Live a Life of Significance

I want to make a difference in this world.  Always have.  Always will.

If you've only known me as an adult, I hope that would come as no surprise to you.  But if you knew me growing up, it might be a complete surprise.

I was a good kid.  Decent grades.  Respectful.  Boy Scout.  Active in my church.  But nothing about me growing up would get you too excited.  Painfully average, I would say.  Boring maybe.

I guess I had my moments.  I remember one time one of my high school teachers spread the rumor that Ronnie McNabb and I had egged her house one Saturday night.  We didn't do it. 

I dropped by her house the next morning after church with my mom in the car and asked her why she was spreading those rumors. (Yes, the rumor was already out there the next morning--I heard about it at church before I could even get in the door.  Such is life in a small town.)

She came to the door but had one of those chain things like hotels have so she only opened the door a little bit.  "You did it Joe Black!  I saw you!"

Honestly, I didn't do it.  But the next weekend her house got seriously egged but I have no earthly idea how that could have happened.

We didn't have a lot but we always had food on the table and a roof over our heads.  We had bee hives, cherry trees, and a good sized garden.  And I was gainfully employed from age 10 on.

But you know what?  All that means nothing.  Even the infrequent naysayer that I encountered along the way couldn't stand in the way of me pursuing my dreams.

Play football?   Too slow to be a back, too little to be a lineman.  Somehow I made it work pretty well.

First one in my family to attend college?  No problem.  I was actually never NOT going to college.  I still have no idea how my parents did that. 

The perfect family and great kids?  Got that one in spades!  Married to the same person for almost 42 years now.  I've got great kids and the best grandkids ever.   I actually knew when I was a child that I wanted to be a father.   It's the best gig ever.

A job that let me do something I loved?   Been doing it for over 40 years now.  Sometimes I want to pinch myself to see if I'm dreaming.

Rich?  Travel?  Famous?  None of those things was in my dreams.  I just wanted to be happy and healthy.

So, how do you get there?  How do you have the life you want?

First, dream big.  Don't let anyone limit your dreams.  Anybody that tells you that you can't--cut them out of your life. 

Give yourself a road map to get there.  Pursue those dreams with vigor and determination.  Whatever they may be.

And never give up.  If a door closes, look for a window.  If you make mistakes (and you will), learn from them, grow from them, and move on.  Have no regrets.  Leave no stone unturned on your path to what you want out of life.  Live a life of significance.

Using Technology in the Pursuit of Good Health

Do you remember when we used to have to call a phone number to get the time & temperature?  We really used to do that.  Really. It was most often provided by a bank.  A lot of those same banks listed the time and temperature on a sign out front. 

And the weather radar...you used to have to wait until the 6 o'clock news to see a weather radar.  We used to make our plans for the next day based on Margie's weather predictions.

Not so much anymore.  Now we just look at our phone.  Want to know the weather in Singapore?  Three clicks and you've got it.  See if it is going to rain this afternoon?  It's in there.

Oh, and maps.  We used to use maps to tell us how to get where we wanted to go.  Now we just punch a button, give our destination, and the directions are provided to us as we travel.  "Turn right in 100 yards."  Or punch one button and tell Siri "find the nearest Starbucks" and she will do it for you and tell you how to get there.

Did you know that the same phone can help you achieve your health and fitness goals? 

A lot of people are counting their steps these days.   I see lots of reports about that.  "I got 15,000 steps today!"   That one's pretty cool.

A lot of bikers use Strava to give them the data from their ride such as distance, speed, average speed, and total climbed.  (BTW, none of these apps pay me anything for listing them here.)

I've got Strava but don't use it much for a couple of reasons.  One, most of the time all I'm trying to do is keep up with Steve Bright.  That takes about all I've got.  I don't need data to help me there.  Secondly, I don't like to carry my phone on the bike.  That is my time to escape the phone.

I've got an app on my phone that gives my walking/running distance, steps taken, and flights of stairs climbed.  Every day.  I don't have to do anything.  On any given day, it is there.  Since my phone is in my pocket pretty much all the time I'm not on my bike or asleep, it's pretty accurate. 

I use another to chart my blood pressure.  The cool thing about this is that I can drop the data to my Primary Care Physician. 

