I got home from hospital Wednesday afternoon and slept for three hours. I slept, read and knitted pretty much through yesterday’s downpour. This morning I woke up feeling like I was one big bruise from the waist down, but a hot water bottle and pain medicine seemed to clear that up.
Meanwhile, I noticed this:
Woo hoo, so many visitors!
Thanks for visiting and reading. I will get back into blogging soon.
My first year at the new job is over! I’ve quite enjoyed it [this is English speak “for loved nearly every minute of it”]. Teaching introductory and general chemistry was definitely a learning experience but I got the hang off it in the end. The thing is to be tough. Tell the students up front that chemistry is hard (even if it never was for me) and that they will have to work their butts off to succeed. I am grateful that I do not feel as emotionally exhausted now as I did after my first semester in the fall, so I have learned to protect that side of me a little more. Mentally drained, yeah, but I can live with that.
So what’s next?
Scientiae wants to know how we are moving forward. I hope my route is a little different than for other people as I am having a hysterectomy in a few weeks.
Last December it was found that I had three huge uterine fibroids which kinda explained why I was bleeding to death each month. Until the fibroids were identified, I felt that my recovery from the colon-resection I had in 2005 had stalled and that I would never be able to do as much as I saw colleagues and friends doing. It couldn’t be age as I am too young really for me to blame age on slowing me down.
Unfortunately, the fibroids, and my uterus, are too big for any other treatment than a complete removal of my womb. We, myself and my gynecologist, hope to save at least an ovary as I have a few years before natural menopause would set in. My Gyn also permitted me to wait until the summer because of the new job and lack of sick days etc. But then set up the op for the first day I told her I was free, so I guess she thinks it important I get this done.
This is moving forward for me, as I don’t know how I will feel after the operation. Immediately after wards, and probably for about six months, I will feel sore and exhausted and tired and cranky. But hey, what’s new?
In a year, as I won’t be losing so much iron each month, will I have my stamina back? Will I have more energy to do more and better at both work and pleasure? Will I start wanting to ride my bicycle and hiking again, which I loved doing four years ago? I hope so.
On the plus side, I am also told I will lose 15 lbs when the fibroids are removed. That means I’ll only be about 5 – 10 lbs over my ideal weight.
I cannot leave you with another garden photo:
Rhododendron Flower Close Up
Mum heard on the BBC World Service that knitting can reduce depression in older women:
Apparently physical therapists and doctors have noticed that old ladies (and perhaps men – not mentioned) who are in pain and depressed, improved a lot when they took up knitting. They used less medication, were more cheerful and their memories improved.
Doctors think it may be the movements in knitting that help to calm patients. They also suggest that knitting groups overcome feelings of isolation and making nice things makes the ladies feel less useless.
They are starting a proper research programme in Bath to sort out the different factors.
I did a quick search and all I could find was this on BBC Health, which is more about dementia than depression:
Those who had during middle age been busy reading, playing games or engaging in craft hobbies like patchworking or knitting were found to have a 40% reduced risk of memory impairment.
So pick up those needles and stop your mind from deteriorating.
I have had a bad cold for a week which has knocked me out. Blogging should resume sometime soon.
Last year sometime, Molecule of a Day posted on Limonene, which I was interested to read because it is an important flavoring in citrus and considered to be an off-flavor product in the storage of ascorbic acid (vitamin C).
The last paragraph asks:
Green or not, limonene isn’t totally safe. You can actually get sensitized to it – essentially developing an allergy – and then you’re in the unpleasant position of being allergic to citrus peels. Careful lab technique and a certain amount of luck have allowed me to avoid sensitization to any lab chemicals. And that’s a great thing – everyone I’ve talked to who was appreciably sensitized to a chemical said it seemed to turn up EVERYWHERE after that.
