Shoulder "Recovery" in New Beginnings

I haven’t been back to jiu jitsu since my last entry. I took several weeks off thinking my shoulder would heal with some basic R&R. When that didn’t happen, I made an appointment with my local orthopedic clinic. An X-ray showed no broken or fractured bones, so the physician prescribed some rehab. I did that for once a week over four weeks in late June and early July to no avail. The therapist would have me do all manner of light resistance exercises that alleged targeted my rotator cuff, nothing that provided any relief. Once that tediousness was over, the doctor finally set me up for a CT scan. My results, I had a trifecta of arthritis, tendonitis, and osteolysis, the latter being a condition in which the bone sort of degenerates from overuse trauma.

So why didn’t my time off help? Because I also have a lot of inflammation in the area as well. The doctor gave me a Cortisone shot to reduce that. Hopefully, in the absence of inflammation, my shoulder can finally heal. It’s filling mostly better, but I’m still resting the area. I’m still exercising, just not my upper body, and I still look like some sort of mutant-kangaroo-human hybrid.

I’ve also decided to make some dietary changes. I was searching online for anti-inflammatory meds when my research revealed that diet could be a huge contributing factor to inflammation, specifically, sugar, cheeses, deli meats, and…basically my entire diet. Everything I eat aggravates inflation. Why are all the bad foods so tasty? I tried a new recipe this weekend for vegetable soup. It’s a concoction of potatoes, tomatoes, sweet peas, corn, green beans, carrots, and onions. I feel better after I’ve eaten it than when I’m eating it. I doubled the ingredients, and made too much. What I cooked will likely last me over a week.

Of all my recipes, only a few aren’t laden with cheese or other dairy products, so I’m going to have to expand my repertoire. I’ve decided to try Hello Fresh. I’ll start with the vegetarian option, and switch over to the pescatarian or possibly the meat option a little later. I spend about $50 at the grocery store every week, and a package that feeds 2 for 5 days cost about $40. I’ll still need to go grocery shopping for things like eggs and bread, but moneywise, the cost should be the same. I may spend slightly more, but I’ll at least not have to spend as much time shopping. I live alone, so I can probably stretch those meals out (eat one portion for dinner and save the next one for lunch or dinner the next day). I’ll have to cook every evening, though, as opposed to doing one big batch on Sunday afternoon. Cooking in the evenings probably won’t be as inconvenient as I expect. One of the benefits of being program chair is that I’m able to write my schedule, and I was able to create a work schedule where I only have to work one weeknight as opposed to two. My coworker, Dr. “Tedd” expressed to me that she kind of prefers working evenings. Perhaps she’d opt to work evenings instead of days beginning with the Spring semester, then I could have every evening off. It’d be nice for her to offer some benefit to me as an employee in compensation for her magnificent inability to comprehend what she’s teaching.

Slight aside: Dr. Tedd still tested my patience over the summer, but it wasn’t bad. At the very least, I’ve been able to block out the memories of aggravation. I keep my cool, but there were a couple of times when I had to count to three. Of the schedule I assigned her, three of her classes were repeats and one, Payroll, was new to her. You would think that with just one class being new to her, she would take that spare time to become a subject matter expert. You would think. Shortly after she administered her first exam, she came to me because she didn’t know how to solve one problem. I told her I’d look over it. A short while later, she knocks on my door again and shows me the previous instructor’s solution to a different problem, asking me why she’s doing it one way or another. At that point, I had stop her and explain that I’ve not taught this class before; these problems are completely new to me. She starts laughing and says, “Welcome to my world.” Are you effing kidding me!? You have a PhD in accounting. You have one new class to teach with plenty of time to familiarize yourself with the material. You should be able to figure problems like this out on your own. You cannot be this dumb, and yet you are. I didn’t say that. I somehow was able to dismiss her.

She pulled the same stunt again a few weeks later when she couldn’t figure out the solution to a class problem, and when I tried to explain to her that it was my first time looking at the project, she once again laughed, “Welcome to my world.” Breathe and count to 5, Rob. She’s just completely incapable of figuring anything out on her own: test answers, project solutions, how to calculate grades. This fall, all of her classes are repeats, and I don’t think she’s taking any time off between now and the start of the semester, so hopefully she doesn’t give me an aneurism.

Back to my point, if she at least prefers to work evenings, cooking at night won’t consume too much of my evenings, and I won’t completely regret hiring her for my previous position. Perhaps, this new diet will help me get down to 200 lbs, and I won’t have to donate my 34 x 34 pants to Good Will. My only other dietary dragon to slay is my sweet tooth. I’m sure baking sheet cakes, French toast casseroles, and cheesecake bars aren’t helping my waistline. I’ve decided to start what I call the “Muffinocalypse.” I’ve found some healthy muffin recipes, so perhaps those can give me my dessert fix. I’m still keeping my jalapeno potato chips, though.

Last updated August 05, 2021