You Can Always Do Something.

I thought I’d talk a bit about how my exercise has changed over the past few months to accommodate  my aging? injury prone? body. The main point I want to make is that you can (and SHOULD) always do something.

Over the years I have always been very inspired by stories of people with severe physical  limitations and how they found a way to exercise. SO INSPIRED. There was just never really any justification for NOT exercising. Not even morbid obesity. If a person without legs could walk, how could I possibly excuse myself?

That said, it has been a little frustrating challenging to find new ways to exercise as various body parts break down. First there was the back. I went to P.T. and was careful to not do exercises that would exacerbate the injury that was already there. I could still pretty much do a full range of strength exercises, and of course I continued walking and occasionally running. I added in some swimming, which I really enjoyed. Last summer I made a goal to swim 2.4 miles and I did it! I’m thinking that this year I will try to do that at least 3 times during the swimming season.

And then the decrepit knees came along. That has been very frustrating, since walking fairly long distances (3-5 miles) was my norm. And that just wasn’t pleasant any more. When I finally went to the doctor and he gave me permission–in fact, encouraged-me to stop doing weight bearing exercise, it was a relief. I had already started increasing my swim time before I saw him, and he was an avid cycler, so he encouraged me to do some biking. He mentioned the word aerobic in that conversation (which included some talk about losing weight.) Oh, aerobic. I kinda had forgotten about that. I don’t like to sweat… So I started getting on the bike at the gym. In conjunction with watching The Food Network, I really enjoy my time on the bike. I do intervals and try to challenge myself.

At the same time, I went to P.T. for my knees, and that was the end of the heavy weight training for my lower body. Instead, I do multiple reps (like 60-100) of much lower weights. Its still a pretty good challenge. If I keep up with the P.T. exercises, walking is now fairly comfortable for shorter distances. I was happy to keep doing my regular heavy lifting for my upper body (remember my goal to do a 100 pound bench press?)

Well, yeah. THEN something happened to my elbow/arm. I could still use it to push, but I couldn’t even reach to pick up a glass. No strength at all, and it hurt like the dickens. My brother said its probably tendonitis. I consulted the internets and they said rest for 5-6 weeks was the cure. So there went my upper body strength training. I just stopped cold turkey. But you know what I started doing recently? I don’t know what made me think of this, except I probably just needed to move a bit–I started doing those arm circles that they made us do in jr. high gym class! Those things are pretty hard to do!

Oh, and the latest thing I am trying (and loving) is sprints. So far it seems like its okay on my knees and my back. I read this blog about running, which was pretty entertaining, and she quoted Mark Sisson, who mentioned having debilitating osteoarthritis at age 28. Well if he could run sprints, I guess I could.

The idea of these 30 second sprints does remind me of Tabata intervals. Which is something else I could add back in. And core exercises. I definitely could add some of those. Oh, and stretching. Maybe some yoga? Pilates? Definitely, you can always do something.

So Much to Say, So Little Time…

Well, I missed out on that whole end-of-year-review AND the beginning-of-the-year-goal-setting. I’ll just say that my BF pointed out to me that it had been a VERY GOOD YEAR for me, and she is so right. And it is already starting to be a VERY GOOD YEAR in this new year.

The two biggest projects for the past year are converging at exactly the same time, and that is the reason there is “so little time” to write. Tomorrow I go to Folsom to hang the quilts for the gallery showing. The quilts that I have been working on all year. TWENTY quilts. I am so pleased that I set a goal for myself to make 20 quilts, and that I actually was able to accomplish that. Some of them are pictured over on the quilt blog. I hope to have all of them photographed and to do a slide show or something. But that will have to wait for a week or two.

Because the other BIG THING that is happening is that I leave for Haiti on Monday. And this is also at the end of a year of working on our child sponsorship program for the children of Carrefour Poy. We are so happy with what we have been able to do so far. But have so much more that we want to do. It will be so helpful to ‘see for ourselves’ the situation and the needs. You can see some pictures of the kids on our website. We were so happy when they were able to start a lunch program. And our shoe drive for the month of December reaped fantastic results. We have about 175 pairs of shoes! Our suitcases are stuffed to the gills. Fortunately the weather is warm there, so our lightweight clothing will not take much room!

