Good morning and welcome to Holy week!
Wow. What a whirlwind this past week was for me. Starting on Monday, I worked an incredible amount at my job. By the time I left around 2:20pm on Thursday, I had already worked 55 hours. Go figure. My company's department hosted a FLC Fly-in to DC, the second annual one, and it was twice as big as last year. My responsibility leading up to it was sending out Hill meeting requests to all our targeted Senate offices, and I feel like I did pretty well with this. There were only two offices that we did not end up getting meetings with, and I think 2-3 of them came through because of relationships our lobbyists have. Another key and time consuming responsibility was coordinating all the logistics for the week. Fancy dinners on Monday & Tuesday, a more casual dinner on Wednesday, plus cupcakes for birthdays (from my fav cupcakery in DC - Baked & Wired) on Thursday and boxed lunches for them as they headed home. Oh - and coordinating the logistics for our training day at MWE and then the food and such at our home base - CHC for the Hill day. All in all it went pretty well, and the FLC members said they had a great time and enjoyed going to more Hill visits than last year. For me, it was a tad stressful with some things being left to the last minute that weren't in my area, but another colleague and I pulled together and made it happen to give them the list of who was in their groups. At the end of the week, one of the FLC members told me that this piece of paper of who was in what groups was the most helpful piece of paper to him in the packet! It felt all worth it when I heard that comment.
Anyways, health wise was not good this week. This shows the data from Sun, March 22nd - Sunday morning, March 29th. Since this is a public forum, I will not go into the details on here, but suffice it to say the stress, lack of sleep, and my struggle to stay hydrated (even though I carry a reusable water bottle with me everywhere) all contributed.
1. Drink honey-lemon water every morning. Check! Yes, I have done this every morning, and really enjoy this step. It tastes delicious and is a good way to wake up in the morning. I think the missing piece for me with this is GINGER. I tend to have a lot of uncomfortable stomach pain most every day, and at least every week - so if I add ginger to my morning routine with the honey & lemon, it might help. I will try it this week.
2. Exercise - Well, I did do a lot of walking on Wednesday (Hill Day). So much so, that my left ankle was killing me and my right knee for the next few days. I need to stretch my calves more, which will help my tendons not pull on my body in the wrong way causing pain. And on Friday, I did some walking (10 minutes) outside, which was refreshing. So, it's not "organized" exercise, but it's a small step for me.
3. Sleep: I track my sleep on an app on my iPhone called "Sleep Bot", so let me look at my logs for the week and see if I got 7 hours each night or not.
This week was dismal with sleep. It's almost too embarrassing to share, but I will.
1 night - 8 hours ; 2 nights - 7+ hours; 1 night - 5.5; 1 night 4.5; 2 night - 6+ with a Sat nap (so Fri night into Sat all day - I'd say - 7 hrs). I told you it was sad...
4. Less sugar - I believe I was more successful in this category. Each day, I did have sugar, but it was only 1-2 items, not miniature sized candies throughout the day. I am making progress here. Next week, we are doing a different kind of eating plan with our YA group at our community. We are eating foods like the rest of the country - no meat, dairy, or refined sugar. It's mainly beans, rice, lentils, local in-season veggies (or frozen veggies for us), spices, bananas and plantains (yum!).So - we'll see if I make it all week with no refined sugars. I am still taking my daily honey potion in the morning.
5. Take high powered probiotic every day.
So, this one has been controversial for me. I went to the doctor on Thursday, and he advised that I STOP taking the Ultra Probiotics (which I had already done) and resume taking Acidophilius - see previous post for link. I took my probiotic in the liquid form 3 times this week...so half fail, half success.
Overall health: Not great this week. I had stomach pain, little sleep, increased heart rate, etc. Suffice it to say, after all the working part was complete, I went to the doctor on Thursday afternoon. He said I have a sinus infection in both nasal cavities, so I'm on a penicillin version of an antibiotic that is doing a number to my stomach and other end. :-/ But hopefully it's killing all the bad bacteria. I'm also doing flonase when I remember - usually after irrigating in the morning or after a shower. I still sneeze an awful lot! The doc wants me to see their in house allergist this coming week on Friday.
Back in the fall of 2009 when I was still in Kansas, my allergies were giving me a run for my money. I was sick the entire month of July and so in October that year, I went to see one. They found I am allergic to ragweed, pollen, mold, and pine trees. Since it's been 5 years and I'm in a new environment (part of the country), it does make sense. Well, like the rest of us with the change of ACA in the last few years, my health insurance is not great. There are no more copays. Boo. Instead I have to meet my deductible of $2,600 - 100% and can pay for it through my HSA. I'm seriously not a fan, but that doesn't matter, because it is what we have. That said, Kia called me (the allergist) and said that it will cost between $200 - $500 to take. So - we'll see if I keep my appointment or not. Of course since it's the beginning of the year, I have only put a small dent into my deductible. Time will tell on that one. I have a follow-up with my family care physician on Wednesday this week. I am hoping for better sleep. Although, last night I was up in the middle of the night after using the restroom and my stomach was cramping and in all kind of knots. After drinking almost a glass of water and #2, I was able to feel slightly better. I will be glad when I'm done with this round of antibiotics and have my intestines back to "normal".
Well, that's all for now. I will say - I am loving the cusp of Spring we experienced last week here. There were some beautiful days of warm weather, some light Spring showers, and just the promise that it is coming soon! This past weekend was cold, but this week it is supposed to be warmer. I am hoping the Cherry Blossoms peak when they are projected to arrive - around April 9th.
Have a great week, all! Be well, look for the bright side (there's always one...we just have to look hard for it sometimes), and remember to communicate the heart with others - intention matters a lot. I am learning this.
Hugs & love,
Tina Lou
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