A good Wednesday morning ladies.

Dave I can understand completely the former fit and lifestyle thing. I competed in gymnastics for too many years, pole vaulted in high school and college....... two years before my diagnosis, it was nothing for me to put 120 - 160 miles on my mountain bike over the weekend. At that time I lived in Ft. Myers, FL and I would ride out to Captiva Island early in the morning, do some saltwater fly fishing for snook or red fish at the cut, have lunch at that Canoe Club, feed the river otters, drink some beer, hit the cut again on the incoming tide and then ride home..........round trip was right at 74 miles.......then on Sunday I would do it again. Problem was, I was fighting a losing battle, I ate healthy food, worked out at the gym 3 mornings a week, constantly rode my bike, but my weight kept climbing..........I had always maintained my weight in the 195-215 range, 32"-34" waist, 46-48 jacket (for my shoulders and chest, always had to have them tailored to fit), and at 6' in height my 215 wasn't out of the norm for my build...... I was bulked as they say (leg press 480 work out, bench work out 260-280).......played racquet ball competitively and open class competitive softball........but then the odd things started happening..........broke my elbow throwing a ball to second base, found myself in the ER with blood pressure at 210/170.........when the headaches started coming on that left me totally debilitated and the black outs started, I pretty well figured something was wrong....really wrong. Weight started climbing no matter what I did or didn't eat or how much I worked out......when I hit 250 people were amazed that I weighed that much cause I sure didn't look like it........ and things just kept going down hill.....no energy, constant fatigue, joint and muscle pains, confusion, .... it took 2 years, a move and an older African American country style female doctor in Tupelo, MS who asked if I had ever been tested for Acromegaly............go figure. By then all the classic physical traits of Acromegaly were obvious................. like you, I will never be able to get back to where I was, but God willing I can and am improving where I am...........and to be honest it was a blessing unknown along with meeting my soon to be wife...... it forced me to re-examine my priorities and take a good hard look at what I had and was becoming........an angry, divorced man in his mid 40's, alone and using work to fill the voids.......my relationships with my kids was virtually non-existent or perfunctory at best, wasting far too many energies fighting with an ex wife and getting sucked into her games.......

sometimes God gives us detours to get us back on the better road than the one we thought was better............

I don't know about you all, but I'm finding less and less to interest me in the general discussions........how many times are we going to have to solve the tub/shower vs shower topic...... or the "what can I do with my fireplace...." (throw a log in it and start a fire)......everyday, it seems more and more like Houzz is starting to resemble a McDonald's Drive Thru. I'm thinking the same folks who are looking for fast design answers are the same folks who keep the drive thru busy..........instant gratification........instant answers and very few willing to figure stuff out themselves, do some investigating, do some experimenting...........very few thinkers and a whole lot of sheeple.......... okay, I'll get down off my soap box now, don't mind me...... I'm grouchy, waiting on UPS to delivery my shot today so I can harpoon my leg.........guess, I'll throw my heavy jacket on, grab my walking stick and take the dog for a walk before the temps drop anymore.....chance of snow this weekend.............oh boy, a good excuse to stay in and stay warm.........works for me.

MP.... just want to thank you for posting pictures of your kitchen counter tops........my wife loves them and I think we've pretty well decided on going with the light weight concrete for our solution........something in a warm charcoal range to go with the medium stained shaker look cabinets and SS appliances we already have............thanks.