That's Swell

I drink a lot of water. In an average work day, I'm likely to go through 32 ounces every hour - hour and a half. Drinking water is a good thing...and, as a bonus, I'm getting up and walking around fairly regularly to go visit the ladies' room. I pee a lot.

The problem comes when that schedule gets disrupted. After a week of drinking water "like I should," a sudden day of dehydration (from too many long meetings -- because you can't drink that much water during long meetings!) will completely upset the apparently delicate balance in my body. Not only am I liable to find myself wandering over to the candy dish more...but I'll also suddenly discover that I have disgustingly swollen ankles.

Today was that day. My first meeting of the day was 2.5 hours...followed by another hour+ of denouement with various meeting participants who stopped by to comment. I finally got my first thermos of water around 11:30...met briefly with one of my staff members...and then had lunch. I met with the remaining two staff members for the next 2 hours, and then had to leave to drive 40 minutes for a hair appointment that took 3 hours.

Someone do the math: how much sitting did I do today...in strappy sandals that might not have allowed amazing blood flow...with a single 32 ounces of water?

Nevermind, let me save you the trouble: Too much.

So now I've got ankle swelling that will almost certainly take well over a week to clear (it always does...grr). I took the dog on an enthusiastic walk tonight, hoping that would help (though it hasn't yet). I'm also going to hurl myself headlong at the treadmill in the next few minutes for added fluid movement action. I still anticipate a week of concerted effort before I see anklebone again. Frustrating.

I'm trying to be optimistic about it and think of it as "sympathy swelling." One of my friends from work had a minor operation today (and there can be no operation without swelling!). Also, MySister called yesterday to tell me that she's going in to the hospital tomorrow with the full intention of turning HER swelling into a cousin for the Monkey (excitement!!!).

It's still not swell to be swollen...but at least I'm in good company.