Happy New Year! Has everything changed? Will it be changing soon? Do you have resolutions? Have you broken them, or are you waiting until the end of them month?
That was a thing I wrote early yesterday afternoon. And then things happened.
I’ve finished my week off the grid. This time my experience was not that transformative in the moment. The knock-on effects have been lovely, however. Not only have I continued to ignore the news, but I have also kept social networks like Instagram and Snapchat at bay. I have even resisted Reddit!
That was another thing I wrote early yesterday afternoon. When I wrote “I continued to ignore the news” it triggered me to look at the news. This happened to be 15 minutes after our national capitol was breached by a protest that turned into an act of sedition.
And here we are.
But I’m not going to talk about that.
An orphan gorilla hugging a park ranger
The Consumption
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is the first fantasy book I’ve read in a long time. Fantasy used to be my favorite genre, but over the years I have not been pulled into the fantasy books that I picked up. I struggled through some and gave up on others.
The Fifth Season was a refreshing breeze. The world building is approachable enough that I did not realize until I finished the book that there was an appendix in the back defining its newly created words. As with most Fantasy novels, there is much within the book that is speaking to our real world and daily lives. In some areas the world of The Fifth Season is incredibly more punishing to the looked-down-upon of its society. In other areas the world of The Fifth Season does not look down, or even look twice, at groups of people who are marginalized in reality.
(Oh, I’m trying a new Goodreads alternative called Readng. If you are giving it a try, give me a follow.)
Your parting link is only interesting if you like swing music and bag pipes.
Resolution
Speaking of resolutions, I was given the gift of a resolution in late December. Over the past eight years I have worked to keep my cholesterol levels under control. Jesse and I changed our diets. (Think healthy adjustment and not sea change.) We were more conscious of exercise. (Think Barry varying from little to consistent exercise depending on the month. Think Jesse learning to love running, finishing 5Ks, and keeping it up three days a week forever.)
I have had many lipid panels in these years, but it never mattered too much if I had been good or mediocre in my behavior. If I was doing a good job, my numbers would sneak right below the upper bounds of healthy. If I was doing a mediocre job, I’d roll over top of the boundary. (If I was doing a terrible job, my numbers would look quite concerning.)
After eight years of lifestyle adjustments, this fall my doctor suggested it was time to give atorvastatin (née Lipitor®) a try. Hoo, boy, did my numbers react positively! We’re talking bad numbers cut in a third. HDL cholesterol (a.k.a. good cholesterol) even went up, which has nothing to do with the medication, but I’ll take it!
It is important when taking a statin that you check out your liver numbers (ALT & AST). I received a baseline test before medicating. Six weeks after starting the medication, I was given another test and my ALT numbers were mildly out of range. The advisement was take a third test in early December and see how things go. That confirmed the same results.
My ALT had risen, but was not rising. This told my doctor that the statin is probably not causing the change. He was not worried, but he recommended an ultrasound of the liver to see if it happened to be fatty. Just before Christmas I received the ultrasound report and I have hepatic steatosis, otherwise known as fatty liver disease.
And now we arrive at my ready-made resolution. Lower cholesterol, via statin or otherwise, is not going to remove fat from my liver. The only thing I can do is the thing anyone would do to remove fat from anywhere on their body - lose weight. And here I was excited to have medically induced low cholesterol. The phrase “Mediterranean diet” had started moving from the front to the back of my mind. Alas!
I do consider this a gift, though. It’s good to know my fatty liver exists and I can do something about it. Like many folks, I’d like to drop a little weight. I am not getting any younger. Reducing excess weight and increasing strength through healthy habits around food and exercise are things that will pay dividends in the future. A great place to start is by removing fat from my liver and minimizing the odds of fibrosis and cirrhosis!
Oh, and since I know you’re worried about it, I am assured this is a nonalcoholic liver disease. My moderate consumption did not cause this. Surprisingly, my doctor had no concerns about my continuing that moderate consumption. Though both of us agreed that cutting alcohol consumption in half could be a great way to help lose some liver fat.
Cheers and limited liver fat to you all!
We finished a puzzle