Top of the Swamp

I've been dieting hard, so this felt like a feast

I've been feeling really weak but still hiking hard and now dieting too.  So today I decided to gorge myself at lunch time.  I hiked enough to earn the calories, so no worries.  A  few days after this hike I got the results of my Serum Ferritin test.  My Serum Ferritin level was 4, that's pretty shocking and it means that my body has almost no iron stores.  My other scores a few week earlier, before I started taking a ton of Hemi Iron were Hemoglobin 10.9, Hemocrit 34.5.  That is pretty darn anemic.

Now I'm taking even more iron and eating lots of liver and taking lots of  vitamin "A".  I seem to be getting my bleeding under control by taking about 4 times the US RDA of vitamin "A".  Amazing how few doctors know that in some studies 92% of women who took large doses of Vitamin "A" got relief from heavy bleeding.

I hope to be feeling much better in a couple of months now that the bleeding seems to be under control.  Doctors are keen to either burn out my uterus with hot water or just hack it out.  No thanks, I'd rather try some less drastic measures first.   I'm so close to menopause, I want to get through this without being mutilated.

I'm still managing to walk 6.3 miles in town almost every day and another 10-20 miles a week on the trails while taking care of my terminally ill and invalid spouse and doing some caring for our daughter too.  Now I need to take some time to take care of my self other than just hiking to get away from the stress!  Caregivers come for four hours a day to help take care of my spouse.

I'm a bit vague as to where this hike is because I love the solitude here.

I really enjoyed my noodles on the top anyway.. :)
10 miles with 800 elevation gain.

I was totally wiped out after this hike and could not understand why.  Now I know why.

I'm going to take one day a week off of dieting and hiking so my body can rest.

A beautiful spot for my second tea break