. But so far so good with the Arc trainer and the elliptical, they've never caused me pain.

I'm thinking ahead to 2 weeks from now - I have my colonoscopy on the 28th, so I'll be prepping on the 27th. I need to do some abdominal exercises to try to force myself to have another episode of bleeding. I'm thinking that on the 26th, I'll hit the gym at lunch and do the abdominals machine, plank position, sit ups, etc - whatever I can think of to work my abs hard. It won't be pleasant, but if I can cause the bleeding to happen then my GI should see where it's coming from when he scopes me. I'm also thinking, the evening of the 26th or the morning of the 27th, I'll go for a bike ride - that's often triggered my bleeding too (I need to keep my abs tight when riding, for balance & steering). So, that's the tentative plan. I usually don't exercise with this kind of thing in mind, to cause myself bleeding & probably pain (I usually get some pain, nausea, etc with the bleeding). But you gotta do what you gotta do to get diagnosed, right? It won't be pretty, but I feel it's necessary. I'm already getting nervous about it though. I think that causing myself trouble + doing prep is going to = a very bad time!
 
oh goodness! That does sound like a brutal plan. I understand why you want to get the bleeding going but between that and prep, I hope that your days go okay and that you feel all right. I'll be thinking of you!

With my bad back, I went betwee nthe Arc Trainer adn the elliptical because both are no-impact and very joint and back friendly. I used to about 45 minutes on each. the Arc Trainer is a great cardio work out and good for leg toning.
 
Update 8/13/13: Not a good update to report this time unfortunately. I had a really rough time in the gym yesterday! Usually, like 99% of the time, I feel great after a workout. Last night was the rare 1% where I felt worse afterwards. My GERD just went haywire. Usually I reflux anywhere from a little to a lot during a workout, and I'll belch and I'll feel water come up my throat, etc. But that's usually as bad as it gets. Yesterday, however, it was worse. I started vurping (vomity burps) and I felt actual chunks come up! I had spaghetti for lunch and when I vurped, it tasted like vomity spaghetti, it was so gross. When I vurp, I know it's a sign of worse things to come. Fortunately I had nearly finished my workout and was stretching when the vurps came on, so I was able to get to the locker room and take some Zantac and drink some water to try to calm things down. I went home and still didn't feel well at all, the nausea had kicked in and I knew that gastritis pain was going to follow if I didn't do something, so I took some Prilosec and a Zofran. That seemed to keep the symptoms somewhat at bay. I sat for the rest of the evening with my heating pad on my stomach, just trying to hold it together. It was pretty miserable and I'm still feeling rather nauseous and refluxy today. I tried eating a little something for breakfast and got really nauseous, blah.

I'm not sure why exactly my reflux decided to act up so badly yesterday evening. Okay, yes, I had spaghetti for lunch, and the tomato sauce is a known reflux trigger for me. But I've had spaghetti like a hundred times in the past without having an episode, and I ate it like 4 hours before I hit the gym, so I don't really get it. My reflux had been under pretty good control for quite awhile, I think it's been close to a year since I've had an episode this bad. I don't know if it's just a fluke then or if my hiatal hernia is getting worse or...??? No idea.

The scary part is, I really don't want this to happen when I'm doing prep. I know that abdominal exercises can exacerbate my GERD symptoms so I will be pretty much playing with fire by trying to make myself bleed for my scope. I don't know if I'll be functional if I feel like this AND have to prep. So I'm trying to formulate the best plan. I don't really reflux much if I ride my bike, but I do tend to bleed after a long (1 hour +) bike ride, so I think I'll do that but skip doing the abdominal exercises in the gym. Hopefully a bike ride is enough to do it - it's been a few months since I've ridden (I don't even know if I can do a full hour bike ride anymore as it's been awhile!). So now I'm thinking, if I'm relying solely on a bike ride to trigger the bleeding, I might take at least one "practice" ride beforehand to make sure it still causes bleeding. Maybe this weekend. I know, it's ridiculous that I'm doing this to myself on purpose, but I don't really know what else to do. I have to bleed during my scope so that my doctor can figure out why I'm bleeding, and I don't want to trigger more reflux/vurping. I gotta do what I gotta do!
 
Cat, please be careful. I know you are playign with fire. I'd hate to see yo uhurt yourself tryig to ake yourself bleed for the scope. Hopefully becaues of the length of time you've been flaring, things will show up without you hurting yoruself!
 
Update 8/14/13: I'm feeling somewhat better today. Going to hit the gym tonight - eating very safe today (no spaghetti!), low-res and no reflux trigger foods, so hopefully I won't have another reflux episode like the one I had the other day. Getting nervous for my colonoscopy! It's 2 weeks from today! Which means that in less than 2 weeks, I'll have to make myself bleed and do prep. Eek!
 
I'm glad you're feeling better Cat. I get my results tomorrow. Hopefully good results! I hope that you have a couple of quiet weeks until it's time for your prep. Take it easy!

I tried the elliptical this morning for abotu 20 minutes. It didn't go too badly. I'm really tired but I'm hoping to be able to build up slowly.
 
Yay Cindy, I'm glad you were able to get onto the elliptical, and I hope it just gets easier from here on out. Good luck with your results too - is it the biopsy results? That's pretty quick, it's only been like a week, right? I know I'm going to be nervous for my biopsy results after the scope too - my GI palpated my abdomen at my appointment, and he seemed to feel inflammation? Or something abnormal in the LRQ area. He already told me he's going to take biopsies from the terminal ileum (which was my main "pain spot" for all of my previous flares, and where I suspect my illness is hiding out), so I know I'll be nervous for that too. Anyway, good luck and keep me posted!

I wish I could take it easy, but I'm naturally a worrier and a planner. :p I worry about things, so I try to plan for everything. I have made myself a long to-do list before my prep & scope. It's becoming a long list, because I'm putting so much on there that isn't really necessary but will help me feel better for the big day. So stuff like, "repair bunny slippers" (because I can't wear any of my other 20 pairs of slippers, I have to wear my bunny slippers!), and "refill Zofran prescription" (even though I have at least 20 Zofran tablets at home and won't need more than a few during prep). I start to freak out if I think I won't be able to wear my bunny slippers or hoard my Zofran, and I imagine myself barefoot and vomiting, so to quell my fears I'm busy doing all that random type of stuff. I'm a bit OCD for sure, but that's the only way I can feel prepared is to do everything I can think of to be ready for prep day and scope day!
 
