Category: Health and Fitness

Hello 45!

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Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 45. I celebrated in my usual way: moping and denial, depending on whether or not presents were involved.

However, now that I’m coming to accept my age, I need to move forward with some personal life development. You see, every strengths assessment I’ve ever taken describes me as an achiever. Therefore, it’s logical to say I need to give myself something to achieve this year.

So here are three challenges I’m giving myself.

  1. Lose 45 lbs. (I now weigh 220 lbs)
  2. Write and publish a middle grade novel. (I’ve actually started this, but am still learning)
  3. Learn Spanish (I took a semester of Spanish in high school, but that was in the 1980’s)

Over the next year, I’ll be sharing my depressing lows and ecstatic highs on my blog (johnjfrady.com) as I strive to develop my subgoals and action plans for these personal challenges. I invite you to join me on my journey.

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Results of my Second Endoscopy

Endoscopy

A few months ago I started having problems swallowing my food.  My doctor scheduled me for an upper endoscopy, which revealed that my esophagus was damaged from acid reflux.  If untreated, the damaged area could possibly become pre-cancerous.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, an upper endoscopy is a procedure used to visually examine your upper digestive system with a tiny camera on the end of a long, flexible tube.

For the past few months, I’ve taken a generic Prevacid and dramatically changed my diet (cutting out fried foods, tomatoes and tomato based products – very acidic, chocolate, and almost all carbonated caffeinated beverages – my biggest vice.)

Today, after waking from my second endoscopy, my doctor informed me that my esophagus is almost completely healed and I can begin weaning myself off of the medicine.  I also have to continue the diet and lose more around my midsection.  Then I can eat whatever I would like, at least in moderation.  Unfortunately, my wife’s definition of moderation can be translated as “absolute zero consumption.”

Thank you all for your concern and prayers.

 

John

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4 Things to Remember When Doing Hospital Visitation

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I’ve been doing hospital visitation on a regular basis for over 20 years.  One thing that I’ve learned is that I’m not very good at it.  Even though I’m a pretty compassionate person, I struggle when trying to minister to those in the hospital.  Something in me clams up and I struggle with my words.

However, Jesus did say I was sick and you visited me, so it’s important to press on with the visit, even when I feel uncomfortable.

I spent most of the last three days with my mother who was hospitalized.  During that time, I pondered my own hospital visitation situation and realized that there are 4 things to remember when doing hospital visitation.

#1  –  Pray.  The Holy Spirit is a much better Comforter than any of us, so pray and let Him do His work.  Thank Him for who He is in front of the people who need to remember it the most.  If for some reason you can’t pray with the hospitalized or their family, pray by yourself for them and for you as you visit them.

#2 – Bring a small gift.  After visiting my mother for the first day, my wife suggested that we bring her the shampoo and conditioner samples from our hotel room.  We weren’t using them anyway and it allowed my mother to wash her hair with real shampoo.  Whether it’s shampoo, facial tissue, a magazine, or a drawn picture from a child, it could make a huge difference in their hospital stay.

#3 – Know when to leave.  Unless you’re family or considered part of the family (sometimes even then), don’t overstay your welcome.  Understand that while you’re trying to bring someone encouragement, you may be wearing them out.  People are in the hospital for a reason and you might be stealing their sleep time. 

#4 -Use discernment when using anointing oil – Some people don’t understand the symbolism.  To some, it just seems like you’re putting grease on their heads.  Your prayers are more important than the oil.

Remembering these 4 things will help me.  Maybe they’ll help you as well.

By the way, my mother’s doing great.

by Categories: Church and Christian Life, Difference Makers, Health and Fitness, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , 2 Comments

I have an acid problem

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Hi, my name is John and I have an acid problem.  Well, a stomach acid problem, that is.  This, partnered by the fact that I don’t really seem to get heartburn, the acid has caused damage to my esophagus.

