Do I Have Scoliosis?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, Exercise, Health1 Comment

I have had serious back pain for probably the last decade of my life.  Sometimes my back locks up when I bend over and boy it is painful.  Mostly I can’t walk too far before the pain kicks my ass into submission and I have to sit or lay down.  I can walk to the grocery store from the house because it is only 3 blocks from the house, my back is in pain by the time I come home but it’s not excruciating.  I cannot go for a walk for exercise though.  Before I got a new (used) bicycle wheel, I was trying to walk for exercise and that caused the most horrible pain I have ever felt in my 43 years on this planet, and that is not hyperbole either.

Last month I had some x-rays of my back taken and a week ago my doctor told me that according to the x-rays, my back was curving, and he shaped his hand like a parenthesis (.  I misunderstood when he mentioned something about slouching, so naturally I thought my back was arching outward because I do tend to slouch a lot, but then I went to see him again yesterday and I asked him about the x-rays again and he wrote down on a piece of paper exactly what he means.  This is a normal spine |.  This is my spine (.  He drew it on a piece of paper so I could see exactly what he meant.

That makes sense to me, and that explains a lot why my back is in pain in the middle of my spine.  I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in my lower spine a few years ago and so I was assuming that it was going up which was why I was in so much pain in the middle of my spine which is why I asked my doctor for help.  Who knew that it was some new problem.

So I use the term scoliosis loosely.  I don’t know for a fact that I have scoliosis.  I asked my doctor “Is it like scoliosis?” and he responded with “yes” but that was not a diagnosis.  He asked me if I wanted to see a physical therapist and I said yes because I don’t know what to do about this and if a physical therapist can help me, then I’m going to go see one.  It will also help me with my weight loss, so I will do anything that I can to help stop this pain.

I called my aunt this week and told her about it, but with the impression that my spine was bending outward, but with the understanding that I had no clue which way it was bending.  I mentioned that I wanted to ask about a back brace and she said “DO NOT ASK FOR A BRACE!  You do NOT want to depend on a back brace, trust me.”  I don’t like arguing with people, especially her because she gets very emotional, but like I said before, I will do anything that I can do to stop this pain.  I didn’t ask my doctor for one when I saw him, but if a physical therapist suggests and prescribes one then I will wear it.

No I don’t want to have to rely on a brace, but I will do whatever it takes to stop this constant nagging pain that I have all day.  I’m not joking when I say I am in pain all day.  I am literally in pain every waking moment.  Even if I’m sitting down like right now I’m in pain.  If I’m laying down, I’m in pain.  I can’t do the dishes for more than 5 minutes without being in pain.  I can’t go to the mall and walk around like a mindless zombie like my partner loves to do because… you guessed it, it causes me pain.  It doesn’t really matter where I am or what I am doing, you can guarantee that I will be in agony, whatever it is.

I had a broken arm earlier this year and I was taking Vicodin probably 3 times a day.  It wasn’t stopping the pain in my arm, but it was helping and it did help my back pain, so I had a vacation from my pain for as long as I was taking the Vicodin.  I stopped taking the Vicodin when I stopped having pain and naturally the pain in my back came back immediately.  I have tried taking a Vicodin here and there, but they don’t seem to help at all.  I have been taking Ibuprofen, and that helps my toothache, but it doesn’t stop my back pain.

Oh one more thing about my back pain.  I have a very large patch of skin on my back that is dead.  I mean the nerves actually  I say that because my back in that spot has been numb for 19.5 years.  It never really bothered me until now.  Now it tingles and the numbing is causing pain.  It’s constantly itching and I’m constantly scratching it and the tingling really bugs the hell out of me.  Scratching doesn’t do anything except weird me out that I can’t feel my own fingers touching my back.  I mean, I can feel it, but I can’t feel it if that makes sense.  It’s like I know my hands are scratching my back, but it feels like someone else is doing it.  I can’t explain it, it’s a very odd sensation.

Anyway, I would really love to just go one day without having pain if that is possible.  I am hoping a physical therapist will help because I am really sick and tired of being sick and tired of being in pain.

Naturally I will update my blog when I begin physical therapy.