Cat, if you want to prove you are bleeding would a stool sample help? I know they would have to request one from you so you would have to ask them to ask you...

But stool samples can defo pick up blood and even when its not visible I think.
 
LMV, it's not so much a matter of if I'm bleeding, it's already in my medical record that I've had some bleeding. It's more that I want to be actively bleeding when I have the colonoscopy so that they can find the source/cause of the bleeding. The primary care doc I saw already has ruled out fissure, hemorrhoids (both internal & external were ruled out), and she did stool samples which ruled out bacterial infections like salmonella, campylobacter, etc.

So yeah, they know that I'm bleeding, but I want to know why since there is no obvious cause, and it's bright red blood so the source should be seen on scope IF it's active at the time of the scope. I'm only bleeding every few weeks or so, usually after exerting my abdominal muscles too much, so I kind of have to make myself bleed just before the scope - otherwise, I'm afraid the source of the bleed will have healed too much to be detected. Sooo, long story short, I have to work my abs hard to force an episode of bleeding so that my doctor can figure out why it's happening (as obviously, working my abdominal muscles shouldn't cause me to pass blood!). I was never a bleeder until a few months ago so something new has to be causing this and I want to know what and why.
 
Update 8/15/13: We went to the gym last night, and fortunately it went great. No major reflux issues like last time. I always reflux to some extent when I work out, and this was pretty standard for me - feeling water reflux up my throat and having to swallow it back, and belching a lot. No major nausea though, no vurps (and no chunks!), nothing I couldn't deal with and nothing I don't deal with on a daily basis anyway. At the end of my workout, I felt great - like my body was saying, "Ahh, thank you, that was just what I needed." I really can't ask for more than that from a workout! And I was so glad to have a good workout, after having such a bad time with reflux on Monday. It's like the old saying about getting right back on the horse again - sure, I had a miserable time on Monday, but that didn't stop me or hinder me at all from doing my workout yesterday. When you have a bad day, you can't let it stop you or discourage you - just keep moving forward! :)

My tentative plan for the rest of the week is, rest day today (I want to clean my house tonight and do some other chores, so I will still be active and it won't be particularly restful), tomorrow probably the little gym on my lunch hour as we have a friend coming over in the evening, then Saturday I'll take a practice ride on my bike to make sure I can force myself to bleed. Sunday I'll rest/recover from the aftermath of the bike ride.
 
Hi cat. sounds like you've been working hard! Iam tired today after just a short walk and a little shopping. Tomorrow is kitchen/bathroom cleaning day. This tiredness is killing me!
 
Update 8/16/13: I'm not doing well at all - my guts feel okay and everything, but I'm grieving another friend who just passed away. I wrote a longer post about this in members only, but basically an old friend apparently committed some crimes (nobody was hurt) and then he decided to commit suicide rather than go to prison. I'm in shock, so angry at him, sad for such a senseless loss, confused as to how he could do this (this is very out of character for my friend), and just emotions all over the map right now. I've known this guy since like middle school, so 20+ years, and I just can't believe it. I used to hang out with this guy all the time, he was a friend - and now this. I'm just a mess today.

So I'm going to the gym. I need to push my muscles to the breaking point, if for nothing else, to match my body with my mind. Or to distract myself from feeling so sad/mad for a little while. All I really know is, I desperately need to have a very intense workout, so that's what I'm going to do. Going to ride my bike tomorrow too - if I push it hard enough then maybe I can focus on the physical pain and get a break from the emotional. I know this doesn't sound particularly healthy but this is how I need to cope right now, because sitting around with my thoughts is really hard and I need a break from that.

For those keeping tally, that's 2 of my friends in as many weeks that have passed away. If all of the people in my life can just stay alive and not do anything stupid next week, that'd be super. I'd like to stop crying for a bit.
 
Oh Cat, stress just keeps on finding you! I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. I wish I could give you a hug! I hope things went well at the gym and you were at least able to enjoy a good workout.
 
I'm here. Just a quick update. I went for a 10ish mile bike ride on Saturday. My legs actually felt great and I could have gone further but I didn't want to push it too hard as it was my first ride in awhile. I could feel my guts being not happy about it for about the first half of the ride, then they settled somewhat. My ab muscles felt sore and I had some nausea but oddly enough I haven't passed blood so far. So I have to beat up on my abs more I think to get the bleeding going - good thing I'm starting early. Gonna hit the gym tonight and will do the abdominals machines if the GERD allows it. May ride my bike tomorrow too. Hoping to get in at least 2 more bike rides before my scope.

I'm feeling I guess a little less shocked about the death of my friend. I'm mostly angry that he took himself out in such a stupid way. There's a lot more to it than that and I don't know if it's even fully sunk in yet. I'll be around the forum in bits & pieces. I'll probably start posting more next week, as I do prep on the 27th and have my scope on the 28th.
 
Glad to see you back, Cat. I know it's going to take some time to heal and recover from the shock of losing yourf friend. Please know we're here and come to us whenever yo uneed us!
 
I hit the gym yesterday. Hubby didn't go with - he's wimping out on exercise lately and he clearly doesn't enjoy it. He had a headache yesterday so he stayed home. I went by myself and felt pretty good. I could feel that my guts/abs area was quite tender and a little painful, but I haven't passed blood yet so I made myself work my abs. I did the plank position which felt okay, and I did the abdominals machine which also felt okay. Somehow my abs feel better today?? Not sure how or why. I know that bike riding is the #1 thing that causes me to bleed, so I'm going to try to do another bike ride tonight. It's hot though, like 90 degrees today & tomorrow, so I don't know if I can do a long enough ride in such hot weather. Might have to wait till it cools off on Thurs to do a ride.
 
Please be careful exercising in the heat, Cat! It's much harder on yhour body than in lower humidity. It's very hot here too, beeign keeping me inside. Turns out my poor operated head doesn't like the heat much so I'm not spending much time out there. I went for a short walk with a friend of mine this morning before it got too warm, but that's the extent of my adventures until it cools off!
 
