Rampid Byter

  Those of you who know me, know that I'm a bigger guy. I was a big kid, tall and chunky, then I lost a lot of weight and was a tall string bean, and that brings me to the current shape. I'm tall but I'm definitely not a slender guy. I've lost weight here and there to the point where I needed knee surgery thanks in part to my treadmill, which I'll give it's fair credit for having caused my meniscus tear. I went to a fitness club with a friend here and there for a period of a close to half a year before conflicting schedules caused that to deteriorate, and being one to not keep up with things unless held accountable did not pick up the slack.

That brings me to the recent Christmas gift' that I gave to my wife and I. It was a bit pricey (in and around $500) but the Schwinn 230 exercise bike has been a great gift, to me, and I am using it everyday for 60 minutes a pop. In 60 minutes I've been burning off 630 calories and getting a really good burn in my legs. Unfortunately, this has brought attention to the fact that my knee surgery has definitely not fixed my problem. I say it was a great gift to me because when I told my wife I was giving her the present earlier she was excited, up until the point where she helped me carry it off the back of the truck inside, and then her enthusiasm dimmed quicker than a light in a power outage. That coupled with the fact that when asked by family about the bike and the sudden appearance was shortly answered by her "he thinks i'm fat" I had to give her another gift. A Nintendo DS with the Brain Age game. Its hard to win with women, she probably thinks I'm eluding to her being dumb now.

Anyway, the bike has been great. The seat is comfortable even after an hour of using one of the three handy bike programs on level 10. It goes to level 16, which for most people is more than enough unless you're training for the Olympics or biking across America or something. The console on the bike is relatively easy to use, offers a menu to see how many calories have been burned, calculate your BMI, and to keep up on progress being made while biking. It has a built in heart rate monitor so you can know with a reasonable assurance whether you're in the target heart rate for your body to burn calories the best.

There are of course your standard pros and cons associated with any product. I'll try to list them off as best as i can below.

Pros

1. Built with stability in mind with adjustable screws for platform legs to stabilize the bike.
   
2. Many programmed programs to choose from to exercise with from 'riding in the park' to 'endurance' resistance settings.
   
3. Built-in heart rate monitor
   
4. Displays speed, distance, timing, and calories burned during workout.
   
5. Manually adjustable resistance settings to make any workout more difficult.
   
6. Sliding seat to target different areas of the leg.

 

Cons

1. The turn screw on the sliding seat isn't easily adjusted while actually using the bike.
   
2. Seat squeaks a bit when really getting into the riding.
   
3. On the console is a small metal hooked front to hold things in. I hit my knee on it and left a good cut on my knee. I mean really what is this for? You can't rest a book on it, that'd be a nice addition, and it's just kind of there so if your knee comes way up it can hit it.
   
4. The bike has a water bottle holder that is completely horizontal and under the front left side of the seat. Utterly and completely useless for all purposes.
   
5. When assembling the bike connecting the circuitry in the neck of the machine is a pain. The display panel circuitry/power cord is long and taunt so it makes it overly difficult to shove back into the tube. Also the assembly instructions neglect to mention that some parts of the bike are already assembled and must be disassembled to assemble the bike.

 

Overall I'd give the bike a B+. It's worth the purchase, a little pricey, but the ride is comfortable without being too excessively bogged down with programs/components that aren't necessary. A fan would be nice on this model, and a real cup holder would be nice. They may have added that on newer machines, but if you're looking for a good workout on something that will burn calories without tearing cartilage this is a good investment.

Health & Wellbeing

Well, I was thinking about it recently that I’d been doing a lot of physical therapy lately, and I had the weird feeling that my pants were starting to get less tight. I went into the bathroom to find the scale. Started it up, waited for it to zero out, and then stood on it. I’m now down to 246 from 258 on March 16. Not much of a weight loss if you ask me, only 12 pounds, but It’s a start I suppose. Anyway, working out three days a week, weight lifting, doing my leg stretches, and I’m starting to eat more smaller sized portions. I’ve cut back to diet drinks, and I really need to cut beer out completely. Dang stuff weighs heavily on the stomach. Anyway, that’s an update for myself to show progress. Here is to another thirty pounds.

Health & Wellbeing

I tell yah this time around with knee surgery my recovery time has been ever increasing. I took almost an entire week off during the week of the surgery from Tuesday until Monday of the following week. I ended up going back to work on Monday with some difficulty and a total lack of mobility in my leg other than to walk stiffly with one crutch. Tuesday served no better as I still ended up bobbling around like a stiff legged gimp, and even have the new office name of Hobbly. However, my knee started to feel like a heat rock after a while, still had a large volume of fluids behind my knee, and I’ve developed a temperature that started at the beginning of the week. It’s a weak temperature but everyone keeps telling me I’m giving off the signs of beginning of infection.

