Diary of a Small Planet II: The Omen

[BamaDave]

Great progress, Greg. I hope you're feeling better today and the leg heals quickly.

[gregl515]

Yesterday Ali and I went Christmas shopping. I went all over two malls and outlets using a walker or a cane. We were both tired at the end and I got quite a workout!

I am babying the leg today because I was supposed to take it easy until Tuesday. On top of that the Redskins lost after teasing me with two quick touchdowns. Stayed up to watch Rutgers and West Virginia yesterday so I am tired and because of Washington depressed.

At least the Christmas shopping is done!

[gregl515]

Still have to let my leg heal. No walking today.

[Mahler]

Greg,
It was great to meet you and have dinner last night. You have a real keeper in that lovely wife of yours, too.

For the rest of you reading this, Greg is a pretty funny guy and filled with stories to bring a smile to your face.

[gregl515]

Thanks Mahler! We had a great time. I was a little depressed because I couldn't walk into the restaurant. I have blisters on my leg. I had it checked today by my rehab doctor and a wound specialist and I am down probably until next Tuesday. I am even starting to look lustfully at Ian King's Limping Programs and you know that's not right!

[RobLL]

Greg - sorry to hear about the slow down. "Be patient!, how do I learn to be patient? Oh, it takes time"

[Mahler]

Greg,
I know you will do what it takes. Walk? Hell, I am planning to go running with you someday.

[gregl515]

Sorry to be away from my log.
Mahler, I would love to run with you as long as you don't kill me!

Tuesday I went back to the gym. I wore the leg for a short time at a party on Saturday, but I had to leave early because of pain and shakiness. It's probably a good thing because Ali said I was being sullen and mean anyway.
I didn't want to be that way because these were nice folks who hadn't seen me since I got sick. Being a gimp doesn't give me permission to be a jerk. But I was one anyway!

Anyway on Tuesday I started out with an exam by the PT and Ginger the wound specialist. The dr had been pissed that I wouldn't walk for him because Ginger told me not to. I might have anyway because he was pissed but my wife backed him down. It was really funny because Ali has the sweetest face and sweet musical voice, One of the PTs says she has southern charm but sweetly lets patients know they are going to do what she wants with no ifs ands or buts. The dr went into this rant that he started out as a surgeon and he now saw wounds all the time. My wife sweetly asked how long had it been since he was a surgeon and did wound care and then explained that you had to keep up and that, why, it would almost be malpractice to treat wounds with the latest best knowledge. The dr and my wife then got into a discussion regarding the fact that they still used maggots and leaches for treatment and the basic care did not usually change. The dr said I did not have to walk but that the wound care specialist should keep out of it.

Anyway, when I went to PT on Tuesday, the dr had chewed out the wound specialist and the PT. They didn't let it bother them and examined me and realeased me to walk. I walked with a cane and went up stairs. I walked back and forth and worked on my form without my cane. I did leg presses 2 x 25 x 95 with my amputated leg and prosthesis. Not impressive but a 20 lb improvement. I did leg extentsion with my amputated leg with about 15 lbs both on a machine and with about 7lbs in ankle weights. I did 95lbs on lat pulls 3 x 20. Seated rows 110 x 20 x 2. I also did a stair step machine (the Kinetron) 2 x 90 seconds which exhausts me ! I also did 10 months on a recumbent bike with resistance.

Wednesday I did my usual dumbbell complex with 21.3 lbs x 6,5,4,3,2,1
Band workout. BW squats (3/4). I tried a King deadlift but that was tempting fate. Still I am going to keep at that. Someday I hope to get strong enough to do the entire Ian King limping series while doing one of his upper body series probably Super Strength. Enough dreaming though.

Thursday I was in PT again. It was a beautiful day so we went upstairs to a patio. I practiced a kind of shuttle run without my cane while watching my form. I was to go as fast as I could without breaking form. I would go around the patio from one bench to another. I had to get up from the bench without using my hands and arms. After I did this, I had to use the cane to walk and it was perfect! I then went down the steps which is much harder than going up. I walked on padding to simulate mud and uneven terrain. This was between parrallel bars but I could not use my hands. I also did a kind of tire drill like at football practice. I had to walk though a wooden frame and place my feet in each box wothout missing one or falling on my face. Strangely, it is much harder to do this with my real foot. I guess because I balance on my prosthesis to do it. Still I can't really feel with my fake foot so you would think that would trip me up. Anyway then we did the lat pulls 3 x 25 x 95. Leg press 2 x 25 x 95 with my amputated leg and prosthesis. Leg extensions with the machine and with ankle weights. (14 x 25 x 2) and (7 x 25 x 2) Seated rows 2 x 20 x 110. Boy was I tired and sore.
Today I tried something diffent for me:

Bodyweight squat 2 x 20
King Deadlift (still trying) (It's a balance thing)
Bodyweight Static lung 2 x 6 (These hurt a lot. Will have to get used to them.
Shoulder pulls with bands 3 x 10 each
Dumbbells (weight for each dumbbell)
Military presses 16.3 x 8 x 3
One armed bent over rows 3 x 26.3 x 8 each
Lateral raises 3 x 11 x 8
Upright Row 21.3 x 8 x 2
Arnold press 21.3 x 10 x 3

Band workout with legs.