I Recently Bought Lego Star Wars III The Clone Wars for PSP

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PSPLeave a comment

lego star wars III for psp

When I bought my PSP in 2009, it was because I was taking care of someone and I needed to sit with them which meant I wasn’t able to play EverQuest as often as I would have liked.  In fact, I quit playing EverQuest altogether because of that.  I figured a portable gaming system was a good way to keep me occupied, and I was right.  I got the very first Lego Star Wars which was called “Lego Star Wars II The Original Trilogy.”  What happened to Lego Star Wars I?

I recently received a $35 gift card from Amazon for advertising.  You see that ad on the right?  Someone bought a VERY expensive camera from one of those ads and someone else bought a tv series on DVD and I got paid for it.  I wasn’t even expecting it and I was pleasantly surprised that I even got anything from the ads since I’ve had them for years and never made a dime off of them.

lego star wars III screenshot

Here is a screenshot of the new Lego Star Wars III The Clone Wars for PSP.  It looks just as fun as the original adventures, but I assume this is molded after the cartoon which I’ve never actually seen.  I am a huge Star Wars fan, but I don’t watch the cartoons.  It’s not that I don’t like cartoons because I watch The Simpsons, Family Guy etc., but I just don’t care for watching the cartoon channel.  I’m just not into it.  Maybe one day, but I can’t promise.  Although, now that I will be playing this, I might have to watch the cartoon to get references, if any.

I haven’t actually played with my PSP in a very long time because I got bored with it.  The Lego Games have always held my interest, especially the Lego games, so I am sure I will be staring at my PSP for hours on end for a very long time.  Of course that won’t take away from the other things I like to do like veg out on Facebook or make earrings for Etsy, but it will keep me occupied for at least an hour or so per day.  At least until the battery dies lol.

Check out the other games I have for my PSP.  I can’t say that I have gotten to the end of any of them because I tend to give up when I’m stuck.  Although, I don’t give up immediately, but if I’m stuck for a week, then I give up and move on to another game.  Like Daxter, I got stuck and moved on to another game, but then went back and figured it out, but then got stuck again.  I will give it another chance because I really want to make it to the end of that game eventually.  I have my whole life so I’m not worried.

One of the things I was looking at on the Amazon website was a skin for my PSP.  More specifically a Lego Star Wars related skin, but the one they had was only for the PSP 3000.  I have the PSP Slim 2000.  All the other Star Wars skins they have are either for the PSP 1000 or 3000.  I can’t win :(.  Oh well.  Maybe some day I might get the skin that I want for my PSP.  Until then, I get to look at a silver PSP.

Well I bought my game yesterday on Amazon and I have yet to receive an email notifying me that it was shipped, but the email confirmation of my order said that I should get it from August 12 to August 15, so I have a bit of a wait.  No big deal, I can wait.

Plastic and Stainless Steel Hypoallergenic Stud Earrings

On By Michel McDonaldIn Etsy, Jewelry1 Comment

plastic and stainless steel

Before I only had plastic, but now I have both plastic and stainless steel which is hypoallergenic.  I can say with certainty that they are hypoallergenic because I have worn them for weeks with no problems.  I always test the earrings on my own ears for a day, a few days or until I can’t wear them anymore due to my allergies and I haven’t had any reaction or symptoms of allergies from these metal stems.

The only issue with the hypoallergenic stainless steel studs that I have is that the rubber backings don’t stay on as well as they stay on the rubber stems. They came with rubber, not metal backings, so I don’t have metal backings to go with them. I have been looking for metal backings, but I don’t have any guarantee they will be hypoallergenic. The best bet for a customer is if you have a pair of earrings that you know the backings are hypoallergenic, use those. I love the stainless steel studs, I just don’t want to use them out of fear of losing them if the rubber backings come out. I always suggest to people to buy the plastic ones because the rubber backings hug the plastic stem, so there isn’t a risk of them falling off on their own.

My main reason for wanting to make these earrings was so I could make earrings for myself because earrings are expensive and I can’t always afford them.  Plus I wanted to wear something that I made.  I now have a huge selection of earrings and that is awesome for me lol.  If I get bored with what color I am wearing, I can always make myself another color.  Of course they aren’t sparkly, but I don’t really need them to be.

