So I'm sitting here in the 14th street Apple Store, waiting for them to see me and fix my phone. Mic failure. *sigh* Shit happens.
Life is sure a long, strange, mystifying journey sometimes. Yesterday highlighted that for me. I woke up very late w/ zero energy. By the time I could force myself into running clothes, the temperature had climbed to 82. This should have been fine, since humidity was 33% and there was a light breeze, but I just couldn't do it. I decided, instead, to slip on running pants over my clothes, eat a late lunch (have I mentioned before how awesome my chili is? especially over rice?) and then go running later in the evening, once I got to Cunningham Studio.
Problem is, I got distracted by a phone call and forgot to dose for the carbs in my lunch. I checked my blood sugar two hours after lunch and it was over 300. *BIG FROWNY FACE* So, for the first time, I decided to "fix" it by dosing my insulin late. I took two units, knowing I'd be ingesting more carbs in the near future. I tracked my BG hourly and watched it fall. And fall. By the time I was at Cunningham and the lights were set up and we were just waiting for audience, it was reading 70 and I was beginning to feel hypo. *ANNOYED FROWNY FACE* (When I get home tonight, I'll post a scan of my tracking sheet, and you'll be able to see how things went.)
I'd made sure to bring some Sustained Energy, about 28g worth of carbs, with me for the "long" run, and I headed out for a run along the Hudson River ribbon, where I haven't run in many moons. The first two miles were surreal - I wasn't feeling 100%, but my lungs were doing well and I found that by running with my eyes gazing on the sky and keeping an eye on the road in my peripheral vision, I could really get some long segments in. Walking was often, but very short. By the time I was two miles down and crossing the pedestrian bridge to take a peak at the construction at Ground Zero, I was feeling much better.
My run back was also good with much less walking and some strides, trying to keep up with some slow-moving bicyclists. By the time I returned to Cunningham, I was feeling 100% better than before I'd started, blood sugar as back in normal range, I was sweaty and stinky, and noticed I'd actually managed to bleed on my running shirt from one of my arm sticks. The run might not have been as long as I planned for the day, but it was of good quality, I think.
It was also faster than I supposed it should be. I entered the studio mid-way through the performance of the first piece and was shocked. I'd though the concert would be halfway done before I got back. After the show, the stage manager and I hurriedly struck the rental equipment and went out for a refresher. We went to a little sushi place that was about to close and had some light Japanese beers and some sushi. And yes, I remember to take the proper amount of insulin at the proper time!
July 13, 2009
July 11, 2009
I've been whacked, I've been hacked, but Eheb's got my back
Last week was hell. Working three jobs, 14 hour days.... feast or famine, you know? Well, one show opens tonight, closes tomorrow, and then that'll be off my plate. May have picked up a second Fringe show through referral - that one's still iffy. May end up doing a lot more shows at Cunningham Studio if what the TD says regarding rentals next year is true. Kind of a mixed blessing, if so.
So I'm whacked out - fully tired - and didn't run Thursday (intentional rest day) or Friday (unintentional), though I did walk 2.5 miles, part of it on the Highline, which is neater than shit - you should go check it out. I am about to go out for three or four miles, depending how I feel. I slept very late - I needed it badly. Tomorrow I can get up a couple hours earlier and do a long run, probably six to seven miles.
Thanks to Michelle for pointing out my blog got hacked; I certainly can't be alone in this. I found the offending code and removed it. For those of you who have experienced similar corruption, look in your template's html code for this line and remove it:
My new black running shoes are the most comfortable shoes I've got. I wore my old running shoes Wednesday and Thursday and was hurting by the end of the day. Why would they do that? I haven't had problems before...
----
Okay, back from my run. Very hard at first, but the weather is nice and the second half of my run was very successful. 3 miles. After reaching my usual stopping point, I walked back along the route a little, intent on an immediate coffee/muffin reward. I walked through the crappy little park by the new high school, where they have a mister turned on for the kiddies, and had a nice refreshing walk through the spray. I've been to my local DD enough that the manager (who is ALWAYS there) knows me by name as Mr. Cris and I know his - Eheb, even though his nametag says something different ("That's my American nickname," he says.) I walked in and even though there was a short line, Eheb saw me and immediately started assembling my usual order - medium coffee, cream and sugar, and a blueberry muffin. Gawd, these muffins are like crack. I imagine that the first thing I'll croak out after waking up from major surgery or a coma will be to ask for one of DD's blueberry muffins. And some coffee.
