Category: Health

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Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

My turn for this, I suppose.

The last A’s game I went to was September 2, 1996.  It was the Yankees vs. The A’s, and David Cone was coming off a stint on the DL/IL.  he pitched 7 innings of no-hit ball against the A’s but he was on a pitch count so he was taken out of the game.

The last time I was in the Arena was for a preseason exhibition game with the newly-formed San Francisco Spiders hockey team.  I can’t recall who they played, or the exact date, but it must have been in September of 1995.

The last time I visited the area was April 4th, 2021, for my first COVID-19 vaccination.

I recall other baseball and one basketball game I’d attended.

We were there the weekend in 1981 when the A’s opened the season with 11 straight wins.  I don’t recall if we were there for the 10th win on Saturday, or the 11th win of the first game of a Sunday double header.

My gaming group surprised our DM on his birthday by getting tickets to a A’s-Tigers game, as he was a big Detroit Tigers fan.

As for basketball, the one Warriors game that I attended at the Arena (the other was at the Shark Tank, of all places) was a Lakers-Warriors matchup where the only thing I really remember was that we had seats above and behind a backboard, and Magic Johnson scored on a breakaway right at us.  It might have been a slam dunk, too, but my memory fails me.  It probably was, though.

So those are my few stories about the Oakland-Alameda County Stadium.

And even though I’m not an A’s fan, I will miss them and the Bay Area rivalry with the Giants.

I’ve felt that feeling of loss, when we almost lost the Giants after the 1992 season.

Unfortunately, I don’t see a last minute save by local investors to keep this team where I feel they belong.

My heart goes out to A’s fans everywhere, but especially to the ones who live around the area and/or have been loyally attending games for years.

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Small Things

At the old house we had a couple of full length mirrors located in a couple of spots, one of which was on my bedroom door.

When I moved into the apartment I didn’t feel the need to have such a mirror, but for some reason I felt the bathroom mirror was insufficient for my purposes, but couldn’t figure out why.

Yesterday I picked up an over-the-door mirror and installed it on the door leading to the bathroom past a couple of closets next to the main area where I put my bed and workstation.

After hanging it up, I saw right away what the other mirrors back at the house did for me.

I saw myself and the weight I’ve gained back since moving to the apartment.

And I really hate that look.

So I think this is going to act as the missing catalyst I need to get my weight under control again.

Tally ho.

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Four Weeks Later

–  I’ve gotten somewhat into a routine on weekends, foregoing my usual Target run, and simply staying home and unwinding and doing laundry.

–  I dropped off a good number of books to a local bookstore in the mall, and finally got around to visiting the library that I live behind and getting a library card.

–  I’m beginning to dump stuff that I brought to the apartment from the house, finding that I grabbed some stuff that I really have no use for or haven’t used in years.

–  I need to go out walking more.

–  I also need to eat better.  I lost about 10 pounds from the stress of moving, but have gained back a few of those pounds.

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Christmas Eve 2023

The Story So Far:

  • woke up and watched the Die Hard/Christmas episode of What If…? Season 2, and I liked it.
  • weekly trip to Target, grabbed some groceries, mostly.
  • against my better judgement, picked up McDonalds for breakfast.
  • watched some reaction videos to various things (What If…?, The Clone Wars, Dr. Strange 2).
  • watched some other stuff (Star Trek documentaries, Raiders of the Lost Ark).
  • set up 3D printers to print some stuff.
  • now trying to decide what to do next.

I’m leaning toward some tabletop gaming, either sports or maybe finally trying to start the Mythic Game Master Emulator test run.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL Y’ALL!

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Health Update

Today turned into my annual check up with my doctor, who is moving her family back to Minnesota at the end of the month.  This was the first time I had an annual check up and saw my doctor in person since 2019.

I thanked her for taking care of me for these past years, that she was a good doctor and that I’d miss her.  She said that she’ll miss me along with all of her patients.

Surprises:

My blood pressure has gotten to a point that I may be going off one of my BP meds.

My changes in diet attribute that, along with helping my blood sugar go down to almost below pre-diabetic levels.

The doctor suggested a few things, including focusing more on the good habits I’m doing to stay healthy (cutting fast food, getting more exercise), instead of a weight goal.

All-in-all, I’m feeling good and the doctor agrees.

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I got chills….

… and luckily no more than that.

I was laid up in bed most of Friday, from an onset of chills in the early morning, to spending most of the rest of my day knocked out.

This is the most I’ve slept in one day in a long time.

I managed to get up to shower and eat some Belvita breakfast biscuits and tea, but after that, I just collapsed onto my bed.

