Now that the blogs are up, I can catch up a bit.  I actually had written a timely post about my second week off, but SA "ate" the post even though I tried to save the draft.  So here it is, reconstructed and added on to.

Anyways, my second week off:  This started with a night away at an Inn along the Delaware River, about 20 miles away from home--not far but far enough to "get away."  The Inn has new owners so they were offering a special on the room rate and I was able to stay for $120--which is about half the price it will eventually cost.  They are still working a few kinks out but it was nice to get away.  There is a nice restaurant downstairs, so I was able to have a decent dinner with a glass of wine, and I jogged along the towpath both in the afternoon when I arrived and first thing the next morning.  I dined indoors in an air-conditioned room with large picture windows facing the river and sat outside on the porch (where they also serve food) in the morning.  The inn was closed for breakfast but I drove to a nearby town to eat, wandered around a bit there, then drove back along the river, stopping at a bookstore to browse and at a restaurant for lunch on my way home.  A short getaway, but enought to feel that I am not completely "vacation-deprived" this year.

I didn't have any meetings at work my second week off, but I did have two mandatory software trainings, which was annoying.  I also went to a lunch event sponsored by a funeral home that is trying to get people to pre-plan their funerals (which I agree, having lost both my parents, is a great idea.)  My father didn't have anything planned before he died, but my mother took care of just about everything except the headstone ahead of time, which made it much easier for my sister and I when she passed.  I don't know that I will take care of this NOW, but I will take care of it SOON--most likely just as soon as I retire.  I have a "certificate of internment" (you don't actually buy a plot but you buy the right to be buried in a particular place) that was gifted to me by my sister, which is in the same place where my parents are buried (and which is, incidentally, the same cemetary where Marilyn Monroe and several other stars have their final resting spots).  Right after Mom died, my sister decided that, since she was in her mid-40s, it was unlikely that she would ever marry and so she might as well make sure that she could be buried near our parents.  They were only selling double plots at that time, so she bought two and gifted me the right to use the other half.  The two women who I am going to appoint my executors are co-workers, not really close personal friends (we are friendly but don't really socialize outside of work), so I feel particularly obligated to take care of as much as possible beforehand.  Especially because since I am in PA and the internment site is in CA, I need to have plans made to have my body cremated and put in an urn and the urn shipped out to the cemetary, and I guess a marker as well, at the least. I have a follow up appointment with a person from the funeral home at the end of this coming week where I will learn more.

I also saw my eye doctor (interestingly, I am now half as nearsighted as I was at 50) and had a blood draw and I arranged to replace my front and back doors, which may be the one thing on my planned list of home projects that actually gets done this year.  That project is scheduled for completion on August 28th.

So: the blood draw for the big direct-to-consumer test.  It was less tiring than I thought it would be--they take about 8 vials of blood and I expected to be fatigued after.  Also the phlebotemist was very good and I had virtually no bruising--compared to the blood draw before this one, when I had a single test done and ended up with a large bruise that took a week to go away.  I used "Vitals Vault," which of one of several direct-to-consumer blood test services out there.  Some of the services, like Function and Superpower, involve an annual subscription (Function's is currently $365 and Superpower is $199); Vitals Vault doesn't require a subscription.  Also Function offers about 100 tests and then a re-test of 60 of the same markers at around the 6-month mark for that fee; Superpower also has about 100; and Vitals Vault has 3 tiers:  120 markers for $99, 140 for $199, and 160 for $399.  With all the services, you can get a review with a human clinician--it's more automatic with Function and Superpower, but I have one scheduled by request for no additional cost with Pocket MD.  All three of these providers will give you both traditional ranges and "functional" ranges, which tell you not just what is average, but what is optimal.

I'm still waiting on the final report (I do have all the lab results; there seems to be some hangup with the final interpretive PDF report, which I have a support ticket in for).  What I do have is a series of extensive conversations with "Pocket MD," the program's AI. The testing (blood + urinalysis) found that I have an (asymptomatic) UTI, which I verified with a second draw ordered by my doctor, and some generally heightened inflammation scores--part of which may be elevated by the UTI.  So I'll be having some targeted re-testing of some markers done after the UTI is resolved.  They also have you put in your supplement stack and they suggested that, while supplementing iron is the right instinct, the fact that I have elevated inflammation means that the iron I take isn't being well absorbed (because of "hepcidin"), so that I need to deal with the inflammation first; also. they suggested that I change the form of iron I take and the timing.  Apparently, taking it in the morning along with my coffee was also interfering with absorption.  Finally, I added lactoferrin (which they didn't suggest, but which was suggested on the anemia boards on Reddit, and they agreed it was a smart move).  They also pointed out that I need to supplement Vitamin D, Omega 3s, and selenium (the last of which i had been taking but not consistently). 

They also suggested an order for tackling issues, generated both a home and a gym workout plan and told me which supplements I take provide the least value so that I can cut them out (and I now have a schedule for taking the ones that I AM taking).  I have my follow up appointment on 8/29 and they suggested that, at that time, I schedule a second follow-up for November for some issues which may be slower to resolve.  They also guided me to a source for integrative (functional) medicine MDs and suggested I might add one as a provider, which I am considering doing, considering that I have a few issues going on.  My PCP will give me referrals upon request and is responsive, but he is a traditional allopathic doctor, and the endocrinologist I went to, who was head of the division at one of the local hospital networks just focused on a potential surgical intervention for a thyroid nodule which has been very stable for several years--I found him completely unhelpful.  I have a couple of integrative MD names and may schedule with one of them, but I'll decide that sometime this fall or even later depending on what progress I make in the interim.

So I am hopeful that with getting the UTI under control, changing the form and timing of my iron supplement, adding in the lactoferrin and Vitamin C to help iron absorption and the Vitamin D, selenium, and Omega 3s, as well as getting serious about adding in strength training and changing the timing of when I eat carbs (no more cereal first) that I will begin to make some progress and feel less tired.