I woke up around 6 am to meet a friend at IHop for breakfast. My legs were down with minor swelling. I spent the day sitting down creating curriculum maps for the next school year. After professional development, I decided to play some recreational volleyball at The Jones Center. I played volleyball from 6 - 7:30 and boy was it hot. I immediately came home to do a compression session. I only did the right leg. I have to work in the morning so I will monitor and adjust how things go. 4 more days until the next measurement and weigh in!!!
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
Day 4
Yeah, I know I didn't post the last 3 days. My bad! They were really busy.
SATURDAY
After doing the 4.2 miles on Friday, Saturday my legs wanted to be pumped more than usual. I had to stay off of my feet a little bit more than I had plan. I guess I should have gradually started my workouts instead of going hard from the jump. Needless to say, I didn't get to do much working out. I did do a little something. My friend was babysitting having a hard time getting the baby to sleep. I know how stubborn the baby can get because I battled with her recently and finally got her to take the bottle (she is breast fed). Anyway, I walked around the corner (exercise lol) to their house to help calm her down. After playing with her (more exercise) for 30 min and rocking her to sleep (more exercise plus I was standing and walking while I rocked her) for 30 min, she finally passed out. Victory was mine! Kinleigh = 0 and Me = 2. After laying her down and making sure she stayed sleep, I walked (more exercise) back to my house and began to pump. In the middle of my pumping session, the mother called me and asked if I could go back because she was up again and crying like crazy. I stopped my session and walked (more exercise) back to their house, but didn't ring the door bell because I didn't hear any crying. After texting my friend to see if she needed me (she didn't), I walked (more exercise lol) back home to finish my session. I guess you can say I did more exercise than I think.
SUNDAY
After resting, elevating, and pumping on Saturday, I was able to get up and moving around. I went to church at 11am, came home to change clothes, went to see a friend that was moving to Texas, went to Life Source to feed the homeless, and made it home in time to clean up and get things prepared for Monday. I think feeding the homeless was more exercise than I imagined. The time frame was from 3 -7. That's 4 hours of me constantly moving. Constantly moving equals setting up tables, moving chairs, preparing meals, preparing beverages, welcoming people, and walking around serving hundreds of people that showed up to be fed with the word of God and food. I was worn out after all of that. Again, not my typical exercise, but I WAS active.
MONDAY
Today and tomorrow I have a meeting with other physical education teachers in the school district. It is from 8:30 -3:30. I woke up around 3:30am due to a heavy thunderstorm that was rolling through. I think that I'm developing some kind of anxiety with these storms. This was the 3rd time in 4 days that I was awaken by lightening, heavy rain, and thunder. It takes me awhile to get back to sleep which makes me slow to rise when it's time to get going. Today's exercise consisted of me doing Hip Hop Abs = Fat Burning Cardio and Zumba = 20 min Express. I got my roommate to participate so that's a plus. Tomorrow, I will try to do the same thing and add a kettle bell workout. I will definitely need to do a compression session because I wasn't able to fit one in the schedule today. I pray that I get some much needed rest. Please, Lord, no storms in the morning.
SATURDAY
After doing the 4.2 miles on Friday, Saturday my legs wanted to be pumped more than usual. I had to stay off of my feet a little bit more than I had plan. I guess I should have gradually started my workouts instead of going hard from the jump. Needless to say, I didn't get to do much working out. I did do a little something. My friend was babysitting having a hard time getting the baby to sleep. I know how stubborn the baby can get because I battled with her recently and finally got her to take the bottle (she is breast fed). Anyway, I walked around the corner (exercise lol) to their house to help calm her down. After playing with her (more exercise) for 30 min and rocking her to sleep (more exercise plus I was standing and walking while I rocked her) for 30 min, she finally passed out. Victory was mine! Kinleigh = 0 and Me = 2. After laying her down and making sure she stayed sleep, I walked (more exercise) back to my house and began to pump. In the middle of my pumping session, the mother called me and asked if I could go back because she was up again and crying like crazy. I stopped my session and walked (more exercise) back to their house, but didn't ring the door bell because I didn't hear any crying. After texting my friend to see if she needed me (she didn't), I walked (more exercise lol) back home to finish my session. I guess you can say I did more exercise than I think.
