#152 Internal Medicine Appointment (11/05/12)

When I got this phone call, I was very blatant with “Are you kidding me?”  As discussed on my last post, my appointment with the anesthesiologist was quicker than planned, good to go etc.  Well I get another call this morning from the Pre-Admission clinic.  I need to have another appointment eerily similar to last Thursday, ie bring medications, talk with the doctor, have blood pressure done.  This time, instead of an anesthesiologist, it is with an Internal Medic.  Once again the appointment wait time could be from 2-3 hours.  They say I get a physical, but really, couldn’t they have done that at the last appointment.  This is an example of creating jobs.  It used to be, “oh you’re going for surgery, show up at the hospital an hour early, you then talk to any of the staff required, and they look you over, then wheel you in for surgery.  I even had a second person call from the clinic to make sure I was coming to the appointment, and clarify that the reason I need to see IM is because of my asthma.  I reassured her that my asthma is under control.  She says it is standard procedure. 

The drive to the hospital is a good 30-60 depending on traffic, each direction, plus hospital parking upwards of $10-20 or so.  Plus the wait time at the hospital.  (Last time I got lucky getting in and out in less than 45 minutes, I don’t expect to be that lucky again.) Last time I got a ride to the hospital with my MIL, so I could avoid parking, but I don’t want to inconvenience her again. 

On the last appointment my blood pressure was a little high, after these two phone calls, it is through the roof.  When my fertility doctor, who is doing the surgery, asked if I wanted a consult with the anesthesiologist, I thought a phone call at most.  If I would have known this rigmarole, I would have said “No thank you, I’ve been under various anesthetic before and had no issues, I will be fine.”  That would have saved a lot of hassle. 

So, this Thursday, I need to get up at an ungodly hour to go through rush hour traffic to a hospital at the other end of the city, to sit and probably wait. ARG.  In my opinion, I don’t need a second opinion from a different doctor, I really didn’t need the first.  

#119 Too Much (08/21/12)

Do you ever feel like there is just too much going on?  Like you are juggling and you start with one ball, then add another, and anther.  Three balls not too bad, but then more keep coming, you keep adding to the circle of balls you are juggling until you feel if anything else comes at you everything will come crashing down. 

Crohn’s is somewhat new to my life.  My mom lived with it from her 20’s and in the end died from a spinoff of the disease.  It is funny though, it never seemed to be a topic of discussion in our house growing up.  I knew she didn’t eat green vegetables as they hurt her stomach, and a few other things here and there.  She occasionally had to have Boost meal drinks on top of her meals to help boost her calories.  Over the years she had multiple surgeries to remove pieces of her intestine.  I’m pretty sure she was on prentizone to help manage the crohn’s.  Even though I lived with someone majorly affected by crohn’s all of my juvenile life, I don’t know much about the disease, probably more than the general population, but not much.  Now that I have it, (one juggle), my Virgo self needs to research it (two juggle). 

In the attempt to lose weight (three juggle) in order to get pregnant (four juggle) my wife and I are eating healthy, which is helping for the diet requirement for Crohn’s which was suggested, basically eat from the Canada Food Guide, and minimize animal fats. Originally I didn’t think that was much of an issue, but my wife brought up the question “Does that include dairy and eggs?”  In our house that is a major source of protein. Thus we may have possible major changes in diet (five juggle), but at the very lease tracking my diet through My Fitness Pal back to a higher degree of accuracy to get a better view of my macros, including the vitamins I take to make sure I’m getting the nutrients I need, especially for when I’m pregnant.

Also along the trying to get pregnant list, the polyp is the next issue (six juggle). Not a major thing (hopefully), but still something bugging my noodle. 

Then we have the general living category, learning to can fruit and deal with a mass harvest (seven juggle).  My job, thankfully isn’t that stressful, but does occupy a fair amount of my day (eight juggle), preparing the house for before I get pregnant (pre nesting), like personalizing the master bedroom (nine) organizing our storage (ten), clearing out non essentials to make room for baby stuff (eleven), preparing for the cruise (twelve).  That is a dozen things up in the air right now, some more stressful than others; the last one a good one, but we’ve never been on a cruise so I don’t know what to prep for. This is all stuff that is either a have to deal with or really want to deal with but I’m feeling very overwhelmed.  I just feel I could sleep for a week to let things settle in my head then have a game plan.  But for the most part, everything is happening as it happens.  As long as the dozen juggles doesn’t turn into a baker’s dozen before the cruise, I think the cruise will give me the much needed rest from the regular day to day to come back with Vim and Vigor to attack the next thing that needs to be dealt with.

