Total Eclipse of the Heart

No, not the Bonnie Tyler song, my heart. I know I sound like a broken record, but that is because this blog is my validation and reinforcement tool. Every time my thoughts waiver about healthy activity (I don’t feel like walking, it’s cold and snowy and it’s the middle of winter!), or my thoughts waiver about healthy eating (that left over rum sauce for the plum pudding would taste awesome on some homemade ice cream right now!), I come here and blog instead. Thus, I end up repeating myself…a lot! But it is an effective tool for me, in turning my thoughts back to what is important. Sorry, not sorry.

Anyhow, because I am about to officially celebrate my 2 years of weight maintenance, I cannot help but think back 2 years ago to January 1, 2024. That was when I stopped dieting, and instead started maintaining my weight.

2 years ago, my biggest health concerns were simply to get done all the check-ups that I had not had for years. (All the ones that had been easy to put off because of Covid). And my other concern was to maintain the weight I had just lost, because I was back to a weight considered healthy by medical standards, and I wanted to stay there.

So, I went and had a cervical cancer screening (that I hadn’t had in about 5 years), all good. I arranged the colon cancer FIT test, all good. I booked the dentist, hadn’t been there in who knows how long, x-rays and deep cleaning, all good. Then I even made myself arrange breast cancer screening (that I should have started at age 50, and by then I was already 52).

Then 1 year ago, January 1, 2025, my biggest health concerns were…that stupid lump they found in my breast after my very first breast cancer screening! That’s a long story, but 2 ultrasounds, 1 biopsy (that missed the correct spot), and 3 follow ups scans later, it has actually gotten smaller, so, no worries, I am not losing any sleep over it. Oh, and a small inguinal hernia, (how the heck did that happen??). And I guess I was worried about my hands, these stupid white fingers I get (because they hurt, and make certain tasks more difficult).

Following along in the same pattern of proactively tackling health concerns, it was in June of 2025 and the issue with my hands that I was following up on with my doctor, (after the dexascan I decided to get simply to gauge my weight loss journey and maintenance moving forward, had surprisingly showed the lack of circulation in my hands), that started the ball rolling towards a complete surprise echocardiogram.

And it was right there and then that it felt as though everything I ever worried about in the past, health-wise, EVER, was thoroughly eclipsed by the results of my echo, the results of which I received on August 14, 2025. I never thought in a million years before that day that I had a heart problem.

So, I am here to say that my heart is actually doing quite well, all things considered. And I get to start the New Year knowing, (thanks to getting all those extra base-line tests ordered by a specialist), that my heart condition seems very stable. And I am actually above average in cardio fitness for my age, even if I did not have moderate mitral valve regurgitation, hurray for walking! That is amazing! I feel very comforted and relieved. I look forward to my repeat echo at the end of February to absolutely confirm for sure, (where they will again measure the back flow of blood from my left ventricle into the atrium caused by the torn leaflets of my mitral valve), that those measurements are stable, and are not progressing. A stable measurement will be a sign my heart is holding steady, and could hold steady where it is for a very long time. I really think there is a good chance that will be the outcome of the test. The first test was such a shock! This test should be much better, it really should. I didn’t realize how much I was worrying about every little twinge in my chest until I got these recent results saying my heart is actually doing remarkably well, despite the valve issue. I now feel very positive moving forward.

And my doctor and I caught the fact that I already have osteoporosis! Even though I was initially very depressed about the diagnosis, I now feel empowered to have a new plan of action, (that I never would have known to have, had I not started taking proactive steps with my health starting 2 years ago, and then continued on with them this year too). I will do a whole other blog post about my next steps in that department.

So, I go into this New Year with far less worry about my heart eclipsing everything else in my life! I am left, not with new worries, but with new focuses. I will not allow my days to be influenced by unknown and uncontrollable things. Instead, I will focus on continuing to put my health first. (Oh, and I have a second inguinal hernia that I can worry about instead, lol. Sigh. I definitely have “issues with my tissues” that I can blame on hEDS. I need to be more careful).

3 Days to Go

We have reached the last 3 days of the year 2025. Although I am committed to working on my health daily, because it is my job, (I am dedicated to honoring my commitment to it as I would to any other job), that does not mean I am perfect.

Progress not perfection.

1)I went off my plan on Sunday, December 21.

On short notice, my husband and I took a short trip to visit our grandson. Even though he lives within a decent driving distance (only 2 hours away), to have a really good visit which involves playing with him and driving there and back, is a really long day for us “old folks.” (Of course, we are lucky enough to be grandparents only in our fifties, but we still get tired trying to pull off a day like that). We planned the visit to include a trip to the fancy community swimming pool with a wave pool, lazy river, and water slides, then off to a kid’s movie, and time for playing legos before bed. So, instead of trying to do all that with a big drive there and back, we instead booked a hotel for 2 nights with our Airmiles points, packed up our dog and cat, (which was a lot of packing, even just for the 2 days), and headed out Monday morning.