There are a bunch of apps to help you with your diet.  You can monitor what you eat, when you eat it, count your calories, and remind you to hydrate.  With the help of a watch or chest strap, you can monitor your sleep, the quality of your sleep, and can measure your heart rate during sleep. 

You can get a personal fitness coach, a workout of the day, or a link to the closest gym.  You can get an app to help you daily with stretching, meditation, or yoga.  The list is endless.

Healthier Tennessee is a program that has several parts that will help you with developing better health habits.  Their app is a free download.  It's really handy and offers a feature called "Small Starts" that is an easy way to take those small steps that seem necessary to get started.  It encourages better hydration, better eating, more sleeping, and more activity.  Try it.  I think you'll like it.

Like any tool, these things only work if you use them.  But the technology is out there for you to use.  Won't you take that first step today?

Backpacks Back Again

She walked into my clinic, her backpack seeming to be as big as she was.  In one hand was a gym bag and in the other was a purse.  Somewhere in there was a laptop in its own case.

I didn't know if I was watching some beast of burden or a new form of weightlifting.  It turns out that she was there for me to take care of her back pain.  Go figure.

Thus begins another episode in my personal tirade about what we are asking our kids to do to get an education:  Carry a backpack every day that is more suited to a week in the wilderness.

I'm a firm believer that if you are going to point out a problem, you should be prepared with a solution.  I thought that was what computers were going to do.  So I'm not sure what to do.

But I know it is a problem.  The first time that I addressed this topic (I've been back there several times), I had just weighed the backpack on one of my student trainers--a 95 pound high school sophomore. That pack weighed 35 pounds and talks had started at her school about the transition to computers for everything. 

Computers arrived but it didn't solve the problem.  I'm not sure why not but I see these school backpacks every day.  They're full of books (which I thought would be obsolete by now).

So what can you do?  First, make sure they fit well.  They're not meant to be slung across one shoulder.  Both straps are supposed to be in their proper place.   The backpack should be in the upper middle part of the back.  It helps to have compression straps around the backpack to keep the load inside from shifting.

The straps should be loose enough so that the wearer can move their arms and shoulders easily.  Those straps should be contoured and fit the wearer.  A strap across the chest connecting the two straps is a great idea.

The American Physical Therapy Association recommends that the weight of a backpack be no more than 10-15% of the weight of the wearer.  That student trainer I mentioned?  Her backpack was 37% of her bodyweight!

The backpack should match the size of the wearer.  I've seen some backpacks that were more like what you would expect to see in a 3rd world country on market day. 

Don't  ask your son or daughter to wear a hip belt.  They will quickly tell you that it isn't cool.  I'm not sure that's a battle you can win.  Same thing with backpacks on wheels.  Even though both of those are good ideas.

Bad posture is the first thing I notice with a too heavy backpack.  The head and neck crane forward to counter-balance all that backward and downward pull.  Back pain happens but what worries me more is the chronic back problems that can happen with long term abuse.

And if your back hurts, see a physical therapist.  This is the type of problem that we see every day.  But in the meantime, what about those computers?

One Good Dog

I had a great dog onetime, a Dalmatian.  He actually was my daughter's dog.  She got him one Christmas morning and immediately dubbed him Bubba.  We had no idea he would be huge for a Dalmatian and thus deserving of his name.  They were inseparable. 

But then my daughter went away to college.  From that point on, Bubba was mine, heart and soul. 

I've had other dogs.  My first was a Beagle named Bubbles who died too soon after an apparent snake bite.  Then my dad brings home this little dog of mixed breed.  Brown from the tip of her nose to the end of her  tail, we called her, of course, Brownie.

Brownie didn't like people outside the immediate family and I was never even sure about the family but we fed her so she tolerated us.  My friends knew to wait until Brownie was put up before they came into the house.  She was just downright mean.  She lived too long and I left her with my parents when I went away to college.  I didn't miss her.

But Bubba was different.  He was special.  He loved everybody.  We never had to worry about him with other people.  He lived to please.  He might thump you with his tail but that was about it.

And he worshipped me.  When I was gone through the day, he wouldn't eat a thing.  Then, when I pulled in the driveway, he would wait until I opened my truck door, make sure it was me, then head for the food bowl.   When I travelled I would always worry about him.

I would occasionally take him for a ride in my son's jeep.  He would sit like a statue in the front seat.  He enjoyed it so much he wouldn't so much as move a muscle lest I not take him with me.  He wouldn't even move his head, just catching a glance of me by moving only his eyes.   I don't think he loved anything in the world more than that.