Too warm yesterday so I didn't ride my bike. Guts are a mess today, I'm nauseous & crampy & having d, I also have a massive headache. Hoping for weights tonight & bike tomorrow but we'll see how I feel. Haven't been able to cause myself to bleed yet so I need to keep going. I'm thinking if I ride my bike tomorrow (Thurs), Saturday, and Monday, then hopefully I'll be bleeding by the time I prep on Tuesday. I hope the weather and my body cooperate and allow me to ride that much.
 
Update 8/22/13: I hit the gym last night for weights and felt great. I did the abdominals machine and I did the plank position - trying to beat up on my abs as much as I can, but frustratingly I feel okay today and still haven't passed any blood! Triggering a bleeding episode is proving to be more difficult than I thought. Bike riding usually does it, so I'm hoping to go for a nice long strenuous bike ride tonight. The weather report looked good - they said high of 82 (it was in the 90s for the past few days so it's cooled off somewhat) and only a 10% chance of rain. Somebody must have meant to put 100% and mistyped it though! It's pitch black out and pouring with lots of thunder. Ugh! It's still early, hopefully by this evening the storm will have passed. I could ride my bike in some rain, but I obviously don't want to be on a metal object when there's lightning, so I can't ride if it's still storming like this tonight. Yuck! I need the weather and my body to cooperate a little better! Scope is in 6 days so I need to be bleeding by then!
 
be care ful this weekend cat! I know here in MN it's supposed to get VERY muggy this wekeend with highs in the 90s. Don't get a heat stroke trying to make yourself bleed. Take care of yourself first. I'll be thinking of you and your prep next week and hping for the best for you!
 
Thanks Cindy - I'm taking it day by day of course and will see what the weekend brings. Today looks like pretty ideal bike riding weather. It was stormy this morning but sunny w/ some clouds this afternoon (no more rain this afternoon/evening though). It's currently about 75 degrees out so really nice and not too hot. Kind of humid but not awful. Seems like good weather for a ride!

Oh, and I vented about this in the Undiagnosed Club thread already, but I've hit a snag with my prep. My GI said he'd send over the prescription - he said he'd do that like 2 days ago - but my pharmacy hasn't heard from him yet! Eek, not good, I'm supposed to do prep in 5 days! I called and emailed him so hopefully he gets his act together and writes the prescription quick. If not, I'm going to be stuck doing Gatorade & Miralax again, which I don't want to do because it dehydrates me too much. Yuck! So I'm not a super happy camper today. Hopefully a nice long bike ride will take some of this stress and anger away. ;)
 
totally understand. My GI sent in the scrip for my new IBS med last Wednesday, insurance stilll hasn't approved it. So I can't even start it yet! GRR. I hope to heck yours comes through and your prep goes well.
 
What IBS med is it? I hope your insurance comes through soon. In my case it's kind of the opposite, my insurance says it's covered, I just need my GI to send through the prescription already! :p

I went on my bike ride. Took a long ride around the lake. And jeez, it isn't particularly hot out but it is really humid! My guts didn't feel particularly bad during the ride, but we'll see what happens. In the past it seemed like my guts were always far worse the day after a long ride, so tomorrow will be telling. My left knee did predictably start giving me some pain about halfway through my ride, and it was a pretty tough ride overall. Hopefully it produces the desired result! I'm hoping for at least 1 more ride before my scope, maybe 2. Depends on the weather, how I feel, if I bleed from this ride, etc.
 
Update 8/23/13: I was thinking I'd be feeling worse today after yesterday's bike ride, but I feel okay. The abdomen feels a little sore, but I think it's the muscles and not the guts themselves? I had a poo this morning and it was perfectly formed and no blood, so this is becoming more challenging than I thought it would be. :p Tomorrow the weather looks okay, high in the mid 80s so a bit warm, but I think if I head out early I can get in a long ride before it gets too hot, so that's my tentative plan. Sunday & Monday the temps are supposed to be in the 90s again, so if I can't ride Monday evening then I'll get up early Tuesday and do another early morning ride before it gets too hot. I think this is the best plan for getting in 2 more rides. I have to start prep on Tues, but not until the afternoon (my scope is Wed morning). So I should be able to do a ride on Tues before the liquid diet & the prep starts.

Speaking of prep, haven't heard back from my GI yet. Getting quite anxious about that! And I'm letting myself be anxious and not trying to de-stress - the more stress I have right now, hopefully the more that will hopefully show on the scope, right? Whatever it takes to make myself bleed! I will scream if I have one more "normal" test result! If I don't bleed then my hopes are that the biopsies will show something. My GI seemed to feel inflammation in the TI area when he palpated my abdomen, and he said he'll take lots of biopsies including from the TI, so I've got that if nothing else. But I would like for some blood to happen too - with my luck, I'm sure it'll happen like the day after my scope. :p
 
What prep have you been pxed? I'll be glad when it's over for you Cat! All this talk about making yourself bleed:(
 
Mark, I requested Prepopik (aka Pico Salax/ Picolax) from my GI. It's relatively new here in the US but it's supposed to be very good, you only have to drink 2 small cups of prep itself (along with lots of clear liquids of your choice so you stay hydrated) and the prep isn't supposed to taste vile, some online reviewers said it actually tastes pretty good. My GI said sure, I could do that prep and he'd send a prescription to the pharmacy. That was like 4 or 5 days ago that he said that, and my pharmacy still hasn't gotten anything from my GI yet - so he just basically forgot about me and didn't actually write the prescription. I've put in 2 calls and sent him 2 emails but he hasn't responded so far. I have to prep on Tuesday, so if he doesn't get his act together before then, I'm going to have to do the Gatorade & Miralax prep again, which I don't want to do. I've done it twice, and it was easy to get down, but it made me way too dehydrated both times and I ended up needing to go get IV fluids both times. Not fun at all and I don't want to do that a third time, but it's looking more and more like I may have to.

And yeah, I know it's not good to want to make myself bleed, I just want the bleeding source to show on scope so they know what & why and can take care of it - I'm trying to bleed now so that I don't have to bleed anymore in the future. :) On that subject, I just went for a long (like 90 minute) bike ride. I think I rode about 15 miles? The odometer on my bike isn't calibrated right, it says I rode over 20 miles, and I'm sure I didn't go that far. I also had been hoping to go earlier for a ride, but I got so lazy this morning and didn't get on my bike until like 10:30 (got home around noon). I just wasn't feeling like going for a bike ride so I had to eventually just make myself go. It's hot & humid out and it's supposed to get hotter and more humid, lovely. So, it was a tough ride - it's windy out too and it was miserable trying to get any forward momentum in the wind. If a ride like that doesn't make me bleed, I don't know what will.
 