 

I keep hearing that. My physical therapist scolded me, as I mentioned in my last post, and since then I took two additional days off this week from Wednesday until today being Friday.

 

Yesterday I had another physical therapy appointment with a new person who put me through another gauntlet of exercises, leg lifts, and leg electrocutions. I still find it so amazing that they literally shock your leg into a muscle spasm as part of therapy. It’s awesome though when you felt the juice running through your leg, and then baam your leg is convulsing like an extreme flex. I can imagine this is the same principal behind those lapband electrode things I saw on the infomercial channel back in the day. I think they’re illegal to sell anymore because of electrocutions that happened when sweat made its way through the poorly crafted child-labor manufactured product. At least I think so, and now that I think about it they had someone on beetle juice who died of one. It was some horror movie if I can remember right, or maybe it was on the comedy channel. Hrm.

 

Anyway, I’m sitting here in the office with my leg on my guest chair, and I’ve pulled everything closer to me. I’m glad I took one of the nicest cubes in the office. I’m in the 30+ years of working here area where you’ve had to have been here more than 30 years to get a cube. I will probably feel the wrath of the other side of the office whose cubes I could probably fit three into mine. I tell you, when I’m done here, and have to go back downtown I’m going to get claustrophobia from having to sit back in the old cube isle or bullpen as it’s affectionately known.

 

There has been one advantage at least. I’ve made great headway through the Microsoft Robotics Studio book, at least as much that will be helpful in addition to the available tutorials. I think it’s reached is usefulness to me until I can actually sit in front of the computer for a while. I’ve also managed to make it more than half way through my MCTS Framework 2.0 Web development study guides. I’m going to register for the exams within the next week or so. Stay tuned for more! I know I will!

Health & Wellbeing

I went to my physical therapy appointment today for the second time. I told the therapist about the heat coming off the knee, and she most definitely agreed. After fiddling around with my knee she said that I’d overdone using it, and have caused swelling/fluid build up behind my knee. I guess it wasn’t too hard to tell since there is a giant freaking buldge of skin right behind my knee that forms a giant ring. If you poke it the buldge is firm yet squishy.

Anyway, so I’ve been told to stay off it, shoot guess I shouldn’t be in the computer room with my leg on the tower, but I’m going to have to stay home from work again until Friday. She made it pretty clear, either stay off it, or instead of six weeks of recovery look at six months. I have another evaluation on Thursday but until then she said if I didn’t take it easy the swelling will get worse, could cause infection, and either way will halt healing. Apparently my quad hasn’t started working right yet in order to flush the fluids out. Did you know after an operation like this your muscles STOP working? I had no idea. At least I didn’t until they started hooking electrodes up to my leg and shocking my muscles for 10 minutes at a time. It’s freaking weird I tell you.

So I’m kind of bummed, but at the same time I guess I get to finish my Microsoft Robotics Studio book, and continue reading the Miscrosoft certification exam books. Twenty more pages to finish the MSRS book, and I’ve got two more certifications books to skim through before I’m ready. Here I come Mr. MCSD & MCPD.

Health & Wellbeing

It’s rough when you can’t drive. This is the second work day I’ve not been able to get to work on my own volition. I woke up a little late this morning because, lets face it, and it’s hard to sleep on your back balancing an ice bag on your knee. One wrong twist and the bag falls off removing the needed numbing cold, and often spilling freezing cold contents onto other exposed areas near the afflicted area.

 

I got ready as fast as I could, which is still half the speed of normal, and made my way to the truck. I packed my necessities, rolled up towel, ice bags, pain pills, three 20oz drinks, and pop tarts. When I made it out to the truck I got in, after shoving my non-compliant knee into the position to make it through the door of the cab. I shoved the leg over near the gas pedal, and I sat there for a moment feeling the strain from just getting in the cab.

 

I then tried to use the pedal with my bum leg. I lifted to the gas, ok, that seemed to work, and then I tried to shift my foot to the brake. Um, ok, it’s half way there, come on a little more, and then I realized it was hopeless. I tried this enough before when my leg was pre-op and those times I had to lift my leg to and from the brake, and how in an emergency I’d pretty much be guaranteed to hit someone. I had an incident in the parking lot at the client site where a guy got pretty lucky I was on the ball. I stopped but I think I gave him a little scare, but I guess that’s what you get for jay-walking in front of an F150 since they don’t stop on a dime as is. I was only going 10 mph anyway, but still.

