Oh the pain

So I did finally get that loft built. Looks good too. I'll get you some pictures a little bit later. No before shots, though. Once I finally got started on it, I didn't have a camera with me and stopping to go and get it would have probably killed the momentum. I have the car parked in there now!

So here's today's "real" scenario. Tonsils. More specifically, tonsillectomy. In adults. That's right. I had my tonsils yanked out last week.

Oh. My. God. The pain. The pain. I'm sure it will all be worth it eventually, but oh my God! All the warning I got from the ENT was "expect the worst sore throat you've ever had, for about a week, and then 3 more weeks of pain." Well, that doesn't do it justice at all. I was saying to everyone before hand, "This is what they told me, but I don't know what that means. Maybe I'll be out of it over the weekend, in pain for a few days and back to work by Thursday?" Um...No. Not a damn chance. My boss actually called today and it was all I could do to answer the phone to tell him that, "No. I won't be in before Friday, sorry."

It's been super fun trying to keep my mouth hydrated. Especially at night. As soon as I lay down, I slip into "mouth-breather" mode and dry myself out. Then I have to start the whole swallowing anything process from scratch. For some reason, my snoring has gotten out of control too. I was physically removed from the bedroom last night. I can totally hear it, too. I won't even have fallen asleep and I can hear the air rattling around in my nose. It's pissing me off to no end. My wife, too obviously.

I'm still having trouble downing anything thicker than a liquid. Smoothies are a pain, applesauce seems to be OK. I'm going to give chicken broth a try after I'm done typing this. Hopefully that goes down well. I definitely need to add more stuff to my menu or I'm never going to get better. (I'll be hungry a lot too)

As for the pain medication...I really don't get how people get hooked on percocets. They do nothing for me. Well, they take the edge off the pain, but that's about it. I can't imagine I'd take them for their magical goody-wooshy feelings that they bring. (Hint: They don't) I just feel slightly less pain and then get tired. Big whoop.

Well, I'm going to go see if my soup has cooled off enough to give it a try. Then I'll have to pick a movie to keep me awake, or go pass out. I haven't decided which path to take yet.

Next time!

Men vs Weight Gain and Relationships

Well,


There's been a ridiculous amount of coverage (and hand wringing) over a recent poll by AskMen


In it, a little more than half of the men who responded said that they'd dump their partner if she gained weight.


Now, let's first ignore the fact that no specific number was used. That's red flag number one, but it makes itself irrelevant.


This poll, and some of the media reaction to it, remind me of a scenario I found myself in. I had the opportunity to sit in on some presentations for a psychology class years ago. A few of the projects were on video. In one such video, the student had done group interviews of females and males. (Each gender was interviewed as a group. No "co-ed" groups.) At one point, the student asked the group of males the same question about weight gain. The response from one guy about "Yeah, if she put on a few pounds, I'd be upset" elicited gasps from the ladies watching the video. It shouldn't have.


Here's why:



Men and women have VASTLY different concepts of "a few pounds." A woman will freak out over a 4lb weight gain from the BBQ on the weekend. A guy won't even know she's put on 4lbs until she tells him. Honestly.

If you showed a man two pictures of the same woman at different weights, he couldn't tell. The difference in weight could probably go as high as 10, maybe 15, pounds and he wouldn't know. Men don't look for "fat ankles" or bloating, or puffy whatever. As I mentioned earlier though, a woman thinks 5lbs is a disaster. Trust me ladies. It's not. Even if you were dating Tony Little, I don't think you really need to worry about gaining weight ruining your relationship.

Remember, though. I'm talking about "a few" pounds here. If either partner adds 20+ % to their body mass, there may be troubles ahead. That kind of "letting go" could be a signal that there's less caring going on. Excluding various medical conditions, of course. Pregnancy weight, medication issues, quitting smoking...all of these can cause body fluctuations and can be hard to get rid of. (trust me. I know. quitting smoking cost me about 50lbs that I'm having a hell of a time getting rid of.)

So, when this topic comes up around the water cooler, or your local forum again, and it will since it's a kind of slow news summer, remember this. While media focuses on the "about half" of men who'd dump, that means "about half" won't. And the half that would? Most of them won't notice if you added 5lbs at that party last week.

Until next time.

Wow! Over a week since I last posted anything. Not a good way to go about this.

Well, I've been looking around and I see that Dr Oz has a whole chunk of his site devoted to pregnancy. So I thought I'd have a poke around.

I had saved a bunch of links when I started poking, but now that I've gone back and looked at them, there's only one that I want to share.

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/ultimate-pregnancy-smoothie

The only thing that seems to be missing is a direct folic acid ingrediant. Easy to fix. If you've got a juicer, juice some spinach or other leafy greens with your berries. This will add some folic acid but it won't alter the taste or texture. The other option is a good Pre-Natal vitamin with your smoothie. Remember, your regular daily vitamin doesn't count. Go get the pre-natal version of your favorite brand. They'll add extra calcium and folate/folic acid for you.

I can't stress enough how important folic acid is when you're preggers. Guys, tell your girls. Girls, feed your babes.

It's a simple thing to take care of early. As soon as you find out you're expecting, change vitamins. As in, on your way out of the doctor's office, stop at the pharmacy across the hall/street and buy some.

Do not wait. Do not pass go. Etc. Etc.

Well, that's all for now. The ladies are home from ballet lessons. Better go eat and see how the day was.

Happy Happy.