Free again!! :-)

Sudie and I drove up to Portland to see my ortho-pod Doctor. He was very pleased with my progress. He raised my arm up and was surprised at how high he was able to lift it. He thinks I strained the muscles in the rotator cuff, but has given me the green light to begin at-home therapy of wall walking with my finger tips and the other three passive exercises, although I am supposed to  use more motion than before.

I drove home from the appointment and went shopping for food this afternoon.  Great to be independent again! There are certain movements that still give me a moment's shock.  The biggest one is when I put pressure like spreading peanut butter or taking off jar lids. I had a devil of a time connecting my I-pod, Garmin watch and cell phone to their chargers because of the inward pressure it took.

The best news is I have been able to maintain my weight over the last month even without exercising!!

I will begin working out at the heart health center tomorrow and also begin my walks.  I think I will begin at the 3 mile limit and work my way up to the 6-7 miles that  I was walking before my operation.  Sudie and I went to the beach day before yesterday and walked a fair distance and it felt good to be walking again. It will be much easier now that I have my sling off.

I want to thank Sudie for all she has endured these past four weeks- driver, cook, dishwasher,nurse, valet helping me tie my shoes,  and most important, the constant positive encouragement and support! I am SOOOOOOOOOO lucky to be married to her!  God Bless You, Sudie!!!!!!!!

A set-back

The day after my last blog, I was shopping in Wells, Maine and stepped off a curb and fell :-( Luckily, I landed on my good shoulder but gave the new shoulder quite a jolt. I really didn't think I had hurt it too badly, so when the ambulance arrived, I refused their help (stupid me!!) By the time I drove back to York, the shoulder was really hurting, so I went to the emergency room where they gave me a pain relief injection and x-rayed it and told me to see my doctor asap. My orthopedic doctor who is the doctor for the US Olympic ski-team has put me back on complete shoulder rest, sling and all.  Looking at the x-ray, he didn't see any structural damage, and thinks I may have dome something with the muscles of the rotator cuff. I go back in two weeks. I really feel badly for Sudie as she is once again my nurse, and driver. I haven't been able to work-out for nearly a month now, and the good news is that I have been able to maintain my pre-surgery weight. I am now cutting back on the heavy drugs and hope to be off them in a day or so.  I am nearly back to where I was, except for a few arm positions but even that pain is less.

Next weekend, Sudie is off to Vassar for her 50th reunion.  I will be spending the weekend with Joan. my sister in Framingham, MA.

Bionic Pete

It's been two weeks since I had my right shoulder totally replaced.  Yesterday I had the staples removed and got rid of the sling. Almost no pain now. My doc has cleared me to go back to my daily workout.  I have been able to maintain my 40 pound loss without the exercising, but now I can continue weight loss. A red letter day!!

a new toy

I celebrated my 70th birthday last week and I received a nifty new toy! I have begun walking more intentionally either at the high school track or around the streets of York.  To help me keep track of my progress I now am the proud owned of a Garmin Forerunner monitor,  It looks like a watch, but it has GPS capability and uses it to track my speed, location, elevation. In addition I am able to keep track of my heart rate as I walk. Last Friday I decided to test it, so I walked from home to church.3.54 miles in 1 hour and 6 minutes. I then walked to the hospital for lunch, another .82 miles, then back home which was 2.65 miles, for a total walk of 7 miles. I burned 922 calories during the walk.  When I got home I connected the monitor to my computer and uploaded all the date.  From it I can follow my route and see exactly where along the route my heart was beating the slowest and fastest.

I did have a big tumble along the way and by the time I got home, my right knee was quite sore and stiff.  It has continued to swell during the weekend so I am calling my Ortho doc tomorrow morning. More Later, it's been a very busy day with Church and co-hosting a Foyer Group here tonight where I made Cincinnati Chili.

Finally, an update

 

I really haven't been too good about keeping this blog up to date.  If there are any one out there still following me, I want to fill you in on what has been happening since my last blog.

First I am pleased to report that I have now lost 37 pounds, 13 since returning from Duke. I have joined the York Heart Health Institute where they have a good gym with a Nu-step in it. I have been going 5-6 times a week spending an hour to an hour and a half.  My routine has been to use the tread mill first for 30 minutes. I warm up for a few minutes and then start increasing the elevation 1 degree at a time for one minute.  So far I have gotten up to a 12 degree elevation.  Then I work my way back down to 0 elevation one minute at a time and cool down.  Then I go to the Nu-step machine.  On it I warm up at level 6 and then increase the level one increment at a time for 2 1/2 minutes working my way up to level 10, then back down to 6.  On odd days I then use the weight machines for 20-25 minutes.  I have increased my weight on all of them except the one that involves my arm.  I have stayed at 45 pounds on that one.  I am having a complete right shoulder replacement on May 12th and I want to strengthen the muscles around the joint before I am operated on.

