Its War!

Last week Tuesday I went into the E.R for what I thought might be an appendix issue.Turned out it was a Crohn's flare, which I figured but wanted to be safe. At the end of the visit, the E.R doc with the help of a GI doc decided to prescribe Prednisone, I want no part of this steroid. I do not think I need it. So this made me very unhappy. Note: I have not gotten the prescription filled.
 Fast forward to Sunday. As I googled "how to cut an avocado". I ran across something in an article. The basic message was to prove out the need for vegan diets. There was a statement in there that got me to thinking. Generally it suggested that there had been an increase with Cancer, Crohn's, Ulceratvie Colitis in people that eat cooked high fat and high protein diets. I to some extent agree. I think it mostly comes from genetically engineered meats and things. That is just my feeling, I have no proof.
 This got my wheels turning big time. I have a friend at work the suggested sometime ago to try Raw Protein powder to give my body a more natural way to recover from my workouts. Raw Protein is completely organic with the protein coming from numerous sprouts and things.The one thing he said that stood out that it has probiotics. What are probiotics you ask, and am I glad you did. Probiotics are basically the good bacteria in your intestine that help support your digestive system. From what I have read Crohn's patients that have inreased their probiotic intake have had reduced symptoms. I did not say cure but reduced symptoms. This starts my mission and it is war!
 So far it has only been three consecutive days since committing to this self trial. Each day I have had the Raw Protein in smoothies, that have had included, strawberries, blueberries, black and raspberries, bannana, kiwi, apple or any combination, I also add yogurt and splenda. I have had reduced pain, more energy, less bathroom visits, just overall better feeling. Tuesday I had some pain after dinner but I think that was because of broccoli. It was fine Wednesday morning. I am taking my Imuran also. Again this is just three days of results, I will continue this mission. It is not my intent to give false hope. It is my intent to prove there is hope away from to many medications. I will post another update after vacation.

Working Out

So, work has been terribly busy. To the point where I come home very frustrated and stressed. Don't get me wrong I am thankful we are busy. Its a good problem to have. Anyhow, I have felt the need to manage that stress in a positive way. Its nice to read when I can relax but I can't read when my stress is out of control. So that leaves working out.

 It used to be I had a handful of workouts I like to do. It starts to get old after a while. Now I've taken those workouts and incorporated the Bowflex (resistance) with dumbbells (dead weight). At pretty good weight (100 lbs resistance) 25 lb(dumbbells) amounts and I try to get more than 10 reps per set for 3-4 sets. I found that I hit muscle failure much quicker. Sometimes I will throw in fast paced med ball exercises between sets. This keeps my heart rate up and blood flowing. See I have so much pent up energy by the time I get done I feel good about what I just did.

 As far as cardio goes, every other day, it has been treadmill programs and increasing the speed to challenge myself. Sometimes its the recumbent bike with programs and pushing hard with it goes to high resistance. I haven't been able to put together full weeks. I'm starting to become ok with that because it is Christmas and because I am older and don't want to over do it.

 I try to keep motivated with custom playlists on my Ipod. I don't listen to angry music, it gives me a headache. But upbeat, high energy tunes. There are points in some songs that give me that extra boost when I need it. At cool down I will listen to classic guitar, or light Christian music. This helps me to reflect a little bit and appreciate everyone around me.

Thanksgiving

As I see all the posts on what people are thankful for, it got me to thinking a little. Everyone has their own little things that they are thankful for, family, seems to be the most popular and rightfully so. I want to open some thought to the bigger picture.
 It is easily forgotten why we have a Thanksgiving holiday. I see no one, myself included, giving thanks for God giving Columbus , then the Pilgrims, the guidance to sail over here. I mention God first because nothing happens without Him. The Pilgrims started the whole Thanksgiving day tradition, yet there is not any mention of being Thankful to them. There is never any mention of thankfulness to Washington, Jefferson and the rest of the writers of the Constitution, never any thankfulness to the revolution. These are things that helped gain our freedom from the British. I never hear any thanks for Harriet Tubman and the under ground railroad, I hardly ever any thanks to our WWII vets, that were the nail in the coffin of Hitler. We are finally starting to get it with thanking our current troops, and protecting us from people that just plain hate us.

Again this is not pointed at anyone, but everyone. How often do you really look at history and are thankful for sacrifices that have been made? Would we be where we are at if these things did not happen? Just  trying to start some thoughts this Thanksgiving.

15 Things I am Thankful for....

My Sister-in-Law Amy started the above title on her blog. As I read hers,then my brother's I felt I should do my own so here we go.

1.Jesus

2. Freedom                                                                 
 
3.My Wife which is my Best Friend and all she does

4.Cody,Amanda,Jeff and Jake.They joy of seeing them grow up.

5.Mom and Dad,I wouldn't have been born without them

6.Crohn's Diease, helps me take care of my body better.

7.The scars,broke bones,aches and pains. They all tell a story

8.My job. Even if it is a headache

9.A home and place to lay my head.

10.Friends and Family that have left this world way to soon.

