Oh, Lance, how you let me down...

I just saw the first part of Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah this morning.  My reaction was sadness.

Oh, Lance, how you let me down. I read your book "It's not About the Bike," followed your career, cheered as you raced down the Tour d' France lines to victory.  I believed in you, and looked to your example -- that one can overcome all odds -- a single-parent childhood, even cancer -- and be who you were meant to be.  Not just a millionaire, not just the best bike rider in the world, but one with integrity -- one who sticks to his principles even as others give in to weakness.

I watched as you calmly and confidently denied all charges against you, and wondered -- why are those guys picking on you? And thought -- is it because you had redefined the boundaries of what the human body could do? But then, you are beyond human, superhuman -- a god? Maybe you thought so yourself,  and then comes the hubris.

I guess it is not so difficult to succumb to the temptation of seeing yourself on top of the world -- a master of the universe. How far you need to fall now...

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I just watched a continuation of Lance's interview, and now my reaction is one of outrage.  How could anyone do something like that? Live a lie and shove this lie right into the face of the public.  The public can not be blamed for having believed him -- he was playing this perfect role of innocence, as he himself said "a perfect story".  I could see no remorse, no apologies. No regret for having caused pain in people's lives -- those people he tore down and sued for having told the truth and stuck to the truth.  And how about those people who believed in him and looked up to him.  All a lie.  All a lie.  Really reminds me of ancient Greek and Roman mythology -- the protagonist is full of hubris, extreme pride.  Then comes the fall.    

A Toast to the Sun!

In my previous blog, I was waiting for the results of my blood test to find out why I was having trouble breathing.  I found out yesterday from my doctor that everything seemed normal except for one thing -- my Vitamin D levels were clearly below the expected values. Where a >30 ng/ml was the normal average, mine was at 10.6!  In other words, I had a Vitamin D deficiency, and this may be causing all these weird things I was feeling.  Guess how that comes about -- lack of sunlight!!!

I always wondered why Europeans like sitting out in the sun. I usually try to get away from the sun and under the shade.  Mostly it's because I know how disastrous the sun can be on one's sensitive skin -- causing all sorts of dark spots and skin cancer -- but maybe that's because in the Philippines, we practically have the sun out 365 days a year. 

One actually needs only 15 minutes of sun a day between 10:00 and 14:00 to get these normal Vitamin D levels I was talking about. That's 20,000 IE of Vitamin D. Seems easy, right? Not doable, not here, not now -- the sun is in pretty short supply in this part of the world at this time.  Okay then, Vitamin D supplements should not be too hard to find, right? Wrong again, to get the equivalent of those precious 15 minutes of sun, you would need to eat 400 grams of mackerel, 20 eggs, 4 kilos of pork schnitzel, 20 liters of full milk, 600 grams of avocado, or 1 kilogram of shiitake mushrooms. Obviously not possible, not in a day.  I would go for the 15 minutes of sun anytime.

So, I got to drink in -- the sun! To spike up my levels to the right values, my doctor gave me 150 minutes of sun in a 200,000 IE Vitamin D ampule.  Wow, I can feel that warmth radiating from within me, putting a smile in my face.

Is that why Filipinos are always so good-natured and happy? It's all about the sun, the precious, precious sun!!!

Equivalent to 2 and a half hours of sun!!!

You know I need sun...

Einatmen... Ausatmen...

Lately, I have been having trouble breathing. I feel like I cannot take in a full breath, and that my lungs, ribs and chest do not fully expand.  The anxiety this feeling causes makes me hyperventilate, taking in shallow fast breaths which makes it worse. I then try and control this, relaxing myself and my thoughts and taking deep long breaths -- the way I learned it in yoga classes. Inhaling deeply, I send the air into my belly, then up into my chest, fill my lungs, and expand my ribs.  Exhaling completely, I pull in my stomach and wring out all the remaining air.  I concentrate on doing this for a few breaths and that makes me feel better.

I am worried that the cause of this difficulty in breathing could be one of the serious things that are mentioned in the medical articles I looked up in the internet -- among which are allergies, asthma, thyroid problems, heart problems, pulmonary problems. 

Today, I finally went to a doctor to get to the bottom of this.  She listened to my breathing with a stethoscope -- my back and my chest, then said that seemed okay, but ordered more tests to eliminate other possible problems. I had an allergy test, an EKG, a pulmonary test, and a blood test.  The first three tests did not show anything significantly wrong and I am still to wait for the blood test results.

I then mentioned to the doctor that I also had numbness radiating down my arms to my hands and said it was possibly carpal tunnel. Then she said that maybe I had some tensions in my neck and body that could also affect my breathing. She felt my neck and detected a lot of hardness there and decided to give me acupuncture.

First, my neck and parts of my spine area were massaged, then the doctor scraped a little instrument down my back and when I felt pain, I had to shout out. The doctor then stuck in little needles embedded in plaster at these points. She said to leave it until they fall off.

I am now walking around with little needles stuck in my back.   Hope that works!!!