I've had that prep before cat. I think the drinking part isnt too bad.

It hits you very suddenly though and then you are on the loo for ages. But thats what we expect with prep isnt it! All of them are horrible!!
 
My GI finally responded! He is sending the Prepopik prescription over to the pharmacy. I'm excited, I hope it doesn't dehydrate me like the Miralax always does.

LMV, yeah, that's how prep goes! It seems so wrong to induce diarrhea when you're already prone to it too. :p It's been like 3 years since I last did prep though, so that's not bad. If I had to do it more frequently then I'd be complaining a lot more (and I probably will be complaining on Tues evening when I'm actually prepping!). I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes.

As for trying to make myself bleed, still no luck there. My bike ride yesterday was longer and more difficult than rides in the past that have caused me to bleed. But I had a poo this morning and it was fine, no blood whatsoever. Hmph! I did buy some Greek yogurt which has caused me to bleed in the past - will probably make myself eat that today. Also, hubby and I did some yard work this morning. It's super hot & humid out, we're in a little heat wave right now. At one point I pretty much lost all my strength & stamina, felt a bit dizzy and sick. I think it was the beginning of heat sickness? So I went right inside in the air conditioning, sat down, and drank some cool water. I feel better, but my guts are pretty mad. They don't like heat or humidity at all. So now I don't know if it's super wise to eat greek yogurt when my guts are already angry. But if it shows something on the scope, it's worth it, right? So I'm still pondering eating the yogurt. My body hates dairy, hates probiotics, and when I eat both together I tend to pass a little blood. It feels like cheating, since I haven't caused the bleeding with exercise, but bleeding is bleeding right? It's coming from somewhere, it's happening because my body is all messed up, it's not from fissures or hemmies. I just want to know the source of the bleeding - but I'm not sure if it'd be from a different source if it's from yogurt rather than exercise. I don't know what to do, basically! Must think on this more.
 
cat, you certainly are gong through some tough days! it's hotter than blue blazes here too, which basically has me trapped inside in the a/c. My head really does not do well out in the heat so I can't be out there for long.
At least I am going back to work tomorrow! up to 4 hrs per day so it'll be 7-11 i nthe morning for the next three weeks. I'm hoping it goes well, it will be nice to get out of the house on a regular basis.
I hope your efforts to bleed do bring on enough to show where it's coming from on the scope but not enough to cause you trouble!

On a fun note, my advice to all of you here is to go see the movie We're the Millers. We saw it last night and it was absolutely hilarious!
 
Hey Cat, assuming the scopes reach the right areas, there should be at least evidence of healing with blood as recent as the last couple of weeks....I'd think. I remember on EJ's first scope, there were what the doc called "healing scars" in his stomach along with active infl. in his TI.

Good luck with the prep!!
 
Mark, during my last colonoscopy they were able to get all the way to the TI, so presumably they'll get that far again. It's been 3.5 years since my last scope though so things could have changed. I'm just hoping *something* - anything - shows up, so that I can maybe get some answers and get on some better treatment than mesalamine. I think the last time I passed blood was about a month ago, and there was just a tiny bit then, so I don't know if it'll already be all healed up in there or not.

Speaking of blood, still haven't passed any. I ate a container of Greek yogurt a couple hours ago but so far no dice there either. I did feel quite nauseous while eating the Greek yogurt, but I think that's because I'm not used to eating yogurt, and the taste was kind of strong and the texture was weird, so it might have just been that causing the nausea. Although I did wake up feeling rather icky, my lower abdomen felt hot like lava was flowing through my colon. I've been having pains off and on today too in that area. Hopefully this all means that something will show up on the scope.

It's ridiculously hot here today so no bike ride tonight and probably not tomorrow morning either. My guts got pretty upset because I did yard work outside in the heat yesterday, so I think the gut angriness today is just left over from yesterday.

Oh, and I don't think I vented yet about my latest prep debacle - my GI finally wrote the prescription, and I went to the pharmacy yesterday to pick it up. But my pharmacy doesn't carry Prepopik! Grr! They said they'd special-order it for me and that it should be in by 1:30 today at the latest. It's just after 1 Pm and nothing yet, so I'm getting worried. Not going to officially freak out until 1:30, but I am going to unleash some fury upon the pharmacist if 1:30 comes and goes and my Prepopik still isn't available. This is just getting ridiculous. Prep day is tomorrow! I need to have my prep in hand already!
 
Update: I have my prep in hand! :D Had to go through some ridiculousness to get it, but I have my little box of Prepopik and can relax now (as much as a person facing prep can relax anyway!).
 
Cindy, I will enjoy it as much as a person can enjoy inducing diarrhea! :p I made my house as nice and as ready as possible. I'm going to boil a chicken in the crock pot - I'll drink the broth, and hubby will have the chicken (hopefully not the whole thing, ha ha). I got out the nail polish colors that I want to paint my nails, I got my ipod playlist ready to go. I have my wipes and creams out on my bathroom counter, and my bathroom is clean and as nice as it can be (it's a really ugly, small bathroom, so only so much I can do to make it nice!). I even got little paper party umbrellas to put in my drink cup, ha ha. :p Tonight I'll be charging up my kindle and my DS so that I'll have plenty of portable entertainment to bring into the bathroom with me. I'm trying to think about what movies I want to watch, too. I have a little portable DVD player, and I have Netflix & Hulu on my Kindle, so I have lots of options! I definitely won't be bored, I just want to make sure I'm distracted enough so that I'm not miserable.

So yeah, prep tomorrow, scope Wednesday. Thursday I will rest and recover - if I feel okay on Thurs, then I might think about going to the gym. If not, though, I'm just going to take it easy and maybe hit the gym on Friday. It'll all depend on how I feel after putting my body through prep and a scope.
 
thinking about you today Cat, hoping prep goes well. Sounds like you were very prepared and so hopefully are being entertained while working through it. Good luck wit hthe scope tomorrow!


