Survived my first week back at work. Not great, but not horrendous. It’s not the most favorite enjoyable place, but we won’t go into that. I’m just sore and tired today, and not sure why. Haven’t done much except walking. Shoulder is still unhappy. I wondered if could be from turning over and tugging at my weighted blanket, so I stopped using it this week. I love my weighted blanket and have used it every single day for years, so this is not a happy thing for me. In fact, I was previously contemplating getting a slightly heavier one. Still, for the existing one, Why would it start to hurt now, after so many years? If it is the culprit. It was the last thing I could think of. I’ve rested and iced it during my time off. That was the only thing I could think of.
Did some mild knee strengthening, and that hurts too. More than it should. When you’re younger, they say if something hurts, ice and rest. I guess when you’re older, they suggest to keep moving through the pain and hope it gets better by moving more. Ok, but what at what point can you settle down for the evening? Doesn’t seem fair when you take a couple hours off after dinner, get ready for bed, and everything aches again. Does it ever stop? It gets old really fast.
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
5 Weeks 6 Days
One day short of 6 weeks, I a couple tiny youtube exercise video. It was seated, arms/shoulders, which were not close to the surgery zone. I did not attempt full blast if it felt too much, so I modified as needed. Fitness tracker even acknowledged 27 activity zone minutes. A few minutes after finishing, I felt some unpleasant pangs closer to my surgery area. See? They are trying to protect you by telling you to take it easy and not do too much too soon. I would have tried this on week 2 or 3, had I not been warned not to. I’m sure my pangs aren’t anything serious, but the point is recovery is slow, even when it goes well. Reading the recovery board and some doctors advised it can take up to a year to fully recover in some aspects. I know that sounds redic, butI heard the same timeline with my previous eye surgery as well. It can take a year not because you’re old or overweight; it can just take that long. The activity today didn’t kill me though, so I’ll call it a success.
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Almost 6 Weeks Post Op
Thursday is officially 6 weeks from surgery. I have the last appointment with my surgeon that day, and anticipate she will release most if not all activity restrictions. I’ve been doing really well, but also appreciate them being protective of me. I’ve found it’s easy to over-do things when feeling well, especially the first three weeks. Even if one doesn’t significantly injure themselves by over-doing it, it still stresses the body out, which is already stressed trying to rebuild and recover. I’m still significantly overweight and in an older age class, so if anything, I almost feel guilty I’ve done so well. I wouldn’t post to those surgery recovery boards because I realize not everyone is so lucky. Definitely wouldn’t want to lead prospective surgery patients to believe that it would be as easy as I’ve had it. I saw a post this morning how someone also appreciated their fitness tracker to chart their progress. They made steady progress building up to 2600 steps by day 9. I worked up to 6000 steps on day 6. Yet I wasn’t consistent and have only been averaging about 5500, with some days doing far less. That lack of self discipline isn’t anything to brag about.
The one thing challenging my patience is my shoulder. It started aching a bit before surgery, and I figured it might be the new mattress. Not so much sleeping on it, but hoisting my big ol’ body around when I change positions. It doesn’t hurt when I do that, but I’m half asleep so it’s possible the discomfort doesn’t register. I wake up and it’s not too bad. By the end of the day it feels semi-terrible and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. If I hold completely still, it’s fine. If I stretch – pain. Move in particular directions, sore pain, as if it’s been over-used. Pretty sure it contributed to my neck being so tense sore a while ago. The thing is, I’m not doing any exercises or weights, so what the? I do try to gently rotate and stretch once in a while, but I have no idea how it builds up all day. I spent a couple of weeks trying to only use my opposite arm/shoulder to reposition and scootch around in bed and it didn’t help. Generally the remedy is rest, ice. I had plenty of time and ice packs during my surgery recovery, but no improvement.
I could go in to a walk-in place, but it’s not like it’s urgent (as they are called urgent care clinics). Most likely they would say it’s nothing serious, follow up with my primary care provider . . . based on the previous knee situation. Otherwise I’d be tempted to go. Idk. It’s so hit and miss with these places. Sometimes they can fix you right up or refer to physical therapy if needed. Other times they’re rude, ask what the heck do you expect of them and tell you to let things run the course. Maybe I could start strengthening exercises once I get the green light on Thursday.
The one thing challenging my patience is my shoulder. It started aching a bit before surgery, and I figured it might be the new mattress. Not so much sleeping on it, but hoisting my big ol’ body around when I change positions. It doesn’t hurt when I do that, but I’m half asleep so it’s possible the discomfort doesn’t register. I wake up and it’s not too bad. By the end of the day it feels semi-terrible and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. If I hold completely still, it’s fine. If I stretch – pain. Move in particular directions, sore pain, as if it’s been over-used. Pretty sure it contributed to my neck being so tense sore a while ago. The thing is, I’m not doing any exercises or weights, so what the? I do try to gently rotate and stretch once in a while, but I have no idea how it builds up all day. I spent a couple of weeks trying to only use my opposite arm/shoulder to reposition and scootch around in bed and it didn’t help. Generally the remedy is rest, ice. I had plenty of time and ice packs during my surgery recovery, but no improvement.
