What a week this has been! My take-away from the last 7 days is that hindsight is not  20/20. My experiences have fostered more questions than answers this week. First - on a good note- I did pass my testing and am now a purple belt in taekwondo. One more testing period (8-10 weeks) and I'll be an advanced belt! Who thought this fat senior would ever get this far? lol I will have to admit that I had a rough time this week in taekwondo - just didn't feel good. My instructor babysat me though. She kept an eye out for me and kept reminding me to sit out if I didn't feel well. Like I'm going to sit out.  I made it. So I have been doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm taking my medications exactly as prescribed, I don't like that but I'm doing it. I'm taking my blood pressure almost  every day and it's been within the right range - a little at the top of the "okay" range - and I'd like it down a bit more - but not high by any m...

This weekend I got a sitter for my son and my daughter and I went to Indianapolis to attend the wedding of a good friend. There were many significant things that happened during this trip. First of all my daughter has just been diagnosed with fatty liver disease and is hoping to reverse it through diet and exercise. We knew we would have to go in and have sit-down meals to get the freshest and healthiest foods possible while on a road trip. We also took a small ice chest with some fresh fruits and veggies. I'm proud to say we did pretty good overall with almost no "cheat" foods whatsoever. We even went grocery shopping the night we got there so we could have a nice stock and not be tempted to eat out. I bought humus and fresh veggies, but I have to give her credit for keeping me on track. The first container was a small one and came with pretzels. She suggested swapping it out for a larger container of humus and buying some fresh veggies to go with it. I did and we we...

I had my cardiologist appointment this morning. Of course the number one thing on my list of questions was to ask if he would "okay" me to start training for a full marathon. He started out by explaining my condition to me - he's really good about that. He also asked how I'd been doing. I told him I have good days and bad days but that I was watching my sodium intake and my blood pressure has been real good at home. I also told him it had inched up over the last couple of days and since it was slightly elevated while there he is going to up my meds a little. He said this is partly because I want to step up my training. He doesn't want my heart rate going out the roof while training. He also gave me some very specific directions. He told me to go slow.  And he said I have to take it easy as I proceed but that I can continue training. Doc also said that I need to be especially careful about overdoing it; basically - don't.   So...this is pretty much verbatim w...