I have been on the elliptical last couple of days, fifteen minutes each time. Not the hour I used to do, but it's a stat!
 
Thanks Cindy, I'm doing so-so. This prep made me super nauseous and dizzy for awhile, but I'm feeling somewhat better now. Thank goodness for zofran! :p Yep, I'm entertained, played my DS for awhile earlier and watching a movie now.

I'm glad to hear you're back on the elliptical - how are you feeling lately? Your typing seems to be getting better so hopefully you're doing better too.
 
LMV, I woke up feeling crappy and had about 7ish bathroom trips before even drinking the prep. I've had another 7ish bathroom trips after drinking the first cup, haven't had the 2nd cup yet. I'm close to running clear but not there yet. Not on the toilet constantly though either - feeling okay after the initial nausea & dizziness went away.
 
Glad to hear it all worked out Cat! Hope you're about finished and good luck tomorrow!!
 
Well, technically I'm halfway finished because I have another cup of prep to drink. I'm going to drink that in about an hour or so. Just trying to relax until then. Oddly I'm not hungry! Usually prep is so miserable with not being able to eat, but I don't have appetite and am doing fine with just liquids this time around. I have some jello in the fridge but that doesn't even sound appealing. I've got a mug of tea in front of me and have mostly been drinking water & gatorade.
 
I have felt light headed after prep before as well. But that was when I was in the hospital and I had an enema. I felt so light headed and the nurses were all looking at me concerned!

After that when they sent me my first home prep... (I think this was the picolax) I was scared to have it all because of what happened before. I was undiagnosed and only 5.5stone then. I think they advised me to take a smaller dose.
 
THinking of you today Cat! I hope the scope went well and you are feeling better. I also hope you get some good news!


I've been doing mostly better. Typing is stronger than it was, usually I only have a problem with it when I get really tired, same thing with my talking. I went back to work, four hoursa day, on Monday, and it's nice to be back but very tiring. I found something new (bummer)today. It turns out that I can't sing anymore! I can, but I am very out of tune. Before my surgery, I cay say with some confidence that I was a pretty good singer. I can't even whistle in tune anymore. SUcky! I also found a msall dent in my head by my scar. Feels kind of weird.
 
If it makes you feel better, Cindy, I've never been a good singer. Off-key, weak voice, you name it, I'm just an awful singer. :p I'm so bad I sometimes feel embarrassed when I'm singing in the car by myself, ha ha.

So I've already written about this in the Undiagnosed Club, but I'll say it in here too - my scope came back normal. I had 3 small polyps which my GI said were probably not pre-cancerous but he removed them & will take a look to be sure. He took a bunch of biopsies too. Oh, and he found the source of the bleeding - I do have internal hemmies, which were apparently missed by the other doctor who looked for them.

So, since the source of the bleeding is nothing big, I'm giving myself the green light to go back to doing abdominal exercises and ride my bike. I'm hoping to get back to the gym tomorrow! Taking today as a rest day to recover after my scope - I'm having a bit of pain, which I expected with the biopsies and polyp removal and all that. Hoping to be feeling more like my old self tomorrow. I'm still not diagnosed but I'm not going to let that stop me from hitting the gym. :) Onwards and upwards!
 
Cat, you rock! I love how you have found the positive side of the results of yoru scope. I'm so glad you'll be able to do your biking and abdomianl exercises again. Hooray! I know how much you love your workouts so what a good deal.

I will keep singing, only by myself ( :D ) . I've talked to some other people who had brain tumors removed who said they lost the ability to sing but that it sometimes will come back.
 
Update 8/30/13: I'm not going to the gym today. :( I had a bit of pain yesterday after my scope, but it wasn't too bad for most of the day. (They removed 3 polyps and also took a bunch of biopsies, and in doing so they basically created a bunch of small wounds within my gut, and I'm assuming those wounds are the source of the pain.) But then, yesterday evening, I was carrying a basket of laundry up the stairs, and I guess it was too much strain on my abdomen or something, as the pain got a fair amount worse. So I can't push myself to do a workout if even carrying laundry made me feel like that. The pain has eased again, but I don't think a workout today would be wise. I might go to the gym tomorrow - it'll all depend on how I'm feeling then. Hopefully things will heal up quickly so that I can get back to it!
 
hey cat, were you able to get to the gym today? Hope you're having some relief from the pain as things heal up.

How's everyone else doing today? Any good workouts?
 
No workout today. We ran a few errands today and are going to walk the dog a little later this evening. If the walk goes well then I'm going to hit the gym tomorrow. Still having some pain, but it's minimal. I just don't want to make it worse again. Still, I was able to carry a heavy thing of cat litter around the store without any added pain while we were running errands, so I think I'm in the clear! Hopefully gym tomorrow, finally.
 
Thanks David! :) It's honestly not hard to keep up with this thread - I know I'm going to exercise anyway, so I may as well continue to write about my experiences as I go along. It's helpful to me and hopefully can inspire others. Plus you know how I love to ramble on and on, so this is pretty self-indulgent too. :p Ha ha.

Update 9/1/13: I did go to the gym today. :D It was tough though! All the weights felt so heavy, I wasn't able to do as many reps as I usually do on some of the machines because of that. I felt like I just didn't have enough strength to do what I normally do. No pain though, so the toughness of the workout was the worst part. Hopefully next time will be easier as I get back into the swing of things - I think I took too many days off because of my scope, have to make up some lost ground now.

We're thinking about kayaking tomorrow, but we probably won't go. It hasn't rained much here lately so the water levels of the lakes & creeks are pretty low, I think too low for our little kayak. So tomorrow might end up being a rest day unless we can figure out a deep enough creek. Tues I'm going to hit the little gym. Wednesday - yoga? Thurs, I have the day off of work but hubby has to work, so I think I'm going to try riding my bike to the gym, lifting weights there, and then riding home. That's my tentative plan for the week so far.
 
I know it doesn't answer your continuing questions about your angry guts but the news is good Cat. Always onwards!!
 
Update 9/2/13: Happy Labor day! Finally the weather is not hot! The high temp today is like 72 degrees which is so lovely, not too hot but not cold either. We took advantage of the nice weather and took the dog on a long walk. I'm tempted to ride my bike, too. Guts have been a little iffy today so I'm just resting a bit right now after the walk. Not sure if a bike ride is the best idea, but it sounds so nice. Maybe later this afternoon.

