One hundred and fourty two and I quit counting

As many of you are either past WLS patients or have found my blog because you are considering it, you know that one of the "complications" of the surgery is that you will, at some point, begin to lose your hair.  I was never worried about this part of the processes, because if you ask anyone that knows me, I had plenty to go 'round.

I really started noticing the hair loss right around week 17 but didn't think a whole lot of it given my propensity to actually rejoice in a little natural culling of the locks.  However, this process has become a real pain the the arse. Please don't get me wrong.  I am incredibly lucky that I had as much hair as I did to begin with.  I am so incredibly thankful for that because I have heard of people losing so much that they need to get a wig temporarily.  That could be incredibly devastating and I can't imagine having to deal with that even on a short term basis.

The hair does grow back eventually and all will be well once again.  It is simply a matter of your body making a choice to support your vital functions rather than our ego's and vanity. Frankly, I would rather have red blood cells than an ounce of hair...  I am just sayin'.  But I digress..

I asked my husband the other day if he thought my hair would look good if I grew it down to my mid back.  I haven't had it that long for a while and I thoroughly enjoy ponytails, french braids and feeling incredibly feminine with long luscious locks.  Well, to my surprise he said that he thought that was an interesting choice because he thought that I would go with short hair.  As I pondered the prospect, I realized that

1. I really do like short hair
2. It looked super cute in the past even with my rounded chubby cheeks and puffy face
3. It has a more professional look
4. Allows for more versatility (if you are brave enough to try it)

....and finally, I realized that perhaps I wouldn't be so danged bothered with all this hair that is continually coming out of my head.  This morning, I counted 142 different strands of hair that came out just after I had washed it. When you have long hair, losing strands during the day is just a normal part of the cyclical process when hair regenerates itself, BUT, I am getting sick of always having hair everywhere.*incensed tone inserted here* 

The 142 strands that I counted don't include the 7 I pulled off of my clothes at work today, the 3 I removed from the chair nor does it include the countless others that I inevitably missed in the data collection process due to their tendency to simply be more attached to anything other than my head. As I was yet again saving my chair from being strangled by stray coiffure bits, I realized that the #5 reason for having short hair would be to eliminate nearly all of my exasperation with the current follicle fountain. 

So, do I or don't I? Beckham or Shields? It's such a toss up.  All I know, is that I am never counting the strands again.  That my friends, is one stat that I am afraid you are just going to have to live without.

Stupid technology!

Here I am, up at 1:30 am because I can't get the stupid friggin photo slideshow to work.  Apparently, Photobucket has something wrong with it so I can't get it to update the original slideshow.  Getting frustrated, I changed to Flickr thinking that it would be easy peasy to add that gadget to the blog and upload a slideshow.....  that was nearly 3 hours ago.

SO, with that being said, if you want to see pictures you are going to have to do a little work yourself because I am done for the night.  Click here for the slideshow:
http://www.flickr.com//photos/66721415@N05/sets/72157627382134887/show/

friggen fraggen blasted blazin tarnation hell balls.


And g'night.

Hound and you shall receive

My sister and mom have been hounding me....  chiding me... and down-right guilting me into updating my pictures on my blog.  I didn't realize that it had been a really long time since I had done so.  When I looked at the pics and realized that I hadn't uploaded pics since the 12th week and we are now at week 21.5 I was astonished at how quickly time has gone by.

We have 6 days a week of football right now.  I will be so glad when that part is over.  It seems as though we have no time for ourselves during the week.  Two and a half hours of practice every week night doesn't leave much time to do anything else.  Now, I know the moment Chad reads this he is going to complain that I don't get to practice until the last 40 - 60 minutes, however, due to relying on my amazing grandmother for babysitting support, I have had to adjust my schedule at work to accomodate the extra drive in the morning.  Chad will say that I have become a work-a-holic, a stereotype I am sure the rest of my family would agree with.  I do come about it naturally as it is genetically encoded, I have the genome map as proof.....  it's just classified information and takes a very high security clearance to have access to the document or I'd upload it.

Anyhow, I have updated the pictures to keep my family from sending Guido to my door.  I fully admit that I have sucked at blogging recently and will take full responsibility for that.  In addition, I promise to get better.  Cross my heart.

Who is that??

We had a family reunion with my Dad's side of the family this weekend and it was an incredibly special time for us. We have not kept in touch with anyone over the years and since my dad and most of my uncles have passed away, that task has been even more daunting.

We were able to get re acquainted with cousins and even meet some of whom we have never met. It is always interesting learning about your history and hearing stories that I am sure my father wishes were still a secret.

However, nothing could prepare me for the surprise I had last night when I looked at the pictures of the event that were posted on Facebook. I didn't understand how they got a picture of my sister.

Lesley lives in Montana and I couldn't understand why my cousin would have posted her picture in the reunion picture folder since she wasn't there. She was holding two boys in her lap and that was throwing me for a further loop because she has 3 girls. Finally, I clicked on the picture to enlarge it and get a look at the little ones she was holding and I couldn't believe my eyes. It wasn't my sister....... It was me!

I hadn't even recognized myself! Unbelievable! What a true testament to how much things have changed. Life is good.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Dirty dirty and dead tired

Mud Run benefitting MS was this morning and boy am I beat! 6.2 miles has never been so tough!

In fact, we got home 5 minutes ago, and I still haven't gotten out of the car. Hahahahaha
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Running from Fate (part deux)

I completely forgot to tell you that I registered for the MS Mud Run a while ago. I thought it would be a good goal to work for and get me in the habit of exercising.  So far so good.  It is a 10k, and I have no intention of trying to run the entire thing, but I am hopeful that with the obstacles in between each stretch of land I won't notice how far I have actually run.

This video is from another race called the Dirty Dash, but the concept is similar.  Enjoy!

Join me on the next one?? Ciao!

I was pushed by myself because I have my own rule and that is that every day I run faster and try harder." ~Winston Kipketer (Kenyan Olympic Runner)

Running from Fate

Aug. 2nd

I have been exercising my butt off....  literally.  A while ago, I signed up for a mud run thinking that it would be a great goal to work towards and otherwise keep me motivated.  So far that has worked like a charm.  I not so secetly wish that there was a shorter version as the 10k seems so far!  I get that it is only about 6.5 miles, but it still has a 10 in the title of it and that is the intimitating factor.

Keeping in mind that I, for so many years, have been almost smug about the fact that I would only run if I were being chased, I have since began to change my tune a little, but out of necessity not from desire.  I have a walking course mapped out that leads through the neighborhood hills to the SW of my home.  There is a short version of roughly 1.5 miles all the way through 5.5 miles.  While I have been careful to mix it up to ensure that my body doesn't get used to doing the same thing over and over, I have realized that it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain an average heart rate over the mid 130's without a little prodding.  Today was no exception.

This morning, I set out on my walk at 5:40 am intending to burn through some calories to bring the weight loss to an all time record (more on that later).  Things started out well and I reached a healthy and sustainable 147 quite easily.  So easily in fact, that I thought I was going to end up having to slow down once I got to the steeper part of the hill.  On the contrary however, it seems that I got "in the groove" so to speak and my HR started to drop down into to the low 130's.  In the past, when I have gotten my HR up into the 160's it generally stayed in the 140's for  quite some time with very little effort.  This was no longer the case.
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Updated 8/4
I made a rule.... one my HR drops to 130, I run.  When I am satisfied with the distance that I am able to cover for each running session I will increase the threshold to 135.  I'll keep you posted on the progress.  :)