Tuesday, January 31, 2012

January 30, 2012 - Adenaline

This blog entry is going to be, as they say, "short and sweet" and right to the point.

I was right.  Actually, I am so relieved that I was right.  Thought that a good night of sleep would perk me back up.  I'm guessing 10 hours was enough, because I feel great today.  As a matter of fact, I feel unbelievably great.  One of the strongest surges of adrenaline I get, is when I go to Giant games.  The day of the game, I typically get there 4 hours before kickoff and tailgate.  By the time "Hell's Bells" is played at kickoff, I am full speed ahead and stay that way 4 quarters.  Well, today is Monday and I already have more adrenaline than I have when at a game.  Not leaving for the game till Friday!

I will be back blogging when I get to Indy.  Wish me luck !


Monday, January 30, 2012

January 28-29, 2012 - The Weekend

In the post entitled "January 27, 2012", I wrote the following paragraph:

I can already feel the excitement building as I reach the "one week to go" point leading up to leaving for the Super Bowl.  This means I really need to do everything I can to start taking good care of myself.  The excitement is great, but it is leading to less sleep.  Since I booked the trip, my mind has been racing at night, keeping me up.  If it means having to take a little something extra to help me sleep for the next week, I'm going to do it.  Nothing more important for me to fight off illness than great nights of sleep.  I think, starting tonight, I'll take an extra half of a Unisom.  If that doesn't work, I know Xanax will.

All of the above is, in theory, great.  The problem is, when you've got tons of stuff to do, it doesn't matter what medicine you take, you have to get up early anyway.  That was my weekend. 

On Saturday, I didn't have anything specific scheduled in the morning, just had a lot of things I needed to do.  I got up pretty early, probably had somewhere between 5-6 hours of sleep.  Early in the day, I had a bunch of errands to run.  I was planning on leaving around 4:30 p.m. to head up to the Meadowlands for the handicapping tournament.  The decision I had to make was whether or not to try and squeeze in a run somewhere in between.  I ended up running 4 miles.  Finished my run around 3:45 p.m.  Took a shower and had about 20 minutes or so to relax before leaving to pick up Frank and head to the tourney.  Was getting restless hanging in the house, so I left a little early.

Frank and I had a great time at the contest.  They had a real nice spread of food out.  Some chicken, pasta a vegetable and dessert.  All of the deadbeats, uh, I mean entrants, were given a $100.00 bankroll.  We had to bet 10 of the 13 races.  We can only bet on 1 horse per race and the minimum bet is $10.00.    We can only bet win or place.  The top 5 get prize money and the top 2 gain entry into the finals, which is held in Toronto early in 2013.  There were 120 entrants and by the end of the 4th race, I was in 2nd place.  After each race, they have a screen that shows the top 25 along with their present bankroll.   It was so funny because when my name popped up in 2nd place, Frank started getting nervous.  The more nervous he got, the more he ate.  I couldn't stop laughing.  For the rest of the race card, other than 1 race, the favorites kept winning.  I was looking for more value on my bets and lost a couple of photos.  Not sure where we finished, but I do know it was out of the money.  By the time I got home, wound down and got to sleep, it was around 2 a.m.

Sunday morning is hockey time and Adin had an early game.  I got about 5 hours of sleep...again.  Adin scored a goal on a breakway in the first 2 minutes of the game and his team won, 12-5.  We stopped at a diner on the way home and had lunch.  By the time we got home, it was around 12:30 p.m.  Emily and I headed right out to double team the food shopping.  Once we got back and all of the food was put away, we took Lulu for a walk.  By the time we got back, I started to feel sick.

It's amazing how little sleep deprivation my body can take, because I went from feeling great to needing to be in bed in about a span of 15 minutes.  I have to admit, my first reaction was a bit of freaking out about the possibility that what was happening in my body might somehow affect the Super Bowl trip.  I got over that in a hurry.  I listened to my body and headed to the bedroom (around 4 p.m.) to try and get some sleep.  Didn't have to try very hard, because the next thing I knew, it was 6:45 p.m.  When I got up I was feeling exactly the same as earlier.  No energy, throat raw, headache and joints aching.  Emily had made chicken and rice and I had a little bit of it.  By 9:30 p.m., I was back in bed.  I know exactly what my body needs to get better.  In this case, I knew it was a looong night of sleep.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

January 27, 2012 - Twitter

The internet is many things.  It is a source of endless information.  It enables us to keep in touch with friends that live in different parts of the world.  It's a place to sell or buy just about anything.  One of the most important aspects of the internet is the support it can provide for people that are living with a disease such as Crohn's.  For followers of this blog that also suffer from either Crohn's or any form of IBD, if you are not already part of a support group, you should be.  I am a member of twitter (my handle is "crohnsbeater").  It is just amazing the amount of support we all try and give each other.  Real life situations like while sitting in an emergency room with the endless wait to be called on, tweets of support are sent out in droves to those people.  I can go on and on about some of the specific sharing of information and more importantly, emotional support that these "friends" provide.  I would rather just say, if you suffer from any type of illness, become a member of a social media site.  You will be happy you did.

