It’s been one of those weeks where so many health/fitness things happened, none of them worth their own post, and I don’t really have much else to say, so here’s a bunch of mini-things.

Endocrinologist: I finally had my specialist appointment with the endocrinologist this week. Specialists can take SOOOOOOO long to get in with! In any case, the doctor agreed that my symptoms didn’t match PCOS, especially given the treatments failing in every single case. She asked me a ton of questions, some of which were really odd (like “What’s your favorite podcast?”). Then she said she wanted to test me for Cushing Syndrome. Essentially this is an overproduction of cortisol over a long period of time, and I can definitely see this as being at the root of the issues I have! At the end of the month, I’m supposed to take a special medication to suppress cortisol and then have blood drawn to see what happens. Then we’ll go from there.

C25K: Last year, I completed the Couch to 5K program (after about five months of work!) and continued to run through the end of July, when I finally ran a full 5K without stopping. While I continued to run afterwards, my training was soon derailed by injury and medication problems that included sudden weight increase. Now, I’m starting over, this time 15 lbs heavier than before. I really want to get my cardio health into better shape, and to keep running as part of my workout routines. I did my first session last week and definitely found it easier than when I started last year, despite the increased weight. (Pic from last year’s C25K)

Massage: I had my first massage since early December and it was ohhhhhhhh. That’s one of my least favorite things to give up when covid numbers rise, and I could definitely tell it had been awhile. There were muscles that were so tight that my masseuse had to use far less pressure than usual, and times when I actually jumped due to a painful spot. I have a bajillion massages saved up from monthly membership fees that I haven’t used in the last year, so I’m setting this to every two weeks for awhile!

Dermatologist: Last week, a thumbprint-sized dark spot appeared on my back between my shoulder blades. I thought it was a bruise at first, but it looked weird from what I could see in the mirror, so Jason took a look. He took a photo and sent it to his parents (a retired PA and nurse), who agreed that it looked unusual and that I should get it checked out. It stuck around for about four days and then just disappeared in pieces, not gradually fading the way you’d expect from a bruise. Thankfully, this was not a specialist that took two months to get an appointment, and I was seen on Monday. Of course, by then the spot was completely gone (at least I had a picture!) and there was little they could tell me. The doc did check me over for any signs of weird skin abnormalities and found nothing, so at least that’s good. Still, it felt like a bit of a waste of time and money. Oh well.

Cyst: Sigh. Okay – so back in January 2020, I very suddenly got a marble-sized rock-hard cyst on my wrist (above). I didn’t know what the heck it was, but I couldn’t even bend my hand 90 degrees without pain, and couldn’t put any pressure on the wrist at all (not even simple pressure like cat/cow position in yoga). I went to my doctor, who said it was a fibrous ganglion cyst and referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. As a specialist, it took months to get an appointment, and I was scheduled for March 9th. A few days before my appointment, the cyst disappeared as suddenly as it arrive. I spoke with the specialist’s office, and they said sometimes this happens, and sometimes it’ll come and go, but they’d keep my referral on file for a year. So my referral expired yesterday, and guess what popped back into existence? Yeah. I don’t need a referral for my insurance, so I just needed to make an appointment, but I’m amused by the irony. Thankfully, because I’m already on the list, I can get in quicker, and am set for the 22nd.

So that’s all the little things that have been going on. I’ve also been experiencing some one-year-later pandemic grief this week, but I discussed that more on FB and Instagram, and I have a post about the anniversary coming later, so I’m not going to go into it here. Suffice to say that its been a wild week, and sometimes self-care looks like tons of medical appointments while drinking too much iced coffee and maybe some retail therapy that you can’t really afford…