Sometimes Loss is a Good Thing

Since I got back to Colorado, I've had a few interesting losses.

When I started this adventure, one of my hopes was that a more active outdoor lifestyle would improve my health.  Well, I didn't think too much of needing to buy a belt while I was in Brunswick (I just figured the waistbands on my old pants were stretching). But, after arriving in Denver, I did step on a scale (I didn't have one on the boat).  To my surprise I had lost about 35 pounds without any attempt to diet.  My only difference was cooking at home more and working on the boat more than sitting behind the "glowing boxes" (computers, televisions) most of the day.  One benefit I had hoped for seems to be realized.  A big win for me.

I've also suffered from a couple kidney stones in recent years.  I apparently have a genetic predisposition for them as my father suffers from them periodically as well.  Over the past dozen or more years I've had a couple "procedures" to remove stones.  Late last year, before I left to go live on the boat, my doctor found another stone and an ESWL procedure was performed to break up the stone in hopes that it would pass.  Shortly before leaving, they did an x-ray and found that most of the stone had passed but there was a small stubborn fragment that was still stuck in my kidney.  We tried using an inversion table and a few other techniques to try to get it to pass, but it would not budge.  So, I left for the boat with the fragment and instructions to "keep an eye on it".

Since I am back in Colorado, it seemed like a good time to go to the doctor to check up on the stone.  I went to the doctor a few days ago, got the usual X-ray, and waited for the doctor.  Imagine my surprise when the doctor came in and told me that they saw no signs of the stone fragment.  Apparently I had passed the thing.  Woohoo!  I hadn't really thought of it until now, but I didn't start having stone issues until I was firmly settled in my software engineering career (and associated sedentary lifestyle).  I now wonder if it is the lack of movement while sitting behind a computer all day is a big part of stone formation.  Getting out and moving about...and maybe hanging from the mast a time or two...definitely seems to help them pass.  Regardless of the reason, I'm very happy to be stone free again and I hope it stays that way now.

It really seems to me that our, or at least my, modern lifestyle is not a good thing for long term health.  Being sedentary isn't good, sitting for long periods isn't good, stress isn't good...and the list goes on.

Speaking of stress, I've lost something that was causing a lot of stress in my life as well.  My job.  During the last boat move from Southport to Deltaville, it became very apparent to me that my wife and I really need to shift things into high gear and move on with our lives.  The reason I came back to Colorado is to help in that regard.  Working full time has limited the amount of time I've been able to dedicate to our new life.  Add in that the working conditions, management, and morale have continued to degrade at the job over the last year and it made the decision to leave a fairly easy one.  I submitted my resignation, including a two week notice, when I returned to Colorado. The company apparently decided that they didn't want me to transfer any additional knowledge of the projects I was working on to anyone else and released me the next day.  Guess it was good for them that I had already been transferring knowledge so my departure would be reasonably smooth and there are only a few systems that people will have to go figure out on their own.  At least one of us was professional about it.

So, over the past weeks and months I've lost a few things...and all for the better.  I can't wait to get back to the boat and my new, healthier, life.