Plumo Rehab day 12

[bobbioh]

DAY 12 - PULMONARY REHABILITATION

Rehab today seemed to fly by. For some reason, there were only 8 or 9 of us there while I was there. Being a smaller group, we all talked more and updated each other on how we were doing and what we thought of rehab. It was a nice "people" day too.

I think I could go through my warm up exercises now with my eyes closed, and I walked briskly around the track twice and also did my normal stretches of upper and lower body. I felt good today and enjoyed not only the exercises but also getting to know the staff a little better. With less people there, the staff talked more to us as they took our stats and asked us questions. I promised to tell the good, the bad and the ugly when it came to my rehab experience....so, here's the ugly...I now weigh 171 lbs. yikes! I was dismayed about this and the RT suggested that I do two things. The first thing is to exercise some every day..not just on rehab days and not just one day on the weekend. She said that exercising everyday is a good thing if you can do it without overdoing it. The second thing I am to do is write down everything, absolutely everything, I eat in one day. Do this for several days in a row. She said if I look at a list, I might see that I am eating much more than I thought or bring the list to her, and she will make suggestions about my eating habits. Well, I told her that I was thinking it could be either the steroid in Advair or my stopping smoking. The stopping smoking could be a contributor, but I think she thinks I just eat too much. I think she might be right!!

They increased my bike riding time to 15 minutes, and I was able to complete that. I do feel the pulling in my thigh muscles but it doesn't hurt.

They also increased my time on the Treadmill to 15 minutes, and I did that with no problems at all. I didn't feel much shortness of breath today at all except for some on the bike.

My days at rehab do seem to be somewhat routine when I write about them, but I can honestly say that going to rehab is not boring at all, and I look forward to it. I don't know when or if they are going to put me on other machines to work out on but I go by the schedule they give me. No one dresses up to go to rehab like they do in some gyms. Everyone wears comfortable clothing, and we aren't there to show off in any way. We are there to better our health, strengthen ourselves and to learn. We also get in some good "getting to know each other" time.

The RT who worked with me today decided to keep me at the same pace next week as I did today. I don't know what their deciding factors are but everyone is different. I am doing 15 minutes, some are still doing 10 minutes, some 20 minutes and some only walk on the Treadmill and that's all.

I still hope one day to find and and use that magical machine which will flatten and tighten my stomach muscles. To be honest I think the first machine I need to work out on to flatten my stomach is called "My Mouth"! I will try to remember that when I shop for groceries. (no more twinkies for Joyce but when I lose some weight, I will feel better )

It was a good day. Until next time---Joyce