It feels so good to be back in the office. I really missed spending time with my clients and co-workers. It made me realize how fortunate I am to have a job that I love so much. Thank you for your patience during the time that I was gone. For those of you who are curious, I wanted to fill you in on what happened.

In May I got a kidney infection that took several rounds of antibiotics and a few days in the hospital to cure. I also found out through several of the tests that I needed a hysterectomy immediately because of a mass that could have been cancer, but wasn’t (thank God). I was off several weeks recovering from both. Gretchen, Tammy, Christina, Sandra and everyone else in our office did a wonderful job making sure our clients were taken care of during my absence.

I also wanted to let you know that I am back and healthy again. The doctors (when you are in the hospital you get one per body part) are recommending I start eating right, exercising, and drinking lots of water. Isn’t that interesting advice? It is amazing how it takes a wake-up call by getting knocked off our feet for a while to get us to listen. When they first said it, I thought back to almost every annual checkup I have had over the years and I could hear the doctor saying, “You need to watch what you eat and exercise on a daily basis.” A year or two ago, Dr. Cummings even showed me a graph that illustrated how I had progressively gained weight over the years. I think he was trying to motivate me to eat right and exercise.

The good news is I now have motivation. I have no desire to end up in the hospital again. I also have a plan and hope. I have already lost a few pounds that haven’t found me again. Maybe the secret is to keep moving and the pounds won’t be able to find me again.

Before recently, I had decided that at fifty-one, weight loss for me was impossible. I also looked around, asked around, heard many stories of struggle with weight loss, and decided most women my age seem to also have trouble losing weight, so it was a losing battle. I had several times over the last few years spent a month working really hard to lose five pounds and then the weight would find me again. One of my clients has as her email signature “Keep on movin’; it makes it harder for the vultures to land.” I wonder if that also applies to lost pounds finding me. I hope so. It would be a good motivation to walk faster.

Honestly, I had just given up. I still tried to keep my weight from going up, but had given up on the dream of it going down. As soon as I feel good enough, I am going to start exercising. I have a few more weeks of surgery recovery time first. Also, I am going to start Weight Watchers as a way for me to start eating healthier.
My boys tell me it is not about eating giant bags of spinach, which is one of the things I did in the months I was losing five pounds. (By the way the doctors said I had the makings of kidney stones caused by excess calcium from eating too much spinach and broccoli.) I was very surprised to hear that there is such a thing as too many healthy vegetables. This eating right stuff is confusing. One month, butter is bad and margarine is good and then they switch.

James, our kids, my in-laws and I already had a two-week Alaska trip planned in June. I missed the first week of the trip, because I was recovering from surgery. Brad volunteered to stay home and take care of me that first week. The second week my doctor cleared me to travel and I was able to join my family for the cruise portion of the trip. I stayed on the boat and mainly hung out on the balcony. I got off at one port and walked about a quarter of a mile and ended up having to sleep for the rest of the day. Alaska is beautiful and incredible to see even from the balcony.

Aside from the beautiful scenery, the best part of this summer’s vacation is making memories with my family. I have a renewed hope for a healthier future. I am glad to be home and ready to take on the challenge!