From the first moment my wife discovered she
had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones
whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a
gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble
about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That
was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across
my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry first appeared in
May of 2013.
“It appears that the next event is breast
reconstruction!”
That’s how I
opened this new series a few weeks ago.
It appears that
the next event is NOT breast reconstruction – it’s getting healthy enough to
HAVE the breast reconstruction surgery!
So – changes in
diet are in order.
NOT just for my
wife, but for me as well.
In the past two
years, I’ve pretty much let myself go as far as eating and exercising are
concerned. Not that I was model-buff…actually EVER…but I am currently heavier
than I have EVER been in my life (OK – I may have been heavier before, but that
was only when I giving piggy-back rides to 100 pound Bible Camp kids…)
At 262, I am a
jiggling mass of quivering flab. I’m out of breath walking up and down four
flights of stairs. My legs are weak after biking 3 miles around the lake. I
take comfort in graham crackers and butter…I am a wreck considering that in
1984, I returned from a mission trip to the West African countries of Nigeria,
Cameroun, and Liberia weighing a wispy
150 pounds.
More recently, I
had dropped to 225 pounds on the Atkins diet in 2009 (I think). For ME
PERSONALLY AND I DO NOT ENDORSE ATKINS FOR ANYONE ELSE ON THE PLANET BUT
ENDORSE IT FOR ME, MYSELF, AND I AND DO NOT SAY IT WORKS WONDERS FOR ALL PEOPLE
BUT WHEN CONSIDERING MYSELF AND ONLY MYSELF AND NOT ANYONE BUT ME, this is the
only time a change in diet took off weight.
So, I will be
returning to the Atkins Diet. I just finished re-reading the introduction and
will now commence the INduction.
What does that
mean for my wife?
She’ll be joining
me because as we prepare for breast reconstruction, the doctor has set up some
goals and conditions. The reconstruction (as I noted in the first post of this
series, my wife will be undergoing “Implant-based reconstruction”) has two
phases, the first being the placement of expanders and the shelf-like scaffold.
In order to have the surgery, which will lay her up for a week followed by
another three weeks of not reaching over her head, she has to be in good condition
and her numbers (in this case, diabetes numbers of triglycerides, A1c counts
and others) have to be optimal.
After a visit to
the doctor earlier this week, we found out that the numbers were not where they
needed to be. So we will embark on an adventure to change our lifestyle a bit.
Nothing drastic, actually, as we aren’t junk-food-aholics and we don’t often
use “pre-prepared” foods (like microwaveable pancakes or pre-cooked bacon). We
DO have to lower our carb intake, increase the number of times we walk the dog
and exit the sugar from our lives.
Those of you
familiar with Atkins, know the induction phase can be brutal. It is CERTAINLY
not for a person with Type-2 diabetes. BUT, my wife will be modifying it while
I follow it rigidly.
School ends in a
few weeks, we head off for a camping trip to our far northland with some old
and dear friends and then I start work at summer school – and my wife goes for
surgery.
We will keep you
apprised of our progress, but solicit your positive thoughts and prayers!
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