While on vacation I began to miss my workouts at the gym. I felt like I was losing the gains that I had worked so hard to achieve. Going to the gym was now very much a part of my day, and my life.
Plus, while enjoying my relaxing in the Bahamas, I realized that I had eaten too many fried foods, but that is what I like to eat when I am in the Bahamas. To be specific, I love conch fritters, cracked conch, and cracked lobster when it is available.
And the sauce served with these treats is just fabulous.
I am now back in Northern Virginia and reality reemerges to remind me of the road ahead. This includes addressing the worries that my mind occasionally presents when I feel strange pains or soreness.
After I had a couple days of rest and I was back at work, it was time to visit the gym again and continue my efforts. My newly growing belly needed to be addressed.
As I drove to the gym, I looked at my arms and thought to myself that I wanted to get a little more muscle strength and definition. This would be my goal for the next phase of my recovery along with figuring out what to do with my belly.
When I entered the gym, the staff at the reception desk welcomed me back and asked the traditional questions about my vacation in the Bahamas. I responded with various tales of our boating adventures and basking in the sun. I showed some pictures and then excused myself to the locker room.
All changed and first activity was the elliptical to do a mile for my warmup. My goal was to always get to a heart rate slightly above what the doctors recommend. I always felt that doing a little more was an achievement.
But I never push too hard. I do not want to experience another medical event that I was recovering from.
So, I have become a patient advocate for success in recovery after a major medical event. I encourage other patients like me to allow the mind to recover as well as the body. Yes, I do encourage getting a therapist to help with this part of the recovery.
And what I recommend to others as a patient advocate is to slowly increase your effort to align with your personal recovery goals. I note that success should be completely in your control and never give up when you are falling short.
This is the advice I now give to others who are also recovering from their major medical event: “Find your baseline and build from there. Don’t push too hard. And enjoy your recovery. It is only a job if you make it that.”
Now back to my efforts.
In this next phase of my recovery, I decided that one goal would be to systematically increase my machine weight by 5 pounds every two or three weeks.
After a good warmup, off to the machines I went. I looked forward to starting back with the same weight settings that I was at before my long vacation in the islands. And to my amazement, I was able to do that.
However, I gained about three pounds of fat that I now need to change to body mass. At my age, this would take some time, but I was ok with that. It is a challenge I accept.
I knew that my recovery was setting me up for a future that I had begun to question. I also knew my heart was functioning properly now. My Cardiologist gave me the greenlight to become a little more ambitious in my efforts.
I completed five machine exercises with the same effort as before my vacation. Feeling good now.
After my workout while driving home I began to think about the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. I had gone out and bought lots of fireworks to set off this year before we left for vacation.
The Fourth of July arrived and my spirits were high. And the weather was looking good. But in the DC region it can become questionable very quickly.
The girls were excited about the fireworks. And to add to what we had already bought, they convinced mom to take them to one of the roadside fireworks stands to buy more. They wanted some big ones.
And when they returned from their shopping trip, two big new fireworks were added to the growing collection. Other neighbors were bringing out their collections to add them to the court’s fireworks display.
When the time to start the fireworks show, all our neighbors gathered in the court to view the firework display. We then started to carry out all our collected fireworks to begin the coordinated setup.
I also opened a fresh bottle of wine and poured a full glass. Why not! It would be my first Fourth of July holiday in my extended play era.
I will admit that I like to set off fireworks with a lighter in one hand and my glass of wine in the other.
Our neighbors also helped with lighting some of the fireworks. We have a little fireworks show in our neighborhood court every year.
After our little show, the big show starts. Our court event is carefully timed for this.
What is nice is that we can stand in our court and watch the big airborne professional fireworks show which takes place about two football fields away.
After all the Fourth of July activities, we picked up the mess and went inside to finally wind down. The girls went to their room and I went to mine.
The Fourth of July is always a long day and what made this year’s holiday special was that I was here to participate.
As I readied myself for bed, I wondered what new challenges I could come up with that would take me to places that I have always wanted to go to. I then decided to create my bucket list. But what should I put in this list. I did not want to be touristy. And I suspected that any journey I list would most likely be a solo journey.
There were instances that had occurred while away on vacation that kept creeping into my mind. And I knew that I needed to strengthen myself to accept a future not planned.
Time to dream…
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