Last you heard from me, I was in hospital. They let me out on the Wednesday as planned with antibiotics, plus strict food and exercise instructions – eg soft foods, ZERO exercise. I think the doctor could see the panic in my face when he said no exercise, and he told me very *very* clearly that right now my body needed to focus on healing itself and any exercise would divert resources away from that healing.
I did what I was told, including eating at least one dark chocolate serving a day (“It is ok to eat that, even on liquids only diet because it dissolves” said my doctor, did I mention I like him?) and was finally cleared for exercise on March 10th. I came up with a plan – on the first day I would do 3km, then if that felt ok, I’d do 3.5km, then if that felt ok, I’d do 4, 4.5, then settle in on 5k for a week. It did go ok, at first.
The trouble with me is, if I am going to do something I want to push the limits. On the first day of 5km, I felt like running a little. On the 2nd day of 5km, I felt like running a little more. That was when the pain began to return, but it just felt like a little wind, so I pushed through it. On the 3rd day I promised myself, only walking. I managed two minutes before I felt like running, and that day I felt ok until I got off the treadmill, then I had a lot of tummy pain.
The next day I was concerned enough by the pain to see my (new) doctor. I told her about the 5ks I’d been doing but perhaps I was not telling the story right. She got me to lay down and felt my stomach, then she said “So you’ve been exercising for what, a half an hour a day?”. Me “No, 5km usually takes me just under 50 minutes”. You should have seen how she looked at me, like I was out of my mind crazy.
She said “No, that is way too much for your body right now. You need to cut back to 30 minutes a day of exercise at most”. So I am time limited, and to be honest, it kinda sucks for the following reason – all the shows I like to watch while I exercise are 44-59 minutes long.
On the other side of the world, while I was ill, Sephyroth was experiencing his own health issues. Maybe he’ll tell you more about that on his blog but the quick version is – gallstones. He and I were both on the clear liquids then milky liquids then soft foods diets at the same time. My diet became all about trying to *get* to my 1200 calories a day without eating Not Great foods. That was a bit of a struggle, because a couple of poached eggs over mashed potato and sweet potato really is not a lot of calories, even if you add cheese and butter.
So when all is said and done, I’m down 10kg – 22 pounds – since January 1, which is pretty awesome. I’d like to lose another 10kg by June but at this stage getting the cardio health and fitness is more important to me than the numbers, as I will have a colonoscopy sometime in June. I’m happy with the way I have been adding more running into the treadmill time – I can run for 2 minutes out of every 5 without any trouble now.
In amongst all this, I talked Sephyroth into booking his ticket to Sydney for October this year at the somewhat insane price of under $1,200 return. He’s visiting for three weeks, which is brilliant. He’s smashing his weight loss goals right now, and I am hugely proud of him, as I always am. And he is also doing 5km on the treadmill in about the same amount of time as me, so he will be able to keep up with me when he gets here! YAYOYAY!
I need to learn some patience. I need to learn not to push through tummy pain. I need to learn that sometimes my body is telling me no for a reason. I need to get back to Aqua Aerobics, too. And I need to learn to be ok with not getting my 10,000 steps for a bit.
Plus, I need to return here and tell you the story of what happened, and the family history surrounding this particular illness, which I am not sure I ever mentioned here. I will endeavour to do this soon!
Thanks for all your lovely comments on my hospital post, I really appreciated them. I’m getting back to reading and commenting, so you should see me soon at your places.. :)
So glad to hear you’re feeling better, and able to do at least SOME exercise. Me? I’m hurting a lot today. And I’m supposed to do my homework, which is most of the routine I did with the trainer on Monday. Not sure how my quads are going to make it through squats and lunges today….
I was wondering about you and it is nice to hear you are almost thriving.
So glad you’re out of hospital! And congrats on your weight loss. I’m sure it will be difficult for you to keep to those 30 min workouts, but you seem like a strong-willed person can do what you need to do (even when it means not doing what you want to!).
I had the same problem after a hernia repair last fall. I did too much and set back my recovery. Right now you need to stay busy with a nice stack of reading material and soon you’ll be able to tackle any task.
I worried about where you were, and figured that you were just recuperating. I’m glad that you have backed off on the extreme exercise, but that you have set goals to work toward. I have found that it’s better(for me) to have less intense, regular exercise than to push myself too far and then have a sore back/knees.
Pushing through tummy pain? Tsk Tsk.
Take care.
Sorry!! Just sent you a message before reading this post.
Glad you’re okay.
SSG xxx
oh do go easy, you don’t want to cause longer term damage that is more difficult to recover from. We only get one body to live in.
I’m so glad you’re home and well on your way to feeling better. But do pay attention to your limitations and allow yourself to recover. Be gentle with yourself!
Glad to hear things are improving. Take care.