Smooth's broken record update

friends,

I hope everyone is doing fantastic. Sorry for not being around more.

So, my sounding like a broken record is about to continue.

Therapy:
I learned some breathing exercises the other day, but have yet to utilize them. Take a deep breath, hold five seconds, and exhale for five seconds. When exhaling pucker up like you're blowing into a straw. Repeat.

Remember another coping exercise I've discussed prior. When a negative thought enters your mind, combat it with a positive thought. Do it over and over.

I also found out my therapy copay is $20 and not $40, so I have a credit with my therapist. Yay!


Bad week:
I met my hero, Shawn Michaels, on Sunday. Let me know if you'd like to see a pic. He's a retired wrestler. The meeting was so brief and I left saying, "Now what?" I have nothing to look forward to now. He also wouldn't sign a pic for me. He was only signing his book he just released.

Work has been very taxing this week. There's too much going on. In addition, I was looking for a file today, and began to hurt around my diaphragm. Easy enough, right? Since then, I've taken a Zofran for nausea, a BC powder for pain, and 1mg of Xanax. Taking Zofran with Zoloft long term is apparently bad news. when I feel this bad, Xanax is the only thing that can touch me. This all ties into my surgery from 2013. I had a slight tear in my diaphragm during surgery which is more common for older people. Mesh rectified this tear supposedly. Where can I find advanced personal trainers? How can I strengthen my horribly weak core? My stomach top has been wrapped around the bottom of my esophagus to cure hiatal hernia and reflux. Will I ever get my life back? Has anyone else ever gone through fear of hurting yourself from regaining strength after an injury or surgery? My surgery was between 1.5 and two years ago. Will I ever feel like a man again?

The last two days, I've put huge scratches on my car.


Diet:
First, the good. I'm eating a lot more fruit. Scaredy's stevia suggestion has been a godsend and makes tart fruits more tolerable. I also try to have hot ginger and or green tea daily. My intake of water is decent. I've stopped adding salt to all foods. I'm still eating some junk, but sodium and sugars are low or nonexistent in said junk foods. Skinny Cow products, Russell Stover sugar free candies, 100 calorie packs of Pringles.

The bad. I left town the past two weekends and was pretty bad. Some weight loss is needed. My peanut butter intake may be too high. I have an 80 calorie ginger ale from the small cans almost daily.


Digestion:
I take two to three servings of papaya enzymes daily for digestion. As of late, I've not taken any laxative for constipation. It seems to come and go. Some stools are lumpy, hard, and difficult to pass,and some aren't. The ones that aren't hard to pass have been kind of... grainy of late. I wonder if this is cause for concern.

I still spit up red some mornings. This morning ranged from bright red to dark red. Much of the aforementioned fruit I eat is red. I also indulge in maraschino cherries. If I'm not spitting up red daily and all the time, is it safe to contribute that to what I eat or could I be bleeding internally? Right after I took my papaya enzymes, I spit up orange immediately. The enzymes are orange, though.


Thanks for listening. Much love.

Hey, there you are.;)

Good to hear from you....sounds like a mix of postives and challenges...as life usually is...

(but in general, you are sounding so much better and I read so much progress in comparing earlier posts...big differences!)

Can you look into getting (back) into PT for your core strengthening? Working out on your own is a possibility of course, but I am wondering if you could really benefit from the insight of a professional, who has knowledge of your surgery issues?

Just something to look into, for not only physical progress, but you could gain good insight about your status in general, and peace of mind for where you are headed...recovery wise.

Glad to hear the good stuff in regards to your dietary switches, additions, ect...

...as far as the red in your spit? Cherries!! The amount of the red dye in those is bound to hang around for hours after consumption.

Keep a food diary, and I am sure you will see the connection between clear and red days according to what you've eaten.

Hope things are warming up around your neck of the woods...Spring is coming...and I really like the metaphorical symbolism of growth and re-birth that comes along with it...:)

Keep up the great work with all of the aforementioned things...you are rockin' your recovery out! I really commend you and encourage you to keep going.:)

S.C.

Hi, my 2cents on constipation, being backed up and I eat few fruits not a lot due to keeping on top of my sugar, I'm not diabetic and don't want to be....

I eat a lot of good greens and some carrots...but magnesium is my salvation after a big lifetime of constipation, NOT GOOD to be in the backed up world....mag a few times a day keeps me very regular....ahhhh, so good to be regular. I use mag citrate or glycinate or malate, use all 3 most days...combine them....Dealing with Fibro malate helps the muscle pain.