I got up again around 2pm and at a couple of dinner rolls for late lunch, and that’s when the chills really started to get me.

Concerned that I was, I took a home COVID test that came up negative.

I texted my sister to let her know what was going on, and she called and came home with some won ton soup.

Around 6pm I got up and had a small bowl of soup, took some cold/flu medicine, and proceeded to fall unconscious for the next 10 hours or so, occasionally waking up to see what time it was, but drifting off immediately after that.

Around 5:30 am I got up, still a little dizzy, but no chills.  I took a shower which seemed to clear my head a bit more, and then I finished off one of the take out containers of won ton soup and a glass of ginger ale.

I feel fine now, but still a bit meh.  Hopefully it was just a 24 hour bug.

Ah, the healing powers of won ton soup and ginger ale.  And cold medicine.

Thanks, Jen.

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Checking in

Yesterday I completed a group therapy program for people who are diagnosed with fatty liver.

I got to see people in various stages of fatty liver, with me at the beginning stages, one person who  has cirrhosis, and another person who beat liver cancer.

If anything this was a ‘scared straight’ situation for me.  And there’s already been some positive results.

My ‘no excuse November’ crusade resulted in me finally getting back on the weight loss wagon, through exercise and some dietary changes.

This program has finally got me into full fledged dietary *lifestyle* changes, for a more sustainable weight loss regimen.

The group therapy showed me the whys and hows I needed to change my thinking, and it all reinforced my desire to really lose weight/get healthy again.

I also signed up for Noom again, with a better understanding of just what they’re all about, and the lessons are sticking this time.

Anyways, as of this morning, I’m .2 lbs shy of my pre-pandemic (March 12 2020) weight.

So now I can get to the weight loss program that my doctor had outlined a week before the pandemic started, along with more effective tools and a mindset to do it.

The bottom line is that I wanna live.  So no more of this living in a pre-diabetic state along with the threat of liver cirrhosis, I need to lose the weight and keep it off, dammit.

I got this.  Thanks to that therapy, and thanks to family and friends who helped me whether they know it or not.

Onward.  Forward.

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The Hero’s Journey and Journal

A couple of years ago, a close friend of mine suggested that I need to go on my Hero’s Journey.

Basically he meant that need to go through some quest, if you will, that can help me find or refocus my purpose, since I’ve definitely have lost my way, so to speak, in many aspects of my life.

I’ve been told by a couple of friends that one way that helps them focus is journaling, which I’ve looked at, but seemed like something that was a bit too much or not enough, depending on what I was trying to accomplish.

Which is my basic problem.  What the hell am I doing?

And then I came across a product called The Hero’s Journal.  A method to help me tell a better life story.

So I’m going to try an experiment with this product, setting up a quest and going through the 90 days (pages) of this journal to see if my goal can be achieved.

Simple goal, really, to see if I can lose the weight I’ve gained during the pandemic, if not more.

I’ve done weight loss before, but it was all gained back over the years, and then some, thanks to working from home/sheltering in place.

So part of the quest will be finding solutions and sticking with it over the 90 days.

I think writing this down will give me a better handle of what I’ve been doing (or failing to do) over the past year or so.

We’ll see what happens.

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Stones

So I’ve been nursing a kidney stone at home for the past few days, and yesterday was by far the worst day.

The pain wasn’t as bad as I’ve had in the past, it was just THERE.  Constant.  Throbbing. And no amount of water drinking or ibuprofen seemed to make it go away for more than 1/2 an hour or so.

Because of the pain I was pretty lethargic, trying to fall asleep and nap throughout most of the day.  I think I did manage to nod off a few times, only to wake up with the dull pain still there.

I also watched the pilot episode of The Greatest American Hero on Peacock.  That show hasn’t aged well.  Or at least the pilot didn’t.  That used to be one of our ‘must watch’ shows back in the day.  Dad loved it.

I kept moving from my bedroom to the living room throughout the day to find a comfortable spot to sit or lie down.  I managed to watch both the Red Sox-Mets game and the Padres-Giants game.

I didn’t really eat much during the day, either, just some cottage cheese and Belvita biscuits for breakfast, the last slice of frozen pizza from the night before for lunch, and for dinner, some shredded chicken from the chicken broth I made the night before.  Don’t ask.

I tried to fall asleep after the Giants walk off win over the Padres, but I couldn’t, so I decided to stay up and watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. which I probably would have done anyway.

During the episode the pain faded, but came back almost at the end of the episode, so I took another ibuprofen with a cup of milk, and that seemed to do the trick, though I did get up around 2 am to pee.

This morning?  Pain is much more manageable.  I think it’s about to pass, like its about to drop into my bladder.

Here’s hoping.