A New Year and Another Try

Well, I failed miserably at this last year. I'm willing to give it another shot.

I guess the biggest things that happened were due to my health. My job as an elementary school teacher puts me into contact with over 900 children...many of whom bring their germs to school with them. I ended up with 4 different viruses between Thanksgiving of 2014 and the end of January 2015. My body just crashed. They pumped me full of antibiotics and that brought out my colitis. I lost over 20 pounds and by March 1st, I weighed 170 pounds! I haven't been that skinny since high school.

Slowly but surely, my body began to function more normally and I started gaining weight and working out again. I'm still not able to run 13.1 miles...but I'm working on it.

Then, I had another health issue pop up. In June of 2014, I went for my annual physical. My PSA levels were at 2.0 That is still okay but higher than my doctor would like them to be for a man of my age. So, he had me start taking saw palmetto. Fast forward a year and they were at 2.4. So, he wanted me to see a urologist. We talked and he did a quick physical exam. We talked some more and he discussed the idea of a biopsy of my prostate. I agreed and went through with that process. It was not fun. I had to wait about a week for the results and they weren't exactly good news. I have prostate cancer. We're going to monitor it for the next year and see how quickly it grows. I have to go through another biopsy next month...oh fun!!!

A couple of weeks ago, I learned about a new project going around the web...mostly instagram. Its called the 365 Grateful. Basically, you need to think of things each day that you're grateful are a part of your life. I can see that some days are going to be easier than others. I decided to start on New Year's Day.

January 1, 2016--The first thing that I was grateful for was something very unexpected. Our dachshund Rosie had some fatty tumors removed from her left side. She's 14 years old and fatty tumors like this are common with many dogs. One of them was just a little bigger than we...the 2 of us and our vet...liked so they removed them when she went in for a routine dental cleaning. She did fine for the first couple of days. New Year's Day, we discovered that she had wiggled out of her sweater. The sweater was meant to keep her from liking at the stitches. This meant that we had to make a trip here.

It wasn't the first thing that I expected to be grateful for...but believe me when I say that we were very grateful that they were open on a holiday. They ended up removing all her stitches and putting in staples. She even ended up with this....

A Cone of Shame! 

They also gave her a more form fitting t-shirt that works better than her sweater. We took the cone of shame off later that day and she's done very well with the sweater.

January 2, 2016--Today, I was grateful for the gym. This place and these people have helped me out so much in improving my physical fitness. I'm not an athletically inclined person to begin with and am much better than before because of this place.

January 3, 2016--Today, I'm grateful for my husband. This is a picture I took while we were driving home from the grocery store this morning. It was just nice to hold his hand while I was driving.

We've been together for almost 19 years and he means more to me than I can express in words. Here's a picture we took on Christmas Day.

We have such a good time together. He is the most important person to me in the world.

Well, I haven't done as well as I thought I would with all of this. My original intent was for this to be a way to empty my mind at the end of a day. Guess this means that I'm way behind.

It has been an interesting couple of weeks. I came down with some other kind of virus. As a teacher at an elementary school, it can be hard to escape the bugs and germs the kids bring with them to school. At first my doctor thought it was walking pneumonia. He prescribed an antibiotic and sent me for a chest x-ray. That was late in the day so I didn't hear about the x-ray results until the next day. They were of course clear. I did come down with something nasty. I had a fever of over 100 for 2 days, a wonderful hacking cough, and a splitting headache. The antibiotic really got my ulcerative colitis going too! After 3 days of bed rest and 2 days of minor activity, I don't feel too bad...except for the ulcerative colitis. It is going to take it a while to go away. Luckily tomorrow is a holiday...Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I have one more day to take it easy. Thank goodness.

Since I've mentioned it, let's talk about ulcerative colitis. What a fun little adventure that has been in my life. Here's the official definition to give you an idea. Ulcerative Colitis It is a form of inflammatory bowel disease. Doesn't that sound fun??? I have been told that I have left side colitis which means there are bleeding ulcers in my rectum and the left side of my colon. Mine would appear to be heredity since I have an aunt and a distant cousin who both have Crohn's disease. This first appeared about 2007 or so. I've honestly lost track of it all and can't remember when it all started. I didn't know what was going on. Bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain is just not something you want to talk about at first. I tried getting into see a doctor and that was harder than I thought. Luckily, a mom of one of my students worked for a gastroenterologist and was able to get me a quick appointment. After the initial consult, it was decided that I needed a colonoscopy. That confirmed the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. I began a talking anti-inflammatory drugs. I also started research online and began to look at my diet. My diet wasn't great. I started eating healthier choices. It wasn't always fun. It took 2 or 3 years for the ulcerative colitis to go into remission. That was such a relief and I've been careful ever since that time. I've tried to watch what I eat and drink and if something seems to upset my stomach, I back away from it. Beer and sweets are the things that I have to be careful with. They seem to really upset my gut if I'm not careful. This summer,  I added a protein powder to my diet at the suggestion of my trainer. It was good for about a month. About the first of August, I started noticing the signs of problems. I stopped that and went to my gastroenterologist and started a new treatment. That took care of it...for a while. Then I started in with the little infections...an ear infection in October....a sinus infection in December...and finally the bug that I am currently dealing with. Antibiotics seem to be a problem for me. When the ulcerative colitis first reared it's ugly head in 2007, I had about 5 or 6 rounds of antibiotics for little things in the 6 months before it all started. So after 3 rounds of antibiotics since October, here I stand at the edge of the cliff waiting to see if I'll jump off for another wonderful 2 years of fun on the ulcerative colitis roller coaster. 

Well, I'm tired and it is past my bedtime. Gary's not home. He is in Grapevine tonight. He is teaching a class tomorrow at a private school north of Fort Worth. He's going to train them on some new equipment they purchased and the teachers volunteered to give up their day off to come in and learn. We had talked about going up and making a weekend of it all. I just wasn't up to it. He did get to see some friends and it sounds like they had a good time out tonight.

Well here it is, 2015 and I've had the nagging feeling that I should start writing for some reason. I don't necessarily want to write a book or anything like that. I just want to write. I want to talk about my day and my life and see where this goes.

I guess the biggest reason that I'm compelled to write is because I'm probably still dealing with the midlife crisis. This isn't a bad one. I'm not going to leave my life and run away to some remote area and hide from everyone in my life.  I'm 48...almost 49...and have really started thinking about my life...both where its been and where its going. I'm beginning to think about my impact on the world and hope that its been a good one and not destructive.

I guess if you really want to know, I'll tell you about me. As I said, I'm 48 and live in Houston. I grew up in Plainfield, IN. Plainfield is a small city just to the west of Indianapolis. US 40 is Main St. and I-70 runs just to the south. It was a good place to grow up. I have many fond memories of it. My mom and a sister still live in town. There are also a couple of aunts and uncles who also live there. The rest of my family is stretched between Cloverdale and Marion in central Indiana. I do have an aunt who lives in Ohio. So, everybody but me and Aunt Judy are all right there. I wish I could see all of them when I get back. I hope they know that even if we can't meet up that they still meet a great deal to me and I am concerned about their well being.

As for my life in Houston, I live in the southwest part of the city between the Loop and the Beltway. I'm married and have been for almost a year. We finally took the plunge and traveled to San Diego to tie the knot. My husband is Gary. Yes, that means I'm gay. We've been together as a couple for almost 18 years. We got married on February 2, which is the day we met for the first time. I never thought that I would find someone who could make me this happy. I love him more than I can put into words.

It is past my bedtime now. I will write more later.