Dietary Deferment
It’s been five months since I started this whole get better thing began. If you’ve been reading since May, you know that since starting to actively try and lose weight, to make myself a healthier me, I’ve had my ups and downs, weeks where I’ve dropped a few pounds, and even a couple where I’ve gained. I’ve lost over fifty pounds since then, and over eighty pounds since my highest weigh-in, way back in January. That, of course, is huge – it’s an excruciating process, and every pound is a little victory. At the same time, every pound is just one more step in an extended journey, since there are still over two hundred more to go, and at least two years of tweaking my diet, adjusting my exercise habits, and everything else changing entails. Two years (or two years plus!) is a long time!
For that reason, I decided earlier this week to take a vacation. No, there wasn’t a trip to Disney World involved (though you wouldn’t have heard a complaint from me), nor did I roadtrip across the Southwest United States, visiting the Grand Canyon, Roswell, and the London Bridge. In fact, I didn’t go anywhere at all, or at least anywhere out of the ordinary. That is, except three trips to a local Mexican restaurant, one visit to Applebee’s, and, worst of all, McDonald’s. None of them were necessary, except perhaps Applebee’s, since I was out of town at my endocrinologist’s office and needed to stop somewhere for lunch, but I had good excuses for each and didn’t make a pig of myself. Add to that only one chance to pop in to the gym in the past few days (what can I say? It was a busy week!) and there you have the substance of my break from healthy eating and activity.
I’ll be back, hard at it, tomorrow.
While I’ve got your attention, might as well tell you why I was visiting the endocrinologist. My doctor found this lump in my throat, on the right side. Her first thought is that it’s a goiter, a non-cancerous enlargement of the thyroid gland. According to the tests they ran, my thyroid isn’t acting up, so it’s likely just a benign cyst within the gland. There is a small chance of the growth actually being a malignant tumor, but my doctor brushed off the possibility, saying that if I had a tumor as large as the lump currently in my neck, I’d probably be dead. The endocrinologist, apparently, isn’t willing to take the same chance. I go back in on Friday the 30th for a biopsy, and they’ll be able to give me a more clear picture of what’s wrong and what must be done in order to fix it.
In the meantime, I’m not letting it change who I am and what I do. After all, it’s just a lump right now. Sure, it’s more, but I don’t know what it is, and as long as I don’t know, I would be wasting effort and energy worrying. It’s a lump. Soon enough, I’ll know if it’s going to hurt me or not. My faith is in God; I know God’s will is going to be done no matter what. Either God will keep me safe, or God will be the strength shining through my weakness.
In either case, I will likely have to go through some kind of surgery in order to have it removed. Until then, I guess you can just call me Lumpy.
I am praying for you!
I think I’ll call you Skinny instead. Go you. I’m so inspired.
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