Over on The Adventurous Silversmith blog I wrote, today, about the fun I am having in the studio. BUT in my personal life I have had fun <sarcasm> at the dentist.

Yes, or should I say Periodontist.  Two weeks a go I the crown on my lower left molar. The original crown was almost 20 years old and it came off and was cracked so it was replaced 2 years ago. A year ago this new crown came off and was put back on. Two weeks ago not only did it come off again but it took the support post with it. This meant that not only could it NOT be put back because there was nothing to attach it to. 

My choices were pull the molar or pull the molar and have an implant put in. The first choice cost about $900 and would take an hour or so to do and the second choice was just over $5,000 and would take several visits over 9 months. Since it's not visible I chose the former option.

The molar was extracted and bone matrix put in the socket and the gum stitched closed this past Monday. It came out easily and I was home within an hour.  I was to eat soft foods for 3 day, take antibiotics 3 times a day for 7 days, rinse with an antibotic mouthwash 2 times a day, and go back for a follow up next Monday. I did not have a large amount of pain. Now it is just a mild ache.

Ahhhh, the joys of getting older!

It's now 2026.
​I am getting ready for the Spring semester to begin next week.
I have also reached MY milestone of finally shedding the weight that I put on due to various reason which are:
* stress eating
* thyroid cancer
* taking Prednisone due to an allergic reaction to a medication
* various other reasons

After the Prednisone adventure almost 2.5 years ago, I fully committed myself to getting rid of the weight.  Because I don't have a thyroid and take a low dose of a synthetic, my body does not like to give up the weight. My doctor, said years ago that no thyroid combined with the muscles I developed as a youth, playing sports would mean that I could probably get back to my college weight but going below that and staying there would be difficult.  And back in the 80's I got close but he was right, it was not possible to get to or stay at my high school weight. This was a bit upsetting for me because I was focusing on the weight - NOT my body composition which really was/is more important.

Once I made the decision to finally get the weight off and work on the body composition. In October 2023 I contracted with a nutritionist who set a macro and exercise plan for me. My exercise plan was to go to the local gym and lift weights plus doing lots of walking. Which I did. I did take the occasional break when I went on a road trip or it was a holiday without going overboard. I also tracked my measurement and purchased a body composition scale. 

I am now at my goal weight. All my composition numbers are in the Average or Better range. What is interesting is that my metabolic age started at 73 which was 5 years above my actual age and now it is at 69, which is a year below my actual age which is excellent and rather amazing. So, how much weight did I loose??
                                                       I lost FIFTY POUNDS
This past September is when I really began to notice that my pants were starting to fall off my hips. I then set aside a weekend and tried on every piece of clothing I had. The nice go to the day job clothing went in a pile to be donated to Dress for Success. Jeans and other shirts were going to Goodwill. Clothing I sewed were going to be put in my memory (camp) trunk. I did keep 2 nice outfits and several shirts that fit me again - in other words they did not fit me for a long time due to the weight but they now fit me again. I also kept some pants that were not what I wore to work but they were not jeans and are slightly loose. These I will have taken in.  My closet is over half empty.

I am no longer tracking my macros, I stopped doing that last summer. I decided to see if I could eat well, loose weight, and make progress without being fanatical about it because life goes on and I don't want to spend the rest my life worrying about my weight.

This IS a Roman milestone, outside of Bardon Mill, UK just before you enter Vindolanda which is a Roman Fort along Hadrian's Wall. The Shop Elf and I actually saw this milestone when we visited Vindolanda and a few other places along Hadrian's Wall on one of our trips to the UK in the 1990's.

Last weekend I found that I was getting dizzy with spinning when I stood up or laid down and when I bent over to tie my shoes... Not just a small dizzy but to the point I fell over twice and had to stay on the bed or floor for a good amount of time before the spinning would stop. I questioned if I was experiencing vertigo! It continued into the beginning of the week too. Luckily my classes on Monday/Wed don't start until 2pm so I had time to make sure I was OK before I drove to campus - very slowly. 