#117 Crohns Diagnosis (08/20/12)

Well, today was the day.  I went for my follow up with the gastrologist regarding crohns.  This was part of my “So close, yet so far” post.   The good news is this shouldn’t affect my pregnancy.  The bad news is I have been diagnosed with Crohns.  Because of family history the minor issues have been treated seriously and testing was put through instead of put off.  It is because of the cautiousness of my doctor, it has been caught very early.  Right now there is just a small section of my small intestine that is slightly inflamed, and my blood levels are just a bit out of the normal. 

This news was a big of a blow, but not quite unexpected.  Today I will be picking up my first prescription of the first level medications for treatment/maintenance of crohns.  This medication, or a variation there of, I will probably be on for the rest of my life (or until possible cure in the future, but that is currently in dream stage).  The first level medications are a Class B, which is relatively safe to take during pregnancy.  This will hopefully reduce the inflammation, and keep my stomach in line for a long time, including in pregnancy.  The possible scary thing is, for people that get pregnant, one in three that have stomach issues will get worse during pregnancy or afterwards, if not in control of the issue in advance.  My doctor didn’t seem too concerned though because it has been caught early and isn’t doing any over and above damage, currently.  In this case, the sooner I get pregnant the better, before the disease has a chance to get worse (hopefully, if, not when). 

So, the next possible road block I need to handle before trying to get pregnant is the polyp.  Today is my day 1 of my cycle, which is right on schedule, so I will be having my SHG in the next 6-10 days to see what, if anything, needs to be done.

#116 Donor Update and Random Thoughts (08/16/12)

Our choice donor has had 34 babies, as mentioned before.  The new information is 18 of them are girls and 16 are boys.  So a pretty even split gender-wise.  Also, the other news is, only one set of twins.  The twins are probably due to fertility drugs of IVF, thus this may help my twin thoughts calm down a little. 

Yesterday, due to the doctor update, it seemed old habits die hard.  I stress ate a lot of food during the day, and had a non healthy dinner.  It was only by luck that we ran out of time to be able to have desert.  Over eating, under watering, and bloating starting, the weigh in tomorrow isn’t going to be good. 

My wife thinks I write too much, but for me it is like being able to catch thoughts before they are gone, as well as articulate my thoughts, as verbally, I don’t do well.  Even after I’ve written about my thoughts, if you ask me to tell you about them, they are ether gone, unless I read them, or I just can’t really tell you without referring to my notes as such.  I would make a horrible public speaker. 

I’m doing better in general about the stress of the doctor follow up on Monday.  Still a little stressed though.  At least we are doing something about the problem instead of ignoring it.  As for the pain in my leg, I am coming to think, somehow, it may be tired to period related symptoms.  I’m going to monitor the frequency, and what not over the next few months and figure out what it may be tied to.  We have ruled out Sciatica in the past with back X-Rays.  Might still be the end result and not quite caught on the x-rays, but I’ll see if I can track the pain and when it is worse and better. 

#115 So close, yet so far (08/16/12)

It seems as my wife and I are getting closer to trying to get pregnant, something else comes up.  First major obstacle before even discussing was my wife quitting smoking.  That was a very stressful period for both of us.  But yippee, she has quit and been smoke free for almost five months. 

Next, get our diet under control so pregnancy wouldn’t be as difficult on the body.  For the same five months, we have been working on that, each of us down about 15 pounds.  (Her a little more, me a little less.) Doing that while trying to get over the quitting smoking, not necessarily the best plan of attack, but it also helped with post smoking weight gain.  She didn’t really gain any afterwards, just took a long time to get the ball rolling to start losing.  This was another stressful point of contention. 

Now, we have things timed out, figured when would be best to start trying, saving money/paying down debt to be able to afford the venture of putting a bun in the oven.  Next road blocks.  Months ago I went in for a colonoscopy, not a fun experience, but a requirement due to issues I had with my stomach.  As a follow to that my doctor recommended a specialized ultrasound to look at my small intestines, specifically for Crohn’s.  The wait list for that was a long time.  The office that handles such ultrasounds sent a letter shortly after my colonoscopy (back in February) to book an appointment in August.  So that trouble was put to the back of my mind. 