I can lift more this way, although I still think the complexes kind of give me an aerobic workout. Kind of like intervals.

I'm thinking of doing something like this:

M. Complex, bw legs and bands
T. PT
W. Above weight workout, bw legs and bands
Th. PT
F. Shoulder complexes, bw legs and bands
S. Walking while shopping and doing errands with my wife.
Su. Watch football and rest like the Good Lord says!

Seems like a plan.

I also took out the trash with my cane or walker this week. Seems little but it isn't.

[RobLL]

Man - that all sounds like a lot of work. I can easily believe not all days are great, but you keep going. Here's some hope and prayers for lots of easy days for Christmas. Rob

[Mahler]

Greg,
Damn, that's a full week. You are making great progress. The improvements in your lifts are pure inspiration and you should not be downplaying them. Many small steps will get you as far as one giant leap.

[gregl515]

The leap is always more exhilirating though! I'll be working around the lack of a calf muscle on a lot of my lifts so it should be interesting to see how that goes over time. It will even affect things like bench presses. I will have to be content with slow steady progress at a pace that pushes me and not worry about the way things should have been if I had been a little bit smarter.

[gregl515]

Went to a party tonight with my wife. Good time with good people. However, I now have pain in my leg and can't sleep. It's 3:21 a.m.!

[BamaDave]

Greg, your progress continues to be really amazing! The strength training you're doing is really accelerating your recovery.

[gregl515]

I screwed up my sleep last night and it looks like I'm not going to make it tonight. I took a Lunesta and some chamomille tea, but it's not working. No anxiety and no pain tonight. Just can't sleep.

[gregl515]

Updating my log:

Monday:

I did the upperbody complex with 21.3 lbs. Time to try to move that up!

Tuesday:

PT day. I was worn out at the end. We worked on walking style the whole time.

Wednesday. Attended my wife's uncle's funeral. No regular exercise but walked all over the place.

[gregl515]

It just gets better and better! I haven't logged much because I had a set back and I have to figure a way around it.

I had to get a further eval from a rehab doctor and podiatrist for my insurance coverage and for rehab. My rehab doctor does not cooperate with them which is a whole other story. Anyway, when I was there the rehab doctor and podiatrist saw my foot. It has bone damage and bends in a way that it is not supposed to. Apparently, there is a condition where the bones soften and then need to be supported or they reharden and deform. I have been prescribed orthotics to keep the proper shape. The thing that bothers me is that if I had not been required to be evaluated, my foot would have ended up deformed. My rehab doctor didn't catch this. When I asked about this, I get the medical equivalent of your doctor should have caught this, but we got it in time. The thing that bothers me is that my other foot had the same symptoms and became septic under a doctor's care. Was it really infected initially or as these doctors tell me, could it have been this condition that can be mistaken for an infection. If so, could my leg have been saved if it was properly recognized in the beginning?
I really can't do anything about this, but the clinic and hospitals should know because they may be able to prevent this from happening to someone else. I don't want to cause problems for anyone, but I can tell by the way the doctors are talking to me that they are not going to raise it so no one learns anything.

On top of this, the podiatrist advised me that I cannot do squats on that foot. I can do squats on my prosthetic leg and King deadlifts on that prosthetic. I can do bodyweight lunges. I can do leg presses. I work out at home and I don't have a leg press. I don't know if I have room for one.
I don't want to go to a gym but I may have to once PT is over to get the proper workout. Meantime, I can't workout my legs until I get the modications to my shoe necessary.

Oh, and my old rehab doctor's recommendation: lots of squats.
I realize that part of medical practice is art, but I lost my one leg in part to bad information and misdiagnosis. I don't want to lose the second.

I need to figure out a lower body routine for my home, if I can that I can use with an upper body workout to get back to a regular rigorous workout.
I think I can do beginner's BOM with some modification but that will only work for so long.

[gregl515]

On the plus side, I have been spot on on my diet. I am doing a high protein diet with high fiber carbs and lots of steamed veggies. This will keep my blood sugar down and hopefully eventually get me off meds.