So, I’ve been researching the topic and have found a few causes of stomach acid:

  1. Smoking – I always knew it would get back to me.  I took a long drag on a cigar when I was in the 2nd grade.  We were using it to light fire crackers.
  2. Drinking – I know this is hard to believe, especially since I live in New Orleans, but I’ve only had one drink of alcohol in my life (and it was in church).  I was on a mission trip in Indonesia and didn’t suspect that the team would be serving real wine for communion.
  3. Caffeine and Carbonated Beverages – I never drink soda.  Just kidding.  That’s a big part of my problem.
  4. Consumption of too much spicy food – or in other words, eating any type of food that tastes good.  I don’t understand the problem.  I don’t always eat New Orleans style food.  Sometimes I eat Mexican, Spicy Chinese, or Italian.  Even when I don’t, there’s always Tony Chachere’s, Tabasco and Louisiana Hot Sauce, but I just use a little.
  5. Lack of drinking water – Water consumption has gone up and down in my life, but it’s certainly going up now.
  6. Stress – I’m in ministry.  Go figure.

Ok, so I’m doing better.  My diet’s changed for the past 3 ½ weeks or so and I’ve already lost about 10 lbs.  I’m eating Oatmeal every morning and drinking 7 gallons of water each day (Well, maybe it’s only 6 gallons).

More updates to come…

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Results Of My Upper GI Endoscopy

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Ok, so I was trying to be somewhat creative with this post, but I’m still kind of loopy from the anesthesia, so I’ll just cut to the chase:

I had my upper GI Endoscopy today and got the results immediately after.  The procedure itself went fine.  (I’ll write more on it in a later post).  Before I knew it, everything was over and my wife and I were talking to my doctor about his findings.

Basically, my duodenum was fine.  My stomach was fine.  However, I was diagnosed with esophagitis.  Basically, my esophagus is irritated and inflamed from acid reflux.  People with this condition often have serious heartburn, but to this point, this has not been one of my symptoms.

So, here’s what I have to do:

  1. Commit to a healthy (non-acid producing) diet.
  2. Use a protein pump inhibitor PO daily (at least for the next 3 months)
  3. Repeat the upper endoscopy in 3 months to check the healing of my esophagus.

Thanks so much, everyone, for your prayers and encouragement.  I’ll continue to update you with my progress.

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The downlow regarding my esophagus

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Thanks so much for your encouragement since I shared the results of my physical a few weeks ago.  Your feedback and concern both online and in person has helped me realize the commonality of health problems and the overwhelming support of my friends.

One possible culprit

After my last blog posting, one of my sisters called me and explained that she has experienced a very similar issue when swallowing her food.  In fact, she’s been diagnosed with Sjogrens (pronounced Show Grins) syndrome.  It’s systemic autoimmune disorder where immune cells destroy the glands that produce tears and saliva.  For her condition, she takes Evoxac or Salagen.

Thanks again, everyone, for your concern.

John

My esophagogastroduodenoscopy is scheduled for Friday, August 30th at Oschner Hospital in Jefferson.

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Results of My Physical

I had my annual physical this past Friday.  (insert groans here from every guy over 40)  I stood on the medical scale that always seems to add 5-10 lbs, looked away as I was stuck with a syringe for blood work, and listened to the dreaded snap of the latex glove.  Finally, after hearing from my doctor that I appear to be in excellent health, he asked me if there was anything that had been bothering me.

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Most of the time, when I hear that question, I always say, “No, I’m feeling pretty good.”

However, this time I had a different answer.  I sighed heavily and said, “Well, ok, in the last few months, I’ve had a few times when I’ve felt like my food wasn’t going all the way down to my stomach.”

This caught his attention.  I could tell because he stopped writing on his clipboard.

So I continued.

“At first I thought I was just in a hurry and had taken too big of a bite, but there have been times when I was sure that I had chewed my food sufficiently.  Whenever it happened, I usually stood, raised my hands over my head, and the food normally continued to my stomach.”

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied.  “I cough a lot after I eat.”

After a few more questions, my doctor said, “I think we need to examine your esophagus.”

“Okay,” I replied.  “How do we do that?”

“Well, you can either drink barium and we can x-ray you or we can perform an esophagogastroduodenoscopy.”

“Did you just make that up?”

“No,” he laughed.  “It’s an endoscopic procedure where we scope the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract.  Sometimes there’s a narrowing of the esophagus, but this will let us know for sure.”

“Why would I do that other than drink the cyanide?”

“You mean barium?” he asked.

“Yes, sorry.  Hopefully there’s a difference.”

“If you drink the barium and have the x-ray and there’s a problem, then we still have to do the esophagogastroduodenoscopy.”

“Is it dangerous?” I asked.

“No,” he replied.  “I’ve had it myself.”

