Hi everyone! I’ve crawled out of the dark dungeons of misery and I’m back to join the Weekly rundown link-up with Kim and Deborah, to talk about the week of fitness. This post is more like “fitness lately”, but still. I’m back!
If you’re interested in reading the more detailed update about my foot injury, you can find it here. It’s been a long and bumpy road but I finally got a diagnosis (stress fracture on the 3rd metatarsal), and with the diagnosis, finally proper help. I saw the orthopedist on Friday and although it was a much shorter visit than I expected, I got the information I needed and I’m happy with it. He said it’s a small and uncomplicated fracture and he seemed very certain it will heal quickly. That was music to my ears of course. He said “I’m going to give you a boot”I , and I wonder if I’m the first patient who happily says “Yes please!”. And I almost added “bring it on, baby!” 😂 You’ll understand why if you read the update post I linked to above.
They referred me to a physiotherapist that will give me further info about timeframe and more (and more importantly, can I ride a bike NOW?). My personal trainer is not a certified physiotherapist as those who works in hospitals, but he is a physical therapist (is this confusing or what) and is absolutely trained and competent (perhaps more than any) to do sports injury rehab but of course the HSE doesn’t know that and that’s ok. We’ll see who will do what and what happens. As long as I get the proper help and rehab I’m happy with anyone, and my trainer will still help me to get back on track with my leg & foot strength later.
I love my boot. It’s clunky and too warm and much else but it helps me get around without destroying shoulders. I still wonder “how do you walk with that thing?” but I get around fine with crutches, without having to put too much pressure on them since I can put some weight on the foot with the boot. I’m convinced the person who invented these should have received the Nobel prize. I have high hopes now to live a good life while the injury heals. This is the first true step towards recovery, and after weeks of chaos I can finally relax and move on.
People I’ve met over the weekend have had this horrified look when they’ve seen my boot because now I truly looked INJURED and DISABLED, but I did my best to tell them that this is a good sign – that I’m getting help now and will be better soon.
Fitness activities lately
I’ve continued going to the gym twice a week, and it’s been my lifeline both mentally and physically. It’s fantastic to have been able to do something – and often quite hard work – to keep up my fitness, also during this time. I mostly work on the upper body, but the lower body will be dealt with later. I do chest press and flyes each time, various shoulder excercises, something for core/back, and barbell row (lying face down on a bench) or dumbbell row (with both knees on a bench, quite hard to do but it works). Every time I also get hip and glute exercises on a mat, and/or leg curls with resistance band.
I’ve continued doing some hip mobility work and core & glute strength at home. A big thank you to everyone who recommended the deadbugs, I absolutely love them! Now it’s time to try them with weights. Woodchoppers were also mentioned, but I haven’t tried them yet. I might do that next week.
From this week, I go to the gym three times a week. I’ve seen some very promising results from ramping up from once to twice a week (which I did in November) so why not add another session? Especially now when the gym sessions are the only “proper” workouts I get and my body is itching to move.
Since tomorrow is bank holiday and my trainer has the day off, I’ve done a simple workout in the garden – friends’ garden actually. They just had an extension built on their house and my husband offered to come and help them with the horrible mess that is now the garden. They’ll build a nice wall around a future lawn, and a patio, and it will be fabulous when it’s ready. I obviously couldn’t do anything to help, so instead I put myself on the grass doing leg lifts, pushups, hip circles and deadbugs.
Other news
This week we thought we had lost our cat Ester, a wonderful, very bossy lady with a strong personality. She is 8 years old and has moved with us from Sweden. She disappeared on Tuesday and came back on Wednesday evening, very weak and lethargic. We tried to get her to drink some water which she did, but was not herself at all and we planned to take her to the vet the day after. But on Thursday morning, before we had locked the cat flap, she was gone. Then we didn’t see her again. I couldn’t go searching because of my injury, but my husband did a very thorough search around our garden and our neighbour’s garden, with no result. Knowing how sick she was, I had no hope of her coming back again, I was absolutely certain she had hidden somewhere to die.
But then, suddenly she appeared behind the house last night. We immediately called the emergency vet and she is now in the hospital, with a likely urinary infection and kidney failure. She’s had this about two years ago and was in the hospital for a week, but has been fine since, eating a special diet.
It feels like such a miracle that she came back. I had the most horrible feeling that we didn’t get the chance to help her. With the very sudden onset of this illness, I thought she had eaten something poisonous. I’m so much calmer about a UTI. Now I’m very hopeful that she’ll be home to give us “presents” and meow loudly at 4 am again. I honestly can’t wait!
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