DanicaX’s BodyBlog

til I’m off probation. Horray! Kidding. Kidding. People think I’m serious when I say that; Perhaps b/c I’m such a serious person. Note: that was a lie. Sorry I lied. haha! No, I’m not sorry at all! See…never serious. One time at the gym this guy asked me, "how come I never see you out?" I said, "well, it’s kinda hard when I’m on probation." The look on his face was great! It totally threw him off. When he found out I was joking, he started laughing hysterically and wouldn’t stop. Then, I started laughing b/c he was totally over-laughing. It really wasn’t that funny. Ha..then about 30 minutes later he was walking by me: "hahaha! On probation! hahahaha!!!" Come to think of it, he may have been on drugs. Lesson: Say NO to drugs!!!
 
Really, though…I’m counting down the days to the Arnold!  I’ve always wanted to go and this will be my first time so I’m excited. Yes, I cleared it w/ my probation officer. I ALWAYS play by the rules (see note on being serious above). Plus, my nephew, BIGPREMO, is going. I’m looking forward to being surrounded by greatness that weekend! Sorry, G, you ain’t cutting it. This is what G did to his favorite monkey…he tore all the stuffing out and then sat there looking at it like he didn’t know what happened.
 
So today I went to the eye Dr. I was in the waiting room. The only seat open was by this guy who was in a wheel chair sitting in front of the chairs. I noticed he was alone and his right leg was amputated just below the knee. I looked at him (he was really close to me) and he asked me if I’d go down this hallway (he pointed), take a right and see if the eye clinic was open. So I go down the hallways and looked to the right. There was nothing there. He was an older guy and at this point I was wondering if he was cognitively deficient in some way; it was too early to tell really. Earlier I thought I heard him tell someone, "I wonder if the doctor is here." What he really said was, "wonderful doctors here." Anyways, so I go back and asked, "you said on the right?" He said yes. I go back again thinking I was maybe crazy and didn’t see it. There was a door on the left so I opened it and asked these ladies if they were an eye clinic. They said they only filled prescriptions and that there used to be an eye clinic on the right, but it moved to another location. So I go relay the info and the guy goes, "Oh, that’s right. They moved down the street. Thanks for checking. What are you here for?" We started talking and here’s what I found out about my little waiting room friend:

He was diagnosed with Type II diabetes when he was 35, but never took care of himself properly when he found out. I asked if he used to be heavier when he was younger and he said no, but there was a small grocery store when he was a boy that his mother had a charge account there. He’d go in after school and get candy for him and all his buddies and charge it. That’s when it was $.01. I don’t know if excessive sugar intake as a kid is linked to type II diabetes later and poor glycemic control. I’ll have to look into it. Anyways, his eyesight started failing and he was seeing this eye Dr (no pun intended) who he raved about. He says he was totally blind when he started going there, but now he could see. He said he couldn’t read, but he could see the tv in the room, but not the faces on it. Then I learned more. He was going to a podiatrist to get his toenails trimmed, which is recommended for people with diabetes. Well, the podiatrist had also cut a callus off his foot. It then got infected, he ultimately had to get his leg amputated b/c of it. That was 6 months ago.
 
Then while in the hospital after the amputation, he had some procedure done (I can’t recall what it was), but they told him that there was a chance his kidneys would fail b/c of his diabetes. Well, they did. So, now he is also going through dialysis. My brain was getting overloaded at this point. When I was asking him about the prosthetic leg he had mentioned earlier, he said he would be walking by now, but when he was in physical therapy there was a PT there who he says put this sleeve on his leg to hold the bandages on better. He said she was really rough and put it on too aggressively, and in doing so she created more wounds around his wound basically.  So, 6 months later he is still waiting for those wounds to heal before he can even get fitted for the prosthetic.
 
The punches just kept coming it seemed. I asked if his wife (he’s been married for 50 years) brought him and he said no, that "the van" brought him. The same transportation van takes him back and forth to dialysis everyday and charges $20 each way. It’s 5 blocks from his house. That is crazy. He said his son was coming to pick him up after his appointment. He worked with his son for 20 years in his law office and they were going to meet some clients a few hours away after he picked him up. He kept saying how he’s really lucky his son helps him and his wife has been so good to him, how the eye doctors were so great. After all that he’s gone through in the last 6 months, most people would be down, depressed, negative, angry. He wasn’t. He was so grateful for the people in his life and didn’t have a bad word to say about anything. I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to sit next to that guy and experience such a great attitude. That was the only open seat, too. Very interesting, indeed.

