Category: Journal

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Knee surgery booked

This picture is from the MRI of my knee, showing the actual tear.

Because there is no blood flow to the meniscus (but lots of nerves!) it won’t heal (but lots of hurt), so they slice away the rough bits and leave it nice and smooth. I’ll have a bit less shock absorption on that side but otherwise it will be fine. It’s done via keyhole and I’ll walk in and walk out the day of surgery with no crutches required. Rest over the weekend and back to work on Monday.

Surgery in 2 weeks on the 3rd of February at Epworth Hospital in Richmond. I’ll take advice from the surgeon when I see him on the 20th of February and work with Ross from Freedom Sports Medicine for rehab. Likely 6-8 weeks off running, probably lots of bike and swimming.

 

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Knee news

Not my knee, but mine looks a bit like this, with a smaller tear

I’ve been having some issues with my right knee for about the last 3 weeks, and was finally able to get in and see the physio last week. Ross agreed that it wasn’t good and sent me off for an MRI. It turns out that I have a small tear in the cartilage, causing pain when I pivot right or apply any sideways movement on the lower leg.

I’m living with it ok, and will be seeing a surgeon on the 20th Jan. He will probably just want to go in and clean it up a bit, but it’s a pretty simple operation.

I’m not having a lot of luck with cartilage at the moment, after 2 bouts of cauliflower ear. 

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No more anti-depressants

A bit over 6 years ago, I went and spoke to my doctor to “see if there is something that can be done to help me cope better with life, especially the kids and my work load.” I was prescribed Lexapro, an anti-depressant at 10mg. They were a game changer for me in many ways, helping me cope better with the goings on of life, but also opening up about how I was truly feeling. Over the years I progressed to 20mg a day (which is ironically about 5% dearer than the 10mg) when things were really difficult between Bern and I. Over the last 7 months, I’ve slowly weaned myself off them completely, first half a 20mg tablet, then after a few months, half a 10mg tablet, then every second day, then every third, then “I’m not sure when I took one last, so I’m going to stop”. This literally took the better part of 5 months, making sure each step of the way that I was coping okay and not going to be a burden on my family in any way.

What does it mean now? I’m not 100% sure, but then, when is anything in life 100% sure? I’m happy, I’m coping, I’m fitter and healthier than I’ve been in 20 years, which I’m sure is helping, and I have the love and support of my family, which is the main thing.

For now, it’s one less bundle of chemicals in my body, I’m $1 a day richer and life is going well.

I hope it is the same for you.

Love & Hugs,

Mark

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Sandy Point 10Km

2015-08-23 08.29.36After completing the Run Melbourne 10Km in July, I set some new goals, including running the Sandy Point 10Km in under 1 hour.

Last Sunday I achieved that goal, with a finish time of 59:30.5!

Sandy Point 2015 - 3205 certificateIt’s amazing what a healthy body can do, especially as I only took up running 3 short months ago.

I’m so loving the new me I’m creating.

I was told by one of my trainers the other day that some work on my running technique we can shave another 5 minutes off that time, and I believe it. At the moment I’m just putting one foot in front of the other, so it’s time to develop some technique to get things moving better and at the same time reduce the already short recovery time as well as the chance for injury.

My next goal is to get my Parkrun time down under 25 minutes for 5Km. My PB at the moment is 27:12, and that nearly killed me (the headache took 3 days to go away completely).

 

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Run Melbourne

Run MelbourneToday I ran my first ever 10Km run! I finished in 1:08:11.1.

I had 3 goals going in, the settle for goal was 70 mins, the push goal was 65 minutes and the BHAG was 60 minutes.

Everything went mostly to plan, except that I used up almost all of my phone battery on the train on the way in clearing out my massively overweight inboxes. I was in the process of taking the pre-race selfie when the phone turned off. So I ran with no music/podcasts, no idea of my time/speed and only the flags on the side of the road to tell me how far I’d come.

In other words, I had nothing but my thoughts to run with and no idea of how fast I was going. I paced myself pretty well though, only slowing to a walk twice for a drink. I managed to find a couple of people (one of whom was about 7′ tall) that was running at a good pace for me, so I kept him as my guide most of the way (I think I passed him about 7Km in)

Run Melbourne Certificate2About 1.5Km in my left Achilles started to niggle but it never did any more than niggle all the way. After about 8Km the knees were starting to get a bit tight, but I pushed through that okay too.

Overall, really happy, and cant wait for the next one. Maybe a half marathon….

oh and if you haven’t donated, there is still time: https://runmelbourne2015.everydayhero.com/au/marksnell

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Open Letter to the Universe

Dear readers from around the world,

There are a couple of things I’d love you to do below, but first a bit of my story:
Last year I turned 42. A landmark age for anyone who has ever read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But also a time for a bit of contemplation of the meaning of life. So, I was 42.  I was overweight @ 103Kg (though at 6’3″ (188cm) I carried it fairly well)  depressed, exhausted, grumpy and living in a kind of mental fog. Not a great place to be, but when you get there slowly over many years, you kinda don’t notice it.
 