SUNDAY
After resting, elevating, and pumping on Saturday, I was able to get up and moving around. I went to church at 11am, came home to change clothes, went to see a friend that was moving to Texas, went to Life Source to feed the homeless, and made it home in time to clean up and get things prepared for Monday. I think feeding the homeless was more exercise than I imagined. The time frame was from 3 -7. That's 4 hours of me constantly moving. Constantly moving equals setting up tables, moving chairs, preparing meals, preparing beverages, welcoming people, and walking around serving hundreds of people that showed up to be fed with the word of God and food. I was worn out after all of that. Again, not my typical exercise, but I WAS active.
MONDAY
Today and tomorrow I have a meeting with other physical education teachers in the school district. It is from 8:30 -3:30. I woke up around 3:30am due to a heavy thunderstorm that was rolling through. I think that I'm developing some kind of anxiety with these storms. This was the 3rd time in 4 days that I was awaken by lightening, heavy rain, and thunder. It takes me awhile to get back to sleep which makes me slow to rise when it's time to get going. Today's exercise consisted of me doing Hip Hop Abs = Fat Burning Cardio and Zumba = 20 min Express. I got my roommate to participate so that's a plus. Tomorrow, I will try to do the same thing and add a kettle bell workout. I will definitely need to do a compression session because I wasn't able to fit one in the schedule today. I pray that I get some much needed rest. Please, Lord, no storms in the morning.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Day 1
Woke up this morning not mentally prepared to workout. I went to a meeting at school, came home, and had a quick breakfast. After relaxing for a bit, I decided that I would go ahead and get my little workout over with. I thought that it would be cool for me to ride my bike down to Creek Park, try out the "Couch to 5k" app, and ride back. As I was getting prepared for my workout, I got a little frustrated because I couldn't remember the code to my word lock chain for my bike. After killing myself trying to think of it and destroying my bedroom trying to find the little piece paper with the word on it, I gave up and decided to go for it while I prayed that no one would take my bike while I was on the track.
Anyway, I start down the street and things are going smoothly. I'm nervous because I haven't really been on a bike since I was probably 15yrs old. It was a piece of cake until I got half way to my destination. The bike pedals suddenly became to easy and I felt like I wasn't moving forward anymore with each revolution. So what do I do? I hop off my bike and inspect the chains (Like I knew what I was doing LOL). Of course, I have no clue what to look for when fixing an unknown problem. I noticed a couple across the street that looked like they were having a garage sale. I quickly pushed my bike across the street and asked the lady if she had any sons, boys, or men around that new anything about bikes. She told me that she didn't and then I noticed that she had the same bike except hers was pink (mine is green = The Green Machine). She looked over my bike and realized that the chain was still in place. She suggested that I move up a gear. So I moved up 2 gears thinking that it would help something although I'm not sure what. What can I say? I'm special! As we were talking, several cars began to pull up. She politely turned them away and said "I'm sorry, but there is no garage sale. We are simply cleaning out the garage in order to prepare for a garage sale." I'm not sure how far they got today, but boy did they have a lot of stuff to go through. They should make a lot of money when they do have one.
After getting directions that would keep me from going all around the world and across busy streets, I rolled off in a blissful mindset. One thing that I have learned on my way to the park is the fact that I need to get out in my neighborhood more often. There are lots of cute little houses and apartments nearby and the neighborhoods are all so peaceful and quiet. As I see the entrance to the park, I start to coast down a slight hill. Of course, this begins to freak me out because 1) I suck at slowing down and turning and 2) I have no helmet in case I wipe out. I know what you are saying. "Why don't you have a helmet?" I will get one. I promise. And although I'm getting my BMXing on, I know that a simple bump in the road can cause a small wipe out with some serious injuries.