I researched my symptoms and looked into my antidepressant side effects as a possible cause due to the reaction I had to my (ex) heart medication 2 years ago. Sure enough, it can result in Orthostatic Hypotension: Low blood pressure, especially when moving from a sitting or lying position to a standing one. This can lead to feelings of lightheadedness, faintness, and dizziness. So I called the doctor and went in for a quick appointment and he said that combined with my weight loss (43 pounds so far and just 2 more to go) and being a bit dehydrated resulted in a perfect storm!  I was to move slowly and drink LOTS of water and even salty foods and no sudden moves up/down until everything was under control. WHEW!

And why was I dehydrated.... I normally drink upwards of 2+ liters of water a day, one while at school and another and more when I get home in the evening. When I am not in school, I carry a liter bottle with me where ever I go - running errands or around the house. I can't drink or eat anything while in the metals studio at school and so by the time I get home from classes I have only drunk half the bottle and so I finish that before I go to bed. This means that over the course of the semester I have been slowly dehydrating myself because I was not drinking that missed water the other days. 

This happening was on top of TWO big projects, one for each class, at school which of course stressed me out even more and I was not having fun working on one of them. As I said before I am taking these classes to learn and have a fun enjoyable time! The project for metals was the one I was not enjoying and I understood the project process was so the youngins would learn but it's not how I roll; added to the fact I was not thrilled with the topic idea we were supposed to use as a starting idea. Wednesday, while still not feeling well, things took a U-turn on what I was making and I was ready to not only get a big-fat zero on turning in a finished item but actually NOT going back to class for the rest of the semester.   Well, after a good night's sleep I felt better and came up with an alternate idea I knew I could finish by the due date on Monday; I emailed the teach and got approval.   The other decision I made was to take only a single class next semester - Intermediate Metals to give me more time for big projects and to allow me more time to play in my studio.

​Yes, this picture represents the original project gone bad.​

Forty some odd years ago I found myself in this situation - I couldn't sleep, I couldn't make decisions, I had issues getting my thoughts in to words, I had no interest in doing anything, and yes I wanted to die because I hated feeling this way.  I sought help and it was determined I was depressed prescribed pills and told to rest and go to therapy once a week to seek out the cause of what had gotten me into such a state.

After a few months I felt better and I was weaned off the antidepressant medication. As for finding the cause, well let's just say no one event or events had the pin stuck in it; it was determined to be an after effect of graduation and being in a new city without friends or family.  But about 9 months later I could tell the depression was returning and so back to the doctor I went.  After much talking and review of what was going on in my life as well as in the past I was diagnosed with Unipolar depression, I do have some periods of hyperactivity but no true manic phases <whew!>

I was prescribed a SSRI medication, stayed in therapy and worked on changing my lifestyle which was a major cause of bringing the depressed states on.  Turns out being a Type-A personality and being predisposed to  a serotonin deficiency is not a good mix. 

Over time and few attempts of weaning myself off the medications I gave up on that idea; I found I was on a two-plus year cycle of depression and feeling normal which is when I would reduce my meds only to find I was getting depressed again. I finally came to the conclusion that I am never going to stop taking the meds but I can lower it slowly over time and then increase it if/when I need it. 

So how do I control the cycling - I make a massive effort to get 8+ hours of sleep a night and when I don't I make sure I do for several nights later in the week. When I was working, I became "a worker bee" - I turned down being a technical lead and I also gave up the goal of being a manager plus I found out I did NOT like being a manager. Unlike my father who always had a pet project when he was in that position; I found that most times the people whom I worked for were not happy when I had one and that did not make me a happy camper. 

Now, being retired I strive to get lots of rest and sleep and do things I enjoy and mostly NOT GET STRESSED.