On back to back Wednesday, I had an HSG which informed me that I had a polyp, “We’ll discuss at the follow up appointment whether to take it out or not.” Then I had the Crohn’s ultrasound which informed me that I have an inflamed area of my small intestine.  The contrast test took a long time to get the IV in, not fun, my veins don’t cooperate. 

The next Wednesday was the follow up for the fertility clinic, in which appointment, I found out I need to go for an additional ultrasound, which actually goes into my uterus, to have a better look at the polyp, which is about a centimeter in diameter.  When I first saw a blip on the HSG, that I assumed was the polyp, I thought it was fairly small in comparison, but I guess that is just where it attaches.  The fertility doctor showed me the actual possible polyp (might be just dye disturbance, but unlikely).  To me, that polyp is centre stage in my uterus taking up a large portion of the vital space that would be holding the fetus/baby. 

Now back to the Crohn’s ultrasound, I know I’m even having difficulty keeping track.  Because we are nearing, at a snail’s pace, the possibility of insemination, my fertility doctor mentioned that I should follow up with the Crohn’s doctor before we even try, and let them know I’m nearing the TTC stage of my life.  Well, as of today, I still hadn’t heard anything, so I gave the Gastrologist a call.  Talking with the receptionist, they had received the results a few days ago, and she was going to call me today.  Due to a cancellation she was able to fit me in Monday, but I needed to get additional blood work done before the appointment.  So she faxed the paperwork off to my nearest lab, and off I went this afternoon.  Once again it was a bit of a nightmare trying to draw blood.  Seven and a half vials, five people, and two pokes later I was done.  At least people didn’t just “Try.”  They gave up after putting the tourniquet on my arm, then my other arm, then back to the first, then on my hands, then got the next higher up person to try.  Third person in managed to get 2 vials, but then on the third my vein collapsed, hence the half comment.  Two of the things they were looking at were my blood count, and Celiac.  At least I don’t have to wait too long before my appointment to get the results. 

Between the probably removal of the polyp, and maybe getting my stomach under control, our first insemination is looking to be delayed by another month or two or three, who knows maybe indefinitely and we will have to try my wife first, once my health is moderately under control. 

That is my vent for today.  I went for fantisizing/fear the possibility of twins to having that pulled farther away.  Even though I knew something was up after the Crohn’s ultrasound and the HSG, it is hard to hear you need more tests to figure out what is wrong.  It just sucks that anything is wrong in the first place.  Maybe the polyp was the reason there was never any accidental pregnancies with my first husband, maybe my inflamed area is why there have been a couple times I am doubled in pain, in bed in the fetal position for the night, do I want to pass these defective genes to the next generation.  We picked a hopefully perfect specimen for the sperm donor, but I’m really not a prime candidate for passing my genes.  After I had our last fertility appointment, I looked into egg donation.  See if that is something that is required, as we can’t donate sperm to help another couple in need, but we do technically have eggs.  But in the end, I wouldn’t want anyone to have the health issues I have, so I am doing a favor by not donating eggs. 

PS: To add to the frustration factor, I’m on PMS.  AAAARRRGGG

#101 Eating uncontrollably (08/07/12)

This past weekend has been a challenge, diet-wise.  We made some good choices, and some bad, hopefully it balanced out in the end with all the walking around Barkerville. 

Today however, is another story.  We drove the 11 hours back yesterday, had some pizza for lunch/dinner and various munchies.  The side effect today of a busy weekend, and a tiring drive back is the fact I am tired today, very tired. 

To help combat fatigue, I am eating everything in sight.  Try and give my body some energy for work.  It really isn’t helping, but that hasn’t stopped me from eating more, from trail mix, to cookies, to fruit, to pretzels, to cereal, on top of the high calorie, oohhey gooey cheesy pizza left over from yesterday.  I am at 1750 calories (approximately based on pizza estimates), and I haven’t even eaten dinner yet, which is consisting of eggs, bacon, hash browns and grilled peppers.  All told, that meal is probably going to be 650 calories, and then of course desert, which will probably be a low fat fudgecicle.  Needless to say, I’m going WAY WAY over on calories, yet again.  I guess this is leading to the next excuse on the list. 

