Feeling Small
October 16th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
Ever since I injured my knee I have replaced physical activity with eating. I’ve become a power eater and have managed to scarf down bags of chips, pints of ice cream and full sleeves of raw cookie dough. It’s appalling to me the voracious eater I have become. Paul thinks I have a wooden leg, I think I am just stressed out and depressed with no outlet to release it. So, I have resorted to eating like a bear that is 3 days away from hibernation.
I feel huge and the only thing that makes me feel small and dainty is this awesome chair we found in Albany.
If I could have carried it on the plane I would have brought it home with me, but since all airlines charge these days for checked luggage…well, sadly the chair still resides in Albany.
Small Steps
September 23rd, 2009 § Leave a Comment
I’ve been limping for almost two weeks and have been in constant pain for just as long.
At my soccer game I was going for the ball when my leg came out from under me and I heard a loud pop which was followed by excruciating pain. As I was rolling on the grass I had one clear understanding about life – why they shoot horses. I’ve never given birth but I describe the pain as pushing a soccer ball out of my knee.
After I was dragged off the field I tried calling Paul. It was clear that I needed a ride to the ER and more importantly, I needed sympathy. What I got instead, was his voicemail. So there I sat contemplating how I was going to get to the ER and cursing myself for not discussing the “always answer your phone”, policy with Paul prior.
By the time I arrived at the ER Paul had also arrived. I was wheeled back, put in a hospital gown (for reasons unknown given they only needed access to my knee not my naked derrire.) I sat in the bed trying to ignore my pain and Paul took pictures of me on his iPhone…we were clearly having two very different experiences.
After a few hours, a shot for pain in my butt and another shot in the other cheek for nausea I was sent on my way home. The pain shot worked…the nausea one did not and I spent the next few hours bent over a toilet with my bad knee in a brace throwing up.
Turns out I have a torn ACL and meniscus and in a few weeks I will no longer be able to say I’ve never had surgery.
I started physical therapy this week. The first thing I noticed was that, given the clientele, I had no business being in a physical therapists office. I say this because I was not an old man nor was I an avid athlete. I am a girl who dabbles in community recreation once a week on a co-ed soccer team.
My life has changed a lot since I have been wounded. For one, I no longer receive the weekly soccer emails from our team captain. It was like once I left the field they hung up my jersey and made a pact to never talk about “her” or the “incident” again. I have a walk that says, “here is a girl who is clearly white but has the soul of a black man.” I am often refered to at work as “poor thing”, which I assure you has no upshot. I had to trade my high heels in for dumpy flats and I no longer give off the presence of a tall statuesque woman but rather a oompa loompa minus the purple hair. My apartment is clean from the waist up but a wreck from the waist down. I eat only the things that I find in my general vicinity…for lunch today I had 10 Rolos and a peanut butter cup.
Last night I was doing my homework exercises that they gave me from physical therapy. While I was doing them and watching an episode of Bridezillas, I realized that I felt the carpet on the back of my knee which only meant one amazing thing, I was finally able to fully extend my leg! It was moving mountains kind of extraordinary considering my leg has been frozen in a claw-like state for over two weeks. I have big plans to be able to bend my leg next so stay tuned people!
Sun Damage
August 31st, 2009 § Leave a Comment
I grew up in the sun.
Weekends were filled with boogie boarding, laying out on the beach and running through sprinklers. I am a red-head tempered by being half-Mexican which means I can get away with wearing no sunscreen at all and not burn too badly. This doesn’t mean I haven’t had my share of cripsy moments as a child. I’ve had my share of Rudolph nosed moments, painful shoulder burns and I’ve peeled dead skin off my back more then a dozen times. As a child the sun wasn’t the enemy we know it to be today. Parents weren’t as concerned over sun damage. My mom and grandma grew up lying in their backyards on tin foil and slathered in baby oil. The sun was dangerous back then and now it is much worse. Because of pollutants in the atmosphere and the excess in which humans live, the ozone is depleting at a rapid rate. People are more concerned than ever with the harmful rays let off by the sun and what that means for our future health. It is scary to know that it only takes one severe burn during childhood to double the risk of cancer in adulthood.
I work in a hospital and with that comes health information by the bucket load. I am a self-reformed hypochandriac, although I still have my medical freak out moments here and there. Sometimes the information I read and dismiss and some I take to heart. This morning I learned a little more about sun protection that I thought was important to take note of.
The first and most important point is that sunscreen is not regulated. This means a lot of the sunscreen you apply isn’t doing what it claims to. I thought as long as I didn’t turn any shade in the pink spectrum, it meant my sunscreen was working. This is not the case at all. There are 2 types of sun rays UVA and UVB. UVA rays are the rays that turn us pink, UVB rays are the rays that penetrate deep into our skin and don’t show in redness. These are the rays that are responsible for 90% of our skins aging/wrinkles and the ones that cause melanoma. Ninety percent of wrinkles are caused by the sun and just 10% is by again. So…there went my belief that going to the tanning salon was better because I never turned red or burned. You can slather on as much sunscreen as you want but as long as it doesn’t protect you from UVB rays, you may as well not use anything at all. And for those who think a t-shirt protects you from the sun, a thin white t shirt has the sun protection factor of only about 4%.
I thought the greatest invention ever was spray-sunscreen. Obviously I am exaggerating here because the greatest invention ever is ice cream, however spray sunscreen ranked high up on the list. Spray sunscreen eliminated the need to ask someone to slather the spots you couldn’t reach. But spray sunscreens present a great danger. They contain zinc and titanium which are great for protecting against UVB rays when applied to the skin, but in spray form they release toxic metallic fumes that you inhale into your lungs and can be cancerous. If I had to choose between caner or creepy stranger to “do my back”, I will choose the stranger every time.
I have friends who relish in the fact that they use over 50 SPF sunscreen. They talk with such pride about their proactive sun approach but truth be told, you can save your money on sunscreen with anything higher than a 15-45SPF. If you use more than a 45 SPF sunscreen you will only get a 1.3% increase in sun protection. This means you need to weigh in if 1.3% is important enough for you to expose yourself to the extra chemicals present in a higher SPF.
The highest incident rate of skin cancer is currently in Australia. Australia is therefore at the cutting edge (no pun intended) of regulating sunscreen. This means that when you go to buy sunscreen you should avoid some of the more popular brands, which are often the worst offenders of misinformation, and go for a brand that adheres to Australian testing standards.
My grandfather is in his 80′s and his face is mottled and caved in from the skin cancer his dermatologist has carved away from his nose, head and ears. He spent years in the sun with no sun protection and is now paying a high price. I’m sure if he had to do it over, he would want this kind of information to help him. Enjoy the sun but do so well-informed.