I wanted to take a moment to thank those that responded. I'm very tired and hope to respond to you individually tomorrow.

SOPHIE, maraschino cherries aren't red fruit? :P That's good info to know. No red today even though I had red fruit and a little salsa yesterday. I doubt there's much permanent damage I could do, but things sure do hurt sometimes. What you mentioned sounds kind of like surfing and could even be fun!

SCAREDY, thanks. I was in quite the funk earlier this week. It isn't as bad now. I'm thinking a professional could be of benefit although my past with physical therapy wasn't satisfying. Gold's Gym thinks they could help, but I don't know. Yeah, I guess there is a lot of dye in those cherries. I'll try and keep my head up. Yes, things are warmer. I dreamed of Cali on Tuesday night. It seemed so real.

MEGAN, hi there. Here I be! My core was crap before surgery. I think physical therapy gave me the hiatal hernia via a pelvic tilt stretch. I'm notorious for doing stretches and exercises incorrectly. Much personal attention is needed and I need my proverbial hand held. How was your session? Yes, I've stopped salting food except for a little last night. I wonder if I'm eating more junk now. It's just healthier junk. sigh. I missed you as well.

MELODEE, thanks for the tips. No BM yet today. :( This week, I've had fruit salad. Today, I didn't even use the stevia. My salad had strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and red grapes. I enjoy raw carrots, but it's tough to sell me on most other veggies. I detest peppers and tomatoes.

HT, many thanks!

Celery is a great veg, high fiber and keep BP issues in tact if one has high bp....still think mag will help getting things going if it's a real issue....Calm product from natural vitality is one that many use for major constipation.. I keep it on hand if I get in trouble, but the mag and Vit C thru the day keep me going....I've had many issues over my life and don't want to go there again.....

Steamed or sauteed spinach yum. Actually, John can try steamed vegetables first if he hates eating them raw. Good idea, Park.

ALL,

Well, I've had several movements this morning. I guess the Citrucel powder did its job. Color was good. Shape could have been worse.

I've returned to having the lower abdominal issue where I feel like I'm being cut in half. This time, reclining isn't really helping. I slept in pajama pants only and they really weren't tight. I took those off to find little relief. Work today should be real fun. :( I don't know what I'm going to do.

Megan,

Agreed. You can't totally deprive yourself. When the BIG craving comes, Pandora's box opens. I'm not leaving town again for a bit, so that'll give me a chance to behave. I may go to a salad bar tonight for my greens.

I would have thought you'd have gone well before that, but we're all different. I've been quite a few times. The Citrucel almost acts as a laxative for me. I left my GI doctor a message about my waist and my constipation. We'll see. Perhaps my system still misses my gallbladder. I just don't know, but the pelvic pressure sucks. Pelvis, lower abdomen, call it what you will.

I heard lifting would stunt my growth, so I didn't do much as a teen.
MISTAKE.

Need to talk about your crappy night? Hugs.

S.C.,

Are you a secret doctor?! And why doesn't anyone tell me these things when I start taking them?! LOL!

I already drink pretty crazy amounts of water. Maybe my body just needed a couple days to adjust to the additional fiber. I'm going to slowly be taking more too, because it will supposedly help with the cholesterol and diabetes prevention.

John,

If you do salad bar, add spinach leaves and it makes a huge difference as far as nutrition goes! And to summarize my bad night....awake from 2:45 until this morning stuck in a bad panic cycle. LAME! ;)

John,

Let's not say you were bad, let's say you conducted an experiment. Will you spit up red tomorrow....I say probably! Then you sort of have an answer!

It was a long time to be awake and it was worse cause I felt totally scared and really alone. Ugh. I'm saying big prayers for sleep tonight.

Megan, oddly enough, I had more cherries Friday night than I did prior. No red was spit up yesterday... today either. How are you sleeping now?

melodee, thank you for all the recipes! I'm getting more greens now. My salad has spinach leaves, celery, lima beans, and broccoli. I wonder how I can dress up the broccoli a bit? It's so dry. And I really do loathe celery.

Are you eating raw broccoli? Raw is pretty dry.
Microwave it. FAST and easy. Do not boil it.
By microwaving it, you can retaing 85% of the vitamins in vegetables and it tastes a lot better.

How to prepare vegetables in the microwave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdhHjPrIvnA

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How to cook broccoli. Watch the seasoning part.
Add the seasoning after you microwave the broccoli.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZP58YhH_fk