But you all know that what I really like to talk about is the daily dailies. And food. So here’s a bit of this and that.

I made crepes!! I was pretty excited at how perfectly I was able to make crepes for the first time. I used Georgie’s recipe, which if you look at it, it is a form of our protein pancakes.

But here’s the weird thing. I made these for myself Christmas morning, but I didn’t really like them. The chocolate banana filling was too rich for me. So I tossed them, and had a piece of that baked oatmeal that I had made out of the fruit salad. BTW, I liked that baked oatmeal so much that I figured out how to make it again and will post that recipe soon. The crepes themselves were great, though, and I will try them again. Maybe with a blueberry filling.

And then, for Christmas, I finally bought myself one of those spiralizers. SUPER COOL!!! I bought the one that Cammy had pointed out to me. So nice. Hand-held, and I can put it in the drawer when I am done. Look at these cool spiralized carrots and zucchini! I cooked them and made some of my Darn Good Spaghetti Sauce to serve on top of them.

And this is a nice little gift idea: Home-made muesli fixings. My mom likes me to make muesli for her. Lately I haven’t had enough oatmeal on hand, so I just put all the other stuff in a container and tell her to mix it in with oatmeal. For Christmas I had the idea to layer the ingredients in a mason jar. You can use whatever you want as the add-ins. This jar has slivered almonds, unsweetened coconut, date pieces, dried apricot pieces, and dried cranberries. The powder in the top is some cinnamon splenda.

And a little health and exercise update: after 6 weeks of PT, going twice a week, and dutifully performing all my exercises between visits, my knee is VASTLY improved! I celebrated New Year’s Day by taking the three mile walk to the end of my road and back. I haven’t done this for about 9 months because it hurt too bad to go uphill or downhill for too long, and there is a very long steep hill on that walk. On New Year’s Eve I was at the gym, and it was a bright and sunny day, so I got to take a dip in the pool. What a treat! I am doing fantastic staying on my “me diet.” I am not sure what will happen food-wise in Haiti. I am taking some protein bars with me, and hopefully I will not gain weight like I did in Africa. That was a bit weird…

 

I’m not sure I’ll get to blog again before I leave, so I will say Happy New Year and farewell. And will be anxious to share with you when I return!

I Love Exercise?

Last night I re-wrote my “About Me” page.  Gah!  I hadn’t re-done it since I started this blog.   I decided to keep the same picture.  If Mary Higgins Clark can do it, I guess I can too.

So when I wrote “I love exercise” on that page, it was true.  It has been something of a revolution to me that I have just recently begun to admit that the truth of the matter is that I love exercise.  Not “I need to exercise,” or “exercise is necessary for long term weight loss maintenance,”  but “I want to exercise.”  Another one of those neuropathways that took a LOOOOONG time to change.

Accepting that as a fact has started to change how I view the time I spend exercising.  In the past that has been a big issue for me.  Now, since I love exercise, it makes sense that I would drive down to the gym, even if it does take a chunk of time out of my afternoon.  I am finding that it is a good motivator to work more consistently in the morning (whether it is housework or quilting) so that I can finish by 2 or 3 o’clock and head to the gym.

And since my official diagnosis of arthritis, I have changed up a few things.  I am still walking.  That just makes life more pleasant with dogs in the house.  I no longer feel guilty for making my walks shorter.  In fact, I am congratulating myself for doing what was best for me.

At the gym, I have enjoyed getting back on the bike.  I am experimenting with the different modes and settings and making it more of a challenging workout.  Some of you will be happy to hear that I EVEN BROKE A SWEAT yesterday.  So much so that I felt like going for a swim afterwards.  Oh yeah, last week I bought one of those swim shirts.  I have to say, it really does help.  Plus, there’s that ‘carrot at the end of the stick’–the spa.  If I will just get in the pool and swim a few laps, I get to get in the spa afterwards.  Once I am in the pool, I always swim more than a ‘few laps.’

