During the first week of January I visited the side-opening doctors
so they could evaluate that pesky bulge on the side of my abdomen. Great news! They are reasonably certain that it’s not a
hernia but rather a flap of muscle that came loose from sutures somewhere along
the way and is now bunched up and useless.
Turns out that muscle tissue is difficult to sew back together and hold
fast, and now that this bit has separated there’s not much sense in going back
in and sewing it back together again. Instead
overtime the non-functioning flap will atrophy and resolve itself, and underlying
smooth muscle bands will bulk up and take on the job. In the meantime, I’ve replaced casual slacks
with Under-Armor work-out pants and their elastic waist bands nicely resolve
the buttoning issue. Now I can wear
something other than rugby shirts (that are OK left untucked)!
I’ve
held true to the three-day exercise routine for these last two weeks and have
progress to show for it. On the walk day,
my new personal best is two miles in 65 minutes, and on the calisthenics day I’m
doing 16 flights of steps up from eight.
My ankles/feet are still plenty tender afterward, but I’m sensing they are
recovering faster. Torso, butt, and leg
muscles are always stiff and sore as they are under constant pressure to
rebuild; they feel as they would after a typical weekend climb/scramble in the
alpine but without the payoff of sublime views. But you
know, if I can walk two miles, then I should be able to walk four, and then
eight, . . . we’ll see about that.
Rather
than walking around the block at home, now I am walking at The Mountaineers, either at
lunch-time (so I can ice for the rest of the afternoon while at my desk) or
after work while the commute grinds along throughout Seattle (and then I’ll either
stay late & ice while keeping up with work stuff or I’ll head home and ice
while catching up on personal email / tasks).
The Mountaineers Program Center is situated on a Naval Air
Station (now known as Magnuson Park) on the western shore of Lake Washington,
and so there are great expanses of ideal, quiet park setting, sports fields, play
grounds, etc., with paved or graveled flat trails to walk through.
Tomorrow’s another walk day and this time I’ll
use the Backcountry Navigator App on my phone to record a track and get a
better fix on distance. Those sports
fields are tempting though as they present a perfect surface to safely build up
speed, and now I’m thinking how wonderful it would (will?) be to sprint, kind of
like the first time I stood up from the wheel chair.
My pace is
becoming somewhat less stilted and erratic although it remains no thing of beauty. Because my left foot / ankle is still mostly
asleep and less limber than my right side my reptile brain automatically wants
to favor it (without nerves providing feedback, autonomous protective systems can’t
confirm I’m not causing damage) and it takes focus to over-ride auto-pilot and force
a smoother step. It sure will be nice
when (if) that left foot / ankle regains more sensory perception; all-in-all the
left foot / ankle has me worried, as I just don’t know if it will be able to make
the full recovery. It won’t be for lack
of effort.
Now that
I’m walking distance it is making less and less sense to haul a portable collapsible
wheel chair around in the back of my car (soon it will be time to pass this
barely used convalescence aid on to goodwill) and the trekking poles have long
since been stowed in the garage. However, I
remain thankful for the handicap placard displayed on my dashboard that allows for
prime parking spots.
The power chair remains at my desk so that I
can elevate my feet / ankles, but it moves less and less as the
days progress. Goodness, how indispensable it was
in enabling Metro bus commutes from The Ballard Landmark to The Mountaineers, which
remarkably ended just three weeks ago!
Thanking all my lucky stars, . . .
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