First things first. Go Celtics, go! So I switched teams from last year; I can do that ok. Don’t judge me! Oh, but Kobe is still like totally cute. Like, omg. Today is one of those days where I think I have seriously lost my mind. A crazy and long day. I feel like Goldie Hawn on Overboard when she is sitting back in that chair and staring into space with all those kids who have driven her insane and she was like, "buh buh buhbuh bubba." I’m doing that right now. That’s me. Someone is throwing grapes at my head, but I have no idea who. Knock it off!!

 Tonight I did a short, lighter leg workout. Not by choice. If it were up to me, I’d be a complete supersetting and circuit psycho like usual. Wasn’t up to me, though. Stupid back. I started going to a new chiropractor about a month ago. He’s great, I was feeling good, going my 3 times per week, doing my thing, then….here come the stiff legged deadlifts and their stinkin peer pressure. All the cool people were doing it. Anyways, that was a bad idea. That was a few weeks ago, so I’ve been taking it easier when I do legs b/c that’s when I tend to irritate my back. I also did hot yoga Tues morning…the first time in a few months. Yeah, that was not my proudest moment. I had to cheat a lot in order to not compromise my back. I could feel it on the verge of really putting me in my place. It wasn’t worth sacrificing my back, so I cheated here and there. I’m sneaky like that.

Ok, funny story. Let me re-phrase that…Here’s a story that I thought was funny. Note: I once tried finding the movie "the Other Sister" in the comedy section before learning that it was actually a drama. What? Seriously.  "Don’t laugh at me, Daniel!" Come on…it’s not even a true story.

Alright, I was at the gym a few days ago and was knocking out some VersaClimber intervals. Now, I’ve mentioned before how I like to "kill two birds with one stone." So, I figured I’d sit in the sauna afterwards and stretch, while I have this conditioning oil in my hair. I have this indian woman who threads my eyebrows and she got this oil from India that I bought from her. A little heat is always good for hair conditioner so, there you have it..two birds, one stone. This oil is very pungent; I can’t even describe the smell. I mean, I’ve gotten used to. She told me to "cut it" with olive oil. Ok, so I put the stuff in my hair, walk into the sauna. There were like 8 people in there. It didn’t even occur to me how horrible it would smell to the people in there. So I’m sitting there and all these people have all these different conversations going on.  All of a sudden, there are a few seconds of silence and this lady was like, "What is that SMELL!?"

Well, I was gonna say something, but before I could, this other guy was like, "OMG I smell it, too! What is that? It’s terrible!" Then another guy: "You know, I’ve been smelling that for a few weeks in here now. I think they’re trying to get us to stop coming in the sauna!" Oh, now come on….now that guy’s just being a big ole drama queen. It was my first time in there with it on (that gym anyways). So I’m sitting there and covering my face with my towel acting like I’m wiping sweat b/c I was laughing. Then this lady goes, "Well it didn’t smell when we first came in here." haha! So, then that meant I had to wait until all of them left before I left b/c otherwise they’d all get a whiff of it when I walked by. Then this guy said, "Well I’m gonna say something to the front desk. They’re gonna ask me what it smells like and I’m gonna say ‘it smells like a big bucket of @$$hole!!’" And that’s when I just about lost it. Now everytime I see that guy I’m gonna picture him saying that.

So everyone left, then I got out and walk into the locker room. I wasn’t even thinking that my hair still smelled…it’s like I had forgotten what had just happened like 3 minutes before. I walk in, and low and behold…out of all the thousand lockers in there, whose big fat locker was directly right beside mine? That lady who was in the sauna. I had already walked halfway to her before I realized, "dang it, she’s gonna smell it again and know it’s me and wonder why I didn’t say anything in the sauna." It was too late. Damage was already done. So, I did what anyone else would do. I pinched my nose, gave her an awful look and was like, "phew…geez, do you smell that?" Then when she was in the shower, I drizzled a little of that oil in her bag just to make her think it was her all along. haha…Ok, I didn’t really do that, but I should have. Hindsight is 20/20