J3nn PCTs her way to 2020 goals

[J3NN]

A lot has happened... I lost my challenge mojo, even though I was still lurking, I stopped posting challenges and stopped commenting. But I found the accountability here in the forums the thing that kept me moving forward and I need that back so I'm here to wrap up the year and get a head start for next year.

 

PCT stands for Pneumatic Compression Therapy. I have a nifty little pump attached to sleeves I wear on my legs that pumps the fluid in my legs since the lymph nodes in my body don't do it for me. I have had the pump for about a month and I have one more month before my follow-up with the doctor. The goal is to decrease the size of my feet and legs, consistently and get to wear the PCT is for maintenance, and not as intense a regimen as I have right now. I'm encouraged to do 2-3 hours per day... Sitting on my butt while this happens. It's been a challenge for me, but I want to commit to it so that I"ll know if this will make a difference in my life. BUT it's cut into me getting other things done. So I need to find balance.

 

So my challenge this time...

• PCT minimum 2 hours a day, but stretch goal of the full 3 hours.
• Design Your Destiny, this will be my third year. I need to reflect and set goals for 2020.
• Walking - The last three months I've been consistent in getting my daily average steps to just over 5,000 steps/day. My plantar fasciitis is flaring up but I need to keep at this, especially while I do the PCT and don't see a lot of other fitness happening. This will be harder with colder weather and darker nights, so I'm just going to try to keep a daily average of 5,000
• Keep following the http://www.eatingwell.com/article/291554/30-day-low-carb-meal-plan-1200-calories/- I'm on week three of this, and plan to just keep using this through the holidays. The meals have been satisfying and easy to maintain and it's helping me maintain my weight so that when we do have holiday celebrations I can indulge a little and still enjoy myself.
• Use my bullet journal for planning, reflecting and tracking
• Post here regularly, minimum 4/7 days
• Do art

[Waanie]

Welcome back! Following of course .

[Rookie]

Welcome back J3NN

[Chesire]

Yay J3NN!  Welcome back! 

[TGP]

I love that your back and striving to break through your limitations.

 

this PCT sounds "uncomfortable".... but what happens if you procrastinate and don't do it enough?

 

are you very disabled if you don't circulate you lymph fluids enough?? curious...

[J3NN]

Hi Skip 

1 hour ago, TGP said:

 

this PCT sounds "uncomfortable".... but what happens if you procrastinate and don't do it enough?

 

are you very disabled if you don't circulate you lymph fluids enough?? curious...

I was born with primary lymphedema in my lower extremities. My mom and her father also had this and shared the genes with me. Thankfully, I didn't share with my own daughter. As I've gotten older/heavier, I've noticed that the lymphedema is more painful and harder to live with in that it makes it very difficult for me to find shoes that fit well and pants as well in this skinny  jean age. It also makes me very self-conscious about the way I look, but when I'm heavier it's easier to just blame it on being overweight.

 

Recently I had some other health issues that brought to light a new problem/side effect of the lifelong lymphedema and have discovered that I have venous insufficiency (reflux) in my lower extremities, which means my valves in my blood vessels don't close so I have very poor circulation. This led to a surgical consult, but the surgeon said surgery was contra-indicated and recommended the PCT. 

 

If I don't do it enough, my legs and feet will swell (worse) and I will experience pain and poor circulation as a side effect. I'm not disabled, but I am more prone to illness because the systems that usually filter those germs out just don't work as well. Also, I'm less active than I should be. But I can do exercises... it's just part pain management (my pain is really mild compared to other stories I've heard or seen) and part motivation management.

 

The PCT is not too painful, the pressure is akin to the pressure you feel when you have a blood pressure cuff on, and it's not constant, it cycles every three minutes for the time you're using it, so the pressure builds to a max then releases and repeats. Depending on my mood and mindset it can often feel like I'm getting a massage... 

 

The surgeon and my PCT guy tell me that if I'm consistent I could see my swelling reduced to almost normal size. After 45 years of living different and struggling to fit in shoes and pants that aren't bell bottoms, that idea is very appealing. If I can do that, I may be more motivated to lose weight and find myself with a healthy BMI... 

[J3NN]

Yesterday and today have been quite busy/impressive days.

 

Yesterday we received our Gish package including the ever-lovely coffee table book featuring the hard work of all the rebels with a cause. This is my fourth year participating and I'm proud to say that one of my items made it in the book!