My city is so great for bike riders, too - there are so many bike paths within the city, and they're building a new bike path not far from my house - with a bridge going right over the beltline highway! A bridge just for bicycles, how awesome is that! It's still being built, but I'm getting anxious to ride on it already. :p It looks really nice from what I've seen!
 
that's great, Cat! We are loving the break from the heat too. Finally able to ope nthe windows adn the weather has been great for sleeping.

No exercise for me the last couple of days because I have a lot of pain in my head. Turns out the swelling has finally gone down and my skull is "settling". This is resulting in some dents in my head, which can't be seen because of my head. Ufortunately the settling is making the edges of the healing skull very irritated and this is quite painful. doc says it should subside in a day or two.
 
mccindy said:
THinking of you today Cat! I hope the scope went well and you are feeling better. I also hope you get some good news!


I've been doing mostly better. Typing is stronger than it was, usually I only have a problem with it when I get really tired, same thing with my talking. I went back to work, four hoursa day, on Monday, and it's nice to be back but very tiring. I found something new (bummer)today. It turns out that I can't sing anymore! I can, but I am very out of tune. Before my surgery, I cay say with some confidence that I was a pretty good singer. I can't even whistle in tune anymore. SUcky! I also found a msall dent in my head by my scar. Feels kind of weird.
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You keep singing. If people can learn to walk again, you can get your singing back!! Best of luck to you.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
Update 8/30/13: I'm not going to the gym today. :( I had a bit of pain yesterday after my scope, but it wasn't too bad for most of the day. (They removed 3 polyps and also took a bunch of biopsies, and in doing so they basically created a bunch of small wounds within my gut, and I'm assuming those wounds are the source of the pain.) But then, yesterday evening, I was carrying a basket of laundry up the stairs, and I guess it was too much strain on my abdomen or something, as the pain got a fair amount worse. So I can't push myself to do a workout if even carrying laundry made me feel like that. The pain has eased again, but I don't think a workout today would be wise. I might go to the gym tomorrow - it'll all depend on how I'm feeling then. Hopefully things will heal up quickly so that I can get back to it!
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Cat, should you be lifting things and working out so close to your surgery? I would take every precaution - you don't want to end up in hospital. I had bowel resection and I really pampered myself...but made sure I was active. But in no way did I want something coming "undone" or "breaking open." Be careful!
 
Sparkle, it was just a scope, not surgery. They did a bunch of biopsies and removed a few polyps, so I had some small wounds inside which were hurting for a few days. I'm okay now though! :)
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
My city is so great for bike riders, too - there are so many bike paths within the city, and they're building a new bike path not far from my house - with a bridge going right over the beltline highway! A bridge just for bicycles, how awesome is that! It's still being built, but I'm getting anxious to ride on it already. :p It looks really nice from what I've seen!
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Do you get snow and "harsh" winters there?
 
Hawkeye, oh yes, we get lots of snow and bitter cold here. Winter seems to last about 8 months. My city is VERY bike-friendly though, and some crazy people will stubbornly ride their bikes all year round. We had a blizzard last year, about 18 inches of wet heavy snow. I saw people trying to ride their bikes in that - craziness! I am not that crazy, I will only ride my bike if it's reasonably pleasant outside.
 
Update 9/3/13: So there's this thing going on at work, for the month of September we were told we could form teams and compete against each other to "take steps". The goal is to wear a pedometer and take something like 10,000 steps per day (and there are calculations for other forms of exercise besides walking, so my weight lifting counts for a certain number of steps for each minute that I am lifting, etc). I became captain of my team, but my teammates are already making excuses! One teammate said she was just plain lazy over the weekend and has no real excuse for it. Another just told me her laptop at home broke so she can't watch workout videos. Sheesh, I thought I had picked good people for my team! :p And 10,000 steps per day is no easy feat either - even with weight lifting and yoga and walking my dog and stuff, for the first day I had about 5,000 steps and about 6,000 for the second day. Not off to a great start! But this just gives me more motivation - since my colonoscopy was good and the bleeding is just from hemmies, I don't have to limit myself in the gym anymore, so I'm going to try to go all out this month to carry my team. Weights today, maybe walking my dog this evening. Bike or yoga tomorrow, depending on how energetic I feel. Thursday I'm riding my bike to the gym to lift. Friday, not sure yet. But wow, I have to do a lot this month to be a good captain for my team! Not that I'm going to be all lazy as soon as the month is over, but I feel like I need to go above & beyond this month.

Edit: Ha ha, I apparently did the math wrong. I had about 9,000 steps the first day, not 5,000. That makes me feel better. Phew! I just lifted weights in the gym and so I'm already at about 8,000 steps so far today. Okay, so I know I can make the 10,000 steps a day goal by myself - might have to do a bit more than that to make up for my team members though! Well, I have a dog who is a bit overweight, so a few extra walks won't hurt her. :p I need to movitvate my team though... how does one go about motivating other people? Hmmm...
 
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how frustrating! Cat, I hope that you are able to get some motivation to get those people moving. is there some good incentive for them to win at the end, or something they can work toward to get them working? I am a competitive person just like you are, so if we were on the same team we would totally win! :) I know you'll carry the team well on your own but I hope they get moving on your behalf.
 
Cat-a-Tonic;698354 I need to movitvate my team though... how does one go about motivating other people? Hmmm...[/QUOTE said:
Every cat has a little tiger just waiting to be unleashed...roar Cat, roar!!!
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Update 9/4/13: I am *so* exhausted today. I haven't been sleeping well, and last night was awful. I couldn't fall asleep, my guts were mad and I kept having to get up and go to the bathroom. I tossed & turned the whole night, I think I got about 2 hours of sleep total. I don't function well on that little amount of sleep, so I'm not doing great today. Which, in turn, is making my guts upset all over again. :p I would say it's one of those days where I should have just stayed in bed, but it's not like I would get any sleep even if I stayed in bed. Ha ha.

