Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Our Woods








I feel so bad for Gary. He's got the absolute worst genes as far as cholesterol manufacturing goes. The man could live on lettuce and fruit and still have high cholesterol. It doesn't matter how low-fat he eats.... his body pumps out cholesterol like it's going out of style. He has taken statins since 1995 and every 4 months has a liver panel. His liver function has always been normal (which is great) but he easily gets discouraged by the blood test results. This time his total cholesterol was 170 (an all time low for him) but his LDL (the bad) has gone up and his HDL (the good) has gone down. His triglycerides are down to 129 (have been in the 400's) which is excellent for him..... we are sure all the exercising is helping in this area. He's lost 20 pounds since November, is sleeping better and has changed his eating habits and portions ALOT. I'm very proud of him but don't know what to say to help him not be discouraged..... because I would be too.

He's been taking his frustration out in the backyard. He starts talking about cutting some trees down and I go ballistic. This is when our marriage is really put to the test. I love the trees because of the shade in the summer, the pretty colors in the fall and the birds love them year round. When we bought our 5 acres, you couldn't see 20 feet into the woods from the road. We carefully selected the trees we wanted to keep and started chainsawing, limbing and burning the rest. It took us a month of working on Saturdays and Sundays to clear the house lot but it was how we wanted it. When I look out the back windows of my home, I can't believe that it used to be forest and now it's open and we did it ourselves.

5 comments:

Robin said...

I'm sure he DOES feel discouraged, but if he's doing everything right, eventually everything will work itself out! I'll send him good thoughts -- and you too ;)

ccw said...

That has to be very frustrating for Gary. I hope that if he continues his current "program" that he starts to see positive results.

Your woods are beautiful.

Willow said...

Gary's doing great though!

And we have something that tests our marriage like that, too. It's the wall behind the couch. TFB swears he's gonna rip it out. I swear he'd better not. ;)

Beth said...

Sheri, we bought 7 wooded acres and cleared it ourselves. Not all 7. We are about 400 feet from the road, but kept trees around us as well. We burn wood also so have to be careful what we cut down. I'm sick of wood though. Such maintenance!

lime said...

aww, i can see why he'd be frustrated. but he is making good choices and loosing some weight. so i hope he can hang in there and keep on. i know it's hard.