We had never been in a hotel with our dog and cat before, (because we have only travelled with them in our travel trailer), and we had certainly never left our cat alone for hours on end in a hotel room while we went swimming.

So, that Sunday night, the night before we left, I started to worry and ruminate about all the things I had to remember to pack in the morning. And would our cat be okay if we left her alone in the room when we went to the swimming pool. And would we be good responsible grandparents to a 7 year old for a whole day, would he be happy and have fun, etc.

I worried. And snacked. And ruminated. And snacked some more.

But then Monday morning, I went right back to planning what I eat, and eating what I planned (including some special deli treats I worked into my plan) for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Eating disaster/Christmas fail averted.

2)But then Christmas Day, December 25, came along.

I don’t think the deli meat agreed with me. Driving home on the 24th, more than 2 hours in the truck, (factoring in stops for fuel, bathroom break, etc.), I could feel my food just sitting there in my stomach like a ton of bricks. I woke up the next morning bloated and uncomfortable. Ginger ale did not help. Tea did not help. So, I started snacking, and then snacked some more. Then I decided I might as well eat a lot of all the things I had been resisting during the entire holiday season! I even threw in a few chocolates (that I didn’t even really like) just for good measure. Definitely none of that eating was planned. I suppose I thought if I put enough new food in, it would push the old food out. I ended up passing out in bed for almost 3 hours between 4:00pm and 7:00pm, and missed Christmas dinner over at my sister’s.

But it worked, (sort of). I woke up Boxing Day, and successfully moved—things that needed to be moved—and felt quite a bit better. We had our own small turkey dinner at home on Boxing Day, I ate carefully, and on the 27th I definitely felt almost back to normal.

But I saw a significant increase on the bathroom scale Boxing Day. Ouch.

What I did NOT do was throw in the towel, with the typical “dieter” mentality that I have had in the past. The one where I think that I might as well keep eating all the things I was previously resisting, thanks to the punishing reading on the scale, which are just all the “extras,” the high calorie desserts and treats. I am not talking here about the tasty healthy main meal foods that I normally eat. It’s pretty much only high calorie extras and desserts that cause me to gain weight. Avoid those, and I get to stay the same weight while still loving the food I do eat. Go “off my plan” and the weight jumps on. Fast.

The moral of the story is getting right back on track after both those days of going off plan has been really important for me. Weight maintenance means no one more “1 tire is flat, might as well flatten the other 3 tires” mentality. One day, even two different days is not the end of my discipline and consistency (even though it feels that way). It is just a brief moment in time that can be forgiven and corrected.

I know it’s a slippery slope. Certain old behaviors are always waiting to take a hold again. But only if I let them. If I am determined to not to let them, those behaviors will go back into the closet where I left them more than 2 years ago.

It also helped for me to remember that on January 1, 2026, I am going to be able to celebrate 2 years of actual weight maintenance, for the first time in my life!

The scale is slowly coming back down (isn’t it funny how it takes 24 hours to rise up, and probably 5 to 7 days to come back down??). 3 more days to go until the new year. I have made a plan and I am going to stick to it.

My Health is My Job: No More Complaining About It

Okay New Year, bring it on. (And all the snow is gone, so I can walk in runners again. At least for now).

I am not going to complain one more day about this, that, and the other, (even if I am still waiting to read one last test result, ug! But it’s just for my file—my baseline to compare to—so I need to just get. over. it).

My health is my job.

Nothing else matters if my body refuses to cooperate.

I need to do simple things. Move. Walk. Stretch.

Guard my sleep.

Eat clean. Reduce the poison disguised as sugar and salt.

“Illness doesn’t discriminate,

but it respects those who take responsibility for themselves.

Aging is not an excuse to become helpless.

Some people turn aging into a performance of complaints. (Okay, I have been doing this, my bad).

Strength is attractive.

Resilience is magnetic.

People respect the ones who stay capable, not the ones who surrender.”

Two Weeks Until Year’s End

But sometimes it is yours to carry.

When I look back on the whole year and all the changes it brought for me personally and physically, it seems big and like such a huge amount to carry. Frankly, it feels like it was too much.

I started the year with cold hands and white fingers.