Spoiler

 

 

Here's a snap shot of the page from the book. My item is the Artistic Nood in the bottom right corner

 

 

 

It's overwhelming to know that my art was chosen as good enough to include amongst all the hundreds (thousands?) of submissions. I feel a little guilty that the rest of my team's efforts weren't recognized, we had some great stuff. It's hard for me to just be happy for my own accomplishment, but I'm sharing it here so I can try to get out of that a little bit and be proud of myself.

 

Today, we had a huge project go-live at work. A project that started in August and culminated in a brand new look and feel for our employee intranet has it's soft launch today. This is a huge load off and I'm so grateful to be at the end of this project. Not that there aren't six more lined up, but I'm happy to take a moment to enjoy.

 

Finally, last night I did draw a little. I'm finding that quick little art that doesn't have to be perfect, but just keeps me in a state of creating, learning and improving my skills has been a huge thing for me, and I'm loving that I can be imperfect.

Spoiler

 

 

The prompt was Autumn Weather. I mis-remembered it and thought it was Autumn feelings, and I could think of nothing better than plaid flannel sheets to portray the sense of Autumn coziness. So even though I remembered it wrong I went with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Waanie]

25 minutes ago, J3NN said:

Today, we had a huge project go-live at work. A project that started in August and culminated in a brand new look and feel for our employee intranet has it's soft launch today. This is a huge load off and I'm so grateful to be at the end of this project. Not that there aren't six more lined up, but I'm happy to take a moment to enjoy.

Yay! I'm glad that you can acknowledge and celebrate an accomplishment before moving on . Redesigning the look and feel of an intranet sounds like a lot of work, and I can imagine that you're glad you completed it .

 

Your drawing is beautiful and conveys the "autumn feelings" feeling perfectly for me!

[Harriet]

Yay for art! What is design your destiny?

[J3NN]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

What is design your destiny?

 

Here's a link: https://sublimereflection.com/design-your-destiny/

 

It's an email based goal-setting workshop that walks you through reflecting on this year, identifying your priorities for next year and setting goals (and picking a word of the year).

 

I really appreciate the reflection portion of the exercise and while I go through the whole thing, once I set my goals I tend to not be as good at following through or staying true to what I think I will. That's my personal experience and something I'll be reflecting on this time around to help me identify more meaningful goals for myself for next year.

[Bean Sidhe]

J3NN

It is so good to see you.

I am glad they found something that might help with your legs and feet. Could you use the time you are sitting for the treatments to do the art or bullet journal goals? Then you are doing 2 for one (Or 3 for one depending on what else you have going on).

I am kinda hit or miss of late, but I will try to pop in when I can. Probably more after I finish my last class. (So like 12/12 or so).

[J3NN]

J3NN

It is so good to see you.

I am glad they found something that might help with your legs and feet. Could you use the time you are sitting for the treatments to do the art or bullet journal goals? Then you are doing 2 for one (Or 3 for one depending on what else you have going on).

I am kinda hit or miss of late, but I will try to pop in when I can. Probably more after I finish my last class. (So like 12/12 or so).

Hi Bean, I'm so glad you're here. Big hugs to you, or a hearty high five if you prefer. I think of you often and send you all the good vibes.

I am definitely using that time to draw and plan, I just get to where I feel guilty like I should be doing something else. You know...


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[J3NN]

Worked from home today, I've been fighting a winter cold and today was pouring rain, and I had to be home for a delivery this afternoon so I just made it a whole day.

It was nice for once to just get to enjoy the rain from under my blanket with a hot drink and a good book. All the kitties were mia sadly.

I only got a few hours of work in but it's better than none.

My step count is way low this week, will have to catch up this weekend.

Got a new mattress delivered today, it's our Christmas present, can't wait until tonight.

Did some drawing in my bullet journal last night and finished a drawing tonight.

So far so good.

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[Waanie]

Your drawings are again very beautiful .

 

Enjoy your nights on the new mattress!

[Bean Sidhe]

On 12/4/2019 at 8:27 PM, J3NN said:

Hi Bean, I'm so glad you're here. Big hugs to you, or a hearty high five if you prefer. I think of you often and send you all the good vibes.

I am definitely using that time to draw and plan, I just get to where I feel guilty like I should be doing something else. You know...
 

*HUGS*  glad to see you back.

 

I totally get it. It is the "I have other things to do, but I have to sit here. Just remember, this time you are sitting is to make things BETTER .