Speaking of which, I decided 3 weeks ago to make a new quilt for me because the one on the bed is 30 years old and the binding is fraying; the rest if fine thus it is time to put it away and make a new one. I spent a week of evenings, while watching TV planning to take a quilt pattern that was for a throw and scale it to queen size. I already had the fabric which was 1-yard cuts; and digging through the fabric closet I found the perfect fabric for the border. Last week I took it in to the quilter and while that was happening I used the leftover fabric to make  the bias binding. The quilting was done on Wednesday and yesterday I spent the day sewing the binding on and then washed it; it is now on my bed!! 

This week I am finishing the workshop and afterwards I will start another quilt which will also be for me; I cut the fabric last week while this quilt was being quilted.

Two weeks ago I decided to go for a hike up Panther Canyon which is at the back of Landa Park in New Braunfels. It is rated at Difficult but not very long. I figured I would give it a go and if I got to tired, I would turn around and try again until I was able to do the entire thing.

The temperature was COLD so I put on my winter leggings, super wool shirt, puffy jacket, hat, merino socks and walking shoes and did one loop around the park to warm up and then hit the trail.

​It has sections of dirt and uneven rocks and at times a dry creek bed is crossed or along side of it. I was feeling very good and not getting tired as I approached the top when I realized I did not have my walking sticks cause the trail was suddenly very uneven ... and just then I caught a toe and went down with a very hard face plant.

My glasses hit a rock and then broke my nose; I felt it. I thought the lenses had broken since it was that hard! I also landed on my right hand and I knew I broke it too.

I caught my breath, found my glasses which were bent but not broken and sat up. OH IT HURT SO BAD and the blood was all over my face. I took of my bandana, which I always wear to keep my neck warm or protected from the sun or to blow my nose, so I use it to mop up the blood. 

I was about to stand up when 2 people were coming down the trail and saw me and provided help. They stayed with me as I/we went to my car to make sure I was not going to black out. I was much more stable by then and I knew I could get to the ER.

The ER had no waiting so I was taken in right away. I had a CT for my head and neck and an x-Ray for my hand.  After almost 2 hours, the doctor reviewed the films with me. No concussion but whiplash. The nose is certainly broken and my right pinky is fractured. The hand was taped, I was told NOT to blow my nose and just rest and not to drive for a few days due to the neck and not to drive at night until that was all better. I got a CD with images and was sent home to rest and to follow up with my Doctor about the hand and an ENT for the nose.  Final instructions NO hiking or bar fights.

So 2 weeks later my hand is still is taped and will be so for at least 4 weeks. The ENT has scheduled me for surgery in late February.   My neck is 75% and I can kinda breathe.

Things are getting better - WHEW

I have just started the 3 and final dosages of the Prednisone - 1 10mg pill per day for the next 10 days. I have had most of the side effects (sleep issues, weigh gain and raging hungriness, agitation, high blood pressure, pounding in the ears and more. Thankfully they are going away.

When this started, I had just begun, again, on a "Get Healthy" regimen. I had contacted the Nutrition and Fitness coach who helped me get ready for my Big Walk in Scotland to start a plan again. I put new batteries in the Blood Pressure cuff, which uses Bluetooth to store the data in an app, so I could get off that medication that started the medical ugliness and I also bought a new scale that also records stats for BMI also via Bluetooth to an app.  I also cleared my Fit Bit and BP History which went back over 10 years - I was going to start new and clean. Additionally I created a new account with my food tracking app.  Then of course I had to hit the breaks hard on all of these plans until we got this thing under control.

​In some ways, now I really have no choice. To be honest I am 30 to 40 pounds over weight and my BMI is just over 30. My BP puts me somewhere between Hypertension Level 1 and 2; it is NOT a pretty place to be.  

About 10 years ago when I worked for the Navy in San Diego I started seriously walking and eating better.  At one point I was walking 4 miles around the harbor, my weight was down 15 pounds and my BP was in the Normal range. Then we moved and I slid backwards, then Erich died and I slid even more and so that is where I am today. 