Excuse #9 – Eating for energy unnecessarily.  This is normally cured by a good night’s sleep.  This just goes to show, having a good night’s sleep, is part of a balanced diet. 

Eating over my calories is becoming too frequent.  I think I need a swift kick in the keester again to get my whole exercise/diet regime into order. 

The stress of the appointment tomorrow may also be a contributing factor, but at this point, for today anyways, it is being flat tired and eating for the wrong reasons.  To keep you informed, well me for when I read back on this blog, as I don’t have any followers usually, the appointment tomorrow is to learn the results of all the fertility testing my wife and I have been though, and to see if the polyp in my uterus needs to be removed.  Let’s hope we are both fertile and ready to start make babies soon, at the end of September. 

#97 Life happens (07/24/12)

For weight loss, July seems to be a wash, I gained, I lost, I gained again.  End results will hopefully at least be a little bit of a loss.  With the house next door we had hoped all the exercise of moving and cleaning would burn more than enough calories to help us lose weight.  It didn’t seem to happen.  

Last week I gained back all lost the week before, but it seems to be partially TOM and T3 issues of digestion back up.  It has not been a good last week.  My teeth were hurting very badly, taking meds every two hours to keep back pain, along with Antibiotics, then a bad reaction to the antibiotics, so they were switched.  Plus I was still working on the house next door, so health went by the wayside it seems.

Fast forward to the root canal yesterday.  It didn’t go well; five freezing’s and still feeling pain.  At one point the dentist said “This is going to hurt, bear with me.”  It’s not like I had a choice.  The dentist said, we could stop and you could come back another time.  What good is that?  Delay the pain, have to go through the whole procedure again; no thank you.  I did a lot of crying after that traumatic dentist experience.  On the upside today my mouth is feeling better.  Still on some pain meds, but more realistic amounts every 4-6 hours.  I should be able to have no more T3’s so the digestion issues should clear themselves, literally.  I will probably help along with prunes to help clear the pipes. 

Low and behold this month, life just happened.  Losing weight took a back burner, but didn’t get forgotten all together.  There is a week left in July, we will still be working on the houses probably till August 1^st at least, to some degree or another.  But maybe I can get back to walking at lunch, and fitting in some minor Wii work outs, and with less stress on my teeth, my body might start to relax and continue with weight loss. 

With all the lifting and cleaning, maybe the scales aren’t showing anything because some of our sticks of butter got turned to steaks, ie fat to muscle.  As per measurements I’m down a bit more, so that is possible. 

Life happens, and there is a light at the end of this long tunnel of crazy busy.  We are getting closer to the end when we can refocus on us and family, and getting pregnant and losing weight to get pregnant. 

I get my HSG on Thursday.  I’m a little worried about that, but the cramps will be worth it to make sure my tubes are working for fertility.  My doctor told me not to Google that procedure, it would scare me.  I’m now getting nervous, now that it is scheduled. 

The heat wave that has been plaguing Calgary is ebbing.  Today I was finally able to go for my lunch time walk again.  It was a small one, but at least I did get out. 

On a side note, I would love to thank my wife for taking care of me when my dentist appointment took a turn for the worse; she made me a wonderful protein shake for lunch and dinner and made sure I was ok all night.  I love my wife.

#87 Long Weekend Follow-up (07/03/12)

This past weekend was a go go go.  My body is battered and bruised, but at least I have a lot to show for it.  We started after work on Friday and kept going until 10 last night.  Note from last post.  The Stank water on the kitchen counter wasn’t water.  It was oil from a deep fryer.  Yuck.  The first day and a half I worked on the icky pet room.  Downfall of not having a sensitive nose, you get the smelly jobs.  During that time my wife and MIL worked on the rest up the main floor.  I burned a LOT of calories cleaning, and packing up garbage, books, donate items, books, items for us to keep, and did I mention books. 

Saturday night we did have “fast food” eek. A&W teen burgers and sweet onion rings.  Yay.  Well, not so yay, but it was a nice treat, and surprisingly I was still under my calories.  It was good that I had planned food mostly for the weekend, as that did help, overall.  Having ideas for lunches was the better idea, even though we strayed from planned, somewhat, just having lunch time planned was the better end. 

