Day 99

Andrew's first day back at work, and I had an early appointment with an ENT. I've been having tinnitus (ringing in the ears) for quite some time now. My family doc sent me to the specialist to see if it was sinus related, related to my golf ball sized tonsils (normal size for me), or something else. I took a hearing test and passed with excellent hearing which baffles me. I suppose I used to have superhuman hearing and sight before because I experience a decrease in both, yet my tests always come out with excellent results. It's very frustrating to lose some of these senses yet told that I'm fine. At my recent eye exam I was told that my eyes have gotten worse from my "fuzzy 20/20" and I now have a "real" prescription for the glasses I wear while reading or driving at night. I'm not required to do this, but they help and I feel more confident when I do. Back to my hearing, I constantly have to look at people's mouths when they talk or I miss things. That's not excellent hearing to me, but I guess it is to them. Anyway, because they didn't find anything wrong, I'm being sent for an MRI to see if there's anything wrong with the little inner ear bones. I'm not looking forward to that. I'm claustrophobic so I have to go get a sedative to take with me as they don't provide them. I'll ask about my fear of flying then. Anyway, I'll have an appointment in 6 months so that's still a while yet.

Speaking of little inner ear bones, while on vacation Andrew and I went to Bodies...The Exhibition at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. http://www.luxor.com/attractions/attractions_bodies.aspx
The 3 inner ear bones were displayed and they were so tiny and cute! I'm just fascinated by anatomy and all else related (hence my nursing career kind of fits with that passion) and I loved it. I wish I had more time and my text books so I could actually remember what I was looking at. They had brief descriptions of what the specimens were and how they worked, but as much as I would see something and remember bits and pieces about it, there would be more that I would totally draw a blank on and couldn't describe it to myself, kicking myself in the brain the whole time. It was one of my favourite parts of our trip.

Anyway, I had a super productive day, refilled the fridge, made some phone calls, etc. I even made it to the gym...

Meals
2 croissants
2 eggs
2 pieces of cheese
1/2 cup orange juice

3 cups of water

1/2 cup skim cottage cheese
2 cheese pizza minis
1/4 cup Mediterranean style yogurt
1 banana
2 cups of water

1 cup egg noodles (stroganoff)
3 oz lean ground beef
1/4 can reduced salt cream of mushroom
1/4 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup wilted spinach
2 cups of water

Exercise
60 minutes treadmill intervals of walking, speed walking, and hill climbing
20 minutes upper body free weights and machines
10 minutes stretching

Notes:
-I ate Burger King for breakfast because we didn't have anything to make food with, this is when I went to the grocery store after and picked up lots of good stuff.
-At the gym, I was speed walking and felt like I could run--so I did! I ended up jogging for a full minute, four times. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I haven't been a jogger in the past. It felt fantastic. I felt like I was totally pushing myself out of my comfort zone and felt that I actually had a real workout. There was a girl next to me jogging her entire workout--20 or 30 minutes I guess--and I felt funny to be the fat girl trying to jog, but at the same time I was the fat girl jogging while others were walking. It was a huge confidence boost. 'And now I know my ankle can finally handle it and I can do it. Yay me!