This week, I am not official on the plan because of the Prednisone but I am doing what I call practicing. I will go for some walks, maybe 2; I will go to the gym for a weight work, once; I will track what I eat to get back into that habit and to make better food choices but I won't try to hit any macros levels.   But come October 2nd when I finish up the pills I will begin. 

Stay tuned, this could be an eye opening and wild ride

I HATE being sick, let alone just ill.

​Around August 27, I noticed by ankles getting itchy; I put on some cream thinking my skin was dry and moved on. Over the next few days the itchy-ness grew and when I looked I had a bad rash and it was slowly spreading up my legs! I put pen marks on my skin to see how it grew over time.

I thought about what might be causing it and what was "new" and that lead me to think that it might be an allergy reaction since I had recently added raw sunflower seeds to my diet; I don't normally eat them. I contacted an allergist and in a few days I had an appointment and in the mean time I was dosing myself with an oral anti-histamine but the ITCHING was horrible.  The doctor was quite intrigued, we drew blood for a test but he was uncertain what exactly was causing it and IF it was an allergic reaction at all. The doctor shared my pictures and history with a Skin/Vascular (Dermatologist) expert and a follow up appointment was made with him for 2 days later.

Well, it was pretty bad by then and he was quite surprised. After a lot of questions and answers, 2 punch biopsies were taken, a course of Prednisone (a very strong steroid) was prescribed and a follow up appointment was made for a week later.  The Prednisone worked - kinda; after a few days at a higher dose which did knock back the rash on my lower legs I was to then go to a lower dose to taper off of it and that was when I got more of the rash elsewhere on my body - abdomen, arms, neck, and chest. It wasn't as bad but the itching was horrible.  I should have called the doctor but I was in Denver for the Gem & Mineral show (which will be another post) and I just tried to ignore it all plus my legs were clearing up. 

After I returned from Denver and went to the follow up appointment I finally got a diagnosis. It WAS an allergic reaction but to one of my medications - the ACE (heart) Inhibitor I have been on for 10+ years.  This reaction is not common but not unknown and I guess I should feel lucky as some people go into anaphylaxis shock.  Because I was still taking the medication and the dose of Prednisone was lower, the rash reaction made a slight comeback while I was in my trip. The plan of attack was to stop the heart medication immediately and go on a higher dose and longer taper off of the Prednisone; this would allow for the heart medication to flush out of my system which could take a month, and allow the Prednisone to do it's thing.  Another follow up appointment was made for a few days later.  

The latest follow up appointment went well. The rash had cleared, most of the itching has stopped and I am finally on the mend.  I have almost 2 more weeks of the Prednisone to go and after that I get to follow up with my PCP to get them up to speed on what happened.  I am NOT going to replace the medication with a new one; I am planning on managing my heart with diet and exercise which really is the best in the long run. 

​WARNING - The pictures are rather intense; look if you dare

​Wow, it's been three months since I posted. So much has happened.


A friend from California has visited in May and he and his wife are getting close to retirement and have decided to relocate to this part of Texas. They are here this week now looking at home and will hopefully mover by April of next year when their lease runs out and she has retired from her job.

​

Then my sister came for a visit in June. She was in San Antonio for work and we spent the weekend seeing the area. One thing she wanted to see what an H.E.B grocery store. She use to teach marketing research and H.E.B was one of the case studies she covered, so she found it very interesting so actually see it in comparison to what she knew of them from on paper.

And I was feeling betting an working in the studio and getting deep into projects at the day job. I now lead a team of off shore developers for one project and we are pushing to get it finished before October but there was a lot of code clean up to do which I took on while the off shore team worked on other things.

​Then just over two weeks ago, while making my lunch one morning, the knife slipped and sliced open my right thumb; I was removing a pit from an avocado. Yes, I was doing it "correctly" as everyone has proceeded to tell me or send me to links on YouTube. The avocado was VERY ripe and so the pit slipped and the knife came out and went into my thumb.  Oh it bled and it was deep.
​
I now have what is called Avocado Hand. It should be noted that Bagel hand is something else.

