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| Day 9 |
Size: 14
Blood Pressure: 135/87*
Feeling:
Pre-Cryo: Stressed!
Post-Cryo: Much Better!
I would love to tell you how I woke up feeling refreshed and recharged and ready for anything - but that would only be partially true.
I did wake up, bright and early, on my own without an alarm (and earlier than in the pre-cryo days!) after a good night of sleep. Once I opened my eyes, I immediately dialed up the weather channel to watch the apocalyptic swirling hellstorm heading our way and noted that it was, still indeed, heading our way.
I guess there will be a lot to do today...
As a South Florida native, hurricanes aren't new to me. I've weathered the big and small ones (see what I did there?). I've sat restlessly inside boarded up houses with mountains of provisions while a light breeze and a gentle rain came by. I've waded in waist deep flood waters (stupid, stupid idea...! SNAKES!) I've played gin rummy by candlelight for days and endured icy cold showers and sweltering heat in power outages after a moderate storm...and I've fled the aftermath while my house came down on top of us, amid sparking power lines and crashing trees and said goodbye to 90% of my belongings (Damn you, Wilma). No matter how much the days of television forecasts might have you believe otherwise, hurricanes are unpredictable until the very last few hours...
Hurricane preparation is no joke. I grew up seeing crazy people fist fighting in grocery stores over provisions before Hurricane Andrew. I've seen brawls at gas stations that left me genuinely afraid to get gas.
With each advisory we either face doom or an all clear, but the storm remains just close enough that one slight jog can spell disaster...and with travel plans for the weekend that were really important to my husband, it's a house of chaos here...
So...stress? You betcha.
I can bring my college daughter home from Orlando, since she was traumatized from Wilma herself and prefers to be with family during the storm. Also, a jog of the system can put her in the path up there too...she can either ride out a nasty storm here or sit around and have a quiet weekend at home. There's no telling how this pans out. That's what gets annoying. The complete uncertainty. You can prepare for the worst and end up sitting around eating your weight in hurricane party food on a sunny day. Or you can be hunkered down, praying to every God you know.
But you didn't come here for a weather report -did you?
Pre-Cryo:
Did I mention the stress?
I'm also a bit tired right now. Since I woke refreshed and slept well, I think this is stress related. I tend to be a bit of an ostrich - stress makes me want to put my head under the covers and sleep until it goes away.
The scale graced me with a 1 lb loss and I was happy with that. I hope it sticks around. On the bad side, storms and junk food (hurricane parties) are sort of a thing and I feel like my loss might be short lived... I can assure you that no one sits around and eats celery during a hurricane, whether it comes or not. Also, once you buy the junk food in preparation - you're sort of obligated to then eat it. Right?
I think I really need the cryotherapy today. For my sanity...
Post-Cryo:
I have often talked about wanting to hit colder temperatures - and, well, I should have mentioned sooner that I have a bit of a lucky streak when it comes to getting exactly what I want (awesome, isn't it?)
It's a blessing and a curse, and you know what they say about 'be careful what you wish for' - today the unit magically gave me a -306° maximum low temperature.
I don't even know what to say except Wowzers!
Did I feel a difference?
Um, yeah.
It was much, much colder. I was marching in place. My legs were burning like I had climbed a flight of frozen stairs in a hail storm. After I stepped out I needed to jog in place a bit to get the blood flowing. It didn't hurt, it was pretty shocking and kinda amazing. I'm not sure I would want it that cold every time. In truth, it was a bit much. But it was kind of a challenge for myself and I was a bit excited to hit that low.
If I think about it too much, I can still kinda feel it in my legs now (nearly 11 hours later), so I am not entirely sure I am thawed...
I got the usual energy boost and a much needed breath of relaxation to combat my stress levels before I spent the rest of the day searching for hurricane provisions. It took more than 5 hours to find water...gas lines were long, a few stores saw panicky people cutting lines and being rude, but most people were nice and patient. I was nice and patient. Other than one "excuse me!" to a line cutter, I held my tongue and even smiled benevolently at people. I picked up extra water when I found it for the single mom neighbor to my right and the widowed mom neighbor to my left. I offered comfort to a nervous cashier (a 6'5 young man who was looking pale at the swarms of panic-stricken customers) and assured him it would all turn out fine. He was new to the area and had not been through a storm yet. Cryotherapy helped me maintain my patience during long lines, exasperated searches for out of stock items and crowds of not-so-patient people.
I'm not sure, at this point, how cryotherapy will be disrupted by the impending storm, but at this point it almost certainly will be. I doubt I can convince the dashing Doc and his lovely Office Manager to brave a Category 4 storm and risk life and limb just to let me grab my 3 minutes of cold release...that would probably be pretty evil of me...right? While I really hope the storm dodges us, and right now, it's anyone's guess, if it does hit, there may be some turmoil in the aftermath that could result in a bit of a delay in this experiment...which will definitely make me pout...
But - in the last major storm, we lost power. No power = no functioning cryotherapy chamber.
Of course, I do have a generator....
Still evil. Right?
Okay, okay....we'll play it by ear.
In the meantime, I'm sending a loving thought up to the stars for the people who have already encountered Hurricane Matthew and who are facing him down before we do...the brave islanders who are so resilient. May they weather this monster well and raise a mug of rum in it's trails. Where the winds knocked them down, I hope the recovery is swift.
Until tomorrow, my friend.
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