Lots to say today but let's start straight off with the BBL (Brazil Butt Lift) update. So finished week 2 on sunday and it was a very busy week. Continue to see improvements in my muscle recovery time which is just straight out amazing. Week 2 introduced the "Sculpt" workout which is 50 minutes of whole body toning and I have to say, I'm actually impressed. I was kinda expecting there to be lots of lower body focus and that I'd end up feeling unbalanced in this program a bit. Nice surprise to discover that "sculpt" has a good upper body and core focus. I really feel like I hit my upper body and core from all angles which is awesome because I feel like I'm lacking in upper body strength and who doesn't want rockin' abs? Loved the "high & tight" workout again this week, I really feel this routine is an absolute winner for butt and thigh training. Though it said in my program guide to start using equipment (booty bands and ankle weights) for week two, I still felt very challenged and wasn't ready to add them in yet. By the end of the week however, I can see an improvement in my strength and have started to slowly add in equipment and increase weights for week three which I'm already started with. In terms of weight loss, week one I lost 1.2lbs and week two I lost nothing but did see a decrease in my lower ab measurement by a whole inch! That and my sister told me, as she was walking up the stairs behind me, that my butt was "so shapely!" at which point I proceeded to bug eyes, fish face and shout, "FOR REALS?!" Oh yeah, love them compliments. On the downside though, I really felt this second week that I was lacking in the cardio department. I wasn't mad on the "cardio axe" workout from the beginning because I really don't feel it's challenging enough for me, so now into week three, I've started replacing my scheduled "cardio axe" sessions with a zumba on my wii fit session where I find I move more, sweat more, and push myself harder. We will see what difference this makes on sunday when I do weights and measurements again.
In other news, things have been really difficult on the home front. Last monday, I received a text from my mum saying that she was taking my dad to the ER because he wasn't feeling well. His chest cold symptoms were getting worse and he was starting to have some chest and shoulder pain. I told her to keep me posting with what was going on and the series of events went as follows. The docs went to check his heart and make sure he wasn't having a heart attack but all those levels came back perfectly fine. They then were concerned that perhaps he had a blood clot in his lungs (pulmonary embolism) and decided to run some more blood work and do a chest xray. The blood work came back completely fine showing no signs of any clotting problem but the xray came back suspicious so they decided to be extra cautious and get a CT scan of his chest. What the CT found is that he has seven masses in his lungs. To be completely honest, none of us could be more shocked. The doctor was very sombre and told us that the prognosis was likely very poor and that we would need to set up a biopsy in order to learn more about his condition. He went in on wednesday morning for a series of lung function tests and was put under to have several biopsies taken from the masses. One of the masses is about the size of an orange and pushing on his esophagus. My understanding of what the pulmonologist said (second-hand from my parents) is that it's almost definitely cancer based on the lymph node involvement and if we're lucky, it will turn out to be lymphoma which is considerably more treatable than lung cancer. My dad is 51 and a non-smoker. Needless to say, it's been very difficult for us. Harder to explain to my younger sisters and hard waiting around to find out what needs to happen next. My parents have an appointment to discuss the results of the biopsy tomorrow morning. I have too many emotions and fears right now to really sit down and verbalise them. For the time being, I've just been trying to keep the house clean and organised, keep everyone sane, and try to stay positive. I hate not being able to do anything. Nothing I say or do is going to make it go away. There have been days where it's been hard to get out of bed and force myself to workout because I'm just so emotionally exhausted. That being said, I'm proud of myself for how I've pushed on and taken care of myself despite the severity of the situation. I try to remind myself that if I don't take care of me first, I won't have anything left to offer my family. Depending on what we get back from the docs tomorrow, I may very well be quitting my job (taking an extended leave of absence really) as I just refuse to bring in all the germs from work while my dads immune system is under fire.
Unfortunately not a very happy note to end this entry, but what is positive is that we're all looking out for each other and trying to make the best of every moment. I have shown that I CAN push through with my workouts even when my head isn't in the game and that kind of determination is what is going to get me results in the long run. Sometimes life gets tough, so you've got to be tougher.
Until next time.
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