Life update and 20/20 recap

Time for another life update. The rollercoaster continues. As I posted last time, we got the house and decided to rent out both of our existing places. This has turned out to be a lot of work. I finally found a property management company that I like, so I met with them this week and they came by today to take some pictures of my place. They're going to do some research about how much other places in the area are renting for, and they'll let me know a good figure to start with. I have a preliminary idea based on their visit today, but they want to be sure.

In the midst of all of this, I got some very bad news about one of my Grandpa M. He had been having some heart problems recently, and they're still trying to figure out what's going on there. He has fainting spells, but it appears that one part of his heart beats too fast while another part beats too slowly. It's very odd. But on top of that, they found out that he has lung cancer. He's in the 10% of lung cancer patients who have never smoked. It was quite a blow. They found something in his pancreas, so they're trying to figure out whether it's cancer, and if so whether the cancer actually started in his lungs or his pancreas. Needless to say, this is all not good news. He's in the hospital now in Spokane under watch for his heart problems. His cancer doctor returns next week and he's supposed to start chemo, but we're not sure how that's all going to happen with these fainting spells and his heart issues. I'm praying that they can figure out what's going on with his heart so that he can start chemo and get better. But I must admit that the diagnosis doesn't look good.

So, I've definitely had a full plate with these issues in addition to work. The product I'm documenting is in ship mode now, so we're all extremely busy getting it ready for prime time and as always, there are last-minute issues to attend to.

This doesn't really help matters when there is a lot going on in both my professional and my personal life. As such, I've really fallen off track with my diet. The sucky part is that I now know better. But I still make bad choices when I get into an emotional state. It's really incredible how powerful emotions are sometimes. When I weighed in last Thursday, I was up almost 6 pounds from my last weigh in, but I had an idea that was skewed a little bit by water weight from the carbs, sodium, and the point I was at in my monthly cycle. That turned out to be true. I'm now only up about two pounds. But it's still not a good thing, and I don't want it to become a pattern.

My dietician gave me a plan to help get me back on track, and I've been trying to adhere to it, but I don't always. Sometimes I'm better than others. I kept up on the exercise, which is good. At least that is something that I haven't fallen off on except for a bit this week since I've been sick and having some allergy troubles plus just plain exhausted. But, I'm on the upswing, so I'll be back in the gym with my trainer on Friday.

The biggest thing that I'm trying to remind myself is that this is how life is sometimes. I'm not perfect, and I can't expect to be perfect. I've struggled with emotional eating all of my life, and I will continue to do so for the rest of my life. However, this time I do have the support of the people around me to get back on the horse (even if I have to do it over and over again until I stay on), and I am likely making somewhat better choices than I would have in the past. My hope is that in the next week or so, things will even out a little bit all around and I can refocus on my health goals. But right now, there are too many things competing for my attention and I'm just burned out. So, the most I can do is keep exercising, because that does really make me feel better, and I can try to make better diet choices and not beat myself up when I give in on something right now. I know that I'm not going let myself balloon back up, and two pounds gained is still 44 pounds down, which is nothing to sneeze at. So as long as I can maintain here a little bit, I can pick it up with renewed vigor soon. C'est la vie!