February 27, 2009

The past few days have been very draining on me for more than one reason. I think the New Moon on Wednesday had something to do with some of that! Almost everyone I've talked to in the past two days has told me that they also had a lot of things happen on Wednesday. Okay, it is probably a coincidence, but that's when my laptop got attacked by the ‘virus'.  Yesterday, I was able to drop it off for an emergency visit with Phil, my IT guy, also known as Dr. Phil!!

Technically speaking, Dr. Phil says that it's not a virus. It's malicious software that is installed on your computer and when it attacks, it's unstoppable. I tried for a couple of hours to install some new software to try and remove the malicious software, but could not even get Firefox or IE to run.  I hope this never happens to anyone else, but chances are that it will.  Just beware! There is a window that pops up that tells you that your computer is at risk because it has no virus protection. This new window looks very similar to a real Microsoft Windows alert. If you click on enable protection, it will take you to a site to buy their anti virus software. But, it is just a scam to get your credit card information. Don't do it!!

I just found out that a couple of my friends have had more serious issues arise in the past couple of days, so I'm not going to go on and on about my laptop being out of commission. I've just become quite dependent on it and almost feel lost without it.

Besides all my blog work and my ‘real work', I rely on my Outlook  for all my tasks and my appointments. If I had a Blackberry or an  iPhone, I'd be able to retrieve my Outlook from that device.  I'm just not ready to go there yet.

Since I'm such a good-natured, sweet, forgiving, LilSis, I'm not going to fly to Texas to kick BigSis' ass! You know I'm just kidding, BigSis!  🙂 You had no way of knowing that site was malicious.

Hopefully, Dr. Phil will get me up and running on my laptop in the next few days.

~LilSis

February 26, 2009

Today's post is being slightly delayed due to technical difficulties.  To be completely honest, BigSis sent a virus of some horrible magnitude to LilSis and she's still trying to get rid of it today!  So sorry, LilSis!  I found some bikini photos of Heidi Klum that showed her to be a normal woman with the usual kinds of body challenges that we all face, and thinking it was funny, I forwarded them to LilSis.  So, when LilSis opened those photos, her computer sustained an astronomical virus attack.  That's what I get for spreading photos that are unkind.  Sorry, LilSis.  Sorry, Heidi.   I hope I've learned a lesson from this (head hanging in shame).

~BigSis

November 3, 2008

It's been a month now since the Nasty Virus hopped on me, and 3 weeks since I got out of the hospital.  You'd think I'd be back to my usual workout schedule, but it hasn't happened that way.

• I was shocked to realize that after about 11 days with no physical activity whatsoever, I had not only lost weight – which I expected – but I had lost a lot of muscle.  I don't understand how it can take months of regular focused exercise to build muscle and muscle tone, but only 11 days to lose a huge percentage of it!?  Somebody needs to splain that to me!
• It was really jarring to me to realize how weak and puny I had become, when I had gone into this illness as a very strong and healthy person.  To walk up the stairs to my condo almost winded me, and to stand up after kneeling was a huge challenge for my quadriceps.
• And stamina?  Forget about it!  After sleeping 10 to 11 hours a night, I still woke up exhausted and struggled to work even half a day.

Those are the facts of the situation.  So what to do about that situation?  I NEEDED to get back to working out; both physically and mentally.  But how well should you feel before resuming exercise?  Should you start when you still feel crummy and build up super-gradually, or do you wait until you feel better to begin at all?  Meanwhile, how much more fitness would be lost?  I haven't really known the right thing to do, but I do know that my body is saying “I NEED EXERCISE!”

So off I went to the internet to do a little research about resuming exercise after an illness. Melanie at Healthy Eating Coach talks about the struggle of getting started again, and she reinforced my thoughts to walk first and then gradually add back in weights with more strenuous workouts much later.

There is a great article on TheBody.com which addresses the importance of listening to your body, resting without necessarily sleeping, getting back to your work routine before adding exercise back in, and eating well even if you don't feel like it.  Excellent advice!

The Denver Post also provides some excellent guidelines to follow when you're getting back to an exercise regimen.  I thought it was a great tip to work out at the gym during less crowded times, since your resistance to germs could still be diminished.

And lastly, I found that according to the National Institute of Health, exercise boosts the immune system. They say that:

• exercise flushes bacteria from the lungs
• exercise may flush out carcinogens (cancer-causing cells) by increasing output of waste
• exercise sends antibodies and white blood cells through the body at a faster rate
• bacterial growth may be reduced by the rise in body temperature when you exercise
• stress-related hormones that increase the risk of illness are reduced with exercise

I didn't know all of these things, did you?  These are all great reasons to get back on track!