So if you happen to be looking for a pair of earrings, come to my shop on Etsy called GayNerd and I will hook you up with some at great prices.  Only $5 a pair for the studs. I do have some listings that offer a discount if you buy more than 1 pair, and I also have coupons every month. I love them, so I know you will too.

My recent reward for watching TV

On By Michel McDonaldIn Android, App, Nook, TV3 Comments

viggle

I bought my HTC One V for Virgin Mobile from Amazon in December and one of the first apps I installed was Viggle because a friend uses it and posted the advertisement on Facebook.  I’m always looking for ways to get rewarded for doing things, like surveys, blogging, tweeting, installing and playing games and whatever else I can do.  Well, Viggle gives you rewards just for watching TV and doing trivia during your shows.

Since December I have been racking up points.  I had over 63,000 points and I was saving it for a really expensive reward, the Kindle Fire or Kindle Fire HD.  The problem is, those are 482,500 and 560,000 points and well, let’s just say if it has taken me 6 months to get 63,000 points, I’m sure it will take me a long time to get the Kindle, so I figured I might as well pick a reward of lesser value for now.  I decided to get the Barnes & Noble $25 gift card for 50,000 points.  This is what I bought.

the hunger games trilogy

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins for $24.49.  I waited for a few days after getting my Viggle reward because I wasn’t positive what I wanted.  I can’t recall exactly what made my decide on The Hunger Games, but I suddenly remembered that I wanted to read the books before seeing the movie.

I wanted to buy many ebooks at .99 cents each because then I could buy 25 ebooks, but I think getting this trilogy was better.  It’s not the quantity of the ebooks that matter because chances are I’m not going to have time for all 25 ebooks, and who knows if I will feel like I made a huge mistake because the books aren’t quality writing.  So I’m glad I bought this trilogy rather than a bunch of books I may not like.  Although I’m not positive I will like the hunger games, but I know it is something that I am interested in so I’m sure I will.

I have started reading the first book, but haven’t gotten too far because I just didn’t feel like reading.  I have to be in the mood to be able to really get into it, and I don’t want my lack of interest in reading to make me like or hate a book.  I will wait until I’m ready to start reading it.  I actually have a few other books that I’m halfway through that I would like to finish before starting another story.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that Viggle is a good app and this is proof that you do actually get rewarded for watching TV.

Doctor’s Appointment

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Exercise, Health, Noom, Pictures, WeightLeave a comment

doctor who

We went to the doctor’s office today, and no, the doctor’s office wasn’t in a TARDIS lol.  Doctor Who fans will get that, anyone else will be like what is he talking about?

We had our regular appointment that we made last month and it’s very convenient that I was sick at this particular time of the month because I needed to see a doctor.  I have chest congestion, nasal congestion, a sore throat and my saliva gland is swollen causing a lot of pain there and tooth pain.  Of course, he can’t do anything about the toothache, but the tooth is only hurting because of my saliva gland, I’m assuming.

He gave me a prescription for Bactrim which is an antibiotic for my saliva gland.  That happens to me a lot with my saliva gland.  I think it happens two or three times per year and it usually goes down by the time we see the doctor so I never bring it up.  One time it was happening around the same time we saw the doctor and I was prescribed an antibiotic and I don’t remember if it helped, but I do know that this is not a normal thing to happen.  He told me to come back in 5 days and if it’s still swollen then he will send me to get a cat scan and I might need surgery.  When we came home I looked in my mouth and saw a black spot on the inside of my cheek which is probably what is causing the blockage in the saliva gland.

drawing-of-spine-deformities-scoliosis-and-kyphosis-curvature-of-the-spine-and-hunchback-or-round-ba

Last month I had some x-rays on my back and today he told me that I have a curve in my spine.  He didn’t specify which way it was curved, but he told me I need to sit up straight more so I assume it’s the one on the right in the image to the left.  So I need to learn to sit up straight because I have a tendency to slouch.  When I’m sitting on the bed, the couch, my desk chair, my bike and anywhere else, and even while I’m standing, I’m always slouching.  It’s mainly because I’m always trying to be as relaxed as I can because of the back pain.  Perhaps what I need is a brace to force me to sit or stand up straight.  I would totally wear that if that would help.

I try to take good care of my body but I guess I’m not doing as good of a job as I should if I am having all these health issues.  I have no one to blame but myself.

I mentioned that I haven’t lost any weight this month and he said that it’s okay because I have been riding my bike and he said you shouldn’t expect to lose any weight since you are building muscle, which we all know weighs more than fat.  He said that he likes me at the weight I am right now, so he’s happy with how far I have come.

Left Me at IHOP January 1, 2013 – Right Me at Morro Bay July 25, 2013

What a difference a change in diet makes.  I went from eating whatever crap I wanted, whenever I damn well felt like, to watching what I ate, counting my calories and only eating healthy foods and using the Noom app and I lost 70lbs.  I not only look healthy, but I feel healthy.  I am very happy with my progress.

2009 before I was looking for a specific photo yesterday in an old folder and I found a picture of myself from 2009 and I was even fatter than my before picture.  I looked like a balloon.  I couldn’t believe how fat I was.  I remember taking that picture too.  I was trying to get a good picture that I could use as my profile picture for the blog and all of my social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but I looked too blown up so I didn’t use it, but I didn’t delete it either for some reason.  OMG I can’t believe how fat I was.  Holy cow!  So yeah, I am never going to let that happen again.  As embarrassing as that picture is, I still feel like perhaps it would make a good before picture lol.

So I have to go fill this prescription and I will see the doctor again next week about my swollen saliva gland.  I really hope it goes down because I am sick of always being in pain.

One pain replaced with another

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, HealthLeave a comment

I usually joke about how I must be paying for my bad karma from a previous life because I always find myself having the worst pain. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

I’ve been sick for a few days. We went to Dollar General and there was a woman coughing up a storm. I didn’t notice at first when I got in line behind her and then my mind said to get away from her because I’ll end up sick just like her. I backed off but it didn’t do me any good because I was sick the next day. I woke up with a sore throat and gradually throughout the day more symptoms were added to the list. Coughing, stuffed up nose and chest congestion. Then to top it off, my tooth started hurting. It’s a bad tooth that needs a root canal, but I can’t afford $1000 for the procedure since my insurance no longer covers anything but emergency extractions. I can’t afford to lose any more teeth.

We called Walgreens to find out what I can put on the tooth besides anbesol and they said it sounds like I have an infection and need an antibiotic. We have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow so I will get a prescription for an antibiotic.

Fortunately the tooth pain has subsided, but it’s still there. I now have a swollen lymph node which is where the tooth hurts, and that hurts now. So the pain seems to be gone from the tooth just to give me pain in my lymph node. I’ve been taking Vicodin that I still have from when I broke my arm, but that hasn’t done me any good. I took some today and my pain went away, but it seems to be coming back so I wonder if the pain medicine finally decided to work and that’s why I haven’t had pain all day. Since the pain seems to be coming back, I decided to take another one, but I only have a couple of pills left so I hope the antibiotic helps tomorrow, otherwise I’ll have to make a dentist appointment for an emergency extraction. I hate to lose more teeth.

I’ve been resting for the sore throat, coughing, chest congestion and stuffed up nose issues and taking NyQuil and sucking on cough drops and that has helped.

I haven’t been riding my bike because, well, I’m sick lol. So I do look forward to getting back on the bike again.

So we will go to the doctor’s office tomorrow, get medicine and hopefully not be in anymore pain. Hopefully…

A Good Plateau

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, Exercise, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

Noom Logo I’ve complained before about a plateau that I was stuck in when I was 197lbs, but now I’m stuck again, but this time for good reason.  Here are my Noom weigh-in’s for July.

  • July 1 – 195.0
  • July 6 – 193.6
  • July 13 – 193.8
  • July 20 – 193.6
  • July 27 – 193.2

From the July 6 weigh-in to the July 20th weigh-in, I believe the reason for the halt in weight loss is because I’ve been eating the Michelina’s frozen dinners and not the Weight Watchers Smart Ones.  See, I thought that because they had the same amount of calories, fat and sodium that they would basically be the same thing, but I guess not.  We recently bought 40 of those too, so when we are able to burn through those, I will start buying the Weight Watchers again.

The reason we bought all those Michelina’s was because they were on sale for .50 cents each.  You can’t beat those prices, especially when we were broke this month.  I had no idea this was going to cause a plateau or even weight gain.

I think I might have an explanation for my current week’s plateau.  On July 20th, I finally started riding my bicycle again, so it has only been 1 week and I have only been out on the bike maybe 4 times, but I’m assuming that this week the reason I haven’t lost any weight is because I am gaining muscle.  At least that’s what I think is going on.

We have a scale which has a Weight Watchers logo on it and it can tell me my body fat, water, bone and BMI, and this week my body fat percentage went down from I believe it was 30.9 down to 29.6, so even though I am still basically the same weight, my body fat percentage has gone down and I believe it is because of the bike.  So, perhaps I think that I am losing fat, but gaining muscle and we all know that muscle weighs more than fat, so therefore, the scale isn’t very helpful to me in determining my weight, but it is helpful in telling me my body fat percentage and BMI.

However, my waist has gone up by 1/2 an inch.  Last week it was 39.5 inches and this week it is 40 inches.  I mean who really knows for sure what is going on.  All I know is that I am going to continue riding the bicycle and I am going to continue to eat a proper healthy diet despite what the scale says because I know that I am going to lose fat even if I gain muscle.

Gaining muscle is actually a very good thing because men who have a lot of muscle will burn more fat when they sleep, so I need to get plenty of rest, exercise and eat a proper diet and I will be on my way to losing more weight.

I’m not expecting that my weight will go down next week, but I hope it will.  We shall see I guess.  Here are my profile, weight graph and exercise summary for the week.

week_30-1 week_30-2 week_30-4

Eating burned calories

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, Exercise, Food, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

july 21 calories

With Noom, my daily calorie allowance is typically 1400 calories if I don’t do any exercise, but if I do exercise, the amount of calories I’m allowed to eat goes up.  Today I had a very unhealthy breakfast at the hospital.  It was 1 cup of cold and semi petrified scrambled eggs, 1 sausage link, 1  strip of bacon, a very dry, very hard biscuit and a banana muffin.  That was 632 calories.  I didn’t think the breakfast would be that many calories, which is why I decided to eat the muffin.  Of course, those are all estimated calories.

I try to eat right, but I can’t always predict when I’m going to have to go to the hospital and visit the cafeteria.  You would think they would have healthy choices, but they didn’t have them in plain sight.  As soon as you walk in there you see donuts and muffins.  They didn’t have any egg whites which is what I would have normally gotten.  They had hard-boiled eggs, but seriously?  Who eats a hard-boiled egg for breakfast?  I might eat one of those once in a while, but not for breakfast, it’s typically around Easter or the holidays when I’m having it deviled lol.  They did have a salad bar, but I’m not going to have salad for breakfast.

I went on a bike ride yesterday and burned 807 calories, so my allotted calories went up to 1800 and I ended up eating 1715 calories.  I was so hungry that I couldn’t help myself.  I was going to rest today, but I went on a 2 hour, 18 mile bike ride because of that high calorie breakfast.  I haven’t eaten all 1910 calories, but it’s very close and very tempting.

The more energy I use to burn calories, the hungrier I get.  Yesterday was my weigh-in day and I was basically the same weight as I was last week, and today I seem to be the same yet again.  I know I can’t predict what’s going to happen day-to-day, but when I don’t lose weight, I become very discouraged.

Tomorrow I’m not going to go bike riding because I have severe sunburn on both my knees and my forearms and my neck, not to mention that I haven’t ridden my bike in a very long time and I need to rest a day in between until my legs are used to it.  I normally don’t go bike riding as late as I did today, but again, who can predict when they have to go to the hospital.  I wasn’t going there for myself, I was going with my partner to visit a friend of his.

Next time, I am going to get up at 6am and go bike riding before the sun can do any serious damage to my skin and I’m also going to wear some sunscreen because my skin is very sensitive.  I am also going to try to stick to eating my 1400 calories even if I am allowed to have 1910 or so calories, that is if the hunger doesn’t consume me.  Speaking of hunger… I would very much like to eat something right now.  I think I will have a banana.

Cycling again… FINALLY!