Chili is cooking right now, have to shower, get some email answered, then it's off to the studio for tonight's performance. I must remember to take my camera. I've got some... er- "interesting" looks.
So I'm whacked out - fully tired - and didn't run Thursday (intentional rest day) or Friday (unintentional), though I did walk 2.5 miles, part of it on the Highline, which is neater than shit - you should go check it out. I am about to go out for three or four miles, depending how I feel. I slept very late - I needed it badly. Tomorrow I can get up a couple hours earlier and do a long run, probably six to seven miles.
Thanks to Michelle for pointing out my blog got hacked; I certainly can't be alone in this. I found the offending code and removed it. For those of you who have experienced similar corruption, look in your template's html code for this line and remove it:
My new black running shoes are the most comfortable shoes I've got. I wore my old running shoes Wednesday and Thursday and was hurting by the end of the day. Why would they do that? I haven't had problems before...
----
Okay, back from my run. Very hard at first, but the weather is nice and the second half of my run was very successful. 3 miles. After reaching my usual stopping point, I walked back along the route a little, intent on an immediate coffee/muffin reward. I walked through the crappy little park by the new high school, where they have a mister turned on for the kiddies, and had a nice refreshing walk through the spray. I've been to my local DD enough that the manager (who is ALWAYS there) knows me by name as Mr. Cris and I know his - Eheb, even though his nametag says something different ("That's my American nickname," he says.) I walked in and even though there was a short line, Eheb saw me and immediately started assembling my usual order - medium coffee, cream and sugar, and a blueberry muffin. Gawd, these muffins are like crack. I imagine that the first thing I'll croak out after waking up from major surgery or a coma will be to ask for one of DD's blueberry muffins. And some coffee.
Chili is cooking right now, have to shower, get some email answered, then it's off to the studio for tonight's performance. I must remember to take my camera. I've got some... er- "interesting" looks.
July 8, 2009
Mid-week catchup
I've run 2 miles the last three mornings. I get to rest tomorrow. I know that's not great mileage, but I am swamped this week. Yesterday alone involved car rental, lighting pickup and dropoff, vet visit, and a running blogger meetup, which was a lot of fun. My work life.... feast or famine, flood or drought. I'm currently working on lighting designs for three shows and a proposal for a fourth lighting project that, if I get it, will have big visibility. Plus I'll soon be back at Spaeth drafting for Christmas windows.
The new black shoes still feel good, very very good. That might indicate they'll have a short lifespan, I don't know, but I hope they last.
My newest blog post, in which I introduce the marathon plan I've chosen to follow, can be found as a guest-post here:
http://runningdowndreams.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/guest-post-numero-cinco/
The new black shoes still feel good, very very good. That might indicate they'll have a short lifespan, I don't know, but I hope they last.
My newest blog post, in which I introduce the marathon plan I've chosen to follow, can be found as a guest-post here:
http://runningdowndreams.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/guest-post-numero-cinco/
July 3, 2009
Shoe
Two thumbs up on the Adrenaline 9s. So far, so good.
Wait. Let's back up to yesterday, which I took as a rest day. It started with a doctor's appointment, then rolled into 10 hours of sorting and making sense of 18 months worth of hospital bills and insurance statements.
The fact is, I'm bad about keeping on top of medical billing. Every other bill in my life, fine, but I cringe from the flood of paper from TriCare, Columbia, NY Presbyterian, radiology labs, Coram, etc. It's not that the bills are even particularly high, it's just plain overwhelming. For instance, on April 8, 2009, I received 9 envelopes from Tri-Care and 5 from NY Presbyterian and Columbia. That's a peak, but gives you an idea of the steady flow of this paperwork onto my desk. And some of those bills had been sent to collections. :(
So I did what I had to. I opened every envelope, a process which took 90 minutes and left me bleeding and blistered. I shit you not. Then I sorted by agency, then sorted those by date, then started matching up insurance claim notices with medical bills item by item. I opened up an old spreadsheet I first started in 2003 to keep track of Coram bills and made new sheets and added all these endless dates of service....whew. It helps, because it forms a picture of what I am being billed, versus what I actually owe (which insurance will tell me). Sooner or later, those two tend to agree.
