Kobe Bryant is really good at scoring. At halftime I had consumed at least six beers and I had another sitting in front of me. I was feeling good about everything. The Lakers were down but I'm a Cavs fan, so the outcome of the game didn't really mean much to me. As the second half progressed, Kobe continued to work his magic as he tried to bring the Lakers back. The scoring came so often that my friends and I couldn't drink them fast enough. Soon I started getting other peoples' beer because they couldn't go on. Things got hazy. The game was over and I'm almost blackout drunk. Chris had slipped away to grab a sub from Subway so I went to the car and fell asleep. I woke up the next morning with a headache and a very dead battery. I suppose I wanted to listen to music and I turned the car on AUX power to listen to the radio then passed out. After a jump I went to meet up with Chris at a coffee shop and I noticed that my foot was being pinched where the top of the foot meets the ankle. I thought nothing of it and continued on with my day. Overall, the day was pretty rough. I couldn't shake the sick feelings from the previous night. After having dinner I noticed another pinch on my foot. I look down and I noticed that both of my feet were very swollen.
This didn't spark any kind of panic for me. If anything I was very confused as to why they were like that. So I called my mom. I told her about what was going on and she started going off on me. She said that either my heart or my kidneys were failing. She told me that my dad's feet would swell when his sugar was low or his blood pressure was high. She told me that I needed to stop what I was doing and go to the hospital IMMEDIATELY. I felt dizzy from all the different directions this could go. I was not expecting that kind of reaction from mom. She's always level headed with advice with various ailments that I had. The tone of her voice really spooked me. She sounded really scared. The last thing she told me was to run this by my older sister.
I talk to my sister and I explain that my feet were swollen and I wasn't sure why. She asks me a series of questions.
- Have you been walking a lot or have you been very physically active? -No
- Are your calves sore? -No
- Are your feet discolored or red? -No
- Have you been eating a lot of sodium? -...*Looks at empty McDonalds french fry container* Yeah.
- Have you been drinking a lot of water? -Not really
- Have you been drinking alcohol recently? -...Yeah...
My sister told me that I was suffering from Edema. That's where the body gets dehydrated and stores water in the ankles, legs, and feet. So I had to flush my system with water and sleep with my feet elevated. If the swelling didn't stop after a day or two of elevating them, then I needed to see a doctor. The next few days I made sure to drink lots of water, no alcohol, and keep my legs elevated whenever I could and while I slept. Just as predicted, the swelling went down and disappeared completely! Whew! Crisis averted!
I couldn't shake the bad feeling I had from hearing my mom talking to me the way she did. It got me to thinking about life and the way I was living. I was happy. I never felt bad about being big. I had come to terms that that's just how I was. I had plans to lose weight, but they always got pushed back. Then when I tried to lose weight I'd fail and revert to my old ways. Therefore it was impossible to be a normal size. Or was it? I lost weight last year with minimal walking and a vegan diet. Why not try again? Not with vegan so much as try again to lose weight. From there I started reading and thinking. I put together a plan that was strict and doable for where I was in life. It catered to what I needed. It took a week of organizing, but then I had this guy up and running!
Later on today I will weigh myself and update the information on the home page! I'm intrigued to see if the pattern will continue of an increase of weight this week followed by an overall decrease the following week. I don't really understand why this happens, but as long as the overall number continues to drop then I'm happy! I'd like to thank everyone for reading and following along on my journey! Your support keeps me going when I'm feeling down! That's all for now! I'll catch ya on the next episode!