Elizabeth Edwards Health Challenge

I see the doctor on Wednesday, December 1.

Blessings,
Lenora

Wow Thanks Lenora! I have been putting off my yearly because I haven't lost any weight since baby was born a year ago. Not that any doctor has ever admonished me about my weight, but I didn't want this to be the first time.

How dumb. I have an appointment for next Wednesday! And if I am admonished, I guess it is deservedly so!

Kelly

Dentist on the 22nd (really overdue, like YEARS) and cardiologist on the 30th.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor

Because I, procrastinator extraordinaire, have not been putting off ANY med appointments, including things like the dentist where I have no special needs.

I've had my yearly pap already, in August. All systems go for launch.

I'm not good at remembering the breast self-examination though. I never do it. So I hereby pledge to add it to my routine in the shower.

I do need to schedule the dentist appt. though.

And Kelly, you are not allowed to call yourself "dumb". You wouldn't call someone else that, would you? So why treat yourself worse than you'd treat a stranger? Taking care of ourselves includes practicing lovingkindess upon ourselves. (I need to learn this too.) So give yourself a hug, already!
______

May The Hair On Your Toes Never Fall Out

--Traditional Hobbit Blessing

...to "map" your moles! Do you know every mole on your body? Would you recognize if they had changed in shape or size? This is another important health task...especially for those of us who roasted in the sun as teenagers (using baby oil!)

Not to minimize the importantce of this, but it can make for a little fun...invite your significant other to "measure" your moles for you! It's easier to have help to keep track of those that might be "out of sight" on your back, etc...and may turn romantic if you're lucky enough to have at least one in a strategic location! I also suggest reciprocity...keeping our True Loves well "ain't' an easy task, either!

Blessings,
Lenora

Why'd we have to go and do a challenge?

Now, I did make dental appointments for the children, finally, but it was for months ahead, in Jan. It's nigh impossible to get into a dentist without 3 or 4 months advance scheduling. I've been putting aside in savings, so maybe I can use that to see a dentist, since I haven't got dental coverage. Still, I dread going and hearing bad news, since it's been so long.... And here my mamma was so big on dental hygeine too! She took me every six months of my life growing up.

Having seen an OB six weeks after Emma's birth, I don't feel the need to do the check up just yet. But now that I have med. insurance, must check into the well-care options. I do usually have the cholesterol, etc., checked at a health fair annually.

I never do the BSE's. I had read the same thing Becky mentioned & don't have a family history, nursed 4 out of 5 babies, etc.

before we went away this weekend I dragged myself to the GP to check out a mole. Since it's in a damn awkward place (gets rubbed by bra underneath) we decided the best thing to do was to get it removed by laser. Since it isn't black she said it's very unlikely to be problematic, BUT, with my history of lumpy bits all over she wants me to get it done at the hospital so they can do a biopsy as well to be safe. Otherwise her husband could have done it.

So there you are. That's my current health problem out of the way. I'm ok on my PAP smear still, don't yet need to worry about mammograms (also raising a guilty hand on the BSEs, but I'm DH would have noticed and no history), so that just leaves the dentist. I know the next one's going to be unpleasant because one of my back teeth is just rotting away completely.

and then there's the tablets... still trying hard to take the complete doses and monitoring my blood pressure.

Kerri.

I have been putting it off.

Missed my annual, will reschedule ASAP
dentist, check, every six months
I actually see my doctor everyday small towns! but will also schedule a physical
Do the dermatologist thing every 6 months too....Mom had skin cancer and I am a blonde, light eyed, fair skinned creature who grew up in the southwest. Bad combo, so I have been vigilant about that for the last 3 years

And yes, I need to get back to the exercise. Soon. I will. Thank you Mrs. Edwards for the kick in the pants. My 4 year old needs me too...

You guys didn't think I was going to let this completely "drop," did you?

I went for my "annual" exam on Wed. I don't suppose I can actually call it an "annual" since it had been so long but.....

Everything looks good, and my Dr. wasn't too hard on me about the length of time I had let pass between visits since I'm under 40, not on birth control, have no family history of breast, cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer...yadda, yadda...

Still, it's good to have it done. I did schedule blood-tests for cholesterol on the 15th of this month. She told me I needed to have a baseline mammogram "before I turned 40," and had "five years to get my butt in for a colonoscopy." (We both cracked up at the pun...I'm sure she uses that one often.) My mother had colon cancer...so that is a risk category for me.

She also took some time to talk with me about my DDS. My MIL, SIL, and alsmot all of DH's maternal aunts (8 of them!) had some type of "female cancer." MIL and SIL both had to have hysterectomies before they were 30. My DDs have a much higher risk for those cancers, so we'll need to be really proactive about their reproductive health. Osteoporosis is also a concern....both for me, and for my dds.

We all need to be proactive about our health...how are you guys doing on this?

Blessings,
Lenora

Dentist visit was not nearly as bad as I'd feared. I'm having one tooth pulled (wisdom tooth--the one above it is already gone) and some fillings repaired.

Cardiologist visit was actually pretty good too. We had a frank exchange of views. But it was good. I think he's finally hearing me and is finally leveling with me peer to peer; he's used to dealing with old people, not people his age. He wanted to put me on an ARB-inhibitor for my blood pressure, which is up right now (I'm so stressed I don't even want to go into it here), and I refused. I talked him down to a diuretic, which is the least invasive of the bp meds. My weight is stable and needs to go down, but it didn't go up in the last six months so I'm grateful for that much at least.

And he is strongly urging me to go in for counseling for anxiety. I got an anxiety diagnosis at my last lovely visit to the ER a couple of weeks ago, to my shock; I've never thought of myself as an anxious person, but when I told John the diagnosis he said "well, duh!" So did my mom. Apparently I've been a high strung person all my life and didn't know it. I told the cardiologist I'm on enough meds as it is and don't need to go on Xanax or Ativan and he said, no, I'm talking about old-fashioned talk therapy. It will help. I was floored. Cardiologists love meds.

So marching orders for Lynn: Make an appointment for my annual gyn, which I haven't had in a while dealing with all this other crap; get a referral for a good therapist since I didn't like the last guy; get my walking up from 3 min 3x/day to 15 min 2x/day (a recommendation for people with fibro, start REAL small and work up) and do my "soupcan workout" that John figured out for me for upper body work; drink more water.

And while I'm doing all that, I've got to get appointments made for the girls' checkups. It's been a while. They're all doing good with the tooth doctor, just gotta go get the body doctor to look them up and down.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor