I'm famous, and in pain

Okay, the first part isn't exactly true. Last September or October, though, I wrote up my experiences with dramatic weight loss for a friend of a friend at MSN. They wanted to start this new story type on MSN Health about personal stories of weight loss, and it was supposed to be a "New Year, New You" sort of thing and launch in January. Well, it's July and they finally published the thing - and here it is: http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/WeightLossStory.aspx?cp-documentid=100139066

For some reason, the pictures are broken today. Hopefully they'll fix that. I love my before photo, because it is just so awful. Seriously, it's got to be one of the worst pictures of me on record - so it's perfect for a before, because it's so real, and actually makes me happy: it reminds me of my accomplishment and where I could be again if I don't watch it.

So, now for the pain. I have no idea what is wrong with me, but I have to see my doctor tomorrow. Here is the list of pains:

-- Pain in both sides of the back of the base of my head (back of my neck), especially when looking up or when touched
-- Pain in my obliques
-- Pain in my chest
-- My tongue feels too big for my mouth
-- Pain in my throat, specifically on the left side. It feels like there's a hole from behind my nose way back there to, well, the spots on the back of my head/neck that hurt
-- Pain in the left side of my nose, mostly right on the hard part in the middle
-- Pain when I swallow
-- Hurts to cough (expand chest/belly)
-- Ears are itchy

And this morning, my lower lip was swollen and my mouth didn't want to close - the lower lip wanted to flop open, and my chin and upper lip all sort of felt like I was on novocaine.

Is this some sort of sinusitis? I don't have a runny nose or other cold symptoms, though. It's really weird...and because I can't diagnose it and haven't felt this way ever before, I'm going to let my doctor have a crack at me.

I'm traveling for my job to Germany on Sunday; I need to be healthy. Plus, I return Friday (the 14th) and do the STP ride on the 15th, so I really need to get and stay in perfect health through July.

In exercise news, I ran a nice six miles this morning on the trail (55 minutes). And I'm not talking about what got eaten today at the Fourth of July party we attended, but it most definitely did not involve brownies. Definitely not at all. Nor did I eat chocolate-chip cookies - homemade of course. Ha.