I am ending the year with cold hands and white fingers, persistent numbness in my right foot (so far only the right), hEDS which explains my chronic slow digestion and resulting gut problems, a new inguinal hernia (I now have bilateral inguinal hernias), osteoporosis in my spine (but only osteopenia in my hips), and a torn bi-leaflet mitral heart valve resulting in moderate regurgitation.

I never should have written all that out!! Because every year will feel like a dumpster fire if we only look at all the bad stuff all at once as a whole. A whole of anything is big. Too big. That is why all the new year’s advice usually includes looking at things one piece at a time, one day at a time. I read a good saying the other day, something about change is made in a 1000 tiny steps. Nothing about life has to be lumped all at once into one single daredevil jump across the Grand Canyon! Yikes!

I can make a list of all the good stuff too, just by looking back at the photos I took this year. There was a lot of great stuff that happened this year, trips to see family and memories made, etc. They are all past events and things I can look back on and remember with happiness. All the other medical crap that happened this year, (despite at least getting answers to questions I’ve had for years—which is the good part), sadly, I get to carry them all into the new year with ongoing concern…

I wish I could just leave it all behind in the rear view mirror as the past is the past, but our bodies don’t work that way. We carry our physical burdens into the new year. We can’t leave them behind.

That was one of the biggest realizations I had this year, as a life-long dieter. All the health diagnoses I received this year are not something I can get rid of with the right diet and application of discipline and consistency. Or with new coping skills and routines so that I could simply “lose” the physical burden of excess weight that my body is carrying, and be lighter and the more healthy for the changes I make, (and all that is real and valid, and almost as serious as any other heath diagnosis, and I must not forget that). But most physical burdens are different than mental burdens that can be eased somewhat with better thinking, mental reframing and coping skills, etc. So, all I can do to lighten the physical burdens I carry, is by maintaining the physical fitness I have (thank goodness I worked hard in 2023 and 2024 to achieve that!), and focus on all the positives in my life, of which yes, there are many. I have family. And really, my body is amazing despite all the defects in the manufacturing!

I suppose writing out all the negatives in this blog post does already make me feel lighter. Listing them all just now felt heavy, at first…but now they are off my spirit and instead they sit here on this page. They are not me, I am not them. I am just a person dealing with stuff like so many other people. And some of my stuff is not really that bad, and could be stable for a long time, (I will know when I have follow-up testing at the end of February—ug, another medical appointment to wait for, and I hate waiting, lol).

Whatever you have to physically carry into the New Year, there is no point in wishing you did not have to carry it. And I am sorry for the things you carry that are unique to you. (And just because someone carries heavier things than you, does not mean yours are not heavy to you, just saying).

The only thing you can control is how you carry your own burdens, and we all have burdens to carry. Carry them with your head held high. Lighten what you can. Be undefeated, either way.

In a Long History of Dieting: My Worst Christmas Fail

On holidays, Drumheller, Alberta, June, 2013.

It was in 2013. I had lost 62.3 pounds in 2012, after I found out I had Celiac Disease and I went gluten-free. At first, I didn’t even try all that hard to lose weight, it just happened organically because I could no longer overeat my favorites, like bread, cookies, and crackers. (Back then the gluten-free alternatives didn’t taste very good). I just went without those items, and the pounds started coming off. And I got my first iPhone and started tracking all my walks on the RunKeeper app. I found it very motivating to track, and still do.

Then in 2013, I struggled to maintain the loss, (gluten-free was getting trendy and popular, and the gluten-free alternatives were getting better tasting). Each month consisted of about two weeks of overeating, which brought my weight up, followed by two weeks of restricting, to bring it back down again.

I yo-yo’d all year long, and by December of 2013 I was exhausted with “white-knuckling” it. Following my typical pattern of overeating the last 2 weeks of November, I had been very restrictive the weeks leading up to that Christmas. And just before Christmas, I found myself only up 8 pounds from the very lowest my weight had been in all of 2012. So, despite the yo-yo’ing, I felt like only 8 pounds up meant I had pretty much “maintained” for a whole year. (Spoiler alert: yo-yo’ing up and down 10 pounds every single month is NOT maintaining, it’s a big red flag that you have a problem with how you eat, that you have NOT yet solved…)

On Christmas Eve, we were invited to an open house at a friend’s. All night, I resisted the egg nog and other gluten-free treats, (I had even made and brought gluten-free Rice Krispie squares myself, but did not eat any of them). I only ate carrots sticks and baby tomatoes off the veggie trays other people had brought.

Christmas morning I got up and weighed myself. The scale was up .2 of a pound.

Only .2 of a pound.

But I figured for all my restraint the previous evening, while everyone else indulged, I should have been “rewarded” with a loss. And I was some upset that I had instead been “punished” with a gain.