 

As always, love the art. I hope your new mattress helping you get some sleep.

 

 

[J3NN]

Updates

• PCT: Friday was a bad day, but I made up for it Saturday, I'm not sure that was a good idea though, my leftside groin and hamstring have been tender since then. Not sure if it's related, but if it is, then I might have done too much PCT for one day.
• Design Your Destiny: I finished the reflection, at least, I went through it, I keep remembering things and going back and adding more. I'm finding that my reflection is lacking in that I want to dig deeper into what didn't work so I can make a plan for making those things better. It's good to see all the accomplishments, but this year I felt a lot of dissatisfaction and I want to dig into that too. I'm going to use the Festivus airing of grievances for this.
• Walking - This first week I made an average of 4437 so while it's not 5k, it's close. I took one day off work and it was raining, so that really cut my walking, if I hadn't done that I think I would be right on target so I think this one is good.
• Low-carb: I was off my meal plan last week, lots of parties and things got in the way so I did gain 2 lbs... back on track this week with hours of meal prepping yesterday so I think I'll be back in good shape.
• Bullet Journal: Doing good, I have my monthly pages all in now I think and I'm starting to plan my 2020 spreads, I ordered a new bujo that has thicker paper so the markers won't bleed through.
• NF posts: I posted either in my post or someone else's 4 days which is my minimum goal. There are so many threads it's hard to keep up, but this is helping me, and I am reading newer posts in my app so that's something, even if all I do is heart something that way.
• Create: I did create something 4 of 7 days, including my BuJo spreads. I felt pretty satisfied with that. I haven't touched my crochet since Thanksgiving day though. I am at a part where I need to concentrate on the pattern and I just haven't made the time for that.

[J3NN]

On 12/5/2019 at 1:38 AM, Waanie said:

Enjoy your nights on the new mattress!

 

On 12/6/2019 at 9:58 AM, Bean Sidhe said:

I hope your new mattress helping you get some sleep.

 

I love the new mattress, my husband not so much... crossing fingers he finds the right setting.

[Waanie]

You did so many good things . I admire your tracking skills in your BuJo, all the pictures I've seen of it look very nice . Were there any surprising outcomes of your DYD reflections?

[J3NN]

6 hours ago, Waanie said:

You did so many good things . I admire your tracking skills in your BuJo, all the pictures I've seen of it look very nice . Were there any surprising outcomes of your DYD reflections?

I feel ashamed for this, but, one revelation was that I didn't have as much fun as I wanted because I was too busy having fun.

 

I love the outdoors, forest bathing, sun bathing, hiking, enjoying the wilderness, watching the sun set, bird watching, camping, all the outdoor things. This year, I don't feel like we did as many outdoor things. So I asked myself why we didn't. We found art this year, we (my husband and I) both participated in and completed Inktober for the first time ever. This happened because before October we had discovered drawing, (remember the mini challenge where we did Art? it started here), water color painting, and other new techniques.  So we used all our free time on creating art. But this was inside, at home. Not outdoors. So yeah, this is not a real problem. But it was definitely a revelation in many ways.

 

I'm still mulling over some other things... I'm a processor, so I expect I won't be done with the revelations just yet.

[J3NN]

Time for an update I guess.

Here's a quick snapshot.

	To date	Committed	Reached
PCT Morning	11	28	39%
PCT Evening	10	0	1000%
PCT Night	11	28	39%
Design Your Destiny	2	5	40%
Daily Steps (avg 5k)	4,750	5000	95%
Post in NF	7	16	44%
Create	6	0	600%

 

I'm on target for everything so far, so looking good.

 

I'm home sick with the onset of a head cold. Today was the department head Christmas party and my best friend/coworker's birthday and I'm missing all the fun. I was also supposed to get a haircut today, but instead I'm going to send my daughter and let her get a trim.

 

We're having company tonight to decorate Gingerbread Houses, so hopefully I can power through with medicine and still have fun tonight. We picked Marvel as the theme this year, it'll be fun to see how everything turns out. Maybe I should nap some.

 

I can't be sick all weekend we have too much going on! Here's to rest and recuperation stat.

 

 

 

[Waanie]

*hugs* I hope you feel better by now. Do you happen to have pictures of the gingerbread houses? I find it hard to imagine what Marvel-themed gingerbread looks like .

 

Good job on week one btw, your stats look awesome ,