I am totally loving getting back to working out on the weights.  I have adjusted some of the leg exercises, and I am anxious to talk to the physical therapist to get more specific information on which exercises will work best.  I am back to working on my 100 pound bench press challenge.

And there are other things to explore–the rowing machine, and maybe a yoga class or two.

I love exercise.  Who knew?

And Now, The Rest of the Story

I think I’ve been writing food blogs to avoid writing about the other big issue in my life right now.  My joints hurt.  Actually, after the g—– fiasco, I was kind of afraid to follow up “I eat grains occasionally” with ” my joints hurt.”  LOL.  So I decided to wait until after my ortho appointment to write about it.

Something weird happened while I was in Sisters.  My hips started hurting so bad that I had a hard time sleeping.  I was hopeful it was the bed or the chair that I sat in, and hoped it would go away when I got home.  It was even worse when I got home.  As in “so this is why people sit down in a wheelchair and never get up.”  Now its pretty much gone.  So my conclusion is that it was probably the long drive in the car.  The ortho doc did not have an answer for that.  And besides, he was more focused on my knee, which is what the original appointment was for.

Arthritis.  That’s pretty much what is wrong with me.  The arthritis in the right knee has probably caused some other damage, like to the meniscus, but not the kind that can be repaired by surgery (yay?)

He recommended a treatment/shot called Synvisc One.  It is some kind of gel (found in rooster combs) that they inject into the knee, and even though it doesn’t stay, it somehow stimulates your own cartilage to work better.  I already found out it costs almost $1000, so my part is $200.  What a ridiculous price for rooster combs.  I should grow my own.  You can get 50 baby roosters for about $10.  (Shelley’s comment to this:  ”I know you can grow your own roosters, but pretty sure it would be hard to, you know, OFF THEM for their combs. )

I gave them my history, and told them how important exercise was to me.  I listed the kinds of exercise I am doing now:  weight lifting, swimming, and walking up and down hills.  He said he wants me to stay active, and basically I can do any exercise, concentrating on non-weight bearing. He was big on biking!   Even gave me his recommendation for the best bike trainers.  He also mentioned rowing a couple of times.  Which, at first I thought, I’m not getting out in a boat on a lake.  And then I remembered there were rowing machines at the gym… Plus he gave me a physical therapy referral.  That helped so much with my back, so I am looking forward to going to that.

And basically, the goal is to ‘keep me going’ until I hit 65 and can get a knee replacement….

Oh, and we also talked about weight.  I gave him my weight history, my interest in food and nutrition.  And he said a good goal weight for me would be 140.  You know, that sounds like a dream come true in some ways.  I just don’t know if I can get there, much less maintain that.  I am glad he brought it up.  I know that there is a lot of personal testimony out there about the difference that weight can make on joint pain (including my own experience!)  But I wanted to hear an orthopedic doctor say that it could make a difference.

And I asked about grains.  ”There is no evidence that any one food has any negative or positive affect on your joints.  Only as it applies to weight reduction.”

So.  What am I going to do?  For today, I am going to go to the gym and work out on the weights (which I have been avoiding until I went to the ortho doc) and then I’m going to hit the rowing machine and the bikes.  I’m still in the thinking stage about the weight loss.  Lots of disconnected thoughts running around in my mind.  I’ll keep that for a separate post.  Hopefully after the thoughts connect a bit more.

I

Obsession

Wow, its been a while since I posted.  I don’t know why, except that I didn’t have much to say.  My trip to Sisters is coming up this week, and I find myself obsessed about the food I am going to eat, more so than usual.  Not sure what that’s about.

I do have a general plan in mind.  I checked, and there is a Costco, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods within a few miles of each other in Bend, which is the town right before I get to Sisters.  So I can stop there and stock up on groceries for the week.  I have a general plan to have two dinners out, and one lunch out on the way up.  The retreat serves lunch, and I usually don’t have a problem with that.  I take a protein bar with me, and if I don’t care for what they are serving, I can usually pick a bit out, and supplement with the protein bar.  So I don’t know exactly what I’m obsessed about.  Except the usual, of wanting to eat a lot because I am on vacation, and NOT wanting to eat a lot because I don’t want to gain. Oh, and then there’s that whole thing about ‘I’m not supposed to eat until I’m hungry.’