“Ok,” I said.  “Let’s do it.”

So, I’m scheduled to have an esophagogastroduodenoscopy.  I’ll let you know what happens.  If you’ve had one, let me know.  I’d like to hear your story.

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Born to Run? – Beginning Week #9 of 10k Trainer App

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Christopher McDougall, in Born to Run, observed the following:

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.  Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

I wonder the gazelles or the lions trained to run using the 10k trainer app that I’m using.  I doubt it, because they’re running to survive and not for fitness sake.  Today, as I finished up Week #8 in my program, I was supposed to run for 30 minutes or 3 miles plus 10 minutes of warm up and cool down.  I did it, but I thought I was going to pass out.  I keep hearing that there’s a magical moment when runner’s euphoria comes over you.  I’ve felt some satisfaction in the completion of a run, but the only euphoria I’ve felt is when I get to stop.

I’m supposed to start my 9th week of the program this week.  The workout for the first day lasts 54 minutes.  I’m supposed to have a simple 5 minute warmup, run for 10 minutes, walk for 1 minute, then repeat the last two 3 more times before walking for a 5 minute cool down.  I’m not looking forward to this because of two facts about running:  It stinks and I hate it.

I’ll let you know if my feelings change.

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Why I Decided to Try the 10k for Pink Training App

tired_runner3FUNNY-RUNNER5

On Friday morning, I ran my first 5k, practically by accident.  I spent 8 weeks training for it with the C25k (Couch to 5k) App.  I finished it just in time for the New Orleans Crescent City Classic Run, but was not able to participate.  Since the app had several practice sessions included after graduation, I decided to continue to train.  It was raining outside, so I went to my local gym to run on the treadmill.  As my run neared the 35 minute mark, I realized that if I ran for another 10 minutes, I would hit the 3.106 miles or 5k.  So I did it.

Today, I walked out of my home, fully intending to continue the practice sessions.  But when I clicked on the App, it took me back to the first session.  I didn’t want to continue that session, so on the spur of the moment, I clicked on the 10k App ad, which I’ve been wondering about for a couple of weeks.  So, I guess I’m now training for a 10k.

If you see me past out on the side of road, please honk and try to raise me back to consciousness.

Related Posts:

How To Run for 22 Minutes Without Stopping

The Stitch – Why I wanted to quit Couch to 5k

Why I Chose To Try The Couch to 5k App

 

 

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How To Run For 22 Minutes (Without Stopping) in 7 Easy Steps

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I’ve been using the App – C25KFree (Couch to 5K Free) for the past six weeks.  Today, I finished the day 3 workout of week 6, which includes 22 minutes of running without stopping.  In case you’re trying to do the same thing, here are 7 easy steps for running 22 minutes without stopping.  Enjoy.

Step #1 – Wake up in the morning, lay very still and listen intently for rain, snow, sleet, hail, a dense fog, mist, strong winds, mild winds, gentle breezes or anything uncontrollable that might keep you from having to get out of bed to exercise.

Step #2 – While still in bed, tell your wife that you are not in denial about not wanting to exercise.

Step #3 – Angrily roll out of bed, stumping the toes of your right foot on the hard wooden furniture that you insisted on buying fifteen years ago.

Step #4 – Have the following conversation with your wife:

You:  Honey, do you think I should just not exercise today?

Wife:  Why?

You:  My toes really hurt.

Wife:  What happened?

You:  I stubbed them on your furniture.

Wife:  My furniture?  You mean the bed?

You:  Yeah.

Wife:  You’re somehow suggesting that you stubbing your toe…

You:  (interrupting)  Toes!

Wife:  Ok.  You’re suggesting that you stubbing your “toes” on the bed is my fault.

You:  Yes.  If you hadn’t suggested this brand then we wouldn’t have all this hard wood in the house.

Wife:  Go exercise, you big baby.

You:  What?

Wife:  Go.

You:  Ok.

Step #5 – Cry

Step #6 – Change your clothes and walk out the door.

Step #7 – Put your headphones in, play some music, warmup for 5 minutes, then run (or jog) for 22 minutes without stopping.

Enjoy your workout!

Related Posts:

The Stitch – Why I wanted to quit Couch to 5k

Why I decided to lose the lose it App

3 Reasons Soft Drinks Hinder A Good Workout

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