The progress of cleaning out the remnants of a hoarder’s house has gone quicker than I had thought.  Still not done, but main floor is complete cleared of stuff not staying and about ½ of the basement is done, with some stuff to go to donate and garbage.  By the end of Sunday we had filled out yard bin, and Monday they weren’t open, so we’ve just started a slight collection to take in loads with the truck.  One surprise this weekend was the plumbing.  We are all so glad my wife can do that.  She replaced all the guts in the three toilets, and fixes the three leaky sinks/taps.   I love my wife is handy like that; I know it is lesbian cliché, but I don’t care, it is great that she can fix things.  (Next hurdle in plumbing is getting hot water, should just be lighting the pilot lights in the water tanks, we hope.)

All day Monday I was working in the “craft” room.  That was a gong show.  That is the most packed room.  In the 9 hours working, I managed to clear a space about 10’ by 8’.  It seems like a lot, but that is about 1/5^th the room.  We have a long way to go yet.  We are very sore today.  When getting to work today, I briefly contemplated taking the elevator, up the ONE flight of stairs.  I didn’t though.

Tonight we are having dinner right after work; MIL is preparing dinner for when we walk through the door.  Then right after, we can get back to work.

The downside to this weekend, as of Saturday morning I was up .5 pounds.  Not a good scale week.  Let’s hope things are better next week.   

#84 Ramblings to get my head straight (06/27/12)

The stress on the appointment yesterday was getting to me more than I realized.  I’ve been a bit of a basket case for the past week.  Partially PMS and partially waiting to see if I get accepted as a patient at the fertility clinic.

Well, PMS is over, and so is the first appointment.  So the next hurdle, a bunch of tests.  Mostly blood tests on certain days, an ultra sound, and HSG test.  My next follow up appointment to see how the tests went is August 8^th.  So that gives me 6 weeks to lose a bit more weight.  I’m hoping for another 10 pounds.  But any is a victory. 

Timing to go for first try looks like it would be at the end of September beginning of October.  That is 3 months away.  To get a total of 31 pounds off would be a 10% reduction of my weight.  This means an additional loss of 19.5 pounds in three months.  That is doable.  I’m going to strive for more, if I can get to 30-40 pounds that would be fantastic.  Then hopefully at my highest baby weight I won’t be more that 280 pounds.  Alas, that is getting ahead of myself. 

On my lunches, I’ve been walking about 20 minutes, just under a mile on most days.  That is good.  Evenings have been a hit or miss.  For the past little while, I’ve been in charge of cooking the meals for my wife, mother in law and father in law, while they were packing up the house for sale.  I would either bring the meal to them, or wait at home for them to come and eat.  This cut into my focus time that could be for exercising, and seeing I wasn’t helping pack/move/clean until after dinner, which a lot of the time would be about 9, there wasn’t much left for me to do to burn off calories helping.  The past few days we’ve had off from the move stress, as the house is finally up for sale. 

Next we are gearing up for possession of the new house, should be tomorrow or Friday.  The new house was a foreclosure and is a bit of disrepair and needs a good clean/de-clutter.  At least the house is next door, so dinners should be a quick deal.  I think I need to go on a casserole cooking spree to freeze a bunch to pop in the oven, we can be cleaning, and then pause for dinner, then back to cleaning or whatever. 

#83 Weekends are an Achilles Heel (06/25/12)

The past few weekends, I’ve been averaging about a lot more steps.  This weekend was a bit more relaxing.  The downside, I was eating the way I have been, when active.  End result, went over my calories.  Reviewing recent weekend habits though, active yes, eating healthy, not so much.  Why so?  On week days we plan our meals, cut up veggies for the week, and know what we are doing.  Weekends, we have been flying by the seat of our pants trying to get errands done while trying to finish up getting my mother in law’s house ready for sale.  The house is now up for sale, we still aren’t sure what we are doing next weekend.  It is a long weekend technically, however my wife doesn’t get the day off.  New house possession should be sometime this week, therefore this weekend we should be cleaning it out.  I think the big lesson of this past weekend, is plan your weekend food too.  No planning leads to Poutine Fries.  Not a good thing. 

This past weekend I was in an emotional funk, and I couldn’t figure out why.  Overall I’m doing better, but still feeling a little blue.  It almost feels like I’m being a brat having a temper tantrum.  But I still can’t pull myself out of it.  Maybe it is just that I’m not getting enough activity, I’m down about 10,000 steps from the previous weekend.  I just went for my lunchtime walk, and feeling a bit better.  Downside was, I got into a coughing fit a little ways in, and didn’t have my inhaler, so I came back sooner than I would have.  So much for my asthma NSV.  

