DAY 1--PULMONARY REHABILITATION
Today was my first day of following my exercise program on my own. My class started at 11:00AM, and they asked us to be there at 10:45AM, so I was on time and ready. They stressed to us the importance of using the antiseptic hand sanitizer prior to and after exercising, so I headed to the sanitizer first thing. I was checked in, given my oxygen tank and tubing and my card which showed what exercises I was to do for today. They then checked my pulse, oxygen saturation and blood pressure, and off I went to warm up.
Warm up included walking the walking track two times at a steady pace...no running and no lolly gagging if possible and preferably no talking since that uses up oxygen. So, down and around the track I went, two times with no shortness of breath. Then it was on to the side room to do my stretches. Some people who had been coming for a while knew what stretches to do when, but I and several others are new, and we had to look at the chart on the wall and go by that. No problem there. I went slow and didn't want to pull a hamstring, so I tried to be gentle with myself but do a good stretch at the same time. I did four rounds of each stretch. I did right and left arm stretches. Forward and backward swings with my arms. A stretch whereby you place your thumbs sort of in your armpits and stretch your arms around forward and then backward. Then there were four lunges each of each leg, and also a good stretch whereby you place one hand on a wall and reach back, hold your right foot in your hand and gently pull and then the left...four times. I could feel that muscle pulling, but didn't push it too hard because I didn't want to get a catch in my muscle and not be able to do more. I then headed for the bicycles.
I went exactly by my card they made out for me (instructions) and worked out today on two machines. First I rode the bicycle. I was to set it at ten minutes and keep the level between 4 and 6. I am age 58 and the lady next to me was age 70, and I noticed that her level was between 7 and 8. So, she was peddling harder than I was, but they told us not to compare ourselves to others, so I didn't and kept to my own instructions. I did become short of breath and started Purse Lip Breathing which helped tremendously. If very short of breath, we were to stop and let someone know. As I rode the bike, a Respiratory Therapist came by to check my blood pressure and oxygen saturation and pulse rate. That seemed like a long ten minutes, but I'm sure I'll get used to it, and they did have two big televisions on the wall to watch. Some people had on head phones, so I assume they were listening to music and others were talking. I completed my ten minutes and my thighs were tired, and I could tell that I had done a work out. My second bike exercise was the same as the first except I was to place my feet on a level area and not work my legs but continue for ten minutes pushing the handle bars of the bike which worked out my arms. The bike took a total of twenty minutes of exercise. I then headed to the treadmill.
The biggest problem I had with the treadmill was how to work it, so someone came by and got me started. My settings were ten minutes on the treadmill at a level of 1.6 I didn't have any problems doing the treadmill at that speed and level, so that ten minutes was very enjoyable, and I watched TV and talked with the ladies next to me. They also came by to once again check my blood pressure, oxygen saturation and pulse rate. It was cool down time, so I had a drink of water and headed for the walking track.
I walked slowly two times around the walking track. After that, I once again did the same stretching exercises as before, and gathered all my "stuff" together, sanitized my hands and sat down to wait on the Respiratory Therapist. I recognized many of the people there from my pulmonary 101 classes. It was good to see them.
The Respiratory Therapist came by and checked all my vitals again and marked them on a chart. He asked me questions about the degree of difficulty of the exercises and how I felt. I told him that I had had shortness of breath on the bicycle when peddling and found it the most difficult of the three workouts, so he is having me maintain the same ten minutes and the same level for next week as I did today on the bicycle. Since I found the treadmill to be fairly easy, he is upping the level from 1.6 to 1.8 for next week.
I headed for home, and felt really good about what I had done. I know that I have a long ways to go, but I don't feel rushed and I don't feel competitive with the others. I want to do this correctly so that I can maintain it without injury and just work my way up to higher levels slowly.
My daughter dropped by this afternoon and brought me the American Heart Association's cookbook, so I will be spending some time looking over that. I have a lot of changes to make when it comes to my eating habits which means changing my manner of cooking and the seasonings I use. I have a tendency when I set a goal, to rush out and purchase all the items or "stuff" needed to do what I want to do, and then not use them. So, when I grocery shop, I'm not going to buy out the store, but will purchase only certain food items and try out only a few new recipes. I don't want to jump into the pool when I'm not sure I can even swim!
I did have a good time today, and yes, I was tired and did take an hour's nap after I got home. Also, rather than my normal lunch meat sandwich slathered with mayonnaise and Doritos, for lunch today I had a chicken wrap, and that's all, and I was full much to my surprise. That nap sure felt good.
One thing I have noticed having done a little exercise on Tuesday and more today, I am not sore at all. I thought for sure that especially my leg muscles would be sore, but they are not. I guess those warm up and cool down stretches and walks really help and are important. I also enjoyed getting to know some of the other ladies there, and we sort of laughed at how not only us but everyone was weaving their oxygen tanks all around and through the machines trying to get to where we wanted to be and the gym was fairly full, so there were frequent clankings of oxygen tanks as people passed each other. It was clank, clank, clank and I only heard a few distant, muffled curse words.
I will mention that I weighed in at 167 pounds, and they have set my weight goal to be 158 pounds in 4 -5 months. However, I would like to weigh about 145 pounds or even 140 pounds. So, we'll see how that goes. I'm not going to starve myself since that will lead to failure, but will just exercise and try to eat healthier and hope that will result in weight loss for me.
As I left, we all said "See you Tuesday" and said
to the people coming in with their oxygen tanks or in their wheelchairs for the 12:00Noon class. It was nice....very nice.
Until Tuesday-----Joyce