update 030708

I saw a sports med doc the other day about my knee problem, and his diagnosis? Gout. Doc ordered a uric acid level on me, and it was high. Apparently, there were urate crystals present in the fluid buildup in my knee. He’s got me on some meds, and I’m to exercise my knee to loosen the muscles and bring it back to normal. I’m also rethinking my diet. A high uric acid level can be caused by eating foods high in purines. Some examples of high-purine foods:

• anchovies
• fish eggs
• sardines
• game meats (goose, duck, and partridge)
• organ meats (brains, heart, kidney, liver)
• gravy

Aside from some gravy on my mashed potatoes (which is maybe once a week), I eat NONE of these foods. I do need to lay off the fried stuff and eat foods that are baked. And I need to drink more fluids (at least 10 to 12 cups a day) to flush out any extra uric acid. I just recently tried Glacéau’s VitaminWater, which doesn’t taste bad at all. But in reading more about it from Howstuffworks, I’ll need to exercise regularly to get any real benefit from this drink.

Work is … umm … eh. I’m pretty busy with troubleshooting daily issues and problems. We recently discovered that instead of resuming work on the new system project next year, it’s been pushed to 2010 with a go-live of January 2011. They continue to let the air out of our balloon. This project gave the staff something positive, something to look forward to, the ray of light we needed in what we consider a dark time for our organization (what with all the administrative changes and actions taking place due to the financial troubles). So me and the rest of the crew have been trying to move past this setback by keeping busy.