11.Books and the ability to read

12.Coffee

13.Vacation

14.The ability to know right from wrong

15. The Car

A Book Finished

I just finished a book titled Black Hills by Dan Simmons.This book is a fiction novel based on historical fact. This type is out of my normal element.It intrigued me because in the start of the book, General Custer is killed at Little Big Horn, to have an Indian boy of 11 years old, named Paha Sapa, "count coup" on him. Custers spirit invades Paha Sapa, who's name mean Black Hills. The book works through Paha Sapa's life, jumping back and forth through his childhood and adulthood. As you work through the book, it refers to a lot of Lakota belief and at times become hard to follow or understand. You also learn along the way that Paha Sapa,can see events of someone lives if he touches them skin to skin. During his "spiritual testing" he has vision from the Six Grandfathers,Indian gods I presume, where he sees Mount Rushmore come to life. The Presidents end up destroying everything. As Paha Sapa grows older, he feels the need to blow up Mount Rushmore.

 As I said earlier, at times this book became confusing. I didn't understand what the chapters with Custer and his wife had to do with anything other than being a filler I guess. At one point Paha Sapa goes to New York,to visit Custers widow. The author decides to explain the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, again not sure what this had to do with the story.
 As many times I almost put this book on the shelf, curiosity kept me reading. At points, it was very good. I enjoyed learning how Rushmore was made. I could relate to all the tragedy in Paha Sapa's life and of course I enjoyed some of the history. I have never been so mixed about a book before.

Whatever to Blog about

Very soon,I will be writing another deer hunting story, but not right now. Instead I kind of want to blog about my life with Crohn's. When I had round one with this disease, I was in my 20's. Young, stressed out with a whole lot going on a that point. I has lost 30-35lbsand looked and felt terrible. I was taking three different meds, that weren't helping. On January 16,2000 I had a bowel resection.
10 years later, I knew something wasn't right with my gut and got checked out. Sure enough, Crohn's has reared its ugly head. I am back on Imuran but that is all right now. I have to get my blood tested every so often to make sure my blood count is good.I also take Iron so I don't become anemic.
  My whole point of this particular blog is to stress diet.I found that 25 or more grams of fiber help me out tremendously. Not to get all detailed, it slows me down a lot. I feel less pain in the colon area, and there have been times where I forgot I had a disease to deal with.This is not a cure or a solution. I still have to make good decision on what I need to eat. I my situation, fiber is the best thing ever.I also need a lot of protein.I'm not sure why I'm not feeling terrible or lost weight. My plan is not too. So, I try to eat better,drink a lot of water and keep a exercise routine, which Jake also likes to participate in. Oh ya,and I always make sure I'm near a bathroom.

Doing Something Different

I am going to try something different in the way of sharing stories of deer hunting, when I was a teen,or other events from my youth. These stories are as I remember them,dates and time may be general in some instances. I'll will start with this one:
                                                        15,November,1988
 Opening day of the gun hunt season. At this point I was 14 or 15. The morning did not produce anything but a cold body. If I remember correctly, Dad and I headed to the big swamp. We made our trek back home and discussed strategy for the evening hunt. Dad decided to put me on the old fence row, this is the boarder of Grandpas property, and the next property. He had said that the deer love to travel this fence row, really there wasn't much of a fence row left. Anyway, it was a plan.
 3:45pm rolls around and we head off to our spots on our 40. Dad takes me to the spot and I climb and get up in the tree.Dad headed off to one of his favorite spots, the "S" shaped tree. The top of this tree was shaped like and S, thus the name.
 So,I'm in my spot,wind was blowing West to East,SW to SE, heavy snow, not blizzard but darn close. It was uneventful sitting for the most part. As I am scanning, I heard a cough. I knew it was getting late and Dad would be here soon to get heading home. Time was about 5:00pm. So a few minutes go by and I'm scanning left, as I scan back right I look down, turned my head left and quickly looked back right. There was a nice, large 9 point.     He was darn near under me on my right, I was facing West, he came in from the North. I am sitting on a branch at this point, I pull up my rifle only to find the glove on my hand made my finger to large to pull the trigger. I take the glove off and set it on my lap. The buck was moving very slow, unaware of what was going on above him. Remember the wind was blowing hard, killing any sound. So, with the glove on my lap, I pull up to shoot again, now the branches are in the way because the angle changed. So I stand up, and there goes the glove down the tree.
 The buck looked up, he knew he heard something odd. The wind had muffled the scrapping down the tree otherwise he would've been gone. I was standing, pulled up and BANG. I saw the blood splatter from behind his front leg,his leg gave and headed east. I took one shot at his rear for good measure.
 I got down in a hurray and checked for splattered blood, it was all over the tags. I went back up the tree and waited for Dad. About 5:20pm, here he comes.
  "Was that you shooting," he asked.
  "Yep," I replied
 "Where'd he go,"
  "Between that tree and that tree," I pointed.
   Dad wanted me to stay there,he went to go look. He's gone not two minutes. "Brian dang it,this is a Doe" he says
"Bull crap that was a buck I saw antlers," I replied. So I got down to look. There stands Dad with that nice, old 9 pointer.
 He was more excited than I was. He asked me if I wanted to gut it. I kindly insisted that he could do it. He was more than happy to take care of it. Now it was to late to drag it back,so we would come back the next morning to bring it home.
 So this is the story of my first buck and one proud Dad.