Then he got cancer.  When he wouldn't eat bacon (his and my favorite food), I knew it was time.  I cried like a baby when I buried him near my barn. 

So what's this got to do with sports?  I don't know...I figure that if the Westminster Kennel Club show can be featured in the sports pages and shooting birds over a dog is considered a sport then my story of Bubba can fit in there somewhere.

And it doesn't have much of anything to do about injuries.  Bubba was healthy until the end. 

Maybe it has everything to do about living.  I know there are people out there who only get exercise when they walk their dog.  That's OK.  At least they're out there.

For some, I know that it is a cure for loneliness.   Even the unloved can find love in a dog.  A dog loves unconditionally and too few people don't have that in their lives.  Most dogs require very little, just food and a pat on the head.

So if exercise and healthy living add quality to your life, then I think there is room for a dog in there too for a dog surely adds to the quality of our lives.

I miss Bubba but I don't want another dog.  I had one great dog in my lifetime.  I think that's enough.

Avoiding Skin Cancer

When I sit down to write in this space, most of the time I write about what's running around in my brain at that moment.  Something always seems to pop up that leads to a column. Things I see in our community.  Most often something to do with sports. Sometimes it's more what's on my heart. 

I try not to focus on my own personal story.  You probably know too much about me anyway.  I know I wrote about my own headaches last week but my point was really that if you have headaches that persist or are somehow different you should seek medical attention.

But sometimes my experiences might help you understand where you are in your own path to good health.  I had more of that this past week. 

Let me explain.  Last week, I underwent a dermatology procedure called Blue-light therapy.  Also known as Photodynamics, it is a treatment for precancerous lesions. 

If you've paid attention, you know that I advocate visiting your dermatologist on a regular basis.  You also know that I encourage everyone to take care of their skin.  Unfortunately, we don't do that very well.  Lots of sports are outside, exposing athletes to lots of sun.

But the sun takes its toll.  And usually the problems aren't revealed for many years.  Those spots that we might call age spots or sun spots? If left untreated, about 10% of them can turn into a type of skin cancer called Squamous Cell Carcinoma. 

What you might also not know is that a lot of cancer that is found elsewhere starts with skin cancer.   Unchecked cancers on the skin can metastasize to the different organs in your body.  It happens too often.

The good news is that most of it is preventable.  Early detection and removal offers a great deal of control of skin cancers.  It's why you should see a dermatologist.  Regularly.  They will likely perform a full body scan and make note of any suspicious looking spots or lesions.

Maybe a lesion doesn't need to be removed right then but it might need watching.  Removal in the early stages is usually quick and easy.  Some lesions can even be frozen off.

I happen to be at high risk for skin cancer since I am outside so much.  Yardwork/Farmwork.  Football practice that begins in July and lasts until December.  Lots of time on the bike.  It seems like I'm working, sleeping, or outside.

All that exposure to the sun takes its toll on my skin.  I use sunscreen frequently but not frequently enough.  So after removing several lesions, my dermatologist recommended that I go through this Blue-Light thing.

I'll spare you the details but the treatment is effective.  Oh sure, it wasn't fun for a couple of days.  I had a rather severe sunburn the next day and my skin is still peeling off but it was definitely worth it.

The bottom line is to protect your skin.  Use sunscreen liberally and often.  Cover up.  Wear a hat.  A "healthy tan" isn't healthy at all.  Protect your skin.

Dealing With Headaches

Do you have headaches?  I used to think everybody did.  It was so normal for me.  I've had them pretty much all my life. 

I used to have migraines.  Regularly.  A pocketful of Excedrin was with me always.  I hit 45 and they stopped.  I said then it was the onset of male menopause but who knows.  I was just grateful. They came back a bit at 55 but never nearly as bad as they used to be.  I feel blessed.

I had a wrestler with a headache the other day.  He blamed it on dehydration--wrestlers do that, you know, dehydrate for weight loss.  He wasn't really a candidate.  I blamed it on exertion.  More on that in a minute.

It got me to thinking about headaches, both my own history and what headaches mean to active individuals.  Back when I had migraines, the world almost stopped.  Nothing else mattered much.  I couldn't eat.  I couldn't sleep. And I sure couldn't exercise.

