Lyme, Lyme go away .....

So it is the end of my second week of official training for the Marine Corps Marathon and now I know why I have been achy. The training has been going well. I had a nice 12 mile run in St. John's yesterday and felt good doing a hot 3 miles when we arrived back in Virginia today ... but .... I have been more than a little achy and I now know why.

I had gone for my annual physical a little over a week ago and when they were going through the planned blood tests I asked if they could also throw in a Lyme screening because I had been achy and had trouble sleeping. Well I got the word while in Newfoundland that my suspicions we correct and I once again had Lyme disease. Well now that I know I can treat it and hopefully the achiness will also disappear.

In regards to the MCM training I am going to start adding some pieces to my running page as an ongoing update. It should be fun given this weeks long run is 14 miles.


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Eating right is a good thing ....

Most of you know that my wife is an avid athlete. Growing up she always played sports and excelled at it. Since I have known her she has been someone to rise early in the morning to make sure she gets to the gym before her real day starts - and she does that 5 or more days a week. One would think with all of that exercise that when you look at her doctors records you would see everything perfect. Well it turns out that there are some things that have genetic control and for her one of them was cholesterol. We have not thought about it - we knew it was always high - and I do mean high - easily doubled mine. A couple of weeks back she had her annual physical and everything as always looks great and she was very nervous waiting for her blood work to come back - wondering how bad the cholesterol was. Well it came back and it was at a level that she had never seen before - It was almost half of what it had at one time been. Everything was a dramatic improvement.

So now the question .... why? We basically ate the same ... except we had taken dairy out of her diet (another story) and we replaced it with almond milk, olive oil and other dairy free substitutes. This presented some challenges in cooking but adaption was not hard and except for ice cream we have replaced most things with dairy free versions that we either have found or I make. Being the curious scientist Laura found out that Almond Milk is one of the 5 foods recommended for lower cholesterol. Yay for us. So if you are at a point where you do not want to take medicines to lower cholesterol try replacing your dairy with dairy free substitutes, use olive oil and drink almond milk. You may want to add in some extra vitamin D and calcium to make sure you get enough but outside of that it is fairly straight forward.

To help you along here is a recipe for Vanilla Pudding that is dairy free and easy to make. If you like your pudding firm you may want to up the cornstarch or add some gelatin - in the mean time - healthy eating :-)

Low-fat Vegan Vanilla Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup sugar (or artificial sweetener - we use Splenda)
• 5 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 cups almond milk
• 2 tsp vanilla

Preparation:

Mix the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a large saucepan. Gradually blend in the soy milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.

Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, stirring now and then.

Remove the pudding from the heat and add the vanilla. Let cool for ten minutes, stirring now and then. Pour the pudding into a large serving dish or individual serving dishes and chill until firm, about 2 to 3 hours.

Smithsonian Folklife Festival - 2011

Over the last few years myself and the girls or myself and Laura have always visited the Smithsonian Folklife Festival which is held over a couple of weekends around July 4th. Every year they have different people representing different cultures or groups ad this year was a great combination. Internationally, Colombia was represented which of course brought some wonderful music, food and arts; as well the Peace Corps, who are celebrating their 50th anniversary, who brought with them winemaking from Georgia, weaving from Northern Kenya and many other elements of what they see every day. In between these two national environments was a celebration of rhythm and blues including some wonderful smells of North Carolina barbecue and some fantastic music.

Myself and Sam and Kris spent Sunday afternoon wandering through the event. We saw some great demonstrations, including a guy wood carving with a machete. We also enjoyed some really fresh watermelon - which was delicious and greatly needed to make the heat of a July afternoon in DC.

We all had fun - saw some interesting things and I know we will be back to the festival next year.

A Great Weekend

We had a great Canada Day/Independence Day weekend. Tika came home from Richmond late Thursday to celebrate both days (and to get her replacement phone). Myself and the girls went out to celebrate Canada Day. We had a lot of fun - laughing, eating, meeting other Canadians in the area - and lots of Canada paraphernalia.

Sunday we had a nice barbecue to celebrate Independence Day - some slow cooked ribs and Chicago Style Hot Dogs and then we went to see Bridesmaids. Another day of lots of laughing and fun.

On Independence Day itself myself and Laura took it easy - I made some homemade pizzas and surprised her with an Independence Day cake.

It was a great weekend and I cannot wait to do it all again.


.... cu

Happy Canada Day ... and ....

Today is July 1st and of course that means Canada Day celebrating the signing of the British North American Act and the founding of the Dominion of Canada 144 years ago.

