An Update from the Trenches

I guess it's time for an update from the trenches. I saw a breast surgeon on Tuesday and she tried to aspirate the cyst. "Tried" being the operative word. She couldn't get to it there in the office. Spent a whole lot of time injecting numbing medication and got a good look at the cyst on a sonogram machine, but decided in the end not to go any further. She was a little concerned, too, about the walls of the cyst being thicker than she'd like to see. So I'm headed into the hospital for a lumpectomy one of these Thursdays. It's outpatient surgery. They'll put me under general anesthesia, remove the cyst - if that's indeed what it is - and give it all the tests that need to be done.

So that's the latest. The only plus I can truly think of is that this particular cyst won't fill back up again and need to be re-aspirated in the future. This one will be gone for good. I'm still waiting to hear from the surgeon's office on scheduling the procedure, but am crossing my fingers we'll be able to do this on the 19th, maybe I might even have the results of the biopsy before Thanksgiving.

I've been off caffeine for two weeks now. Weekdays are not a problem. I drink decaf in the mornings and usually end the day with a cup of herbal tea. Weekends are another animal altogether! With my cozy, freshly-made bed right there and way too easy to curl up in, I'm having a hard time getting through my Saturdays and Sundays without a nap. Any ideas how long it takes for 15 years' worth of caffeine to work its way out of your body? I guess I can't expect it to happen overnight. I'm curious to know what it will feel like when I'm back to normal.

There's a lot of reading material out there about fibrocystic breasts. I've been trying to regain some sense of control by reading up to see if there are any proactive ways I can prevent the formation of cysts. Besides limiting/nixing caffeine - which everyone seems to recommend --- I've read that you should reduce your sugar intake and be sure that you're getting the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E, the B complex, and magnesium. So I've been reviewing what I get from my own multi-vitamin and discovered that I actually need to take the multi three times a day. Eeesh! I had a hard enough time getting used to taking vitamins every morning. I probably need to keep a supply at work so they're handy at lunchtime. Even taken three times per day, the magnesium is still lacking, so I've added a magnesium supplement to my morning vitamins.

That's all the scoop for now, dear readers. Hope y'all have a wonderful day! I'll catch up with you later...

21 + 4 = 25

While I was sitting at the breakfast table eating my Cornflakes this morning, I noticed some of the fine print on the jar of Vitamin E supplements. They're vegetarian softgels (400 IU) turned out by a New Jersey company called Solgar Vitamin and Herb. And it turns out that Solgar's been in business since 1947! I looked at their website this morning and - sure enough - Solgar (founded by two pharmacists and a holistic physician) introduced Naturvite, a "high potency natural multivitamin with minerals," as their first product in 1947. Naturvite's special selling point seems to have been that it used parsley, watercress, and alfalfa as the "fillers" that bound the vitamins and minerals together instead of the sugars, starches, or salts that brands such as Vimms were using.

American scientists had learned a lot about vitamins and minerals during the war. The military put a ton of cash into researching how to better fuel the bodies of servicemen and heal wounds more quickly. The Office of War Information churned out ad after ad promoting better awareness among the general public of the vitamin and mineral content of various foods. After all, it was critical that men and women working in the defense industry and keeping the home front humming also be in as good health as possible. Americans were highly conscious of vitamins during this period, so it makes sense that the founders of Solgar would find the postwar era an ideal time to launch a multivitamin.

Vitamins may have been a hot topic, but the general public still had a pretty fuzzy understanding of their benefits. This 1940 article from St. Petersburg, Florida's Evening Independent gives you a sense of just how novel all this information was to people outside the medical community:

It is true that people knew very little about vitamins until the present century. So far as they did know anything, the knowledge was in the hands of a few who used certain foods to cure illness. No vitamin had even a name 25 years ago.

Knowledge of vitamins is leading the world toward a new and better day. Babies are being fed foods which make them stronger and healthier. Adults are slowly learning that vitamins can make life better for them as well…

Vitamin A brings better ability to see in dim light. It also appears to be of help in guarding against long-drawn-out colds. It adds to a person’s general feeling of good health, and seems to play a part in guarding teeth against decay.

Vitamin B (also called B1) helps children to grow as they should. It does something to bring about better digestion.

Vitamin C does a great deal to build sound teeth. Along with the A and D vitamins, everyone who has teeth (or hope of teeth) needs it. It also joins with A in building up a feeling of good health.

Vitamin D is a bone-building and tooth-building vitamin. It is needed by the body to make use of calcium and phosphorus, which are minerals in food.

Other vitamins, including E and G, also have their important uses. Scientists are now exploring new vitamins in the B group, and facts about these will be known to a greater extent as the months go by.

Though vitamin "concentrates" and "preparations" were becoming popular, home economists also recognized that a truly balanced diet contained all the vitamins needed for optimum health --- and many cookbooks published during this era contain material on the vitamin content of various foods and how best to prepare foods in order to preserve those vitamins. A columnist for the Spokane Daily Chronicle wrote an article on this very topic in 1941, stressing the role the housewife could play:

The people of this country are more conscious of the importance of vitamins and minerals, and other nutritional factors in food, than ever before. The average housewife goes to market with a determination to buy protective foods that will give her family the essentials for better health. But if she is not careful in the preparation of these foods, the loss of their protective values will be tremendous… Natural foods have high contents of vitamins and minerals which incorrect cooking methods can destroy.