After all that, I sat down and wrote checks for what I could, totalling an obscene amount. I need to follow up on getting my specialists in-network, because out-of-network cost shares are killing me. I will also follow up on my remaining bills and see if I can get financial help from Columbia. They did once before, for my hospitalization, maybe they'll do so again and help me pay for the March PICC line.
So that was yesterday. Went out for a lengthy workout today, mixing running, weights, and sports therapy exercises, anticipating that I may not have time for an extensive workout tomorrow and may have to do my long run Sunday instead of Saturday. (I have two light plots I need to get done, plus of course a Fourth of July party.)
Today's run was about 2.5 miles. I walked somewhat more than I would have liked, but never for long. It was fairly humid, after all. But the shoes! Wow! I was surprised how great they feel right out of the box. There's definitely cushioning here, but stability, too. And they feel lighter than the Adrenaline 8s, somehow. Maybe it's just that black is faster. I don't know. But if they continue to feel this good, I've found my new favorite shoe ever.
The half-mile downhill run to the gym felt just great, and I entered the gym huffing and sweating and aiming for one thing: their water fountain! I pulled my shirt out of my waistband (rolled it up and stuck it there at the beginning of the run) and put it on. I reversed my routine and started with stitups, then did some free weights work on the arms, then moved to the machines floor and continued with work on the arms and legs, did pullups, progressed to pushups, then physical therapy type exercises (theraband finally!) and wound it up with extended stretching.
I felt GREAT! But it was a hard workout, totalling about 2 hours and maybe tomorrow should be a light running day. I'll have to look at the weather forecast.
---
OH! It occurs to me you may wish to know how the doctor's appointment WENT. Well, it took entirely too long, that's how it went. Not seeing the doc, but going for bloodwork afterward. NINETY MINUTES in the waiting room. Finally I get called - the phlebotomist is rushed and unhappy, but I try to make her smile. After all, she's about to stick a needle in me, I want a happy phlebotomist!
So I'm laying my arm out on the little table and notice the list of labels she has unrolled is about as long as my arm. "How many tubes??" I asked.
"One. Two. Three, four, five... six. Seven, eight.... nine. Nine!" she answers. She starts pulling out color-coded blood tubes - none of them the small ones. :( I am wondering if I will pass out when I stand up after this.
She readies her device - screwing a needle into the blood-tube-receiver-thingie (you know, the light green part that the tubes socket in to) - and I realize two things: one, this is a BIG needle! I've gotten used to Novofine needles - tiny little things. This one looks massive. It's about 4 inches long and about as big around as a water main. I also realise she's going to stick this in me and then jar it every time she changes the blood collection tube to the next one. Oh HELL no!
"Butterfly please!" I can't believe I have to prompt her for that. She complies and not only is the needle somewhat smaller, but now the jarring is isolated by the tubing connecting the butterfly needle to the green thing. Still, collection feels like it takes forever - but was maybe only three minutes. Still...now I'm up to 9 tubes for my twice-yearly bloodwork. Great. At least it included a test for A1C. I'll find out what that was in a few days and jot it down in my diabetes logs. The endo will want to know.
As for my PFTs, I forgot to ask for the actual numbers, but my doc was pleased saying that they are the best lung function numbers since I began seeing her.
Wait. Let's back up to yesterday, which I took as a rest day. It started with a doctor's appointment, then rolled into 10 hours of sorting and making sense of 18 months worth of hospital bills and insurance statements.
