Workout Monday……..

Hello everyone~

Today was a beautiful day here in Seattle.  Mr. Sunshine was out in full force. I was not ready to get up when the alarm clock went off.  I was sleeping hard.  I woke up twice during the night finding myself laying on my sides.  I panicked, quickly turning so I was laying on my back.  I still have four to five more weeks before I can roll over in bed.  I have to lay flat on my back so my sternum doesn’t shift more.  If you are laying on your side, you are putting pressure on your sternum and can cause onside to shift forward.   I am not going to lie, it felt so good to get off my back, I just hope I didn’t do any damage to my sternum.  Hasn’t been painful all day, except for the normal ache, I think we are safe!  We will find out for sure in clinic on Wednesday, by having another chest x-ray.  When I go to bed,  I place extra pillows around me, making a box.  I also put a pillow under my knees, just to take some pressure off my back.  Looks like I need to come up with a new idea!  I thought by having extra pillows around me, it would stop me from turning over.  Guess I was wrong!  Ha ha.

My mom took me to rehab this morning.  Kerry had a few things he needed to do for work, so he stayed at the apartment.  My mom needed to make a few phone calls, so she just waited for me in the car.  I walked in the and was greeted by the staff instantly.  The staff at Northwest Therapy Center is so nice!  I signed in and took a seat in the “check in” area.  Pauline (one of the RT’s)came over, and we started chatting up a storm.  She eventually asked “you didn’t drive yourself, did you???” with a very concerning looking on her face.  I laughed and said “no, my mom brought me, she has some phone calls to make so she is waiting in car.”  A huge relief came over her face.  We both had a good laugh, I said “hopefully four to five more weeks and then I can!”  After she took my blood pressure and checked my oxygen sats which I was 98% today!  Whoop whoop!  We did some leg warm up exercises, and  then I moved onto Colleen who is the PTA , I worked on lower body exercises.  As far as upper body exercises I am limited on range of motion.  Dr. Mulligan is very concerned with my sternum shifting more, since it has already shifted once.  I am on “strict” sternum precautions. Which means I can’t move my arm above my head, bending over, rotating my arms outwards, or lifting/pushing/pulling anything heavier than 10 pounds. Hints why I am unable to do arm workouts at rehab.  At rehab I do work on squats, leg lifts (with weights attached to my ankles), climbing stairs, calf raises, exercises like those.  We also concentrate heavily on Pursed Lip Breathing.  You breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.  It is a technique to help slow your pace of breathing, making each breath more effective.  When I first learned how to do this Pursed Lip Breathing I thought what the heck, this isn’t going to help me.  But just like everything in life I need to keep and open mind and actually try it.  When I did, low and behold it does help!  I found it to be very beneficial when I’m climbing stairs.  Going up stairs is still a challenge for me.  I can climb a heck of a lot more stairs now then I could pre transplant. Today Colleen added three new exercises, back lunges, side lunges, and sit to stand lunges.  I was instructed to hold onto the stair railing but don’t pull yourself up, make sure you use your leg muscles!!  I started out great but about half way through without thinking I used my arms to pull myself up. That was not good!!  I had an instant pain in my chest, I had to sit down for a minute. It honestly scared me!!  After a few minutes I felt fine, and I continued on with my exercises. Instead of holding on to the rail I crossed my arms and hugged myself. I definitely did not want to experience that again!!  It’s crazy to think even though we are 8 weeks post transplant, everything would be healed and ready to go! Nope!! Healing takes time, a lot of time!  After I finished my exercises I did my “cool down” period. Which just means you sit down with a pulse-ox on your finger. Colleen monitors your oxygen sat and also how quickly your heart rate can slow down to normal range. I am happy to say I finished my workout with an oxygen sat of 98%!  I was stoked!! Working out making my new breathers work, is an amazing feeling!!  Plus the entire hour and half I was there I did NOT get short of breathe once!!  What a great feeling!

After rehab my mom ran by Paint The Town and picked up our pottery. I will post a picture below of my bowl. I think it turned out pretty cool!  Anyways one of the workers took us in the back to find our pieces. She pulled out my bowl and said “just breathe that’s cool” but she had a confused look on her face. So I explained to her what I just went through and the meaning behind it.  She was truly amazed!  Makes me feel good when I can share my story!!  Our pieces turned out cool!  So fun!

We ventured back to our apartment, where Kerry was. After I had a quick snack he and I hopped on the S.L.U.T (South Lake Union Trolley) headed for downtown. I wasn’t ready to call it a day, plus with the sun being out I had to take advantage of it!  We wandered around downtown for a couple hours.  Felt great to be out and about!  

Well it’s time to call it a night, need to get my nightly routine done!  Hope everyone had a great Monday!

Until next time……….

~Jen~
“Just Breathe”