In the throes of a booming headache, I was willing to do anything, to take anything to make it go away.  Not to trivialize drug addiction but I could understand what might lead someone to do things that they might not ordinarily do. 

A lot of people get headaches from problems with their neck, particularly postural problems.  Poor posture leads to a lot of things and headaches are one of them. Get those taken care of and your headaches could be much better.

Problems with the TemperoMandibular Joint (TMJ) can cause headaches.  Do you clench your teeth a lot?  Have you been told you grind your teeth at night?  Does your job pop and crunch?  It could be your TMJ.  Ask your dentist. 

What we eat and drink can cause headaches.  There a lot of things that seem to contribute to the classic migraine.  Hard cheese, caffeine, beer, processed meats, chocolate, and MSG have all been linked to migraines.  Sometimes it's not the food but the additives.  Your best next tactic?  Take a food inventory (what you eat) and match it to your headache pattern.

If you get a blow to the head and have a headache, you should be worried about a possible concussion.  Always.  Concussions are something we take very seriously.  I deal with young athletes a lot.  I can tell you that we are ultra-conservative when we suspect a concussion.

Stress can contribute to headaches.  Emotional stress.  Mental stress.   You will probably say "but stress is everywhere."  Yes, probably.  But that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of things that you can do to effectively deal with it.  You owe it to yourself to investigate what those things might be for you. 

Physical stress can contribute to headaches.   I believe my young wrestler was experiencing a headache because of extreme physical stress.  Not to personalize this whole column but back in my headache days (pre-45), extreme physical stress would always precipitate a headache.

And usually not right then.  For me, it was later that night, but then most of my headaches have been in the middle of the night.  My headaches were vasodilatory--the blood vessels in my brain would dilate and make my head hurt.

My basic recommendation is that you should never just assume that headaches are a way of life for you.  Get them checked out.  Especially if your symptoms seem strange somehow.  See your Primary Care Physician.  Don't wait.

You Old Goat!

So here's the story.  My wife and I were hiking last summer.  Glacier National Park.  We were coming down after visiting Sperry Glacier, a truly magnificent hike.  We were descending across a scree field on a trail cut into the side of the mountain when we came upon a family of four stopped in the trail.

To give you a picture of that, it wasn't really that steep of a slope but you didn't want to fall off.  It wasn't like the side of a cliff or anything but the trail was a bit narrow. 

Directly in front of them was a mountain goat, munching on some grass on the side of the trail.   There wasn't really room to go around the goat so these folks were stopped in their tracks.

The family included grandma, granddad, son-in-law, and 7 year old granddaughter (mom and a newborn were at the lodge at the trailhead).  They were from North Dakota and were afraid to pass the goat, who was a bit menacing, bobbing his head up and down as they approached. 

Now keep in mind, this was a wild animal.  Bigger than most of the goats we see around here, he did have those curved horns that we assume he uses for butting things.   This family was wise to proceed cautiously. 

So I pulled on my full "country boy" persona and stepped forward boldly, clacking my hiking poles and yelling at the goat "Billy, get off my trail."

The goat just looked at me.   "I don't have time for this, Billy, get off my trail!"  He moved to the side of the trail.

"That's not enough.  Git on up that hill!"  To which Billy ran on up the hill, nimbly, like mountain goats do.  We all passed safely.

On down the trail, we stopped and talked to the family.  The little girl was in awe.  "Mister, how did you do that?" I told her "well, honey, me and that goat just speak the same language--one old goat talking to another old goat."

The little girl was just all "wow" and everything while the grandparents laughed out loud (lol to teenagers and millenials).  As you might have suspected, there is a message behind this whole story. 

In recent weeks, I've talked about making decisions, not resolutions and about what you might do to stay healthy.

Well, sometimes you just have to take charge.  Take charge of your health.  Make those decisions that allow you to be the person you might need to be.

Take charge of where you are.  Take charge of your work environment.  Take charge of your family situation.  Take charge of your life.

Like with that old goat, sometimes you have to move boldly.  And bravely.  I was confident that I could handle whatever that old goat could come at me with.  Being brave is not about having no fear, it's about being able to look fear in the face and tell it to move out of the way.

It's about taking charge of the situation, your situation.  Know that inside of you is all you need to achieve your dreams, whatever they may be.