Snow Good Workout

FB Friend Dave Corbett's Shot
from last winter - any excuse
to promote Dave's talent!

As I watched the snow fall this morning I fought the temptation to skip the gym.  I went and it was hard, but it was worth it.  Gwyn had me do a number of things that now have my shoulders almost unwilling to work.  Oh and my ribs hurt from some of the ab work.  But I learned a lesson.

That lesson is, snowy days don't seem so hard when you are hot coming out of the gym. :)  No really.  The rest of my day felt like it flew along and I was able to get a few things done.  If I hadn't gone?  Well, I forgot my super-healthy lunch at home this morning, so I probably would have split the pizza that always gets ordered in on days like today.  Instead I grabbed a healthy sandwich and some milk on the way back.

Tomorrow, even snowier.  I plan to go to the gym, it's pool day!  Unless we get more than expected and I have to stay at work or Gwyn can't get to the YMCA Healthy Living Center, I will be there.

Yours in Health,
Kate

I LOVE Boxing!

I hit the YMCA Healthy Living Center to workout with Gwyn today.  Did I mention she rocks?  :)

She had me beating the heavy bag again, it's always a great release.  Tons of sweat, thumping, anger and heavy breathing rolled into something constructive.  She keeps telling her son he would like it - she's right.  Imagine teenage aggression channeled!

That's why the Des Moines Police Department has had great success with their boxing club.  It takes kids off the streets and away from senseless violence and gives them a way to put their fists to real use.  It's really too bad that budget cuts have caused them to have to cut the program.  Some great company like Everlast or Coca-Cola (Gatorade) should sponsor the program and ask for naming rights. (Just sayin'.)

As for me, my arms end up like jell-o and my heart races, I never have to wonder if I have 'worked' - oh, I have worked!  The only real problem for me is my kicking.  I am getting into that part because my knee is handling more output, but my hips are another story.  Gwyn had me try side kicks today - um, no.

My hip flexors are so tight I thought I was going to rip something.  I tried the right leg too, thinking the left was the only problem because of my knee - um, no.  It didn't put me in as much pain as the left, but it still got really cranky.  The left side is still sore.  So, when I go to PT with Kristi next week, I will have to talk to her about that.

And about my left shoulder.  LOL.  It's always my left, if anyone can explain that, please do.  My left shoulder has some kind of connector on the top that just feels like a knife is going through it depending on what I am doing.  Push-ups are okay, unless I have down arm raises first.  Today it was keeping my arms up for jabs that started the pain.  Yes, half the time I feel like a broken toy.  :0

But that said, I won't let these measly pains stop me, there is much work to be done and I am up to the task.

Yours in Health,
Kate

What was that about time?

Another week gone and I haven't posted. I also haven't exercised and I have eaten total crap.

This will all be over soon. I have challenged my family to a "Biggest Loser"-like contest in January. I will not lose at something that was my idea. I refuse.

However, I have to figure out how to do it. I am still banned from running and even biking is killing my knee. There is no decision on surgery because I have other things going on.

That brings me to my shoulder. I went to the orthopedist on Christmas Eve and I am now being referred to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The doctor says while he thinks it (a tumor in my humerus) is probably benign, he doesn't really see many tumors in adults, in fact maybe one a year. So, he is sending me to someone who specializes in orthopedic oncologist - a doctor who specializes in bone cancer.

My doc is nervous because adults don't usually just suddenly get a tumor. This kind of growth usually happens in kids from 3-15, while they are still growing and producing bone. Adults tend to lose bone mass. I wonder if this will all lead to an admonishment regarding my perverse love of milk?

Mayo will contact me probably next week. I will keep you updated - I swear. No really, I will post. (I know promises, promises.)

Yours in transition, Kate

Another Ten Days Lost

Wow. I didn't realize I had let another ten days slip away without posting. I'm sorry.

I have been wrapped up in my health. Last time I posted I was holding back. Here's the lowdown, by body part:

Lungs - steroid inhaler seems to be doing the trick. I ran up the stairs earlier this week without thinking and didn't end up with sharp stabbing pains or a total loss of breath. Yea!

Knee - It's sore. The more I use it and get back to walking a lot at work and slide back into working out, the more it will. I am going to the gym to ride the bike in the morning. I am going to combine physical therapy and pushing it by working out. I want to see where the knee really is when I go back to the ortho on Christmas Eve. I really want it to be good and avoid surgery, exploratory or other. There's a Power Climb to do in February!

My shoulder - This is what I didn't mention. When they did the chest x-ray, which came out fine, they spotted a shadow on my right shoulder. I went back for a series of x-rays on it and they found I have a growth in the top of my humerus. An MRI later and they say it's either enchondroma (non-cancerous) or chondrosarcoma (cancer). The initial reports now say it is most like not cancer. I'll get the final say, they think, on the 24th when I go to the ortho for my knee - he's looking at my shoulder too.

But to be frank, this is my second cancer scare in a year. Earlier in the year it was a lump in my breast.

With my mental state frayed from all the changes this year it really got to me. Then I had to tell my mother, which I wasn't going to do until I had a final diagnosis, and she got really upset. That in turn amped me up.

Finally she took us both to have massages. That helped recenter us both I think.

Now here I sit after having worked all night, about to go put in another hour. I am tired. Not just from today, though there are good reasons for that. Just tired of feeling like a broken toy.

Since June my body has felt like it wants to fight me at every step. I am losing patience.

Yours in transition, Kate

Um, ouch

I tweaked my shoulder yesterday at the gym. At least for once I know exactly what I was doing when I ended up in pain. I was doing assisted pull-ups. Only I was doing the inner part of the machine, so that I worked my biceps hard with my back. Well I was in the midst of my second round, at like number 7 when it felt like a large rubber band snapped me. Then pain. Then I went ahead and tried for the next one - uh, no.

I stopped, threw down with another set of bicycle crunches, realized how much the shoulder hurt, stretched and called it a workout. I had been going for over an hour between cardio, core and weights, before it happened, so gratefully I did get a full workout in. Still it was annoying and as I typed this I realize it hurts a little more than I was willing to admit earlier this morning.

When I woke up this morning I was very happy, it was down to dull and almost completely able to be ignored. As the morning has progressed it has moved to sore and noticeable. Once it hits ouch again, I will grab ibuprofen, but not until, I hate to take meds if I don't have to. That's a big step up from when I was obese.

Everything ached all of the time when I was overweight, so I constantly popped Advil like candy. Then one day I was complaining to my chiropractor about being light headed, so he took my blood pressure. It was high (I traditionally have low blood pressure, even fat) and he asked what I had been eating, etc. When he found out I was popping like 9 Advil a day, he said no more. Within a week and a half my blood pressure had lowered. So ever since then I have only taken drugs when absolutely necessary.

Anyway, today I will take it much easier when I workout and will not do shoulders. Hopefully by later this weekend, this will have gone away.

Yours in fitness, Kate