The old ticker

First, let me say that this has happened before in the past so I'm not all that concerned.

Last Wednesday afternoon I was home alone (very, very rare for that to happen), when all of a sudden I started having chest pain. "Oh crap! Here we go again", I thought. It was a stabbing like pain, dead center of my chest.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I was trying my hand at carb cycling. Because I was at day camp with my son all week, it was very easy to pack a protein shake to have on the go during the afternoon for a quick snack.  Well, the last time I was using protein, I had chest pains. I got them so bad, I ended up in the ER.  

Anyway, this time wasn't all that bad.  Just a scary moment.  I called my husband at work and told him to stay on the phone with me until it passed. Didn't take too long. We discussed the protein business and Googled the effects of whey protein.  I also took to a weight loss group I belong to on Facebook. A few people said they had similar issues with whey, it was due to a lactose intolerance thing.   I do have a slight intolerance to lactose.  There are certain cheeses and if I have too much cream in my coffee, watch out!

A few days before the chest pain thing happened, my heart began to race. That, of course, got me all worked up. In fact, it even woke me up a few times.  It was so bad that I gave a list of things for my husband to tell the kids for me should I not wake up.  Depressing, I know.

The pain and the palpitations went away by Wednesday night and I didn't feel anything else until later in the afternoon on Thursday.  I thought at that time it would be best to go ahead and call the doctor. Of course the wanted me to head straight into the ER.   After much reassurance that I was fine, the nice man gave me an appointment for first thing Friday morning.

The nurse practitioner and I went over my history.  Yes, this has happened before.  Many times. Yes, I've had full work-ups done.  Yes, I've worn holter monitors, no, nothing was ever found. In fact, the last time this happened, I was told I was at a very low cardiac risk. So why does this happen?  Honestly, I don't think I will ever have a concrete answer but the tests have begun. First, EKG. Nothing. Then blood, all normal (even my darn thyroid was normal!!  What?!?). Now I'm waiting for a barium test (because I'm having a hard time swallowing without nearly choking) as well as an event monitor which I need to wear for two whole weeks!  Yikes!

The chest pains only happened that one day.  The palpitations are still off the chart, but I'm OK.  I've honestly thought the protein was the culprit but seeing as I've been off it for over a week now, there has to be another reason.  Let the testing begin (mid-next week).

With all this going on, it is really reminding me the importance of eating right.  One of the things Chris Powell talks about in his book is how we make and break promises to ourselves all the time.  He encourages you to make small promises and keep them and then keep adding to the promise list as a way to get healthier and healthier.  He also says you should tell someone your promise to hold yourself accountable. You are my someone:

I promise to drink all my water tomorrow (at least 8 glasses) and eat and/or juice 2 large servings of veggies.

The water shouldn't be a problem, I have been pushing it for days.  The veggie thing?  That could go either way.  Kick my you-know-what if I don't eat or juice 2 large servings of veggies tomorrow.

Confession, Camp Fun, and Supermarket Woes

I'm gonna cut to the chase here and confess: I'm a hot mess right now.  The eating is out of control. I'm depressed about how gross I feel, nothing fits anymore. I can't even buy anything new because it's hard enough finding my size anywhere and now that summer is ending, the shelves are looking pretty bare with summer stuff.  My own fault.  No excuses.  Just me going back to old, bad, bad habits.

Honestly,  I have no idea how much I weigh right now.  I will check tomorrow but I know it's bad. I'll be honest, (excuse my language here) I was pissed off last week.  I went to summer camp with my eldest son the week before and we walked over 4 miles every day.  I was eating pretty close to a Paleo diet all.week.long. What happened?  I gained 7 pounds!!!  Really?  Who does that?  Me, that's who. So, yea, I've been feeling sorry for myself and have had a pity party but I'm about done. Why 'about' you say?  Well, tomorrow is my son's birthday. He's requested I make stuffed shells for dinner.  Really Buddy?  I was hoping he was going to ask for Chinese food (I can't stand the stuff). So tomorrow I'll be making him his stuffed shells while I'm trying not to stuff my face.

Camp week was a blast! This particular camp's theme was all about shooting. The boys got to do the tomahawks, pellet and BBs, archery, slingshots, and paintball.  My favorite is usually archery but I didn't have much luck this time.  I did do well with the pellet gun as well as paintball.  Had (too much) fun!!!

My pellet gun score - all 12 shots made the target.  

Imagine what it would have been if I had been wearing my glasses! 

Food shopping isn't fun right now (not that it ever was).  There is a big family brawl going on with the locally (family) owned supermarket chain.  The story did finally make it to the national news. Long story short, one cousin had the board oust the second cousin from his position as CEO.  The employees have gone mad because unlike most CEOs, this guy is actually a pretty decent guy.  He's well known for how well he treats the help.  It's not often you find people working for a company for 20, 30, and even 40 years, but it's pretty common with this place.  Anyway, the employees are protesting, the customers are boycotting, it's all nuts. 

I went to another local store to pick up a few things for the boy's birthday dinner tomorrow and came out of the store $55 poorer.  I purchased the items for dinner, muffins for breakfast, cookies for the kids and camp, and a package of lemons.  Yup! I'm ready for the store across the street to be back to business as usual!  My haul tonight would have been roughly $35 or so at good old Market Basket. Sigh. 

And there you have it.  The bad, the good, and the ugly. :)  I'll check in again soon.  Need to get my stuff together over here.  I can't believe all my good has come undone.