Four overlapping things make a post: weekend with Adrian, shoes, health. and gym

I spent the weekend in Arlington with adrian_turtle. We made a frustrating and unsatisfying foray into a shoe store on Friday, but I also got to try on some boots that she had mail-ordered on my behalf. Walking around her apartment a little, I think they'll do; the plan now is to walk around in them, a little at a time, in my apartment for a few days. If they seem suitable after that, I will break them at more length and outdoors, as tolerably cool days allow: these are water-resistant and insulated, so probably good for much of the winter in New York (though maybe not Montreal). That suggests that July is not the best time to break them in. As long as I don't wear them outdoors or otherwise damage them, the Zappo's return policy looks pretty flexible (in particular, with regard to time). I am still looking out for sandals and for walking shoes other than my New Balance walking shoes/sneakers.

I keep forgetting that even a nice, easy trip to Boston is still four hours on the train in addition to my usual amount of commute (South Station to Adrian's is about the same travel time as from my home to my job, and more than half bus, which I don't like as well as trains). Travel weekends tend not to have real rest days in them. In this case, we were awakened just before 8 on Saturday by cheerleading (for a charity walk that was mustering across the street); as the shouting continued, getting out for a while seemed good, so we planned a picnic. Things had quieted down by the time we were ready to go, but Adrian had already put together a picnic lunch, so we walked out to Spy Pond (mostly along the bikeway), picnicked, then went wading and looked at the swans for a bit. It's a nice pond. The water was colder than I was expecting: I don't know if that's just the recent cool weather, or a cold spring feeding into the pond. We took a bus back, to conserve some of my energy. We went out again for a sushi dinner (Manna in Arlington Center, which has very nice mackerel), and again walked there and took the bus back. Still, that added up to at least two miles on foot, which while reasonable in general doesn't count as resting.

This evening's mail brought the news that my most recent mammogram was normal, which is both unsurprising and good to know. The letter also reminds me of the value of physical breast examinations (I had one before the mammogram, that being what the last mammogram tech said was best) and that the American Cancer Society recommends annual screening mammograms starting at age 40. Some other stuff I read recently casts doubt on that (and a number of other whole-population screenings like this). If that source is to be trusted, the evidence for the value of mammograms as general screening is only good for ages 50-70, in part because of differences in the nature of breast tissue at different ages: younger women are more likely to have false positives, which can lead to biopsies, scarring, and (aside from the other disadvantages thereof) greater difficulty in screening when one is older and the screening is more likely to be accurate and useful.

The issue with that sort of broad screening isn't just false positives (or the related issue of false negatives): there is some question about whether finding some cancers earlier actually extends life. The argument is that yes, the five-year survival rate looks better with earlier screening, but five-year survival rates are counted from the time of diagnosis: depending on the existence and efficacy of treatment, the person may not actually live longer because the cancer (or other disease) is detected sooner, despite being aware longer that they have cancer. N.B.: This is about general-population screening, not people with specific risk factors. For these purposes, being male, or female, or over a given age doesn't count as a risk factor; having a relevant family history or exposure to certain chemicals does. My mother's younger sister had breast cancer (she is fine now), so I should not have let it go 2.5 years between mammograms.

Despite what I said above about rest, or lack thereof, I went to the gym after work this evening. It was a good workout. I'm not sure why my right upper arm was so tender last week (to the point of waking me up in the night Saturday: the cheerleaders might have been less annoying had I slept through the night until then), but it's fine now and has been for a little while (hard to be sure how long, since I was taking naproxen prophylactically on Sunday).

( with a workout, you get numbers, and an lj-cut )

Four overlapping things make a post: weekend with Adrian, shoes, health. and gym

I spent the weekend in Arlington with adrian_turtle. We made a frustrating and unsatisfying foray into a shoe store on Friday, but I also got to try on some boots that she had mail-ordered on my behalf. Walking around her apartment a little, I think they'll do; the plan now is to walk around in them, a little at a time, in my apartment for a few days. If they seem suitable after that, I will break them at more length and outdoors, as tolerably cool days allow: these are water-resistant and insulated, so probably good for much of the winter in New York (though maybe not Montreal). That suggests that July is not the best time to break them in. As long as I don't wear them outdoors or otherwise damage them, the Zappo's return policy looks pretty flexible (in particular, with regard to time). I am still looking out for sandals and for walking shoes other than my New Balance walking shoes/sneakers.

I keep forgetting that even a nice, easy trip to Boston is still four hours on the train in addition to my usual amount of commute (South Station to Adrian's is about the same travel time as from my home to my job, and more than half bus, which I don't like as well as trains). Travel weekends tend not to have real rest days in them. In this case, we were awakened just before 8 on Saturday by cheerleading (for a charity walk that was mustering across the street); as the shouting continued, getting out for a while seemed good, so we planned a picnic. Things had quieted down by the time we were ready to go, but Adrian had already put together a picnic lunch, so we walked out to Spy Pond (mostly along the bikeway), picnicked, then went wading and looked at the swans for a bit. It's a nice pond. The water was colder than I was expecting: I don't know if that's just the recent cool weather, or a cold spring feeding into the pond. We took a bus back, to conserve some of my energy. We went out again for a sushi dinner (Manna in Arlington Center, which has very nice mackerel), and again walked there and took the bus back. Still, that added up to at least two miles on foot, which while reasonable in general doesn't count as resting.

This evening's mail brought the news that my most recent mammogram was normal, which is both unsurprising and good to know. The letter also reminds me of the value of physical breast examinations (I had one before the mammogram, that being what the last mammogram tech said was best) and that the American Cancer Society recommends annual screening mammograms starting at age 40. Some other stuff I read recently casts doubt on that (and a number of other whole-population screenings like this). If that source is to be trusted, the evidence for the value of mammograms as general screening is only good for ages 50-70, in part because of differences in the nature of breast tissue at different ages: younger women are more likely to have false positives, which can lead to biopsies, scarring, and (aside from the other disadvantages thereof) greater difficulty in screening when one is older and the screening is more likely to be accurate and useful.

The issue with that sort of broad screening isn't just false positives (or the related issue of false negatives): there is some question about whether finding some cancers earlier actually extends life. The argument is that yes, the five-year survival rate looks better with earlier screening, but five-year survival rates are counted from the time of diagnosis: depending on the existence and efficacy of treatment, the person may not actually live longer because the cancer (or other disease) is detected sooner, despite being aware longer that they have cancer. N.B.: This is about general-population screening, not people with specific risk factors. For these purposes, being male, or female, or over a given age doesn't count as a risk factor; having a relevant family history or exposure to certain chemicals does. My mother's younger sister had breast cancer (she is fine now), so I should not have let it go 2.5 years between mammograms.

Despite what I said above about rest, or lack thereof, I went to the gym after work this evening. It was a good workout. I'm not sure why my right upper arm was so tender last week (to the point of waking me up in the night Saturday: the cheerleaders might have been less annoying had I slept through the night until then), but it's fine now and has been for a little while (hard to be sure how long, since I was taking naproxen prophylactically on Sunday).

( with a workout, you get numbers, and an lj-cut )