Testing has begun

The lab order for my glucose tolerance test never came in the mail, but they did send it to the lab - so that is where I am sitting. Would have come sooner, but due to Ike the clinic was closed last week and they didn't re-open to the public until yesterday.

Stick number one has occurred, I drank the drink and am now patiently waiting to go get stick number two taken care of which is 30 minutes after drinking the drink. Stick three is 30 minutes after that, and then one hour later I get stuck the fourth and final time.

Before I moved to Texas I used to be a medical technologist, so I know the drill and can now sympathize a little bit more with all the patients I had to do this to!

When the doctors office opens I will head over there and set up an appointment with the doc, but I am hoping they will tell me the results prior to that. Because if they are normal, there is no need for me to come in.

Hermann Park Golf Course

Tonight, I finally ventured over to the golf course for a run. I hadn't been over there since last Friday and wasn't sure what to expect. By the looks of the huge piles of cut up trees and branches lining the parking lot there must have been a lot of downed trees. There are two large trees still blocking the trails, but overall I think they have done a real good job in cleaning things up. And from what I can see, there are not many more trees to clear up on the golf course. I am sure they are working as fast as they can so they can open back up.

There were quite a few people out for a walk, jog or run - more than I normally see. Wonder if they were just tired of being cooped up, or were getting ready for the Houston Marathon.

There is still a street light not working along Almeda. Police officers were directing traffic when I was on my way over to the course, but they had left by the time I was headed back home. I crossed the street quickly and made sure that the cars were stopped. I made it safely and as I was continuing on my way I heard someone screaming and then I heard screeching brakes. Someone wasn't paying attention, but their passenger sure was! The car stopped without crashing into anyone, but it was close. I wonder how many times other people in the same situation around the city have not stopped in time this past week. It will be nice when all the power is back and all the street lights are fixed.

My First Hurricane

Okay, it wasn’t really my first, but it was my first experience of a direct hit. I have lived in Houston for over 11 years and am pretty surprised I didn’t experience one sooner.

I am one of the very lucky ones who survived the experience without any damage to my place or car. I lost power around 1:00 a.m. on Saturday with the water following suit shortly after that, but considering that was a pretty minor inconvenience. I did not get either back until sometime on Tuesday. I took off for a friend’s house in Humble on Monday because I was in dire need of a shower. Doing the basic wipe down was not cutting it!

I started the week before Ike with six gallons of bottled water, an emergency stash of cash and working flashlights and lanterns. On Tuesday I went to the store and bought a bunch of canned goods. Wednesday’s preparations consisted of buying some extra propane, some AA batteries and filling up my car’s gas tank. I was thankful for the last one, because when I went to work on Thursday the lines at the gas stations were very long.

Thursday I had to go get my tire fixed (because the night before I noticed a huge bolt very close to the sidewall of my tire), so I made my way over to Sam’s Club. Talk about a zoo!! The lines were extremely long; I would say at least 20 people deep. My tire had to be replaced, but because I had such minimal tread wear all I had to pay for was the installation. So lucky. The next lucky thing – they let me buy batteries (for the radio) and TP at their counter so I didn’t have to wait in the regular line. Even more lucky!!

I was now set.

Friday consisted of the final touches. I cleaned house, put some breakables away, went for a final run around the golf course, made sure all my dishes and clothes were clean, then filled up the bath and wash tubs with water.

I then sat down on the couch and watched the news coverage until the power went out.

That is when the fun began. The wind started howling, the windows shook when a major gust came through, the metal carports on top of my apartment complex started creaking and groaning, the sky would light up, etc. Needless to say – I did not get a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, I put on an old pair of tennis shoes and went walking around the area. And the next day I took a drive around the Heights and Memorial drive. Here are some of the pics I took:



On Monday, I found out a friend of mine had power so I hightailed it to her house with the contents of my fridge and freezer (which were not bad yet) along with my big, powerful blender and a bottle of rum! You see, I had a huge bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer, and what could I make with those – strawberry daiquiris, strawberry pina coloda’s and strawberry mojitos (the last recipe was not that great, but everyone else was okay with them so they did not go to waste!).

The next day I found out I had power, so after we all headed out for dinner I went home. It was so nice to be home in my own bed with the electricity and water back.

Second goal met

As of this weekend I have lost a total of 21 pounds. I have finally reached the second 10 pound weight loss goal! Yeah for me!!

It gets rather frustrating at times because it seems that for two weeks out of the month I do not see any differences on the scale, and then all of a sudden I have a major drop. And then I wait for things to stabilize, because I am sure a lot of it is water loss so I have to wait for that water to get back on board. Then of course the weight goes up and I get frustrated again! But I have to look at the big picture and the ultimate goal.

During my times of not losing I wonder if I am insulin resistant. It just seems that I should be losing the fat consistently because I am active, have restricted my caloric intake, am eating healthier and have cut out a lot of the bad foods.

They have found that many women with PCOS are insulin resistant. The way I am reading things I am not sure which comes first - the hormone problems or the insulin resistance. There still seems to be a lot to be learned about this syndrome.

I have been wondering about this for some time - but have never done anything about it. Well, I finally called my doctor up and asked to get a glucose tolerance test. I am still waiting for the lab order to come in the mail. But now I am wondering when to get it done. Does it really matter? Or should I wait until that two week period when I do not seem to be losing anything? Decisions, decisions.

My nutritionist thinks I really do not need to worry about getting the test done just yet because ultimately I am losing weight, but if I wasn't then she would say for sure to get it done. She has had other clients with PCOS who have had the test and once they get on the right medication to control it - they drop weight like crazy. Not sure anything like that would happen to me. Who knows if I even have the problem. It just seems that I can eat the healthiest meal, not drink sodas, exercise, etc. but it doesn't really seem to make a difference. And then I will have friends that can eat candy like it is going out of style, have a double cheeseburger with fries and not exercise and they never seem to gain weight.

I will let you know the eventual outcome.

Labor Day Weekend

Several years ago I went to New Braunfels and floated the river with my family and have always wanted to go back and do it again. I finally got the chance last weekend.

I went with friends and we camped for two nights along the river at one of the huge campgrounds.

We drove over on Friday afternoon and just hung around the fire that night eating, drinking and playing games. I wasn't that into drinking so I was good and limited my alcohol content. But the people at a campground next to us was very into it and were up until close to three in the morning. I was not that endeared towards them the next morning and made sure we did not get into the water at the same time they did later that day.

After breakfast, we sat and watched a ton of people get in to the water and listened to their high pitched shrills at the shock of the cold! Funny!

We finally got our tubes and jumped in ourselves. The water was a little cold, but I got used to it over time. Overall, it was a good time. It was nice and relaxing, but then things would get a little exciting during the rapids. I liked those times the best, I wish their had been more of them.

I think the major downfall of the whole trip was seeing all the trash floating in the water. There were beer and pop cans, plastic bottles, jello shot containers and a other odds and ends. My friends thought me a little strange because if I could get close to the trash I would pick it up and put it with our trash. When we first started floating I didn't see any, then about of a third of the way a few items appeared. And the further we went the more and more trash appeared. It is too bad and rather sad.

Here are a few pictures of our time floating:


The Gang.


All the peeps behind us.


One of the pretty views along the way.


Some guy getting ready to jump out of a tree - not the brightest idea considering how shallow the water is.


On the way down after doing a back flip. I do not think I could have done it even if I did know the water was 20 feet deep!