12 months ago my wife Bernie reconnected with an old school friend Nic who introduced us to some products from a company called Isagenix. (http://www.berniesnell.isagenix.com/). Bernie jumped on as she was desperate to lose some weight, I tried them to support her and quietly to prove they couldn’t really work. I went through a few really tough days giving up coffee before I started, but after 4 days on the program I could feel a difference. After 30 days I’d released 10kg but also lost a stunning 10cm off my waist. That’s not the best of it though, I now have clarity of thought like I haven’t had in 20 years and more energy than I’ve had since I was in my early 20’s
BUT, this isn’t an ad for isagenix (or at least not completely) but there are a couple of things I’d love you to do.
 
2015-06-17 06.51.56
With all this new found energy I had to burn it off somehow, so I’ve joined a gym where I’m working out 3-5 times a week and also joined parkrun www.parkrun.com.au where I do a timed 5km double lap of the local Lillydale Lake on a Saturday morning. Since doing that I’ve been able to chip 12 minutes off my personal best time from 40 to 28 minutes for 5km. To double up on that, this Sunday I’m competing in Run Melbourne, a 10km run along the Yarra River from the Arts Centre to near Fed Square.
 
Here’s one thing I’d love you to do: I’m supporting beyondblue as my charity, and I’d love you to sponsor my run and support this awesome charity helping those with depression. https://runmelbourne2015.everydayhero.com/au/marksnell/
 
I’d also love you to like our Facebook page where we share a collection of inspiration, motivation, recipes, results and a bit of fun, all relating to making a better you.
https://www.facebook.com/Health2FreedomAu
 
Thirdly have a look at our website at http://www.health2freedom.com.au and join our mailing list if you like what you see.
 
Lastly, if you like the idea of what you have heard here, want some more information, or want to get in contact, email me your phone number, email address, Facebook details or the latitude and longitude where I can send a carrier pigeon and I’ll be in contact.
 
Whatever you do, make today a fabulous day!
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CSI: Zoom in, Enhance!

You see it all the time on these CSI type shows, zoom in on the glasses and enhance it to see the reflection.

It’s real. Sort of. We had this photo taken recently by our friend Luke from Luke Munro Photography, and I noticed a slight reflection on the lens.

CSI Time 1So I zoomed in on the lens of Bernie’s glasses and did an simple “Auto-Level” in Paint.NET.

CSI Time 2Not only can you see Luke with his camera on the right, but also the couple who had been on the beach and were nice enough to move for the photo.

You won’t be able to identify them in any way, and this is a 10Mb high resolution shot taken with a Canon EOD 5D Mark II. It’s not going to happen with an iPhone photo or a surveillance camera, but I think it’s pretty cool!

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World autism awareness day

Today is world autism awareness day. 

 

What does that mean for me? To me it means awareness of myself. I’m self diagnosed high functioning autistic, with a nod of agreement from the Psycologist I was seeing at the time because she can’t say yes without doing the tests, but both of us knew so why spend the money..
She had recently diagnosed my daughter as high functioning autistic, and in that process Bernie and I had gone throught the symptoms and realised; that’s me, I do that, I can seen that in me, yes, yes, I used to do that, hmmmmmm, I’m seeing a pattern. 
So, I’m on the autism spectrum, so is my 12yo daughter. My wife and 9yo daughter are NTs (Neuro-Typical) a great way of saying normal when you know there is no such thing as normal..
Awareness. I’m slowly become aware of myself, my need for space and quiet. Why something as simple as someone tapping a rhythm on the table can slowly drive me to the point where if I don’t catch it in time, my volcano just explodes and it gets ugly for a while… It gets better with age, and with reading and understanding. I sometimes know the signs. Bernie knows the signs even better, and I’m learning to trust her when she says I need to stop or take a break or walk away.
Being high functioning autistic (formerly known as Aspergers, which was easily shortened to Aspie, maybe I need to try for HFA) means logically being right almost all the time. What happens when a HFA parent tries to parent a HFA child? A small war, is what. Usually with 2 meltdowns, a tired referee and scared younger child. 
What does awareness mean? It means being aware of the Autustic people you know (and might guess). It also means being aware of the NTs that look after them and surround them, love them and have their hearts broken by them. We might even be the lucky ones, we are high functioning, we speak, we can go to the toilet on our own. There are those than can not, and families that surround them and work tirelessly (more likely permanently tiredly) to look after them. 
Be aware, but not alarmed. Just love us, and give us the space we need at times. Love the ones we care about and care for us..
Have an awesome day. 
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Reading: The Go Giver

Just about to start reading:  The Go-giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea really looking forward to it, lots of good recommendations..

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Rise and Shine