 

So again today I’m at the mercy of friends and family to get me around. I was told that Monday would be the day I’d be driving again, but I guess that’s a perfect world. I have therapy again tonight so we’ll see what’s going on. The weird thing lately is the top of my knee has been very hot to the touch. I was sitting here working yesterday, sat my hand on my knee to give it a rub, and it was hot. I was confused since my other knee was nowhere near that hot, and of course my might as well be doctor girlfriend tells me she thinks it’s infected. Wouldn’t that be the luck I have? Anyway, maybe I’ll find out later.

Health & Wellbeing

Wow, this week was a dozy, and it went entirely too quickly. I had surgery early on Tuesday morning after getting my work for my client auto-mated, and providing a good 53 paged document on how to do everything from configure the system to the database schema for the tables involved in the process. I was hoping there wouldn’t be a problem, but in case there was I wanted to be able to let them cover it.

 

I got the news about Matt early Sunday afternoon, and by late evening it was flooding over the local news stations. I started getting call after call from friends and family asking what I knew, or what I was going to do. Apparently I’m on some weird Matt watch for some of them as they think I’m going to overreact or do something stupid. I like to think I’ve matured over the years and am able to deal with these things a little better than I’m given credit for in most cases.

 

So I get to the hospital on Tuesday at 6am and doesn’t it figure that they ask you be there no later than 6am, and they don’t even open until 6am. So after sitting in the car for another ten minutes waiting around for them to open the doors I start thinking about the day. Man, hurry up and wait.

 

I did all the paperwork they asked for, paid my 200$ deductible, and then they lead me back into the prep room. I was asked to undress completely down to my socks. For knee surgery I’m not sure what going totally nude will accomplish, so I ask “even my under-roos?”, and the nurse confusedly looks at me. She then looks over at another nurse and asks “Hey, <name I can’t remember> did they ever change the policy on underwear?” The other lady said no, and Barb, my nurse, told me she never understood it either but no underwear. That throws out that whole saying your mothers used to say about always wearing fresh underwear in case you have to go to the hospital. Doesn’t matter they always make you take it off anyway it seems.

 

So I’m getting IV’d and hooked up all the while a few nurses come by asking me about Matt. My mom apparently is a chatty Kathy and let it slip I’d been friends with Matt. So everyone comes over and lumps condolences on me and asked questions about Matt, like how I knew him, what he was like, whether he was nice or a hard-ass. It was a little surreal to be getting surgery and fielding these questions.

 

A little time later they start to hook me up to this dripper machine. They take the IV, wrap it into this machine, and it starts pumping drugs at a certain interval. Unfortunately I got the broken one that wouldn’t snap at the bottom, and instead of pumping fluids it started pumping AIR. Yes, air, the stuff that when in your blood stream kills you. It kept beeping, and beeping with the alarm that there is air in the IV line. The dang thing pumped a lot of bubbles into the line. My mom, who was sitting next to me at the time, started counting them. I lost track after she passed 12 and another nurse came over because of the problems. Barb just started work after her brother died so she was just back from that, the machine was broke, and it was still 6:30am. Poor girl was having a week like mine, except I’d imagine harder because she works long hours on her feet.

 

They ended up changing out the machine for a new one that finally started pumping IV fluids instead of air into me. I did get a wee bit of a static sharp head ache afterwards, but that could have been my imagination. I was starting to get doped up at that point. I realized after a few moments that when IV machines arnt pumping fluids into you that your own body starts pumping fluids back out. That was so weird. I guess it wouldn’t have been so bad if the IV went in right the first time. Apparently the IV got snagged upon my vein in a spot where to veins came together. So I got stuck a few times. Mike, god bless him, was pretty good about getting it done quickly. I’m still convinced getting an IV in the hand is far less painful than in the arm. I don’t bend the top of my hand nearly as much as I do at the elbow is how I look at it.

 

So a little time passes as they’re coming over, shaving my knee, talking to me about everyone going to be there, and my parents warn them that my last meal was really spicy. I think the last words out of my moms mouth was ‘he ate hot sauce’ to the anesthesiologist lady. She looks at me, smiles, and says that’s how she likes her food too.

 

I then get wheeled back into the operating room where there is a large cross shaped bed waiting for me. I pull myself onto the new table and they begin strapping me down. Did you know they put a seat belt on you? I laughed, then asked whether they thought it was protection in case I was a DWI, driving a cart while intoxicated with knock out drugs. One person snickered, but I’m going to blame my lack of funny on the fuzzy headed drug. Speaking of which, they injected something shortly before the were going to gas me that started to burn inside me. It felt like a million fire armed centepides crawling inside of my heart, and inside my brain. It was crazy it burned so much inside my head it felt terrible. I heard my heart rate rising and one nurse asked me whether I’ve ever had a panic attack, which I have not, and then they quickly gassed me. Next thing I know I’m trying to fit my bandaged leg into a car. I’m tall enough as is so trying to fix a fixed leg brace into a car that doesn’t fit me to begin with just was crazy enough.