I could go in to a walk-in place, but it’s not like it’s urgent (as they are called urgent care clinics). Most likely they would say it’s nothing serious, follow up with my primary care provider . . . based on the previous knee situation. Otherwise I’d be tempted to go. Idk. It’s so hit and miss with these places. Sometimes they can fix you right up or refer to physical therapy if needed. Other times they’re rude, ask what the heck do you expect of them and tell you to let things run the course. Maybe I could start strengthening exercises once I get the green light on Thursday.
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Sleeping When Hot
Ugh. We got a new mattress this spring. It was sorely needed – the prior mattress was basically a dud quality wise, but not covered under the warrantee for being too firm. Problem is, structurally it was super cooling (freezing in winter, had to put multiple blankets under the sheets) and now that the weather is getting hot, I didn’t realize how much I would miss that feature. I think it was the honey-comb-like semi-hollow structure that seemed to suck all the warm air away. Idk.
Now what. Can’t get another mattress. Besides, we already tested every mattress tested in the valley, and not going to try the mattress in a box types. As tempting as some of those looked, we stumbled across one in real life and it was terrible. Not going that route.
They have supposed cooling sheets, blankets, comforters . . . But which one? Amazon.com is notorious for not refunding my returns, so I don’t want to stack up 2 or 3 $100+ duds figuring out which one is best. I love my weighted blanket, so that’s an issue too. Do I need a different “cooling” weighted blanket? Or would a cooling cover suffice? Cooling weighted blanket doesn't do any good if you don't also have a cooling cover. You need a cover because you don't want to wash weighted blankets often. Can one sandwich a supposedly cooling thin sheet/blanket between oneself and the weighted blanket and feel cooler or does it not work that way? It’s not that my weighted blanket is super warm, but it doesn’t help. Maybe I got used to it being warm because all the heat was sucked out of me by the blanket and it balanced out somehow? Therefore maybe it would balance out if I found some super cooling weighted blanket even though the mattress feels like the source of heat right now. It’s all relative anyway – it’s not that the mattress is inherently hot, but it feels warm it in comparison to the ice cube we’ve slept on for the past few years.
I’ve spent a couple of weeks looking at articles, reviews, etc. and haven’t come to any conclusions. I guess it’s my fault I didn’t ask about cooling properties on the mattress, and only went for comfort. Like sales people would be entirely honest. And as if they’d know exactly what my old mattress felt like. Besides, did I mention we didn't like any other mattresses? The question is what can I do to cope with the current situation and make it more bearable?
Already have a cooling mattress protector and supposedly semi-cooling natural fiber sheets (closet shopping). I recently saw supposedly gel-infused memory foam pads/toppers may have cooling properties. I hate memory foam but if it’s only a couple inches vs. the whole mattress, and if it really cools . . . I might be willing to give it a go. Gel-only cooling pads are only supposed to help for a couple of hours. One could argue that might be long enough to fall asleep pleasantly and maybe the gradual less-effectiveness while asleep wouldn’t be that disruptive. But if solid gel doesn’t last that long, gel-infused probably isn’t going to be any better.
Drilling holes probably isn’t a great solution either, even though I think that’s what helped the previous mattress feel like a heat sink. If I went for the toppers, there go the fitted sheets. Current mattress is already 16 inches, and adding 2-4 inches of cooling topper . . . granted, we sometimes use flat sheets in lieu of fitted, and that works, but then you have no use for the fitted ones at all and cut your useable resources in half.
Too bad I didn’t realize we should have taken a chainsaw to the last mattress. Maybe there was a layer in there we could have used while destroying it. But we didn’t have a chainsaw or room to destroy it. Sigh.
Now what. Can’t get another mattress. Besides, we already tested every mattress tested in the valley, and not going to try the mattress in a box types. As tempting as some of those looked, we stumbled across one in real life and it was terrible. Not going that route.
They have supposed cooling sheets, blankets, comforters . . . But which one? Amazon.com is notorious for not refunding my returns, so I don’t want to stack up 2 or 3 $100+ duds figuring out which one is best. I love my weighted blanket, so that’s an issue too. Do I need a different “cooling” weighted blanket? Or would a cooling cover suffice? Cooling weighted blanket doesn't do any good if you don't also have a cooling cover. You need a cover because you don't want to wash weighted blankets often. Can one sandwich a supposedly cooling thin sheet/blanket between oneself and the weighted blanket and feel cooler or does it not work that way? It’s not that my weighted blanket is super warm, but it doesn’t help. Maybe I got used to it being warm because all the heat was sucked out of me by the blanket and it balanced out somehow? Therefore maybe it would balance out if I found some super cooling weighted blanket even though the mattress feels like the source of heat right now. It’s all relative anyway – it’s not that the mattress is inherently hot, but it feels warm it in comparison to the ice cube we’ve slept on for the past few years.