Have to be honest with you.  I am only being about 70% compliant with that now.  I’ve had a little non-specific anxiety, and just ate early.  Not bad choices or anything.  Just eating when I wasn’t hungry.  Still, I feel I have learned a lot from this experiment.  Like, I really am fine eating a little less food.  And I think it is a very good habit in general.  So I plan to continue to pay attention to that, and to try to stick with it as well as I can.

I am VERY excited about this trip.  The two teachers for the quilt workshop really do beautiful work.  I have my collection of fabrics ready to go.  Plus I have plenty of free time planned.  And after the workshop/retreat is over, my best friend is coming over to Sisters and we will just have fun hanging out for a few days.

Today was laundry day, so I brought in my suitcases, and am packing as I fold my laundry!

I want to take my bike with me, as I think it will be so fun to bike around Sisters to get some exercise in.  I hope I don’t chicken out.  Its a little nerve-wracking to think about that bike rack on the back of the car, just held on by straps.

Oh, here’s a bit of news.  I went back to my weights workouts last week.  It felt so good to get back to it.  I worked out on Friday and Sunday.  But then Monday through Wednesday my knee, and all my joints just really ached.  I don’t really think its due to the weights workout, but it did make me a little hesitant to continue.  I started a ‘knee journal,’ to monitor my pain level, what I eat, what meds I take, and what exercise I do, to see if I can figure out what makes it better or worse.  I’ve got a feeling that it is just random arthritis, and might have been exacerbated by the change in the weather.  I am also mulling over the possibility of swimming through the winter, because I do miss it already!

This ‘n’ That

First I want to thank everyone for chiming in with some very good advice in my prior post about arthritis.  Even though I am (was) a nurse, my area was so specialized that I really don’t know a lot about adult medicine.  I feel more informed and am going to go forward from here.  In the meantime, I have been swimming up a storm, and am really loving it.  I am REALLY tired the next day, so I think its a pretty good workout.  Unfortunately, my weight lifting is taking a back seat, but I plan to add that back in soon.

Here is “The Bess Show.”  She gets the award for being the most photogenic dog this week.

Well, you KNOW that you-know-who was not going to be left out entirely.

Bess is very aware of where everything is supposed to be (I don’t know how she manages that in this house.)  If anything is new or out of place, she becomes quite concerned about it. Bordering on obsession, unfortunately.  She is also one of the few tv watching dogs I have had.

Watching The Dog Whisperer:

Watching “Hachi, A Dog’s Tale.”  That’s a pretty good movie, BTW.  Oh, that’s my new computer, which is working wonderfully as a tv/movie screen.  The picture is so clear, and the sound quality is much better than my old computer (very important for us old folks, you know.)

And a rare shot sans tongue.

I have found a few good peaches this past week.  I decided to try the Flax Cakes with peaches instead of blueberries.  And then I had the idea of making them into muffins instead of cakes.  Perfect amount to make six nice muffins.  Yummy, and very filling.

Two of them made a very nice breakfast.

It might seem like Noah is getting ignored on the blog, but don’t worry about him. As well as being lion-sized, he also gets the lion’s share of attention around here.

Almost every night he scratches that carpet up into a ball so he can sleep on the carpet underneath it.  Sigh.

The other morning I went out to check my zucchini plant, and I found this absolutely perfect blossom.  Isn’t it beautiful?

Here is my sad little vegetable patch.  I have actually gotten about 4 or 5 zucchinis and two whole tomatoes.  At the amount of water I have to use, that probably makes it about $5 per vegetable.  I’ll stop complaining about the prices at the Farmer’s Market now.