So, I did what many of us (dieters) have done, and I chucked it in the f#&*! it bucket, and started to eat all. the. things. (Gluten-free, of course).

By January 2, I had gained 12 pounds.

By July of 2014, I had gained back 40 pounds total, since my lowest in 2012.

Sigh.

Overeating treats, desserts, pick your poison, is a bad habit. It’s a habit I used to turn to when feeling emotional, or anxious, or frustrated.

The problem is, I truly have gotten tired of doctor’s appointments and tests, and then waiting for results. I currently feel emotional, anxious, and frustrated with the waiting.

Back in August, I felt abandoned by my doctor’s blasé attitude about my hEDS leading to moderate mitral valve regurgitation (I didn’t even get to start with mild—straight to moderate—I feel like I skipped a step!) and I asked to be referred to a specialist.

But then after the osteoporosis diagnosis (I didn’t even get to start with osteopenia—straight to osteoporosis—I feel like I skipped another step!) I just wanted to pull back and take a break from all things medical. I was struggling with feeling somewhat depressed, wanting to soothe with food, so please, no more appointments and tests=no more concerning news about my health. I had heard that the wait times for a specialist could be 10 months, so I was prepared to stop thinking about doctors and appointments, and instead just work on fitness in the new year, leading up to my Dexascan in 2026, that I wrote about here.

But then I got the call from the cardiologist, with the last minute opening, and all the tests started all over again. And now, I find myself on a weekend, with less than 2 weeks until Christmas, waiting for the results from the recent 24-hour heart monitor I wore. And I have one more (unexpected) appointment on Monday, AND I have one more (unexpected) blood test Thursday, and then I have to wait for the results of that blood test too.

The good news is it should be all done by Christmas.

The bad news is I want to eat all. the. things.

Sigh.

But, instead of eating, I came here and blogged instead. I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes I made in 2013.

Keep Walking!

“Yes, daily walking can help manage mitral regurgitation (MR) and potentially delay cardiomyopathy by strengthening your heart muscle, improving fitness, and managing symptoms, but it won’t fix the leaky valve itself; it helps your heart pump better overall.”

Nothing fancy. Just walking. Consistently.

What a huge impact my 127 week streak (about to be 128 weeks) of walking has been on my (what a surprise to me) heart valve issue! (And bonus, it is helping me maintain my weight loss—long term—for the first time in my history of dieting). 😊

Walking is Excellent Cardio

Today, I got a “2 for 1” special. First, I went for my stress test, which overall went very well. A few “premature ventricular contractions” at the start of the test, and then more PVCs again at the end, when I bent over to re-tie my shoes, (because I told them bending over is when I feel…out of breath…sometimes, so I bent over for a minute with all the leads still hooked up).

But otherwise, all the walking I do…has paid off. I have “above average for my age” exercise tolerance. I know it’s silly, but it was nice to get a “good grade.” I have identified that I rely far too much on external validation like feeling as though I have just “passed” a test, even a medical test, but overall, I still feel good to have got it done today, and to have confirmation that my consistency with regular cardio exercise—simply walking—has paid off in keeping my heart healthy enough to handle the extra stress of this valve issue.

And instead of having to go back for the 24-hour Holter monitor on Thursday, they saved me the drive, and hooked me up right after my stress test. It was truly lucky, as at first all 7 units the hospital had at hand this morning were all booked for people today. But then someone brought one back from their appointment yesterday, and they were able to rebook it out to me before I left. Woo hoo!

I am so glad all these tests will be done by noon tomorrow! I am also able to drop my unit off at the health lab in town (15 minutes from my house—small town), instead of driving it another further 25 minutes to the next town—larger town, where the hospital is. Also, there is a free public skating tomorrow too, so I can go skating, then drop off the monitor. Perfect! 😊

Send Help. Or Tea.

I am a thief of memes. I love saving memes, and then redistributing memes, thereby incorporating memes in my blog posts.

In my last post, I used a meme that mentioned coffee, but it sort of bugged me (just a little, okay, maybe a lot, in my slightly neurodivergent way) that I am not actually a coffee drinker, I am a tea drinker in a coffee world.

So, this meme fits my identity much better. Although I don’t actually need help at the moment, (or maybe I do), the universe has been sending me help anyway, by way of many vloggers and bloggers who are doubling down their efforts for this last month of 2025. I am so inspired. Even if some of us are struggling, and feel all they can do is make it through the month and focus on a New Year’s reset, (and I honor those people too, because that means they have not given up), there are those who have managed to find the extra motivation to do things today, all this month, that will serve their future self on January 1, in a positive way.