So I'm going to take it semi-easy today. I'm thinking of walking my dog tonight, but other than that I'm not going to do much physical activity. Going to try to go to bed early tonight in the hopes of catching up on some sleep. The good news is, I'm off work tomorrow & Friday, so I've got a 4-day weekend to look forward to starting tomorrow. So if need be, I can sleep in and rest up tomorrow too. Hubby actually works tomorrow so I'll be on my own for most of the day (I'm a huge introvert so that's not a bad thing, I find alone time to be very refreshing and recharging). I'm still hoping to ride my bike to the gym tomorrow - as long as my guts are reasonably okay then I can do it, even if I'm tired.
 
Another quick update for today: Ha ha, apparently my brain no longer has the ability to do math or understand numbers. :p This walking challenge thing at work? I thought the goal was for each person to do 10,000 steps a day. Which is not easy, but is definitely do-able. Well, I looked over the info again for this challenge, and I re-crunched the numbers - in order to meet the goal, each person on my team only needs to walk about 3,500 steps per day. Way less than 10,000! So I'm feeling a lot less stressed about this. To top it off, one of my team members told me she's already at 60,000 steps just within the past 4 days (she went on a long bike ride, which counts for a lot of steps). Wow! Okay, we're definitely going to win this thing. :p Well, we're going to qualify anyway. All the qualifying teams are entered into a drawing to win prizes, so there's a chance we'll win something at any rate. I'm glad I was able to pick at least one competent team member, too! I was getting scared after 2 of my 4 teammates were already coming up with excuses for being lazy!
 
Hooray, Cat! I'm glad to hear your team has one good person on it to help you out. Enjoy your quiet day to yourself, it's alwayas good to recharge and rest. I am a huge extrovert but I've leraned to love those days where it's just me. :)
 
Update 9/6/13: Sorry, forgot to update yesterday! Yesterday was a very active day - I rode my bike to the gym, lifted weights, then rode home. That was tough but I did it! I've been counting roughly how long it takes me to do these things, so that I can log them for the walking thing at work. So, it took me 25 mins to ride to the gym (I think it's about 4ish miles) - I was riding into the wind the whole way there so that was a bit difficult. It took me 20 mins to do all the weights and another 10 mins stretching afterwards. Then it took me 20 mins to ride home (wind was at my back so it was faster and easier going home!). That all exhausted me so I didn't do much else besides that yesterday.

Today will be less active - going to walk the dog for sure, and I'm trying to convince hubby to take me to the zoo (I took the day off of work because our anniversary is tomorrow). So I'll be walking around quite a bit but not doing anything particularly strenuous.
 
I'm glad to hear you're able to do more finally, Cat! Keep up the good work. I was hoping you'd be starting to feel better.
 
Update 9/8/13: Well, our anniversary was yesterday. :) Hubby and I decided to take a day trip down to Illinois to do a bit of shopping. Between the walking (Ikea is a huge store!), and all the driving, plus the food (we splurged on sushi, yum!), we were exhausted! We went to bed at like 9 PM. :p It was a good day though, my body mostly cooperated (I was actually a bit constipated which wasn't totally pleasant, but at least I wasn't running to the bathroom a lot). Oh, and I got to see my all-time favorite band play yesterday too. ;) They've held up pretty well over the years and are having a bit of a comeback lately!

Today is a bit of a lazy day, although I will be hitting the gym in a bit. Other than that, though, my only plans are to sit on the couch and watch the Packer game.

.....

I guess I should add, if you were confused by my comment about my favorite band, here's a couple videos for you. The band is called the Rock-afire Explosion and they've been around since the early 80s. :D Here's the "classic" version of the band, singing a newer hit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsqKLT4v4x0

Sadly, I didn't get to see their classic set-up yesterday. I saw the "new" version, which looked like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBEMjLGN6M8
(They didn't look quite as good live as in the video, their age is showing a little bit and there were a few, er, issues, although they mostly still looked great and I'm always so happy to get to see them play!)
 
what a fun day, Cat! Hope you are not getting too much of a workout watching this Packer Game! As a Cowboys fan you know I gotta root against them but they sure are playing hard. My back was bother me so much I decided to get on the elliptical today rather than just be lazy. So I feel pretty good, although it didn't help that much with my back. We splurged and had some wings and fries to watch the games with, but fortunately my belly is not giving me too much trouble. Hope your feeling better!
 
Mark, funny you should ask - the Rock-Afire Explosion actually introduced me to K-pop and to Big Bang! An amusement park in South Korea bought a Rock-afire show, and as a courtesy the creator of the RAE programmed in a couple Korean songs for them. So yeah, here's a video of the RAE singing Big Bang's "Tonight." :D This is the video that introduced me to K-pop (although I had already been listening to J-pop for like 10 years at this point!).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YOwlWuPkoo
 
Ugh, don't get me started on the Packers. That game was frustrating to watch!

I'm feeling a bit "off" today. Hubby and I ate something yesterday that upset us both, so we both got hit with d and gas yesterday afternoon. Of course today he's fine and I'm still having some d. (He's one of those people who will catch a cold and then be fine the next day, whereas I'll catch the same cold and will be sick for weeks and sometimes it turns into bronchitis.) I didn't sleep very well so I'm tired and just not feeling great today. I'm thinking about doing some yoga this evening, but not going to attempt anything more strenuous than that. Tomorrow, hopefully I'll be feeling more like myself, and I'm hoping to do weights. It's really hot here today, about 90 degrees, and it's supposed to be warm tomorrow and Wednesday too. Then it's supposed to cool down significantly and be in the 60s by Friday! So I'm thinking a lovely bike ride later in the week sounds really good to me. I hate exercising outside when it's too hot, it just cramps up my guts, so cooler fall weather sounds really nice! I can't wait until the leaves start to change color, I'm hoping to do at least one bike ride through the arboretum so that I can gawk at all the prettiness. :)
 
Update 9/10/13: Still feeling blah today. I was going to do yoga last night, but when I got home, hubby had dinner ready. I cannot do any exercise with food in my stomach, so my choices were put the food in the fridge and eat later, or skip yoga and eat hot food and veg out. I went for the second option. I know I should have done yoga, and eating was an easy out. I don't feel good about that choice. Hubby usually waits to make dinner until he knows if I'm going to exercise that evening or not, so I'm not sure why he had dinner ready to go right away last night.