I think I can safely say that the girls are excited to celebrate Canada Day today and I know Laura was smiling as she came into the office this morning with a Canada Flag tattoo on her shoulder. The nice thing for us of course is that we get to celebrate Canada Day today and then 3 days later we get to celebrate Independence Day.

RNR Memorial, Beaumont-Hamel, France

Of course for some Canadians today is not just a celebration of Canada Day but also a remembrance day. It was 95 years ago today at 8:45 in the morning that the Royal Newfoundland Regiment got called up to advance on German Lines at the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel. At the time Newfoundland was part of the British Empire recognized as the Dominion of Newfoundland and fought alongside the British troops in the Somme. That fateful morning 801 Newfoundland men advanced - the next morning only 68 men of the RNR were available for roll call. The decimation of the Regiment was felt throughout Newfoundland then and for many years to come.

So today I will raise a glass for Canada to celebrate its birthday but will also raise a glass in remembrance of the past and current members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment - we will never forget your sacrifice.

The weirdness of Boston

I got to spend the last two days in Boston. The trip was worked related, a conference at MIT, but I did get to see a bit of Boston. Monday night we walked from Cambridge to St. Charles Street and Beacon Hill and on the way passed TD Gardens, home of the NHL champion Bruins. We had some good food down on Charles and visited the Cheers bar afterwards.

Tuesday morning I went for a run and in a period of 40 minutes or so I got to run down the Charles River, by MIT, run the last mile of the Boston Marathon course to Copley square, by Boston Commons and the State House. I cannot even mention all the cool architecture you see doing this - it is a great town to see. Some of the cool architecture included stuff on the campus of MIT like the Frank Gehry designed building on the left.


The people at the hotels and restaurants were great but I did notice that bikers and runners do not warn you when they are coming up behind you. This really throws one off. I will say some of the nicest TSA people I ever encountered are at Boston Logan. I know most people complain about TSA but it was not just one that was great - it was a bunch of them.

So Boston is definitely a place to visit and when you do I would suggest staying at the Marlowe in Cambridge. I know I will be back there.

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My Stabilizing Force.........

The past two weeks have brought crashing disarray and quiet victories. On the work front, my department has undergone "restructuring" as they say, and sadly my dear friend and fearless mentor, Paul, is no longer here to help me navigate what lies ahead for careHPV. Some of you may know him from our wedding, he flew in from Germany to read at our wedding, only to dash off to the airport and return for work. I cannot thank him enough for all that he has done for me on so many levels and I know that he will remain a part of our lives. Paul is the essence of careHPV. It's success will largely be a result of his persistence and dedication to helping others.

And in the midst of the chaos, there comes order, and quiet- which is always a blessing when it is your health. As my husband knows, I seem to be the "rarity", the patient that doesn't fit the profile, not the 99 cases out of 100. I was born with a congenital heart defect- 3 extra electrical pathways creating 3 heart arrhythmias that I was blissfully unaware of of until they decided to make me pay attention. Growing up I assumed that everyone felt the way I did. I certainly was not the picture of the "typical" arrhythmia patient, specifically with the severity that was hidden. I played every sport I could get my hands on growing up, and have always been at the gym 5 days a week, pushing as hard as I can (with a six pack to prove it). In September 2008, 6 weeks before I met Gary, I had a life-changing procedure, a cardiac ablation which essentially burned the pathways from my heart tissue. I walked out of the hospital and into a new life......worried that I couldn't feel my heart beat. I told my doctor that my heart was quiet, and he smiled. Quiet. Like when the power goes off and all of the whirring and background noise just stops. And you breathe. Then the other shoe dropped. Last summer I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. Not common at my age or outwardly evident considering my level of physical activity. We sought help with a wonderful Endocrinologist and so far so good- after correcting a severe vitamin D deficiency there has been no further bone loss. Gary went with me to see my primary care doc last week to give him the good news. Dr "Jo", as Gary calls him, has been with me through everything. He diagnosed my heart defect - the Cardiologist missed it- and the osteoporosis. He patiently coordinated my care never leaving any causes unexplored and always remaining calm. Always listening, never doubting, always caring. He looked at me last week and smiled big and said "you are doing great, you are stable" then turned to Gary crossed his arms and said "so, you must be the stabilizing force here". My sweet husband looked so proud, smiled and said "yes".

Yes, honey you are my stabilizing force. Thank you for loving all of my 1 in 100's , my noisy heart, and little bones :-) Thank you for going with me to every doctor's appointment, holding my hand, giving me magazines to distract me (Wine Enthusiast works best), and laughing with me at the one who shall be called "Dr Evil" (the doctor who didn't work out so good).

I love you-

Laura