Lesson learned though, this coming weekend whether we are cleaning or on a mini vacation, we need to plan activity, and what we are going to eat.

Over the past 3 months, I’ve gotten my weekdays under control, now it’s time for the weekends. 

#72 Over my fears, and finally in Dos-derland (06/11/12)

Last week I was stressing myself out about not losing anything again on the weekend weigh in.  Finally the stress was unfounded.  I lost 2.8 pounds.  It seems like a lot in a week, but if you average it over the three weeks I’ve gained and lost nothing then that is .9 per week which is a good average.  It was a huge stress lifted from my wife and myself when we saw the scales Saturday morning. 

Stress is a funny thing.  The more you stress over something the worse it gets and you stress more.  That in turn makes your body unstable and not want to do what it is told, so to speak, ie lose weight.  Deficit of calories should technically equal weight loss, but when stress has taken over your body, it may not happen.  It is a vicious cycle. 

Alas, I am finally in the (high) 200.  I had racked my brain to come up with something equivalent to “One-derland” when a person hits the 100’s.  Alas, Twoderland doesn’t work as well, and Tonnederland gives the thought of heavy instead of lighter.  Maybe I’ll go with Dos-derland, (Spanish 2).  Now that I’m here, I am finally able to come up with something.  It is only 10 pounds in, but worth having a name for it.  I will be in Dos-derland for a long time before striving for One-derland, but as long as I keep going never to see the three hundreds again it is worth celebrating.  I am confident those 10 pounds are off for good. 

It has taken 84 days to get to this point.  I’m hoping the next 10 is a quicker celebration.  If it isn’t, as long as it gets here, I’m doing all right.  Getting to and through Dos-derland is kind of like a 12 step program, one step to get there, which will be a lot of mental stress, the ten steps for each ten pounds off celebrated, then one last leap to leave Dos-derland into One-derland.  It is going to be an incredible journey. 

              

One more celebration about last week, I topped my steps for a week by 10,000.  My last best was 43,082.  Last week, I managed to get in 53,179.  I’m getting better at Ninja Steps.  Let’s see if I can reach 57,000 this week. 

#62 General thoughts (05/31/12)

One stress is down and out, one more to go.  As much as I try not to let stress affect me, I think it does a little.  The first place stress shows in my body is digestion.  When I’m stressing my stomach doesn’t work as well as it should.  I need to remember to drink more water when stressing.  That could be half the cause. 

Tomorrow is the biggie.  Damage control or all hands on deck to get moving.  It is going to be a weird day. 

We haven’t been on the Wii in the evenings to see if we are doing worse or better for the week so far.  I’m getting worried and curious.  We haven’t been sloths in the evenings, but have been doing other activities in general around the house.  Our late night snacking has been bad though, however it was to top up calories.  Let’s see which wins, bad snacking = weight gain or plateau or general activities countering to = weight loss. 

For the past week I’ve been walking at lunch around the parking lot.  Yesterday I was able to get my steps on that walk to over 1000.  It was actually closer to 1200.  I just thought, instead of just around the parking lot, maybe I should go down the block.  That should add about 200 steps.  It was actually 200 steps each way, so it added 400 steps.  Yay.  I think I will do that again today.  Weather permitting.  Rain clouds are looming overhead.  Even so, I may just grab an umbrella at the front door and nip out anyways. 

#59 Stress (05/28/12)

Today I’m feeling optimistic.  The past week and this week have been stressful ones.  Last weigh in I was up .9 pounds.  But being the TOM, I’m not stressing over that at this point.   Hopefully this week I will lose that and then some.  Stress is a funny thing though.  I do believe that stress is directly related to progress on weight loss.  Being stressed out for one reason or another your body can’t concentrate on losing the weight.  It falls back into storage mode and becomes efficient and puts all extra calories into fat.  Or at least doesn’t tap into the reserves you are trying to lose. 

This week I’m trying to lose a bit at least, but if I don’t gain this week we are doing well.  The news I’m waiting for is coming Friday.  It was supposed to come last Wednesday, then it was Friday, now the following Friday.  Once the news hits, it will either be damage control, or full hands on deck to get things done.  For the latter option, it will be at least a good weight loss plan, hopefully, as we will be very active in our evenings and weekends.