Last Sunday evening I made a 2 hour presentation at church on what I had learned at Duke.  22 folks showed up! Half way through, my good friend Barbra Boschart and I shared 7 recipes from the Duke cookbook.  Every recipe was a hit, even the tofu parfait! I must say, I have enjoy the recipes in the cookbook.  My one complaint is the number of servings for many of the recipes.  I often need to cut the recipe way down two make 2 or 4 servings.

I have been increasing my walking distance over the last month.  Most of the time, I have been at the high school track which has a cork track, very easy on the legs.  Today Barb, Karen and I walked 4 miles from the high school and back along Long Beach and Short Beach here in York.

A period of anticipation

Since coming home, I have found it hard to keep this blog up, though I intend to do so.  Until last Thursday, I had maintained my daily workout at the Heart Health Institution going 5 days a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday using the Nu-step for 30 mins., the treadmill for 30 mins. and working on the weight machine circuit for 20-30 minutes; Tuesday and Thursday only on the treadmill and Nu-step as I have to skip a day between the weight lifting to let the old muscles recover. I took Linda Hull up on her kind offer to use her pool at her condo, so last Monday, I did 45 minutes of aerobic exercises in the deep end of the pool trying to remember all the various drills we had done at Duke.  I didn't find it as enjoyable as it was at Duke because I was the only one and there wasn't any music to keep the beat up with.

Last Thursday I had some basil cells removed from my left calf and we told not to exercise for a week to let the wound heal.  Actually it's been hard NOT to go to the gym everyday.  I am concerned about gaining weight during this period (the reason behind the title of today's blog.) I have been out in the yard a bit cleaning up after the windstorm and yesterday I spent the morning walking around Harmony Grove Cemetery in Portsmouth, NH looking for and then photographing specific gravestones that I then post online for folks from other parts of the country who are looking for their relative's grave site. It was good exercise and I found all five stones although I have to go back and retake one as the inscription was too dark because the sun was shining on the backside of the stone.

Sudie and I continue to cook recipes out of the Duke cookbook, with great success! I have reworked a few of the recipes from Dragon Tails successfully.  The most satisfying remake was for my seafood lasagna.  I used whole wheat pasta, cut the butter in half for the white sauce, exchanged whipping cream with fat-free 1/2 & 1/2, left out the salt, and used less cheese and it was fabulous! I am giving a workshop at church on April 18th on what I have learned while at Duke.  I will talk about some nutrition and fitness topics, talk about adapting recipes and have some examples of recipes from the Duke cookbook for them to try.  I am sure they will be pleasantly surprised.

Sudie has lost nearly 10 pounds and I have lost 7-8 pounds as well even without the exercising this week for a total of 31 pounds so far. 32 pounds had been the most I have lost on any diet, so I am on the brink of breaking that record. I suppose the muscle that I have been building up continues to burn the fat more efficiently even when I don't exercise.  I can't wait to get back to the gym, though!!  I know the next 30 pounds will be harder, but I am up to the challenge, with the support I am receiving from all of you.  Thank you!!

 

Back in York

Since I have returned, I have been putting into place many of the pieces of my plan which I developed in classes at Duke during the last week. Sudie has been a wonderful support during my transition back to York.  We both have been working hard to change habits but it was not difficult to adapt to each others new regimens.  The house looks fabulous and we make the bed when we get up and are keeping things organized and put away (it's been two months now since Sudie started.)

One of the first things we did was to empty out the pantry of all the "bad" food and buy health substitutions.  I have been putting on serving of my snacks (pistachio and almonds) in plastic bags so that when I want a snack, all I have to do is grab  a bag.  I also bought health popcorn.

We are now eating suppers and some breakfasts at the dining room table.  This has been a wonderful boon to our marriage..catching up with each other over a meal. Most of the meals have been from the Duke Cookbook and Sudie has enjoyed the spicy flavor of the recipes.

I have contacted some friends about walking together and once the weather improves we will begin walking.  The Rector of my church (and others) have asked me to do a presentation of what I learned while at Duke.  I am on the docket for April 18 at 5PM. I have been able to put together some of the power point slides that were used for classes at Duke. I plan to make some sample food so the participants can taste some of my favorite recipes.

Fitness wise, I went back to the York Fitness Center for the last two weeks and have been averaging 90 minutes 5 days a week.  I had put in my application to join the York Health Heart Institute and I finally had my intake interview and medical check-up yesterday. My weight was a few pounds higher than it was when I left Duke because I was wearing my sweat cloths when I weighed in and they weighed probably 2-3 pounds.  So now I have a base mark to keep track of my weight loss over the next year.  When I weighed myself this morning just before I took a shower, I was 3 pounds less than at Duke, so I am feeling good about what I am eating and the amount of exercise.  Wednesdays will be my weigh-in day so I will blog each Wednesday to keep you posted on my progress.

Finally I want to thank all of you fabulous folks here in York and all my relatives too for all the kind words and support that you have shown me on my way home and since I returned.  With that kind of support, I know I will be successful. When I left Duke, many people asked me if I planned to return (many do return for multiple times.)  I told them that I do not plan to return as I know that with the wonderful support I have, I will conquer my weight problem. AMEN!!