Progress!

My hip has been virtually pain free for three days in a row now. I think it's just about ready to go. Still working on the knee, but it's been much better over the last week or so. I'm stoked to be on the verge of getting back on the road.

I also got a business card from one of the folks at work for a guy who does running coaching. I need to contact him and have him do a gait analysis to see how much of the original injury stems from my running form (I'm pretty sure I overstride) and how much was due to the wrong shoe. The third component was overuse - I ran, and ran only, for the better part of three years. This allowed the muscles to get out of balance in my leg which cascaded to the other problems. I'll keep strength training and biking in the mix going forward to avoid creating that problem again.

Afro-tastic

When I was 12 years old, my brother got a wherm - a white man's perm. That's right, my 'bro had a 'fro. Like the mullet in the age of heavy metal, you weren't cool unless you had a 'fro in 1979. Lately it's been coming back in vogue. Love it or not, the afro is back in full force.


Fletch had the classic line while daydreaming about playing for the lakers - "He's 6'5", 6'9" with the afro" - and the 'fro as a comedy tool was born. Today the "Jewfro" is sported by Seth Rogan and Jonah Hill, and Big Willie Farrell rocks it, complete with the sweat band, in Semi-pro.

In the 70's the 'fro was all over the music scene. Leo Sayer told the world "You Make Me Feel Like Dancin' (I want to dance the night away)" but he also said he wanted to do it with a curly helmet of hair. Of course the disco peeps - The Commodores, Kool & The Gang, Earth Wind and Fire - all had the 'fro doin' the hustle. However, I think the greatest afro of the era, maybe of all eras, had to belong to Jeff Lynne of ELO, who had the afro-beard combo. The man looked like a sheepdog and didn't care who knew it.

I have to confess as a guy in my late 30's with a receding hairline (I don't have a forehead, I have a sixhead) I'm a little jealous of any one with enough hair to pull off the afro. There's no room in this world for a balding guy with bad hair...or is there? Check out Art Garfunkel!

The next step would be to combine the 'fro with the mullet - the frullet! Bad idea - Kenny G proved that even a total ass clown like him can take things to a new low with a bad 'do. I suppose I should count my blessings and think about all of the money I save on shampoo and "product" by sticking with a simple buzzcut.

Catching up

By way of updates, I won't discuss work...you know that the frequency of my posts is inversely related to the hours I'm logging, and my last post was almost three weeks ago, so that says all you need to know.

It's now been 57 days since I started mini-size me and it hasn't worked out like I had hoped, at least not entirely. I haven't been to any of the fast food places and have stuck to healthier fare at restaurants, but I haven't been dropping much weight. I'm only down a couple of pounds since this started. I guess I had higher expectations. On the other hand I have been sleeping better. I feel better. And I'll find out in another month and a half if my bloodwork looks better. I'll keep after it...I think when I start running again I will see the weight come off.

Speaking of which, I have been in physical therapy for a month now and the hip and knee are coming back into line. They've been taping my patella in place and doing strengthening exercises for it, and for the last two weeks I haven't had it taped. It is bothering me less and less. My hip is still painful in certain positions, but they've narrowed it down to inflammations of the attachment points of a pair of muscles; the psoas (which attaches to the front of the spine and upper portion of the front of the femur)and the piriformis (which passes through the "greater sciatic foramen" and attaches to the sacrum and the back of the upper femur). Through some deep tissue work they've gotten the muscles to release and the hip had full range of motion without pain, but only temporarily. I do have consistent increase in the range of motion though not without pain, and I start back into some light running this weekend, assuming that my knee doesn't start hurting. I'm almost back, baby! I'll get another update out and let you know how it goes.

Shocker! comes to life

Check out this story. It's kinda creepy...a guy gets a heart transplant with the heart coming from a guy who shot himself. The guy meets the widow to thank her for the gift of life, and marries her. A few years go by and he shoots himself. Now I'm really hoping that the person from whom my bone grafts came from was a "normal" individual and not a serial killer or a suicidal personality. Actually, I had two bone grafts...what if they came from two different people - one a serial killer and one an FBI profiler. Would I start stalking myself, only to catch on at the last minute and bust me?

Would you rather?

What would you rather watch? The finale of "Celebrity Apprentice" or "In Her Shoes" starring Cameron Diaz and that beast that played the mom in The Sixth Sense? Apparently those are my only choices tonight and "In Her Shoes" is winning. Kill me now.

Minisize Me Update

As you may have guessed from the infrequent posts that I have been really busy at work and haven't made the time to blog. Good news, though...I am still soda and fast food free after 16 days. I have only lost a pound and a half, partly because of my lack of activity, and partly because I have been invited to taco night and have eaten my fill two weeks in a row. There have been some interesting changes though. I am sleeping a lot better, for one thing, both how quickly I fall asleep and the overall quality of sleep. I also no longer get the afternoon crazies where I have to have something sugar filled.


So my lack of activity is driven by my hip. I finally got in to see an orthopedist, and last week I had an MRI on the hip. The doc is looking to confirm or rule out femoral-acetabular impingement. If you look that up you'll see that it's no easy fix. I have a review this coming Friday to see that the MRI says. I've seen the images but other than knowing that I am looking at the femur and hip socket I have no idea what any of them mean. The fixes range from physical therapy to open-hip surgery.

As for the knew pain, my knee caps are not tracking right and my right knee is worse than the left. This is called patella femoral syndrome and is also known as "runner's knee." The prognosis here is much better. The root cause is generally overtraining and can be made worse by overpronation, from which I also suffer. The fix is generally just physical therapy and strengthening specific muscles.

That's it for now...I'll try to get more updates in this week.

Since starting "Minisize me" five days ago I have not been out for fast food. I have had pizza, which in moderation is not bad for you. In moderation.

I also have not had any sugared soda. I never said anything about beer - I have had a couple of those!

So how is it going so far? One of the things that has struck me is how often my thoughts default to fast food. I'll ask my wife what we should have for dinner, and immediately I think about the Good Times teriyaki chicken sandwich, or the Carl's Jr Santa Fe chicken (both better choices than their burgers, but when you add the fries and the coke, that's where you pay the price!). So we have been cooking dinner rather than going for the McDinner and have actually eaten all of the left overs, which we seldom do. So far, so good.

Where I've faced the bigger challenge is in the cravings department. Even though I had cut back to one soda per day, that one soda has a hold on me. At about two or three in the afternoon I start jonesing for a can of coke. I've tried drinking some diet sodas but they all taste like ass, and not in the good lets-try-something-new way. The only one I've found palatable is diet 7Up, but even that doesn't feed the beast. Monday at work I found myself wandering by the vending machines against my will, shaking and scratching at an imagined itch on the inside of my elbow, thinking "I could buy one and only drink half. That's still good, right?" I held out though...primarily because I didn't have enough cash and walking to the ATM seemed too desperate, like sneaking out to see my dealer or something. And I also have a horrible sweet tooth. After dinner each night I get the urge for anything sweet, preferably chocolate cake. Sugar free jello with a squirt of canned whipped cream (total calories: 80!) seems to do the trick on this one. And an apple is always a good sweet treat.

Anyhow, I'm still fast food and soda-free after five days and have been getting reacquainted with a couple of old friends called fruits and vegetables.

More to come...