Do not cook vegetables in a copper kettle. Use a covered pan, a pressure cooker or a double boiler, and heat them just long enough to make them tender. Many vitamins are water soluble, and also are lost in high heat. Save the water, because in it are vitamins and minerals. Use it for sauces, gravies, soups, or for a cocktail to which lemon juice is added. Use little water when cooking vegetables, just enough to cover them. Green leafy types may be cooked in the water left on the leaves after washing…

Cook potatoes in their skins to preserve the vitamin and mineral contents.

Here on my own home front, I'm doing a pretty good job at taking my multivitamin. It's a three-times-per-day tablet, designed to be taken with a meal. I'm great at remembering it with my breakfast and my dinner. And at lunch on the weekends. But I'm having a terrible time remembering to take it with my lunch on weekdays! Maybe I need to bring a week's supply to work with me on Mondays so it's right there in front of me.

I'm also taking a Vitamin E supplement, a Vitamin D supplement (as the multivitamin only contains 50% of the recommended daily allowance of D), and a sublingual Vitamin B12. My doctor and my mother have been after me for years to take the B12. It's the one vitamin that's absorbed only at the very end of the small intestine. I had to have my large intestine and a portion of my small intestine removed nine years ago, so the sublingual supplement (a little pill you pop under your tongue) is one of the few ways I have of getting that into my body. My levels have always been normal, but it can't hurt to give things a little boost while I'm reducing.

Speaking of which, check out those numbers in the title to this post!!! I practically did a jig this morning when I stepped on the scale and weighed in at 169. The 160s at last! It feels like a milestone... I'm headed out tomorrow to do some shopping and see if I can finally fit into a size 14. Wish me luck!

Week Thirty-seven: The Mission

As those of you who read my blog last Sunday learned, I've now lost enough weight that my blood pressure has begun to fall naturally. This is great news! For the last two years, my blood pressure has been so high that I had to take both a medication and a diuretic to treat the condition. When I saw my doctor a few weeks ago, she told me that I didn't need to take the diuretic any longer and - if I continue losing weight - I should be able to slowly reduce the medication dosage over time. I held off as long as I could, because I knew that I would gain some water weight when I stopped taking the diuretic. As my body adjusted to carrying around a normal amount of water in the tissues, I'd see that reflected on the scale.

Sure enough, I have. Sunday was my lost dose of the diuretic. Since that time, I've gained 4 lbs. --- presumably in water weight. I've gone from a fantastic 174 to a dreary 178. I'm trying not to panic. This is a good thing. It needed to happen. I'm thrilled to see my blood pressure responding so nicely to my weight loss. But, boy, are those numbers hard to swallow. All my instincts are screaming at me, "Just stop eating entirely!" "Work out five hours a day!" "Stop drinking water!" And I'm trying desperately to talk myself down and stick with the hard work I've been doing all the while. It's working. I know it's working. I've just got to keep slogging away. My body is loving the added water weight. It's better for my skin, better for my hair, better for my organs. My kidneys alone have got to be singing "Hallelujah!" that they're no longer pulling overtime.

So here I am. 4 lbs. heavier than last Saturday, but with a decidedly healthier anatomy. Maybe the distraction of a new vintage beauty mission is just what I need...

Fitness
It's time to add some strength training to my fitness routine. I've been giving so much attention to my legs that my arms could really use some work. Rather than use the dumb bells and barbells that might have been found in a '40s reducing salon, I'm going to start with a very modern pair of 1-lb. wrist weights. I found a set made by Reebok last night and strapped 'em on before my walk this morning. They're just heavy enough to make my arms work a little harder. I'm also planning to use them while I do my limbering and stretching exercises in the mornings and evenings.



Reducing
1940s nutritionists were acutely aware that women following a reducing plan might not be getting all the minerals and nutrients needed for optimum health, so they frequently recommended some sort of "vitamin concentrate" or "multiple-vitamin preparation" to supplement the diet. This was an era of steadfast faith in science, so the idea of vitamins was hot, hot, hot. People figured if they could formulate precisely what the body needed to function then it was simply a matter of taking a scientific approach to things in order to supply those needs. I've always believed I could do that just as easily by eating a varied diet (and my bloodwork has usually agreed), but I'm not perfect. I've still got plenty of work to do in building a better diet --- so in the meantime I'm going to begin taking a multivitamin. It took some time to pick out a vegetarian-friendly formula, but I purchased one a few days ago. It needs to be taken three times a day with meals.

Grooming
Here's the next step in the 1946 grooming routine. After taking my evening bath (or morning shower on the weekends), I'm to put that bath towel to work:

Rub yourself dry, so that you tingle all over and chest and back turn a healthy pink.