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, Diet, Exercise, Health, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

noom cycling 2013-07-20_09-51-23

Today was the first time in a very long time that I have been able to ride a bicycle for exercise.  Of course I used the Noom app on my Android cell phone.

This is the map, but the statistics are wrong.  The app froze at a few points and I was not given credit for 3.5 miles.  I mapped it out on Google Maps and the roundtrip ride was 11.8 miles, but I was able to add what I missed manually so I got credit for it.

The reason it froze is not the apps fault, I believe it’s that the music was causing it to freeze.  I wasn’t using the built-in music player, so I think that with the Noom app running and other apps running caused my phone to freeze up.  I also kept getting phone calls from home and I got a notification from Facebook and from eBay and from my emails, so I feel that everything was causing my phone to become slow.  So I don’t blame anyone but my phone itself for that happening.  Whatever the app doesn’t record, I can add in manually so I’m not worried.

It’s been a very long time since I was able to ride my bike.  In January I was 264lbs and I was worried about riding my bike because it says in the manual for the bike that it has a weight limit of 250lbs and at that heavy weight, I was afraid I would break something, so I just didn’t ride it.  I waited until I was 245 to ride it again and every time I tried to ride it, the back tire would go flat.  I lost more weight and bought a Bell No Mor Flats tire from Wal-Mart (it was the only place I could buy it) which was a huge mistake because installing it ruined not just the rim which was practically brand spanking new, but it also ruined the tire.  I tried using a tube and I don’t know if it was the scratches in the rim or the wires sticking out of the tire that popped it, but the tube wouldn’t stay inflated.  I was saving money for a new bike because I couldn’t see myself spending $30 – $35 for a new rim and $20 – $25 for a new tire.  My bike was originally only worth $60.

Fortunately we found a thrift store nearby that had a used rim and a used tire and they sold it to me for… wait for it… give me a drum roll please…  $5.  That’s it.  I saved $50 or $60 and saved myself from having to buy a new bike.  Check it out.

bike 1 july 20 2013 bike 2 july 20 2013

I wore my Black Nashbar Bib Shorts with my black Noom shirt and I put my wallet, my phone and my keys in my Noom backpack and set off with only my Noom water bottle to quench my thirst.  I actually didn’t think I would be riding more than I did, so I didn’t bring my Camelbak.  Next time I go out, I will load my Camelbak in my Noom backpack and put my keys, wallet and phone in the front pocket.  Although, I may put my keys in with the camelbak so they don’t scratch up my phone.

When I came home from my walk I was pleased to see that my Nintendo 64 had sold on eBay for $28 plus $21 shipping, so I took a walk to the post office to pick up a Priority box (if it fits it ships), so naturally I did a walking workout, so my total calories burned today was 736 with that extra 3.5 miles added that the Noom app missed on my bike ride.  I normally get a 1400 calorie allowance for my meals, but with the amount of calories that I burned today, I can eat 1770 calories.  Not that I will eat that many, but I know that if I feel hungry for an extra snack, I won’t feel guilty about it.

Today was also weigh-in day and naturally I didn’t lose any weight this week, which is disappointing, but now that I’m exercising again, perhaps this will kick my weight loss back in gear.  I hope so.

noom cycling bike store 2013-07-20_11-34-43 Oh and one more thing.  The spot that I stopped and rested at on the bike trail just so happened to be near a bicycle shop.  That’s the place where I bought my beach cruiser handlebars many years ago.  The store is called Finish Line.  You can’t see their sign or logo in the map, but that’s what they are called.  There is a seat right there on the bike trail which is where I took a break and that’s where I turned around to come back home.  There is a bridge right there too, so if I ever need to, I can cross the bridge and park my bicycle somewhere and go in and buy whatever it is that I need.  Not that I will need to mind you, because I usually buy all of my cycling supplies from Nashbar or Amazon.  I probably won’t need to go in there, but it’s nice to know they are there in case I do need to.

You have no idea how happy I am to be able to ride my bike again.  I really want to finish losing the rest of this weight, of which there is really only 23lbs.  I feel that if I could lose 70lbs with diet alone, I can certainly lose 23 more pounds easily with diet and exercise.  I’m so psyched!