Now, I have been tested for allergies and have no response. Those skin prick tests – Nada, rien, zilch, nothing. But I still sneeze when peeling oranges or when using Citrasolv for cleaning. I have other sensitivities too – hyacinths were the first I noticed. The hyacinth story goes:
Back when I was a teenager, Mum gave me a hyacinth for my room. I got a bad cold. Hyacinth died. I got better. I was sad because I had missed the hyacinth. So Mum gave me another; cold came back. I can now smell hyacinths ~100 m away.
Feathers in pillows murder sleep. How can a hotel run out of hypoallergenic pillows?
Honeysuckle flowers take away the enjoyment of being in the garden and they grow like weeds in my garden.
Tea Tree Oil: Shampoo is a nightmare – it all seems to contain sodium lauryl sulfate which makes my head itch, and tea tree oil and/or citrus oils. It took me a couple of months to realize that one of the reasons I was waking up in the night snuffly was because my shampoo had tree oil in it and this was getting on the pillows and from there up my nose. In fact, I would rather have citrus shampoo than tea tree oil. But why cannot shampoo makers produce a scent-free sodium lauryl sulfate -free shampoo. Even kids’ shampoos are too highly scented for me.
Some of my sensitivities may have developed because my PhD research was with sulphites; well known allergy and asthma triggers. My advisor used to joke that when I drank wine, and sneezed, we could determine the sulphite concentration by the number of sneezes. Also, if I spilt any sulphite powder, I had to go outside and get a lungful of fresh air before being able to clear up the mess.
PS To all airline passengers sitting near to me,
I do not have a cold. If you were not wearing so much scent I would be fine. There is no need to complain, within my hearing, that you have caught some dreaded disease and people with colds should not be allowed to travel. I was fine until I sat NEXT TO YOU 🙂
Luv LabCat
A recent study published online by the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry reports on the role of broccoli as a cardioprotector. Broccoli contains high concentrations of selenium (65 nanograms/g broccoli) and glucosinolates, especially isothicyanate sulforaphane (23.6 micrograms/g broccoli). Both selenium and sulforaphane are shown to protect the heart and the cardiovascular system. Sulforaphane induces the redox regulator protein, thioredoxin, which has a cardioprotective role by reducing oxidative stress.
A clinical study reported that eating fresh broccoli sprouts for a week lowered serum low density lipoprotein levels (LDL is the so-called “bad” cholesterol) and a prospective study in Iowa showed a strong association between broccoli consumption and a lowering of the risk of coronary heart disease.
In the study reported in JAFC, rats were either feed, on top of regular rat chow, a broccoli slurry or water for a month before slaughter. At which time the hearts were isolated, stabilized and then subjected to 30 minutes of total ischemia followed by reperfusion*. Heart function was assessed 10, 30, 60, 90 and 120 mins after ischemia finished.
Hearts from rats fed on broccoli slurry showed faster recovery in left ventricular function and aortic flow. Heart rate was not affected by treatment. In addition, hearts from broccoli-fed rats had a smaller myocardial infarct size and the number of cardiomyocytes which under went cell death (apotosis) was reduced.
Hearts from broccoli-fed rats showed a similar response to ischemia as hearts in which thioredoxin had been upregulated. Broccoli possibly limits heart damage by inducing the production of thioredoxin and related proteins. These proteins play important roles in maintaining the inner cell redox potential. Selenium is required as part of the enzymes glutathione peroxidase and thioredoxin reductase, and sulforaphane up-regulates thioredoxin reductase stimulating thioredoxin production and reducing oxidative damage in the cell.
Reference:
Mukherjee, S.; Gangopadhyay, H.; Das, D. K. Broccoli: A Unique Vegetable That Protects Mammalian Hearts through the Redox Cycling of the Thioredoxin Superfamily. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2007. (online)
Notes:
From what I scan-read in Wikipedia, ischemia occurs by preventing blood flow to the heart and reperfusion is when blood is allowed back. Reperfusion can cause injury because the sudden influx of oxygen and blood can cause oxidative damage and inflammation.
Lab Cat 