 

Long story short I spent the entire week in bed with ice on my leg. Short of physical therapy last Thursday was the first day I was really up that week. They undid my bandages and it looked as if I was smuggling a bag of oranges under my knee cap. Buldges everywhere I tell you. The next day I had a doctors appointment that a friend of mine too me too. I wont get into that one very much since I waited almost two hours to see the doctor for five minutes for him to go ‘oh it looks fine, doing good’ without even having looked at my leg one second.

 

So here it is Monday I’m back in the office with second office chair from my cube, crutch sticking through the arm holds, and my leg placed in the top portion of the crutch heel against the armpit pad. It’s holding my foot up, at least it is until the chair tips the rest of the way, while I toil over these programs. It’s still terribly sore, swollen, I’m off my pain pills, and there is no ice to be seen. I can’t even drive yet. So needless to say it’s going to be a long week.

Health & Wellbeing, Matt

I’ve still been kind of haphazardly going about my diet routine. I’ve started weight lifting again, not to extremes, but on the diet front I’ve decided to moderate it as little as possible. I have surgery soon, and I thought the ramifications of throwing my body into new patterns wouldn’t be a great idea. So I’ve tried to mitigate eating too much food and have concentrated on just eating enough to make due. So I’ve actually managed to lose five pounds in the last week as a result. The high cholesterol still weighs on my mind as I only eat meats, cheeses, and variations of potatoes.

Health & Wellbeing

I’ve been trying to convince myself that I need to cut back on the quantity of food I consume. If you’re a person that knows me well you’ll know that I usually eat just once a day. I’ll work a nine to ten hour day, not touching an ounce of food, with the exception of a minimum of three diet drinks, and I’ll go home and pig out. It’s not the healthiest way to live in the slightest.

A long time ago in high school I hit my peak weight at 268. I was a junior in high school at that, and wore a size 40 pants. I was 6’6” so it was easier to disguise a little bit of gut when you’re always wearing an over-shirt, jacket, and in general hide away from people. I ended up getting so self conscious that I went on a mini eating strike. I’d eat crackers to curve the horrible stomach pain, and went about a month and a half doing this. That was until I started to pass out randomly, had fainting spells, or genuinely lost motor control that resulted in a couple hospital trips. I dropped somewhere around 70 pounds within about a two, close to three month period of time. I unfortunately also had a few memorable moments passing out (nearly stabbing my eye out with a pencil) during senior proficiencies at my high school, and another where I wound up getting a cat scan as a result. Smacking my head on a desk, and then having my semi-conscious body wheeled out from an auditorium filled with 300 quite students taking a very important test tends to lead to some lasting memories. That month also happened to be my now ex-step brothers wedding that I took part in, and let’s just say right at the “I do”, I managed to hit the floor with my face. Not the greatest time in my life.

Anyway, I say this because I went on an extreme weight loss turned eating problem I’ve previously managed to keep the weight off for over four years. I held a steady body weight within 190-220 for the four years, and recently have started to balloon up. It started when my senior year of college, and continued soon after during a job transition until now where I’ve recently gone to the doctor for a pre-surgery health evaluation. I got a little bit of a smack in the face of my reality as I know I’ve gained weight, but didn’t realize how much. I now weight a whopping 258, and have a cholesterol level of 205. I was told nicely by my doctor to eat healthier, get my diet under control, and see him again in six months.

So after this weekend of disregard to diet for the last time I’m embarking on another diet crusade. This time, smarter, not stricter, and I’ll have to be careful to not do anything extreme to jeopardize my health for my surgery in two weeks. I’m going to commit to go back to the gym after the surgery as part of my physical therapy, I’m going to eat healthier, and try to start a life trend. It takes a short time to start habits, and a long time to break them. I’m going to start with a committed attitude, and thankfully I’ve always had the patience, and fortitude to keep what I’ve sworn to do going. So this shouldn’t prove any exception. Just need to commit to exercise, not rely on others to do that for me, which was the mistake I made previously with my work out partner. I’d use their absence as an excuse to not continue going. That was weakness on my part, and will be curbed.

Starting today I’m going to on a diet. No more fast food, no more high fat munchies, I’ve already switched to drinking only diet drinks, but I need to start eating healthy too. So today I wrote at a weight of 258, high cholesterol, and I make this known to my blog. This is a promise to me made public, and I’ll keep everyone abreast of the progress.

Health & Wellbeing