TGIF

When was your last mammogram?

Mine was today.  It was the fastest, most efficient one I've ever had.  Don't know if it was the equipment or the tech, but it was easy peasy.  Usually it's quite a pain, as I have heterogeneously dense breast tissue.  About 4 in 10 women do.  About half of women undergoing mammogram testing have dense breasts.

So, that's out of the way for another year.

I just had, earlier in the week, my annual eye exam and it revealed that after 25 years of living with diabetes, I have some minor retinopathy in my left eye.  It just means that the very tiniest blood vessels in the retina are damaged and leaking.  I'm going to see a specialist soon who will assess and monitor my eyes from here on out.  The good news is: laser surgery works wonders if the progression causes sight problems.  I have always known it might happen.  You can't have Diabetes with our some secondary damage.  But my annual eye exams were usually a source of celebration since the doc never saw any damage at all.   I was a tad dazed as I walked out of the office, so much so that I left my written eye glass prescription behind.  Air head.

I am a couple weeks away from my 60th birthday, so, hear is what's on my mind:  I'm officially old, whatever that means.  And what does it mean for me anyway?  More wrinkles, a few more gray hairs, and - whoopee - I've noticed some scattered broken blood vessels on my right cheek.  The skin on my legs has entered the sagging phase, and the alligator like texture stage.  Usually, I don't pay these things any mind.  I go by how I'm feeling, and that's enough (most times).  I know that my current preoccupation with the physical effects will pass after my birthday.

In so many ways, I feel better than I ever have.  With 8 months of resistance training and cardio under my belt, I have more strength and stamina than a year ago.  And that's what I really care about.  I want to feel good as long as possible, and exercise is the way to feel good.  It is the closest thing we humans have to a "fountain of youth."

My husband and I have one more week of working with our trainer, and then we're on our own.  He's transitioning us well, working with us on what we need to do from here on out.  We're scheduling regular workouts on our calendar, and we help each other to remember how important (and fun!) these workouts are.  I'm not a complete novice in the gym, but it's been many years since I did this with such regularity.  I am proud of us. 

Go team.

Have yourself a wonderful weekend!