Cane-free but not yet Pain-free

A few days ago I left my cane behind. Not literally. It's still in my kitchen, getting in my way. But I decided to try walking around without it. My leg notices but I think I walk pretty well without it. I don't need to limp. As always, my concern is with my posture.

During the day I experience pain in little ways. When I put on my right sock and shoe (diminishing pain, happy to say). When I pull my leg into my car (just a little). Mostly I feel that tension that never goes away when I am on my feet. The therapist says we're gaining on it, on the straightness. I'm not sure; I think he may be delusional.

At night is where the pain rubber hits the road. I have trouble with restless leg - just the right leg - and often I awake with pain in my right knee. Sometimes it creeps down to my foot, sometimes the pain is more on the right side of the knee, sometimes the pain goes up the thigh. It is all the same, though, pain that is impossible to ignore. Oddly, if I sit on the edge of my bed for a few minutes, with my legs hanging over, the discomfort tends to go away. It doesn't usually stay away. If I get up and walk around that tends to help a lot. I just never feel like getting up and walking around. All I want is to get back to sleep. My resistance to what I know works knows no bounds.

In therapy I am still not entirely up to the former levels I used on the machines, but getting closer. I'm happy to wait. More often I find I have no pain on the hip machine, which is a really big deal to me.

Today's challenge is going to wear me out. I am going to Santa Barbara on a train with a bunch of other Aqua class members and friends. Once there we will walk around, do whatever we want, until the train leaves late in the afternoon. Many will shop. I see little shopping in my itinerary. The challenge for me will be to get through it. Finding enough places to sit down, making my way on the sidewalks to where I want to be. I am so often reminded that most of the things that are enjoyable to so many involve walking and standing. I admit I feel impatience that after three surgeries I am not there yet. I think back to the years when I could walk and walk forever. I want to do that again, to enjoy it, every step.

Five Gyms on Vacation

My last trip was to Las Vegas and to Acapulco. I spent a few days in Las Vegas on either side of my four days in Acapulco.  During this vacation I went to the gym almost every day. But what gym?? Five different ones.

I was glad that I had talked to Clara about these trips. I brought along my resistance bands, which as it happens I used only a couple of times.  I also knew I could do the five basic physical-therapist exercises on my bed, morning and evening.  Apart from that, I had to adjust to whatever was available. Among the options were, for example:

* The cardio movie room in Henderson, Nevada. The Gold's Gym there has a room that is dark and contains a full-size movie screen. Instead of seats it has cardio machines. Mary and I chose bikes and treadmills and watched part of The Bourne Supremacy, as I recall.  Lots of car chases and people speaking Russian in hurried whispers. Actually filmed in Moscow. It was funny to try to set the machine variables in the dark (people use their cell phones for the light).

* Another Gold's Gym in Las Vegas, very nice, equipped with railings where I could use the resistance bands (the cardio gym didn't have the railings), lots of cool up-to-date equipment. None of the equipment in any of the gyms was like equipment in other gyms, so I was constantly hunting down leg presses, leg extensions, row machines and so on.

* Aqua aerobics at Las Vegas Athletic Club. There is a special separated pool, next to the lap pools, where the aqua classes are held. The water is the same level the whole distance, and it was about four feet, maybe a little more. For me, it was not high enough. The class was led by someone who was clearly not a regular group trainer, but instead appeared to be someone like the rest of us who went through specific training for this class. In a way, it's a nice way to go because a class member is not going to be intimidated by someone who looks like she or he does. I could see that she was following the basic rules - so much time for aerobic, so much time for weight training, and so forth, but she didn't have enough experience to move from one thing to another quickly. Thus, "What shall we do now?" Also, she did not emphasize form as much as I would have liked. Still, I got it done, it was worth the time, it helped me.

* Machines in the gym at a hotel in Acapulco. We stayed at the Las Brisas hotel, which is a fifties-era resort hotel built up a hillside. A lovely place. We had a casita high up the hill and had to call for a ride (in a pink and white jeep) every time we wanted to go somewhere in the hotel (except when Mary walked or ran and sometimes dragged me along). The gym is in a separate building overlooking the bay and has a few bikes, treadmills, a couple of universal type machines, and some other odd massage like tables. I did the bike and figured out some ways to do some of the other exercises on the universal machines. Not a complete workout but not bad, considering I also walked and swam most days.

* Weight room at the Henderson Multigenerational Center. Great place. It has two pools (one olympic-sized, used that day for water polo competition), a water park, an indoor running track, several classrooms, and more. I am able to get most of my routine done in the weight room, with the bikes and machines.  Sometimes when i visit my daughter and grandson come too and we all use the indoor pool.

It was an adventure just working out how to get into these gyms. I think the most reliable type when you visit another city is the gym in your hotel, if there is one. Otherwise, I'd be using the resistance bands and trying to find a good way to get some cardio in. I'm lucky in Las Vegas because my daughters live there so I can find ways to get in, at least once, to some gyms.  If I were able to walk more consistently there would be many more options available. For now, I am grateful for what there is.

Not a gym rat, but...

Today I woke, straightened the bed, took a shower, got dressed. Just like old times. Today I am not going to the gym so I will not be showering there and I have a little time to get things ready for my trip. It seems funny not going to the gym. Already I expect it of myself. I did pack up my elastic bands, as well as the simple rubber bands in case Mary might want to use those. I can't remember how just yet.

I slept well, waking for the bathroom and to read a little. My legs hurt and my lower back hurts. I have been limping around the house, packing, tidying a little. I am leaving my dining table covered with sewing stuff and machines, my office desk covered with papers, and possibly my piano covered with folded clothes.