I can already feel the excitement building as I reach the "one week to go" point leading up to leaving for the Super Bowl.  This means I really need to do everything I can to start taking good care of myself.  The excitement is great, but it is leading to less sleep.  Since I booked the trip, my mind has been racing at night, keeping me up.  If it means having to take a little something extra to help me sleep for the next week, I'm going to do it.  Nothing more important for me to fight off illness than great nights of sleep.  I think, starting tonight, I'll take an extra half of a Unisom.  If that doesn't work, I know Xanax will.

Spent most of today working on 2 things.  Not necessarily in order of importance, I got much of my 2011 tax information together and also did most of my handicapping for tomorrows contest at the Meadowlands.  My friend Frank is my partner for the contest.  Frank is closing on a new house next week, which is the only reason he is not going to the Super Bowl with my brother and I.  My extra incentive for winning the contest is winning enough money where Frank comes with us.  The "downside" to Frank coming is that the trip would have a very realistic chance of turning into "The Hangover, Part 3".  In between working on the taxes and handicapping, I went for a run in a driving rainstorm...love it.  I ate really well all day.  Cereal for breakfast, a shake for lunch and pasta for dinner.

I am now officially ready for my trip.  I took my step-son Adin to get a haircut and while I was waiting I talked to one of the guys about dying my "playoff beard" Giant blue for the game.  Like I said, I am officially ready.


Friday, January 27, 2012

January 26, 2012 - Carbs

Put the finishing touches on my fundraising page today and at the same time found out about my honoree, Lauren.  The fundraiser is, of course, for the half-marathon I am running on June 2nd for Team Challenge and the CCFA.  Rather than go into all of the details in my blog, you can read about Lauren on my fundraising webpage at http://www.active.com/donate/virginia12newjersey/NJNMagenh

After the exuberance of booking the Super Bowl trip yesterday, things settled down into a normal routine day.  The only thing that was different about today was the workout that I did.  Typically, I either run or go to the gym and lift weights.  Today, I went to the gym late morning and went into the room where classes are held (no class was happening) and brought 5 kettlebells of various weights with me.  Just me and the kettlebells in the huge room and what a great workout it was.  Total of 45 minutes of which maybe 5 minutes was rest, the remainder I was swinging away.  That's one of the best workouts where you get a combination of weight lifting and aerobics.  On the way home, I got the oil changed in my truck.  Got home and had a shake.

The afternoon was spent starting to get all of my 2011 tax stuff together.  I also downloaded the racing program for the handicapping tournament on Saturday night and made a few preliminary notes in it.  Neither Emily nor I felt like cooking dinner so we ordered take out from a local Italian restaurant.  I had a half meatball parm. sub and about 4 additional pieces of Italian bread.  I am absolutely addicted to bread.  Bread, for me, can be an appetizer, dinner or dessert.  Tonight, it was dessert, although, my real dessert was a glass of port about an hour after dinner.  I am fortunate, in that my cravings are typically things that are not the worst things for my Crohn's.  Carbs, like pasta and bread are things I crave the most so even on bad days its normally that I just had too much.  Never have had cravings for proteins, which is a good thing because they are more difficult for me to digest.  I've also never been one to like a lot of spice in my food.  Just give me my carbs and I'm a happy guy.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

January 25, 2012 - Quality of Life

I AM GOING TO SUPER BOWL XLVI !!!!!


I blogged on January 21, 2012 about having a positive mental outlook and how it can add to the quality of your life with Crohn's.  I thought about what I wrote that day and below is a letter I received in my email today, showing that I do my best to practice what I preach.




January 2012


Dear Giants Fan:

Hello and thank you for choosing Big Blue Travel!  We look forward to hosting you on the road in Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI.

This letter is confirmation of the purchase of your package.  You will receive your travel documents & detailed trip itinerary via email in the coming days.

If you should have any questions or concerns please feel free to email our office.



Thank You!!!!

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Words cannot possibly express my level of excitement.  I am going with my brother Larry.  He has been with me through the entire playoff run.  Hopefully, we can close it out with a victory.  The trip is unbelievable!  It is the Giants travel agency that runs it.  We are flying on a private commercial jet called "Big Blue 1".  The entire plane will be filled with Giants fans.  From there it only gets better.  Hotel with the team, dinner with Giant Alumni.  Tickets to fanfests and parties.  A private motor coach taking us to and from the game, etc. etc etc.

Taking good care of myself leading up to the trip goes without saying.  Taking care of myself while there will be a challenge.

Today has been a nice day. Besides the obvious excitement of booking the trip, Emily had a 1/2 day off for a doctors appointment.  We had lunch together and then headed to the doctor.  Kind of a reversal of roles today because she saw a gastroenterologist.  She has a family history of polyps and the doctor scheduled both genetic testing and a colonoscopy.  She is always there for me and I will always be there for her.  I had worked out at the gym in the morning and had soup and an egg sandwich for lunch.  Because of not having a shake I had a banana when we got home and that was it for the day.  Oh, forgot to mention that I did have a vodka tonight.  I was so fired up from booking the trip, it was nice because it took the edge off.

Nine days till we leave for Indy !!  Can't wait.