I’ve spent a couple of weeks looking at articles, reviews, etc. and haven’t come to any conclusions. I guess it’s my fault I didn’t ask about cooling properties on the mattress, and only went for comfort. Like sales people would be entirely honest. And as if they’d know exactly what my old mattress felt like. Besides, did I mention we didn't like any other mattresses? The question is what can I do to cope with the current situation and make it more bearable?
Already have a cooling mattress protector and supposedly semi-cooling natural fiber sheets (closet shopping). I recently saw supposedly gel-infused memory foam pads/toppers may have cooling properties. I hate memory foam but if it’s only a couple inches vs. the whole mattress, and if it really cools . . . I might be willing to give it a go. Gel-only cooling pads are only supposed to help for a couple of hours. One could argue that might be long enough to fall asleep pleasantly and maybe the gradual less-effectiveness while asleep wouldn’t be that disruptive. But if solid gel doesn’t last that long, gel-infused probably isn’t going to be any better.
Drilling holes probably isn’t a great solution either, even though I think that’s what helped the previous mattress feel like a heat sink. If I went for the toppers, there go the fitted sheets. Current mattress is already 16 inches, and adding 2-4 inches of cooling topper . . . granted, we sometimes use flat sheets in lieu of fitted, and that works, but then you have no use for the fitted ones at all and cut your useable resources in half.
Too bad I didn’t realize we should have taken a chainsaw to the last mattress. Maybe there was a layer in there we could have used while destroying it. But we didn’t have a chainsaw or room to destroy it. Sigh.
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Qi Gong and My Neck
I am the least qualified to discuss Tai Chi and Qi Gong, but I’ve been attempting to learn about it, and both are pretty darn cool. My in-laws have a Lego resale business, and I thought the easiest way to convey to my spouse what I think I understand is as follows: Qi Gong is older and like the predecessor of Tai Chi. Qi Gong appears to have lots of different movements, which would be like individual Legos. Tai Chi is more like when you get a specific set or creation of Legos. A prescribed order and sequence. Qi Gong can be martial arts, spiritual, or physical wellness. Tai Chi was developed from Qi Gong focusing on the martial arts application.
The funny thing is, I think a lot of the videos labeled as Tai Chi aren’t necessarily strict Tai Chi Forms, so in theory they might be more Qi Gong. I wonder if it’s the term Tai Chi being more recognizable. That’s why I initially searched under Tai Chi. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to open up learning Qi Gong if it was entirely different and perhaps harder. Surprise – it’s probably easier or similar to those beginner Tai Chi videos anyway.
I realized it’s been about a year since I’ve had tension and pain in my neck whenever attempting to stretch or exercise my neck. I finally gave up because it wasn’t worth it, even if my physician gave me a standing prescription for muscle relaxants. I watched a couple of Qi Gong videos online and automatically stopped as soon as any of them mentioned stretching or turning the neck much. I finally realized today that it might be worth a shot. If they cause pain and I regret it, at least it’s not doing so while I’m at work attempting to concentrate and deal with that aspect of life. I still have a week and a half left (and a bottle of prescriptions at the ready). As it is, I don’t know what I’ve been doing that makes my shoulders so tense and hurt by the end of the day, but I’m in pain and chucking back the OTCs by that time. I thought walking was supposed to help with that, and all I’m doing is walking. Anyway, I tried a couple of gentle videos (the first semed more geared towards arms and shoulders) and only went as far as I felt was safe. The pain is always delayed, so we’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed. I can always try different videos tomorrow.
The funny thing is, I think a lot of the videos labeled as Tai Chi aren’t necessarily strict Tai Chi Forms, so in theory they might be more Qi Gong. I wonder if it’s the term Tai Chi being more recognizable. That’s why I initially searched under Tai Chi. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to open up learning Qi Gong if it was entirely different and perhaps harder. Surprise – it’s probably easier or similar to those beginner Tai Chi videos anyway.
I realized it’s been about a year since I’ve had tension and pain in my neck whenever attempting to stretch or exercise my neck. I finally gave up because it wasn’t worth it, even if my physician gave me a standing prescription for muscle relaxants. I watched a couple of Qi Gong videos online and automatically stopped as soon as any of them mentioned stretching or turning the neck much. I finally realized today that it might be worth a shot. If they cause pain and I regret it, at least it’s not doing so while I’m at work attempting to concentrate and deal with that aspect of life. I still have a week and a half left (and a bottle of prescriptions at the ready). As it is, I don’t know what I’ve been doing that makes my shoulders so tense and hurt by the end of the day, but I’m in pain and chucking back the OTCs by that time. I thought walking was supposed to help with that, and all I’m doing is walking. Anyway, I tried a couple of gentle videos (the first semed more geared towards arms and shoulders) and only went as far as I felt was safe. The pain is always delayed, so we’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed. I can always try different videos tomorrow.
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