Torch.

Have I mentioned that I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night with stabbing pain in my left eye? Some nights were worse than others, but it’s been an on-and-off since last September. Friday marked the first day that I had this kind of pain in the middle of the day. It was not pleasant, to say the least. I was at work and had to leave because I simply couldn’t function. My left eye was bloodshot, swollen, and tearing like crazy. Which was also making my nose run, so I looked terrible.

All this time I thought it was allergies. My eye doctor’s practice is across the street from where I work, so I stopped in and crossed my fingers that someone would see me. Because, you know, stabbing pain in the left eye constitutes an emergency.

Turns out I have something fancy call corneal erosion. It is exactly what it sounds like. The epithelial cells lining my cornea were being eroded off. I remember distinctly the first time I felt this pain last September. It was just this sudden stabbing in in my left eye in the middle of the night. My reaction was to rinse my eye out, but it constantly felt like it there was something in my eye. By daytime, I was fine, so I never gave this much thought. According to the female unit, I sleep with my eyes slightly open. My hunch is that this creates the dryness in the eye needed to, well, fuck things up. So when I next blink, the dry cells are sloughed. Causing STABBING PAIN.

I have eye drops to use every four hours, and ointment to put in my eye right before going to bed. I’ve gotten my success rate with the drops above 50%. The ointment is just as weird as it sounds. Because it goes IN MY EYE. It wasn’t prescribed, but I got myself a facemask. Saturday night was the first night I didn’t have any eye problems in the middle of the night. Whether it’s the drops or things healing, my vision is a little more blurred than usual. We’ll see how things are at the follow-up appointment on Friday.

Oh. And I love my new phone.

Yes, I dare say I’m enamored. One thing I dislike about a lot of phones is that the form factor means the bottom on the phone isn’t near your mouth when you’re talking. Bugs the hell out of me. But when the qwerty is out, it’s long enough to feel like a REAL PHONE.

Let’s see… I succeeded and going to the gym 5 times a week the past three weeks. I went yesterday and was so close to going today. But I’ve decided to chillax and give myself the next three days off. In part because the Female Unit has insisted we take a mini-vacation to the Poconos. She’s paying for it, and I have been going pretty hard since I returned to the gym, ramping up my intensity pretty hard lately. My deadlifts are red-lining, and all that HIIT/cardio was taking a lot out of me. My only saving grace is that I’m getting enough sleep.

For posterity and for anybody that’s curious, here were my last three workouts from last week.

Wednesday, June 12
BB Bench: 12, 9, 8 @ 125 lbs, 15 @ 95 lbs
BB Bent-over Row: 12, 11, 9 @ 115 lbs, 15 @ 90 lbs
Front Squat: 3×5 @ 95 lbs
DB Shoulder Press: 12, 12, 9 @ 30 lbs, 15 @ 20 lbs
Wide Lat Pulldown: 12, 8, 8 @ 120 lbs, 15 @ 85 lbs
Reverse Lunges: 3×8 @ 30 lbs
Hanging Knee Raise: 3×12 @ BW

Thursday, June 13
Back Extension: 3×8 @ BW
Lateral Raise: 12, 9, 8 @ 15 lbs
DB Curl: 12, 12, 10 @ 25 lbs
Tricep Pushdown: 12, 10, 9 @ 115 lbs
Stationary Cycle HIIT: 15 seconds on, 45 seconds recovery, ten rounds
Steady State (walking on treadmill): 3.8 mph, 3%, 20 minutes

Friday, June 14
BB Shoulder Press: 8, 8, 7 @ 75 lbs
Chins: 8, 6, 5 @ BW
Deadlifts: 8, 8, 8 @ 245 lbs
Dumbbell Bench: 3×8 @ 50 lbs
Dumbbell Row: 3×8 @ 50 lbs

I know I used to post everything here, but I feel like everything got all muddled. In addition to my physical journal, I track on fitocracy. I’m annoyed I can’t view individual workouts, but at least I can, at a glance, see progress on individual exercises. I still wish I had friends that were into exercise as much as I am. Nobody can understand what a thrill it is that I’m pulling 245 for fucking eight. That was hard as hell.

You know what’s motivating me lately? I turn thirty soon. I have this desire to get strong and shredded. Though, mostly strong. The untrained person loses 1% of lean body mass after the age of thirty. It happens so gradually, but then you’re 70, and you break your hip falling. YOUR HIP. By weight training, I’m strong enough to deal with any day-to-day event, like installing a 70 lb air conditioner without risk of injury. I guarantee my bones are in great shape. As I say a lot, I don’t want to die the way my grandfathers did. Nor do I ever want to lose the ability to do a chin-up.

Use it, or lose it.