Brains, Brawn and Bamboo

I received the results of my blood test today, and was told to attend my local surgery promptly. Turns out my hameoglobin levels are very low - at 8.9. To put that in context, healthy levels should be between 12-14.

The diagnosis was that my blood levels have decreased so radically over the last 6-8 months due to multiple minor colitis flare ups. The cumulative blood losses have left me, quite literally, drained, and the ability for my body to recover the blood has been nullified by the frequency of the flare ups.

I have been given iron tablets to take for the next 3 months, and told not to engage in anything too strenuous so as to give my body the opportunity to regenerate the lost blood.

So, at least I know what’s wrong, and a gameplan to remedy it. It’s just going to take time - and I’ll need to re-think what I do for fitness. If I’m to heal properly, I can’t be doing anything too radical or strenuous. I’ve got to be kind to my body, or I’ll just keep getting weaker and sicker.

So, time to heal up and get well again. And seriously reconsider what kind of fitness to pursue to help my body heal, and not hinder it.

I went to the see the doctor yesterday. My suspicions were confirmed - I do have a chest infection. I’ve been told to take the rest of the week off work and been given anti-biotics for the infection. I had to go in to have blood checks today, as they were concerned about my blood count. I’ll find out the results in a week.

In both visits, I was told by the doctor and/or nurse that I looked terrible. "Are you usually this pale?" and "You’re the sickest looking person I’ve seen all day" were memorable extracts.

It sucks, really. When I’m at home, I feel like I should be at work (not that I enjoy it that much, just a sense of duty), but whenever I try and do anything - like walk 5 minutes to the surgery - I almost collapse. A case of ‘fine as long as I do nothing’. Frustrating.

On the positive side, the cough is clearing up. Hopefully, the anti-biotics will get me back up to a base line of health. I really need to get my appetite back/start eating again. I dread to think how much weight I’ve lost. When I’m ‘well’ again, I’ll need to completely re-think what I want out of fitness, and how to achieve. I am beginning to suspect that certain, harsher aspects (particularly of Kung Fu) are not healthy for my body’s colitis-weakened system.

In the meantime, I am trying to rest and heal. To everyone else out there training, train hard, enjoy the pain and be grateful for it, because the next day you might be bedridden!

I have, through the power of serendipity, discovered the most perfect abdominal workout ever in the world…ever. It’s so simple, and wont cost you a thing. The secret?

Get a chest infection.

The deep, repetitive coughing brought about by such a viralent condition will naturally cause your abdominals to contract. Hard. And often.

Don’t have time to work your abs? Don’t worry? This revolutionary system works them all through the day and night, whether you want to work them or not! It will even prioritise their development over and above sleep. You’ll rest when you’ve got a six-pack, rookie!

Further, owing to the illness you’ll be eating far less, and so lose a lot of weight. Great for showing your new coughing-fit-forged washboard!

It really is as simple as contracting an (otherwise life-ruining) bronchial infection. Get coughed on to start seeing your abs today!

…

Ah…I make light of it here, but this thing is really getting me down. I’m off work, I can’t train, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I can’t do anything. And this thing just seems to be getting worse. I’m going to the doctor’s tommorrow; hopefully they can pump me full of drugs and kill this thing. Until then, I’m in a lot of pain and am really very miserable.

I’ll update when this thing dies down a bit. I am not looking forward to seeing how much weight / strength I’ve lost…

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.

My colitis flared up last weekend. My appetite went to hell, as did my energy and general health. I’ve also caught another cold. Not flu, like I had over Christmas, but colitis and cold together…bad combo. Thankfully I’ve got a week off work next week - I booked it off as leave a while back as a birthday gift to myself.

(Oh yes, it’s my birthday on the 7th! Feeling how I do, I’ll be spending it in bed…)

I can use the time off to recuperate…but it’s annoying that I’m ill for another period of leave. Body must be trying to tell me something. When I stop hurting, I’ll try and listen this time.

It’s not all ‘boo, whahhh, woe is me’ though. I completed my goal of closing the COC #1 gripper! I did it earlier in the week with my right hand…once…I think. I’m pretty sure the ends touched and metal clacked. Close enough to count it as success! If nothing else, my grip strength is improving.

My sledgehammer levering is also getting better. Using a 6lb hammer at the moment. Aim is to lift it at the tip, horizontal to the ground, arm out, lever it perpendicular to the ground and then backwards and down - using my wrist - to hover over my face, then lever it back to horizontal and return to the ground slowly and controlled, keeping the hammer horizontal and parallel with the ground at all times on the ascent and descent. That’s my long term goal (if the rambling decription makes any sense). Once I can do that 5 times, I’ll get a heavier hammer!

But first, working down the handle. I’m getting there. Bit by bit. Centimetre by centimetre.

Ready to move up to RKC Rite of Passage when this thrice-cursed colitis goes into remission again and this damnable cold buggers off. All in good time.

Formula for success, a straight line, a goal!

Let me run you through my diet, as it’s been from New Year (not Chinese New Year - that’s today. Year of the Ox has begun! No good for me, being a Rat…ah, but I digress)

First, you need to understand that my body burns. Once at hospital, I was given anaesthetic prior to a colonoscopy. Others there for a similar treatment were out like a light. I was wide awake. It had no effect on me; my metabolism burnt it up too quickly. It was like throwing heartburn medication into the heart of a firey volcano. My metabolism is faster than a cheetah, and I’ve often thought I don’t actually have a stomach, but a black hole; an endless pit where much is lost but little gained.

Further, I have colitis. An inflammatory bowel condition, it can flare up when given disagreeable foods (insoluable fibres, for example), or just for no discernable reason whatsoever. It means I am prone to weight (and, more distressingly, blood) loss, and appetite and energy levels are frequently low.

I overcome such things with willpower. I don’t have much else really.

From January, I have been eating 3700 calories a day, except for 2 days a week, when I go crazy and overeat to the tune of 5400 calories. All vegan, at least, at the moment.

Weight is difficult to put on, but so easy to lose. Plus, eating that much food is tiring and stressful - today, I have cut way back. My body needs a break from processing that much. I’m anticipating weight loss, even after this single day of eating just the caloric RDA (2500 kcal)

Incidentally, if I hear anyone complaining that 3000 calories - unrestricted by diet and unencumbered by disease - is a struggle in their quest for weight, there will be hell to pay!

I’m a skinny streak of nothing at the moment. I’m hoping to get up to 12.2 Stone (170 Pounds), but I’m aware that it’s an uphill struggle. I’m seriously considering dropping the vegan absolutism and drinking milk. They say it’s bad for colitis, but I’ve never had a problem with it, plus it’s an easy-to-consume source of calories. I just don’t know. I need my body to be healthy…maybe absolute rules need to become flexible in order for me to succeed and be fit enough to help others?

Choices that need to be made. I’m experiencing the beginning of a flare-up today, so I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep pounding food down like water. Feel like I’m a prisoner in my own body.

Still, I will do all I can, whenever I can. That is all any of us can do. Just got to keep shooting for victory. That way, if I miss, at least I wont have wasted my shot.