After reading all this information and thinking it through, I decided that moderation and patience were the keys, as well as common sense.  This past weekend was gorgeous weather, and I couldn't stay indoors resting on the sofa one more day.  So my modified workout plan resumed.  Here's what I did:

• One hour walks outdoors last Saturday and Sunday at a slow pace
• Three trips to the gym during the week for walks on the treadmill at a medium pace
• One hour walks outdoors this Saturday and Sunday at a medium pace
• Plans for this week include stepping up the treadmill pace a bit and adding a few minutes to the workout, and adding a couple of light weight workouts.
• I also want to add back in my yoga and pilates workouts, but I'm trying not to overdo it so that may be placed on the agenda for next week if I'm up to it.  I feel like the first order of business should be to do the light cardio and build from there.

So far, it's feeling fantastic to be active again, even at a reduced level.  I can feel my muscles beginning to wake up a little, and they're very happy about it!  Hopefully this process will continue to go smoothly.  It's been an exercise in patience, if nothing else!  How about you?  Have you had this experience, and how did you handle it?

~BigSis

October 25, 2008

In Part 1 of Nasty Virus, I talked about how I knew there were lessons to be learned from this experience, and some of them are clear to me.

• Be ready to be diverted. Clearly, we should live with goals and plans, rather than aimlessly drifting through life.  But we have to realize that God may detour us.  It could be a temporary derailment, or it could be a permanent redirection.  I had lots of plans for the last few weeks, but I went off on this little detour for a reason and I have to pay attention to it.  If I don't get anything out of it, then it was just a wasted few weeks of illness and recuperation and not a learning experience.
• You have to let people help you. I'm pretty independent, but the main reason I don't like for people to help me is I feel it's inconvenient or an imposition, not that I'm too proud to accept help from people.  I had to have some help during this illness, and I realized it wasn't right to block people from blessing me.  So thank you to the people who drove me here and there, who brought me groceries, who brought me things from home, who took care of my cats, who sent me flowers, who visited me and kept me company.  You were a blessing!
• I can do a better job of taking care of myself. I usually live pretty healthfully: I eat well with no meat at all, I don't consume caffeine, I don't smoke, I drink a ton of water, I take the supplements that I think are important, I exercise regularly, and I try to get adequate sleep.  I have a strong immune system and I'm generally strong.  But I can do better, and I'm inspired to do so.  There are those nights when I have a handful of almonds for dinner (single people: you know you do this too).  Or even worse, how about cheese and crackers or cheetos for a meal?  I have my salty snack weakness and when I'm stressed or tired it takes over.  I want to eat more intentionally, wash my hands even more, faithfully use the germ wipes on grocery carts, and do more yoga to handle stress better.  Doing these things won't prevent an illness like this from happening again…I know I'm not bulletproof.  But I want to do better.  If I hadn't been strong and healthy going into this illness, it would have taken a greater toll on my health than it did.  Out of gratitude for that blessing, I want to take even better care of myself.
• God is in control. This isn't something I just learned, but it's a reminder that I can always benefit from.  I was reminded that I can be put into a frightening situation that has an unknown outcome, and God will bring me through it with peace.  I had never been in the hospital until this, and had never been seriously ill.  Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, I wasn't freaking out.  And I know it was and is because the peace of God was with me, and He is in control.

There will probably be more lessons to learn from the Nasty Virus experience, but these are the ones I see already.  In Part 3 of Nasty Virus, I'll talk about the challenges of getting back to exercise.

~BigSis

October 23, 2008

I'm terrible at being sick.  I've thankfully been blessed with a healthy life so far, so illness has been an oddity for me.  I hate to be sick, to talk about being sick, or to really even acknowledge that I'm sick.  And once the illness has passed, I try to charge back into my normal life as though nothing ever interrupted it.

When this Nasty Virus attacked my body the beginning of this month, however, there was no denying that I was sick.  They don't put well people into the hospital for 4 days, do they?  Finally, after 3 full weeks, I can see recovery in the future although I can't quite get there yet.

So this bug hit with a vengeance, caused a lot of trouble, took it's time in leaving the building, and demanded my attention.  And this time, I can't get back to my normal life at the speed of light.  So, as I'm recuperating, I'm thinking and I'm looking closely at this whole experience.

As a Christian, I know that God has a plan for my life and that He allowed this to happen for a reason.  I don't believe in coincidences and I don't believe in luck.  God either causes something to happen or He allows it.  Otherwise He isn't God, right?  So I ask myself, what should I be learning from this?  What is the take-away?  I know there is good to glean from it because Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.  In Nasty Virus Part 2, I'll look at some of the things I've learned and am still learning from this experience.

~BigSis