Author Archives: tbavendam

Prior to starting the Wegovy I committed to truly starting behaviors in a consistent way that would help me keep the weight off once I get to my goal. I have been eating smaller portions, trying not to snack and really exercising every day. Today will be day 14 of consistent exercise – weight training,Continue reading “First data point on the Wegovy journey”

Clinical trials for drugs have two basic goals – to determine whether the drug works for a specific indication and what adverse effects it has. I can’t think of any drug that has only one effect in the body. The goal is that advantage of the desired effect far outweighs any adverse (unwanted) effects thatContinue reading “Clinical drug trials – the value of patient observations”

This is what it looks like when you drop an open can of ebony stain and it lands on the bottom – it turns into a fountain. Interestingly, it didn’t stick to my glasses or my Baggallini front pack that I had not taken time to remove after dashing to Walgrens to get wound closureContinue reading “Yesterday’s misadventure – you have to laugh”

GLP-1 receptor agonists were initially studied and approved for the treatment of diabetes. As often happens with treatments, once they are used in humans, people start to experience adverse events and benefits that were not previously known about. Pharma companies do extensive research on new drugs before (Phases 1, 2 and 3) and AFTER (PhaseContinue reading “My experiment with GLP-1 receptor agonists “

I lost 40 pounds nearly 5 years ago and have kept much of it off. I always intended to lose another 20-30 pounds using the same Weight Watcher diet but a couple of health issues got in the way: persistent loss of taste from Covid and onset of a variation of irritable bowel syndrome whichContinue reading “Day #3 of weight loss injection”

I have not blogged since October and every time I approach doing some writing, I cannot figure out what to say. All I wanted for my birthday on November 6th was the election or likely election of Kamala Harris. It then became of weeks long exercise in sorting through the stages of grief and theContinue reading “Slumpiness”

On our first day of sorting and loading wood, this shed had the 3 large lumber racks inside completely covered in wood. One rack was across the back and there was on along each side wall. There were 3 feet of walking space in between filled with random pieces of lumber. The first day weContinue reading “Narrowly avoiding the ER twice in one day”

We went from the “high” of Natalie and Craig’s Songwriter Round to 3 days of sorting, lifting and hauling old lumbar from a property that is being sold next week. Craig can not walk away from good lumber. We hauled out 3 pick up trucks and one 16 foot trailer of wood and steel. ThisContinue reading “Back to work – another opportunity to build up our collection of old lumber”

Craig was well prepared for this event. There was a decent size group in the restaurant where the Round is held. Natalie’s parents drove up to see it. It went by in a blink. They both sounded great and their two styles worked well together. It was so fun to hear Natalie sing one ofContinue reading “They killed their Songwriter Round”

This household has been balancing the pre-election anxiety with getting Craig ready for his Songwriter Round with Natalie on October 24th. We are less than 36 hours for the event. Last week he decided he needed to do an Open Mic in the venue where the Round with Natalie will be to get familiar withContinue reading “Balancing the pre-election anxiety”