I bought a four pound bag of walnuts in the shell at the farmer’s market the other day.  $8.  Wanted to compare prices.  Just about half the weight was the actual walnut meat, so that made it $4 per pound, and a lot of hard work on my hands.  Not worthy.

Ah, I mentioned you-tube the other day.  When my computer was down I got very creative with my kindle fire.  I was able to watch you tube videos just fine on there.  And they have some wonderful full-length lectures and such on you tube. I started out looking for sermons by Francis Chan.  If you haven’t heard him speak, he is very compelling.  There’s just a ton of Francis Chan stuff on there. And then I found  an interview with Ann Lamott. I have to admit I have not read any of her books, but I love some of her quotes, and she was really interesting to listen to.  It was very well done, at a Writer’s Forum, and they had interviews with other writers I am interested in such as Eugene Peterson and Phillip Yancey.  Big Think does some interesting looking interviews.  The only one I watched was the interview with Marion Nestle, (New York University Professor of Nutrition) which was fascinating.  Basically she pointed out that people all over the world, in different times and different cultures, have eaten very different diets, and yet they are all healthy.  The main thing is to eat real food, and not too much.  She had such a common sense point of view.  I thoroughly recommend watching that video if you have time.  Its about 14 minutes.

Oh!  I almost forgot the most important news!  Wendy and I got together last week and worked on the website for The Bridge (our Haiti child sponsorship program.)  Well, Wendy had done all the work.  I just forced her to hit ‘publish’ and let it go public.  I think she did a beautiful job, and now you all can see what I am talking about when I talk about The Bridge.

Well, that’s about it for tonight.  Off for some lap time and a little more stitching before bed.

Me and Exercise and THE KNEE

Ahh, in looking back, I see the computer went down just about the same time as I went to the doctor’s.  To make a long story short, at the end of our visit, I asked her what she thought it might be (wrong with my knee) and she looked at me and said “Its probably just arthritis.”  And then the X-ray added to that “significant moderate to severe osteoarthritis.”  There is an MRI ordered, and an ortho consult ordered.  But since I have to pay a part of my medical bills now, I am weighing that carefully.  I am going to get a bone scan done, and I actually think going to a rheumatologist might be better than the ortho consult.

In the meantime, with that provisional diagnosis, at first I was dismayed.  Because it seems there is very little that can actually be done for arthritis.  But then I thought, well, make the best of it.  And for whatever reason, I feel better than I have in a long time.

Here is what I am doing consistently:

• Swimming  (at least 3 days a week, and for 30-70 minutes at a time)
• Taking motrin every morning, and occasionally in the evening if needed
• Taking my B12 every morning (don’t know if this helps, but my brother swears by it.)
• Doing serious stretching (this was Vicky’s suggestion for the knee pain.)
• Trying hard to NOT cross my legs. I know it puts pressure on my knees, but its a hard habit to stop.
• Walking twice a day, but staying with the shorter distances, and trying to walk where its more level.

So I’m not sure what is working the best, but I’m gonna stick with this routine until it stops working!

I am loving my new swim toys.  I start out by using my water shoes to walk/jog 10 lengths (using my lap counter!)  Then I switch to the swim fins, and use a paddle board to work my legs one way for a while, then ditch the paddle board and do my usual side stroke with the fins on.  The fins do make me go faster, but they also provide more resistance, so I have to work harder.  Finally, I ditch the fins and swim side stroke to finish out the session.

And (drum roll please!) Monday I swam a mile!  I was not planning on doing it that day, but somewhere in the middle of the swim I realized I had gotten into that great place where you think you can swim forever.  It all seems effortless and timeless.  So now on to my next goal of swimming 2.4 miles.  I think the main barrier here will be time.  I am not a fast swimmer, so it will require me to stay in the pool for at lest 2 1/2 hours to complete this.  We’ll see how it goes.

Next project: get on the bike!  I got a bike rack for the back of the car, and yesterday I took the bike for a test drive–on the back of the car.  I ended up never taking it off the rack and riding it!  (don’t laugh, Lori!)  I was nervous about the rack, and then the chores got in the way and I just never got it done.  I am planning to ride it today.