Mike's appendix

[SandyB]

BMI  SCHMI ... its all relevant ...  its all an indicator .. how do you measure the  short stocky muscled guy ??? for his height he is  technically  overweight.. but yes muscled .. muscle weighs more than  avoirdopoix  ( fat ) ..  all I know is Mike has far better chance of surviving  if falling overboard  from a ship in the atlantic .. he will float  whereas i cannot .. i rely upon motion to keep me afloat ..  so in a few hours i will have expended my valuable and limited resources  of energy and succumb to hypothermia  and sink to become shark  and crayfish fodder .. ,, whereas they  would find Mike  2 weeks later still floating  albeit horribly sunburned and a few Kg lighter ...       only joking but  yes its all relevant ..   where is the balance folks ???   ouch life is  so full of those questions ...  but yes Mike  congratulations  on taking some decisions  that may  will   a difference ... we all think we immortal and untouchable   untill something hits us ...  currently I  have had my body screaming at me  ( inner  voice ) ..  its saying  " you been smoking and drinking too much the past  year  .. the time for saying  and using the excuse ..   its been a dificult year  so therefore i can   is almost over " ..  "  its time to take responsibility .. you have  been blessed with a good and resilient body that  has defied  a lot of times vagaries , but if  you continue the current path you will  instead  be blessed  with lifestyle diseases and the consequences thereof "  at least I'm lucky to be hearing this ...  time to take charge again ... but yes not go overboard ... sooner be happy than obsessed .. seen enough of them as well ..  lean mean unhappy ... Uuugh !!

[Bertie Horak]

I agree with Sandy. Too many times I've seen people getting obsessive and going totally overboard, saying "I don't eat this, I don't eat that...." - that seldom works and they snap back in one rebellious move or change the diet so much that they actually eat worse (less nutrients) than before.
I believe in slow change - as long as you are aware of what's affecting your health negatively, and you're serious about working on it, substitution and limiting of all the aggravating factors regularly works much better.  That way you wont throw your new dietary plan out the window the first time you have one tjoppie because you "failed"!  That's not the way to go.  Eating and drinking more of the beneficial stuff, and less of the bad stuff - eventually it will bring change.

[Michael Alexander]

Well had my proper full shower for the first time in A week at home this morning, pad still on.... almost fell over backwards when i climbed onto the scale to find that I had lost 7.1kg in total in a week.... that ain;t healthy...... all I am doing s0 far is avoiding sugar cooldrinks, fatty meats, beer and oil soaked foods, which those of you who know me, I live for.... will try to eat a bit more...must say i am enjoying the massive fruit variety Michele brings home...

[Bertie Horak]

Well done Mike! You will still get "lus" for a lekker juicy piece of meat and a beer - but it looks like you're strong and will keep moderation in mind.
You've got guts, pal! 

[Rhona]

  Good for you Mike......

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

  well done  rooster

[SandyB]

7 . 1 kgs .. if I lose that  I look  like I'm falling through my ...   Mike  the loss  is part of the post op and  eating light  for those first few days ...  you lucky to be able to shed that  so quickly .. most people  it stays stubbornly  put ...   and yes no harm ...  just keep the  shed under control ..  in fact  sometimes a lot of people experience rapid then slow  as the body adjusts ..  slowly but surely is better  long term .. in about a week or  3  you will start to feel good better and better ..  just take it slowly ...

[Michael Alexander]

The bloody gout is becoming a problem now, due to all my chemicals being muddled up again, I now have gout in my knee and ankle...... Aaaaaagh!

[georg ruf jr.]

Geez Mike. You must to take care of yourself. Serious. You're still so young...

[Michael Alexander]

Thanks Jnr, I am working on it......

rooster

[Rhona]

Stick with it - No pain, no gain........you just have to get over this hurdle first...  rooster

[SandyB]

In all likelyhood  its a form of  detox  occuring due to dietary change ...  detox  will shift acid and all other balances in the blood . so yes wreak havoc till system settles down .. and yes gout is at times a complex  ailment ... what works for one individual will not work for the  other ...
Its like someone i knw who nevr suffered a hangover ,, reason,, he would  consume so much each night  ,  eventually  having a totally overloaded  bruised  and sluggish system  that his system had an alcohol  level the next  day that would carry  him through till when he got home  and  poured his    welcome home  stiff  brandy and coke .. when he  was admitted to hospital  for a medical problem ... he  suffered a hangover of monumental  proportions  for  a couple of days ,, apart from  severe headache  actually had  physical pain..  so yes when toxins of  whatever origin exit they can  cause  discomfort ...

[Michael Alexander]

Sounds like Frankie quirk!   

[SandyB]

Nope  it was not   our  dear old Uncle Frankie ..  I really liked him ..  a  kind and sensitive  person .. 

[Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee)]

To come back to this topic  -  I never got the chance to read in what hospital Mike was before we left here. 
Arrived in Windhoek in the early morning hours of the 13th of December after driving straight through the night -  then had to sort out all the camping equipment, reload the trailer, reload and re-organize the packing of the car (due to the fact that Cobus and Boet was mos in that moerse accident the week before we had to go on holiday).

Also  -  and why the hell nobody knows or can explain to us  -  for the first day when we arrived all of our cellphones could not connect with the MTC network but all of us have roaming....  none the less...

....after re-organizing, re-packing etc the men decided we might as well hook up the trailers and set off.  I had to hurry to the mall to buy the most important groceries (also had all 4 teenage kids in the car with me  - may the Lord protect me from such fate about their choice of music in future..) then took off to catch up with the others..

So, I never got to go and see Mike in hospital....   sorry pal, I truly did want to, but when you got a lot of Kalahari boertjies around you who hasn't seen the sea for 2 years and add the matter of lack of ample transport to that, then you are not your own boss anymore.

Glad to see that you are ok again and that all went well.  Keep us up to date with the weight-loss....