Remaining committed to being in “the game,” (even if the game starts a few weeks from now instead of right now), well, that is always better than quitting. With that in mind, I went skating again yesterday, and I went for my daily walk today, my third day in a row trudging through the first snowfalls of this year.

One More Month Left in 2025

Okay, how great is it that the first of December is a Monday? I feel inspired. Even though I have had the occasional thought, “Why are you excited about upcoming medical appointments, they don’t actually change anything about your condition…” my predominant thoughts have been that it will be wonderful to have a more comprehensive baseline through which future tests can be compared, that I wrote about here.

So, whatever your journey is, health, exercise, weight loss, weight maintenance, school, learning, home organizing, heck, a little of all of the above, my goal this month is to ignore negativity (my own self-negativity in my head) by replacing it instead with positive action.

So, in addition to going to some upcoming medical appointments, (1.stress test, 2.get heart holter monitor, 3.take holter monitor back), I am especially focused on the fact that without planning it, I am less than 90kms from 1500kms walked for the whole year. My consistency with my regular walking has resulted in the highest kilometers walked EVER in one year, at least ever since I started tracking on RunKeeper in 2012. (Previously, my best year was 1446 kms walked in 2016, my lowest year was 172.3 in 2018).

Wait. 172.3 kms in total in the year 2018?? Wow, I forgot all about that year. Talk about selective memory, (I obviously blocked out how bad it was). I remember now that in 2018 I had terrible joint pain, most likely due to out of control inflammation. As a Celiac, I was eating a lot of gluten-free grains, like quinoa, brown rice, “gluten-safe” oats. But then…I just got lucky. To the best of my recollection, it went something like this: In December of 2018, I went to the cupboard to get my quinoa or brown rice or oats, to cook up with my blueberries, but then I just stopped. I stood at the cupboard remembering how good I felt in 1999, when I tried the Atkins diet. So, I decided right there and then to go grain free. (Not low carb like Atkins, because I was still going to eat the blueberries, but no more grains).

33 days later, the pain in my joints was gone! I just woke up that morning, and it was gone. I looked back to when I stopped eating grains, and counted that it had been 33 days.

(In hindsight, I think my chronic joint pain and inflammation had been some version of “leaky gut” associated with my hEDS, but I just called it grain—grains of any kind—intolerance, because I did not know until just this year that I have hEDS).

I feel really lucky that I discovered a “cure” that worked specifically for me, (although constipation and upset stomach is still an issue), but no more joint pain!! For me, grain free is pain free.

Here’s to a great December, (and to listening to your instincts about your own body).

Skating and Next Level Health Care

December 2023 and November 2025.

I think I have been complaining far too much lately, and not appreciating life enough. American thanksgiving posts are an excellent reminder to focus on gratitude. So I corrected some of my bad attitude by going skating Wednesday morning (our local arena provides free public skating, multiple times a week, how was I wasting these opportunities??) and finally started appreciating again how great our local arena is.

When my dad passed away in November of 2023, I posted here about how lucky I was to have skated with him on a frozen lake, 3 different times when the weather was cold enough without snow that the lake turned to glass. And I went skating many times that winter (at the free public skating at the arena) to remember my dad.

Then I did not go skating at all in 2024. Thought about it, then thought about my cold hands, and then just never did it, (even after I got heated gloves).

So happy I finally kicked my butt in gear, and got back on the ice, and remembered my dad.

Then, the good news is I actually just got a call that Wednesday afternoon right after skating, the cardiologist had a last minute opening for the next morning, so I went yesterday. Omg, seeing a specialist is next level! Everything is booked so fast, no messing around! What a relief. I did not realize how…abandoned I had felt by my family doctor, who had basically said, “It’s okay, it’s no big deal, it’s only moderate not severe yet.”

It’s not like I had a heart murmur for years, or like since I was a kid, and that having my heart checked was just “routine,” or something. I had NO idea anything was wrong with my heart at all until this summer, so to me, it was a big deal! (And I had skipped right over mild, and was already up to moderate, and borderline severe on one of the measurements).

The cardiologist said she does NOT want me to have to wait a whole year between echocardiograms to check again, so we can see if my condition is stable or progressing. So, my next echocardiogram is now scheduled for February 26, so by my birthday at the beginning of March, I should know if my condition is stable (fingers crossed).

And she wants other tests for a more comprehensive baseline of where I am at now, through which future tests can be compared, because my significant osteoporosis (at my age) is a real red flag, in her opinion, along with my other low levels, like iron, which could weaken my heart further.

It feels so great to feel…supervised. I did not realize how comforted I would feel to know, even though it does not actually change my condition or anything, just that someone is checking up on the situation. And my next echo appointment is already booked. 🙂