Health is your Wealth

It's funny how this year has been all about avoiding catching COVID. It never dons on you that you should be talking care of yourself overall, until you get a wake up call. It wasn't until during quarantine in April that I noticed some fluid retention around my ankles. The fluid began to migrate behind my foot which got me concerned. 

I had gained all the weight I lost from 2018 during this quarantine and then some. So I had a feeling I needed to start with losing weight. At the time in April 2020 we couldn't get a doctor appointment unless we went into the hospital emergency, and I was not going to lead my self into the center of where sever COVID patients were. So I waited, May 2020 I began starting to eat less, not on a strict diet but watching the amount of  carbs and sugar I ate. That dropped me about 5 lbs. I then remained at a stand still, July 2020 I got fed up with how I looked and felt, always sluggish, tired, miserable. I was suffering from severe anxiety and some depression. I looked like I was blowing up like a balloon. I knew I had to take drastic action. 

My brother had just moved out which left his room vacant, lucky me. So I went to my mom and asked her if she was OK with me using that space as a home gym. She was totally cool with that. In Italian homes, you usually ask your parents if you can do something with their home before doing it, as a sign of respect, and to avoid future ass whippings later. 

July 17, 2020 I began my health and fitness journey. I started working out four to five days a week. Using YouTube workout videos on line. I had some workout equipment, like dumb bells, resistance bands, medicine ball, etc. I was determined, I have a goal to look smoking by next July 2021. It was all fun and motivating until early September I noticed that all this working out I am doing and the fluid in my ankles were not getting any better, I was still losing weight, down 11lbs now and counting. So, I did what anyone would do, made an appointment with my doctor. 

She sent me for blood work, which I hated doing blood. I am not a fan of needles. Don't ask me how I will survive if I ever get pregnant. I went, and two weeks later she followed up with me on my results. Now most of my vitamin, thyroid, sugar, cholesterol were all good. However she advised my liver enzymes were elevated a bit and she wanted to send me to get an ultrasound on my ab area to check it out. She told me that those are signs of Fatty Liver Disease. 

I'm sorry, WHAT? I thought to myself, oh mother of God, there is no way I have this. There must be a mistake. But I went to get the ultrasound done anyway, nervous as hell. When you get an ultrasound done for anything other than seeing a baby inside you, it is freaking nerve wrecking. The technician puts the cold jelly all over you and spreads this wand around to check your guts to see if everything is looking good or abnormal. The technician doesn't tell you SQUAT while you are sitting there wondering is there something I should start doing right away. Doesn't give me nothing to work with. So once my ultra sound was done, I had to wait another two weeks before I could get my results from the doctor, because you know, COVID now makes everything a fucking task and a half. 

It was hard to not have a nervous break down in these two weeks of waiting. But I had already changed my eating habits and working out regularly since July so I knew I was on the right path. If you don't know, Fatty Liver Disease can be reversed if caught early. There is no medication for this. It is up to the human to make the lifestyle changes in order to save themselves. If this disease is left too long without action, it can lead to a liver transplant, or liver cancer. Yea I know, SCARY. 

Today was the day I got my ultra sound results back. I was terrified going into the office to see my doctor. Not because of COVID, but because I didn't know if I was ready to hear the truth. Reality was about to hit me hard. She told me that I had a mild case of Fatter Liver, and that they found some small cysts on my liver. She advised the cysts looked small and not alarming. She told me small cysts are normal and she sees these often in patients. She advised me to continue on my health routine, it would take up to a full year for any improvement on the fatty liver to be shown. As for the cysts, I have to do a routine ultra sound in three months to make sure these cysts do not grow any bigger. She checked my ankles too and told me to wear compression socks and keep the feet elevated. 

I walked out of my appointment ran to my car, and balled my eyes out. Ladies and gentlemen this was my wake up call. This was the moment I realized that I am not invincible as I once thought I was when I was young. Some of you may thing that this diagnosis was nothing, but to me it was enough. People still call me young, being that I am only 32, however as you age into a new decade of life, your body changes, and you begin to realize there are things you can't do or in this case eat like you used to. 

I guess, when you look at it positively, it's a blessing that it was a mild case of Fatty Liver Disease and I have been taking steps to correct it even when I did not know I had it to begin with. The cysts came out of left field for me. Did not even know that was a thing. My mother-in-law told me that her mom had cysts on her liver and she would get them looked at every 3 months, then every 6 months, and if they didn't show any growth (which was a good thing) then she would do it once a year to monitor. If you read my last blog post, we lost her mom last week. It's been a hell of a two weeks let me tell ya. 

One thing I have to say is, if you have a clean bill of health consider yourself lucky and rich all at once. If you don't have your health, then your quality of life will suck. I will continue to make better eating habit choices and work out four to five times week. This is now a lifestyle change for me, not a fad, not a temporary change. This is permanent. I will have to make this change in order to save the future me at 50 years old. I owe it to my future self. 

If you are experiencing any health concerns and looking to better your fitness, check out these YouTube Accounts for home work outs, they have been helping me a TON. 

https://www.youtube.com/susanyabar 

https://www.youtube.com/c/CarolineGirvan 

https://www.youtube.com/c/MadFit 


Peace, Love, Joy

Ant








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