Well, I haven’t been able to bother with updating the blog lately. I’ve thought about writing about the Terri Schiavo case, but it just makes me so mad I can hardly see straight. My employer’s handling (or lack thereof) has been a big part of my frustration. They give a lot of lip service to how everyone should be treated equally, how all life is valuable, etc… except when it conflicts with their political (i.e. liberal) agenda. Then it’s just a pithy statement about difficult choices that gets buried under much less important news.
Anyway, enough of that. The real reason I meant to post is for a health update. I’m quickly approaching the two year anniversary of my initial cancer diagnosis, and so far so good… the only real issue I’ve had since then was my weight gain. I went from 188 after my first round of chemo, to over 210 at my heaviest earlier this year. Now that’s understandable for a while – chemo really saps your energy, well after the treatments are finished. And the testosterone imbalance I was dealing with this time last year didn’t help things either, not to mention the SSRI anti-depressants I was taking which often cause weight gain.
But at the start of the year, I realized that I no longer could blame any of those things for my newfound girth. Chemo was well in the past, my testosterone was at a good level, and had been off the lexapro for six months. The only thing stopping me from losing weight was me. So about two months ago I started running again, and following the South Beach diet… while I haven’t done either the running or the eating plan very strictly, the weight has come off… I’m now down to about 197 – the first time I’ve been under 200 since the summer of 2003. I seem to have leveled off for the time being, but I’m hoping I can get down to the mid 180s by the time summer rolls around.
