Today's Chapter of my Life

I heard a song this morning about the living the legacy I will leave, and how I live my life each day writes the chapters of my life. This song really touched my heart. I can sweat the small stuff, let work drive me crazy, or get upset and mad over things that really will not make in a difference in the next day, week, month or years of life... or I can embrace each day and make a difference in the lives of those I come in touch with each and every day.

I am going to remind myself each day that I am writing the chapters of life. I cannot even recall what I might have been upset about at work last week, or the things I worried about... each day brings with itself a whole new set of problems... but how I handle myself will speak volumes about how I lived my life.

So.. tomorrow is a new chapter... I wonder what wonderful adventure awaits me.

Great Weekend!

I had a great weekend. Its seems like most weekends fly by and and not much gets accomplished... but this weekend was fun from start to finish. Since I worked something like 50 hours this week, I left work at 1:30 on Friday afternoon, came home and watched a movie with the house to myself. Friday night we went to a coffee house with friends to hear the Brian Criner Band. Brian is one of the most talented guitar players I have ever heard, and he has the most awesome voice. I'm convinced one day they will be discovered and be famous. It was lots of fun packing out the coffee house and watching them play. After that we went to San Marcos for amazing nachos with some great friends. On the way home Friday night it was storming like crazy, got home to no power, so we lit some candles and listened to the radio. A little rough sleeping, but the power came on around 2:00am, so the whole night was not wasted. Saturday I tackled my clothes closet. I have so many clothes that are either too big, or I just don't wear. 5 garbage bags later, my closet is organized and I found lots of clothes I forgot I had, and feel like I have a new wardrobe. I had clothes I had outgrown, but since I have lost some of weight, I can fit in them again, so yay... bonus. I have lots of clothes and some shoes to take to Goodwill. Saturday night Katie took us out for dinner for Father's day, and then after that we went to Glen and Jenn's for drinks and bonfire. The night was perfect for a bonfire. Sunday Katie left for North Carolina for training, Gordie went golfing with Joe, and I rode my scooter to church. When Gordie got home from golfing, we took the scooters and rode to Sonic for lunch, then went for a long ride around Gun Lake and out in the country. It was a beautiful day. We stopped at my brother Jim's house and visited with Jim and Pat for awhile, then rode home. It was just a great weekend all around. Now... I'm heading to the kitchen for Hudsonville Ice Cream - Grand Traverse Cherry Fudge. Yum... life is good!

Interesting Lab Results

I saw my OB/GYN doc a few weeks ago for my annual exam. I actually call it my "open house". Anyway... the doc I went to is absolutely fabulous. This was the first time I had gone to her, but I knew her from mmpc, and the stellar reputation she had, so decided to go to see her. Everything was fine from a gynecological point of view, but as she was taking my history of when I had my hysterectomy, and started asking me questions, she became concerned about the fact that I may be developing adult onset diabetes. This is the one disease that I never wanted to hear I could have. My grandmother had diabetes, my brother has diabetes, and I am an all time carboholic...a big no-no for someone with diabetes. What triggered my doctor's concerns were a few things. When I was 30 I had a hysterectomy with both ovaries removed. My ovaries were removed because of "polycystic Ovaries".... several cysts covering my ovaries. Apparently polycystic ovary disease is related to diabetes. She also noticed a darkening of my skin around my neck, in my arm pits, and few other places, which is also a sign of diabetes. I shared with her my struggle with my weight and the fact that I really do try to eat well, I do go to the gym, and I work really hard, but just do not see the results, get discouraged and just chuck the whole diet thing... and then I will get motivated again, and start this crazy process all over... each time losing and gaining. Her thoughts on the matter were instead of my body turning the food into energy, it was storing it and turning it into fat, something to do with being "insulin resistant". So... she wanted me to have a 2 hour fasting glucose tolerance test. I did the test a few days later, and that was wierd. I had labs drawn, and then had to drink a glass of this really sweet stuff. Since my office is right next to our lab, I just told the lab gals I was going to my office to work. the first 30 minutes or so, I was running all over the place... quite the sugar high, and then I crashed. I decided I had better sit down and behave myself. I then had to have my labs drawn again, two more times. It had been a week or so since my labs, and I have been so busy at work, I kind of forgot about things until yesterday. I had been out of my office most of the day in meetings, so when I was checking my phone messages, there was a message from my doctor. She said, I have your lab results, and they are "interesting". I thought to myself... I don't know if I like interesting. She wanted me to page her when I got in. So I paged her and waited for her call. Basically my fasting blood sugar was normal, but on the high side of normal, my 2 hour blood sugar, while still normal, was 127, and they consider 140 as diabetic. What was interesting was the fact that my insulin resistance level was 23, the normal was 0-17. With my history, and the all the things we talked about at my gyn exam, this points to me being pre-diabetic. Wonderful. That one disease I never wanted to hear I have, is knocking on my door. So now I have to make an appt to see my PCP about what to do about this. A couple good things... I know about this early so I can do something about it, and the fact that she really feels treating this with medication will help me to get my weight off. I know diabetes effects your heart, your eyes, your circulation, and just about every organ in your body, so I definitely want to get things under control now before it becomes full blown diabetes. Guess I should count myself lucky that I had an awesome physician who had the forsight to check this now.

The IT Factor

Tonight I attended a dinner meeting for In-Forum, and professional women's group in Grand Rapids. The women there were very nice, but they all had one thing in common... they are climbing the corporate ladder, and had what I call, "its all about ME syndrome". The facilitator for our table lead a discussion about how important the way we dress portrays our "IT" factor. I was probably one of the oldest at our table of 8, but as I listed to these 20-30 somethings talk about how to dress "two levels up" of where you want to be, how to rub shoulders with the "important" people in your company, and how to present yourself to get ahead and stand out above your peers. I do agree, how you present yourself at work is important, and that you should always look your best, but nothing beats working hard and being a trustworthy employee. I know I do not have the most contemporary, or nicest wardrobe, I may not rub elbows with the "important - elite" of my coporation, but I did not get where I am today by "butt kissing" or spending big $$$ on my wardrobe. I achieved where I am by working hard, being honest, and truly caring about my co-workers. Its not about ME, but what I can do to make my office and mmpc successful. Its all about our patients, and care and customer service they receive. As I listened to the conversation around me, I admit I could be more confident in my appearance, and I strive to do that, but to me, at the end of the day what counts is not how high I have climbed that ladder, but that I gave my best and cared about those around me.