So I wrapped it up and when to urgent care. They first cleaned it, gave me a tetanus shot, and took x-rays because there was a chance I nicked the bone, but did not, it was that deep. No stitches were put in cause I had to see a hand surgeon next.  Later in the day I was on my way to the surgeon who said I did not knick the tendon as I could flex it without pain but may have nicked the nerve since I had tingling along the side by my nail. Again no stitches were put in as they have 14 days to do surgery and IF they  had to go in, stitches would have to come out; so I butterfly bandage closed and wrapped up in elastic gauze tape and told to come back in a week.  I have now seen the doctor a second time and still have a bit of tingling along the side of my thumb but I can grip with no problem, confirming tendon is fine. So at this point it there are no guarantees the tingle would go away and since the area where it is like that is so small, the doctor doubts he might even be able to put in a stitch. This means the time and expense to do it plush the healing time are just not worth cutting my hand open. 

Let's must move on.

..get my life back under control and other times, I am learning to let it go. 

I realized that the move to Texas was more stressful than I though and I was not listening to the signals that I am (was?) ill. 

I haven't been sleeping well; I'm stress at work for no reason; I can't focus on what's being discussed and I let me mind wander to other non-work related things; I wanted to cry for no apparent reason; and what I was eating was/is crap so I put on all the weight I lost 3 years ago PLUS more - see below  

So last week, after a month of reading a book, I started a new eating regime (It is not a diet).

Since I had thyroid cancer, it has been exceedingly difficult for me to loose weight. 2+ years ago I started walking and found that if I walked for an hour every day and really limited my calories (and was always hungry) I was able to loose weight; I eventually lost about 20 pounds. But over time not only has that 20 pounds come back but I put on a more and trying to loose it has been a horrible struggle.

Last month a friend told me about her thyroid issues and how a nutritionist told her to read a book and follow the plan detailed in the book. She has since lost 40+ pounds and the sluggish and tired feeling have gone away. So 3 weeks ago I read the book and started the plan, I was feeling good and excited to see some changes and result in the next few weeks!

So what is it that I doing?  I am following the Plant Paradox by Dr. Gundry

I do not have some of the heavy autoimmune issues many have nor do I have diabetes but as I have said, I suffer from a very sluggish metabolism. I also have tinnitus (this appeared after my torn rotator cuff surgery and a bad reaction to the anesthesia), constipation, along with feeling sluggish, brain foggy, and depression.
  
I am now one week in and so far so good. I have not done the cleanse and there a just a few minor things I have been eating that I should not per the plan, but for now, it is more about small changes versus radical one.  I am still using a small amount of soy sauce to make my roasted veg, regular milk Greek yogurt, and a vegan, gluten free, salad dressing.

I have made the decision to cook a big meal on Sunday's and eat it as "left overs" for dinner during the week. This is so I don't have to cook every night nor will I resort to frozen meals. This past week I had roasted veg (cauliflower, brussel sprouts, fennel, and asparagus) with wild Alaskan salmon; for lunch I had a spinach salad with avocado, tuna, and sheep's milk feta with that vegan salad dressing; for breakfast I had yogurt with either fresh blueberries or strawberries; and for a snack some mixed raw nuts (walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts). 

So how was my first week? Pretty good. I don't feel hungry and I am enjoying what I am eating without worrying about tracking what I eat nor how many calories and grams of protein/fat/carbs or points I consumed!  I seem to be sleeping a bit better though having the sun come through the window at 6:30 am has and will be an issue since the bedroom window faces east but with the days getting longer it will resolve it's self until next summer roles around. And yes, I had THREE amazing bowel movements this week too.  I weighed myself and I am down 4 pounds. I will now not weigh myself for a month; this is so I don't obsess over it. 

Today I am back to the supermarket for this week's shopping and then I will make a beef stew for my week's dinner and get some other cheeses to add to my snack. 
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