Anyway. So I'm still feeling blah. Need a good workout to hopefully get me feeling better mentally & physically. Going to go hit the gym shortly, and am planning to give it all I've got! My guts are still kind of a mess, I've been to the bathroom 8ish times already today, but I don't care and can work out through that. The abdominals machine is the one iffy one, but I'll give it a go and see what happens.

It's still ridiculously hot out here too (currently 91 degrees F) which does not help matters any - but they're still saying it'll cool way down by Friday, so I'm hopeful that my guts can chill out along with the weather. Oh, and I'm officially switching from Delzicol to Pentasa too - my GI okayed Pentasa for me. I can't afford to pick it up until payday, so I'll be starting that on Friday.

On a side note, why does veterinary medicine cost so much less than human medicine? My hubby took our dog and cat to the vet today for a quick check-up and booster shots. My dog got a rabies booster, got her allergies re-assessed (we're going to try benadryl as she's no longer getting hot spots but is still itchy), and got a 3 month supply of frontline. My cat got diagnosed with feline acne on her chin and it looks like she has mild allergies as well. Total cost for all that was about $80 (including all the meds except the benadryl). For me to get a one month supply of Pentasa (or Asacol or Asacol HD or Delzicol or Entocort or pretty much any name brand drug), it is $75. That's just one prescription without any office visit or anything. My pets got 2 office visits and 4 medications for about the same amount. That seems so very wrong to me! I'm tempted to start going to the vet myself! It's so cheap!
 
Hey there Cat. Hoping you are cooling down a bit already - it's humid here in MN today but not as hot, supposed to be maybe 70 tomorrow. finally a cool down! hopefully you'll be able to get in a nice bike ride.

I've been able to increase the elliptical to about 25 minutes a day, I'm really enjoying that so much! Still trying to do my squats and lunges daily. The NP told me the other day she might be extending my part-time status out longer, because I am still so exhausted after a 4-hour work day.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
On a side note, why does veterinary medicine cost so much less than human medicine?
Click to expand...

Because "most" people wouldn't pay 1000's$$$$ to maintain the health of a chronically ill animal and, while there are some pet med insurers, it is very rare and "most" people aren't going to pay for that either:) If med service providers didn't have insurance to pay their astronomical bills, the cost of human care would go down too...maybe not as much as we'd all like, but it would definitely go down!! Otherwise, they'd be out of work! I know I'm just stating the obvious but it does allow me to blow off a little directed steam!!
 
Mark, feel free to let off steam - but to clarify, is the steam about the veterinary industry or the human healthcare industry? Because I imagine you could vent on and on about both! ;)

Cindy, yes, it's finally cooling down here. It poured rain off and on all night which seemed to cool things down. The high today is mid 80s, tomorrow mid 70s, and Friday mid 60s! So the cooldown is underway, thankfully. I just cannot deal with 90+ degree temps and neither can my guts!

I did weights yesterday and that went okay for the most part. The abdominals machine seems so difficult, probably because I didn't work my abs for a few months and now they've gotten flabby & lazy. :p My guts still aren't very happy. I had a low-res dinner (boiled chicken and mashed potatoes) but my guts even rejected that - just before bed, I had a bad bathroom episode where my guts cramped up terribly and just basically got rid of everything that was in my system. No puking, but I felt pretty empty once that episode was over! I've had a few episodes like that lately, and I just haven't quite felt like myself since the colonoscopy. I wonder if I lost some vital gut bacteria or something like that during the prep. I really haven't had a normal poo since the scope which was 2 weeks ago. I'm tempted to try probiotics again, even though I know they do bad things to me. Hmm.

At any rate, I did hit the gym yesterday and I'm hoping to do yoga tonight (I told hubby not to have dinner ready! :p ). By tomorrow the weather should have cooled down more and then I'll start thinking about doing more bike rides and also walking more with my dog - she hates the hot weather as much as I do, so I know we're both looking forward to cooler fall weather.
 
Okay, so, kind of a big thing for me. I bought workout shorts today! I usually wear long yoga-style pants to the gym, either full length or capris. (Usually capris for bike/weights, and long pants for yoga.) I don't really wear shorts that come above the knee because I have always had a little cellulite on my thighs and so I hate showing my legs. Yes, I'm a skinny girl, and yes I work out, but cellulite happens anyway apparently. It's gross and I hate it. But, I think it's finally going away? I haven't noticed it as much lately. Hah, it only took 2.5 years of going to the gym to lose that little bit of cellulite!

So anyway, I was at the thrift shop today checking out what they had for workout clothes, and I found a cute little pair of workout shorts. Not short-shorts, I will not be wearing those ever regardless of how good my legs look! But sort of mid-length, above the knee but not super short shorts. I tried them on and they were pretty cute and also in my price range, so I bravely purchased them. Not quite sure if I'll be brave enough to actually wear them to the gym anytime soon! Eek! But this is big for me, I'm not a shorts person so I'm easing myself into shorts territory now. :p Sloooooowly getting more confident in how I look. I think I'll wear my shorts at the gym on like, a Sunday afternoon, because nobody's there at that time. If I don't get laughed off the planet then I might wear them again at a slightly busier time... maybe.
 
Update 9/12/13: Hah, so I didn't do yoga last night either. :p The weather was really nice, not too warm and it had stopped raining (it was pretty humid but other than that it was nice), and my dog hadn't been walked yet due to the rain earlier in the day, so hubby and I took her for a nice long walk. We met up with our neighbor who has 2 corgis, so my dog got to play with her buddies for awhile. It was a nice, long walk - about 2 miles according to my pedometer. It was fun, we chatted with our neighbor and the corgis all played together (there was a beagle running around and all the corgis were trying to herd it, it was pretty cute!). I know walking isn't the best form of exercise, it's not super easy on my bad hips and I am in some pain today because of all the walking. But I did get out and do some exercise. I have been wanting to do yoga, but I also want to take advantage of nice days and let my dog get some exercise too, so yeah. I'm sure I'll do lots more yoga this winter as I don't tend to do much outdoor exercise in the cold months! :p

Tonight we're hitting the gym for weights. (No, I won't be wearing my new shorts just yet, I have to wash them first and I usually do laundry on the weekends.) I'm feeling pretty strong today so hopefully I'll have a good gym session. I'm still having some d/loose stools, but I've been sleeping a little better and I feel okay overall.
 

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