The fact is, I'm bad about keeping on top of medical billing. Every other bill in my life, fine, but I cringe from the flood of paper from TriCare, Columbia, NY Presbyterian, radiology labs, Coram, etc. It's not that the bills are even particularly high, it's just plain overwhelming. For instance, on April 8, 2009, I received 9 envelopes from Tri-Care and 5 from NY Presbyterian and Columbia. That's a peak, but gives you an idea of the steady flow of this paperwork onto my desk. And some of those bills had been sent to collections. :(
So I did what I had to. I opened every envelope, a process which took 90 minutes and left me bleeding and blistered. I shit you not. Then I sorted by agency, then sorted those by date, then started matching up insurance claim notices with medical bills item by item. I opened up an old spreadsheet I first started in 2003 to keep track of Coram bills and made new sheets and added all these endless dates of service....whew. It helps, because it forms a picture of what I am being billed, versus what I actually owe (which insurance will tell me). Sooner or later, those two tend to agree.
After all that, I sat down and wrote checks for what I could, totalling an obscene amount. I need to follow up on getting my specialists in-network, because out-of-network cost shares are killing me. I will also follow up on my remaining bills and see if I can get financial help from Columbia. They did once before, for my hospitalization, maybe they'll do so again and help me pay for the March PICC line.
So that was yesterday. Went out for a lengthy workout today, mixing running, weights, and sports therapy exercises, anticipating that I may not have time for an extensive workout tomorrow and may have to do my long run Sunday instead of Saturday. (I have two light plots I need to get done, plus of course a Fourth of July party.)
Today's run was about 2.5 miles. I walked somewhat more than I would have liked, but never for long. It was fairly humid, after all. But the shoes! Wow! I was surprised how great they feel right out of the box. There's definitely cushioning here, but stability, too. And they feel lighter than the Adrenaline 8s, somehow. Maybe it's just that black is faster. I don't know. But if they continue to feel this good, I've found my new favorite shoe ever.
The half-mile downhill run to the gym felt just great, and I entered the gym huffing and sweating and aiming for one thing: their water fountain! I pulled my shirt out of my waistband (rolled it up and stuck it there at the beginning of the run) and put it on. I reversed my routine and started with stitups, then did some free weights work on the arms, then moved to the machines floor and continued with work on the arms and legs, did pullups, progressed to pushups, then physical therapy type exercises (theraband finally!) and wound it up with extended stretching.
I felt GREAT! But it was a hard workout, totalling about 2 hours and maybe tomorrow should be a light running day. I'll have to look at the weather forecast.
---
OH! It occurs to me you may wish to know how the doctor's appointment WENT. Well, it took entirely too long, that's how it went. Not seeing the doc, but going for bloodwork afterward. NINETY MINUTES in the waiting room. Finally I get called - the phlebotomist is rushed and unhappy, but I try to make her smile. After all, she's about to stick a needle in me, I want a happy phlebotomist!
So I'm laying my arm out on the little table and notice the list of labels she has unrolled is about as long as my arm. "How many tubes??" I asked.
"One. Two. Three, four, five... six. Seven, eight.... nine. Nine!" she answers. She starts pulling out color-coded blood tubes - none of them the small ones. :( I am wondering if I will pass out when I stand up after this.
She readies her device - screwing a needle into the blood-tube-receiver-thingie (you know, the light green part that the tubes socket in to) - and I realize two things: one, this is a BIG needle! I've gotten used to Novofine needles - tiny little things. This one looks massive. It's about 4 inches long and about as big around as a water main. I also realise she's going to stick this in me and then jar it every time she changes the blood collection tube to the next one. Oh HELL no!
"Butterfly please!" I can't believe I have to prompt her for that. She complies and not only is the needle somewhat smaller, but now the jarring is isolated by the tubing connecting the butterfly needle to the green thing. Still, collection feels like it takes forever - but was maybe only three minutes. Still...now I'm up to 9 tubes for my twice-yearly bloodwork. Great. At least it included a test for A1C. I'll find out what that was in a few days and jot it down in my diabetes logs. The endo will want to know.
As for my PFTs, I forgot to ask for the actual numbers, but my doc was pleased saying that they are the best lung function numbers since I began seeing her.
July 1, 2009
Old and new
waiting when I got home.
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