I finally make it to the park and I'm at the bike rack; surveying the scene for potential thieves. There was no one there except some parents and a few joggers. I went ahead and pushed my luck and left my bike there. I began my "Couch to 5k" app. Basically, you do a 5 min warm up, followed by 6 reps of 1 min jogging and 1.5 min of walking, and then a 5 min cool down. During the first week, each workout is 25 min. I didn't complete 25 min, but did manage to do half of the workout. What can I say? I'm taking babysteps. I actually think I did pretty well for not being a runner and not wearing the appropriate shoes (was too eager to get the workout over).
So after my half workout, I decide to jump back on my bike and ride the 1.6 miles back to my house. If you noticed, I was smart enough to take a break and let my legs rest. In my mind, I'm still young and do things like I did in my teens. Lol. I will pay for it later, I guess. So on my way back, I suddenly (and I do mean suddenly) realized that I have to bike up a small incline with some very tired, sore, and throbbing calf muscles. I started to quit right then and there, but remembered that the bike was my only means home (besides walking). I didn't want to look silly pushing my bike all the way home. I just had to suck it up and set mini goals in my head. My Ipod was on shuffle and at that point in time one of the NBA theme songs began to play. I couldn't laugh to hard because I needed to use the restroom and I had at least a mile to go. Somehow the song motivated me and I was at the crosswalk crossing the only busy street that I had to cross. "Thank you, God!" is what I was thinking. For the rest of my journey home, Hakuna Matata played. The closer I got to be home, the faster I pedaled. I thought I was going to die as I rolled up to the garage! Needless to say, I crashed on the couch for about 30 min.
The next task on my plate was to get a compression session going. I think my new place of comfort for this is the couch. When I do a session in bed, my back seems to hurt when its over. So far, I have pumped my right leg. I'm currently working on getting my Xbox live internet connection going so that I can watch a movie as I pump the left leg. After that session, I plan on doing a 25 min Hip Hop Abs workout, shower, and off to bed.
So for my first day of working out, I completed 4.2 miles. Not bad! Not bad at all! I wonder what I will do tomorrow. Stay tuned........
Anyway, I start down the street and things are going smoothly. I'm nervous because I haven't really been on a bike since I was probably 15yrs old. It was a piece of cake until I got half way to my destination. The bike pedals suddenly became to easy and I felt like I wasn't moving forward anymore with each revolution. So what do I do? I hop off my bike and inspect the chains (Like I knew what I was doing LOL). Of course, I have no clue what to look for when fixing an unknown problem. I noticed a couple across the street that looked like they were having a garage sale. I quickly pushed my bike across the street and asked the lady if she had any sons, boys, or men around that new anything about bikes. She told me that she didn't and then I noticed that she had the same bike except hers was pink (mine is green = The Green Machine). She looked over my bike and realized that the chain was still in place. She suggested that I move up a gear. So I moved up 2 gears thinking that it would help something although I'm not sure what. What can I say? I'm special! As we were talking, several cars began to pull up. She politely turned them away and said "I'm sorry, but there is no garage sale. We are simply cleaning out the garage in order to prepare for a garage sale." I'm not sure how far they got today, but boy did they have a lot of stuff to go through. They should make a lot of money when they do have one.
After getting directions that would keep me from going all around the world and across busy streets, I rolled off in a blissful mindset. One thing that I have learned on my way to the park is the fact that I need to get out in my neighborhood more often. There are lots of cute little houses and apartments nearby and the neighborhoods are all so peaceful and quiet. As I see the entrance to the park, I start to coast down a slight hill. Of course, this begins to freak me out because 1) I suck at slowing down and turning and 2) I have no helmet in case I wipe out. I know what you are saying. "Why don't you have a helmet?" I will get one. I promise. And although I'm getting my BMXing on, I know that a simple bump in the road can cause a small wipe out with some serious injuries.
I finally make it to the park and I'm at the bike rack; surveying the scene for potential thieves. There was no one there except some parents and a few joggers. I went ahead and pushed my luck and left my bike there. I began my "Couch to 5k" app. Basically, you do a 5 min warm up, followed by 6 reps of 1 min jogging and 1.5 min of walking, and then a 5 min cool down. During the first week, each workout is 25 min. I didn't complete 25 min, but did manage to do half of the workout. What can I say? I'm taking babysteps. I actually think I did pretty well for not being a runner and not wearing the appropriate shoes (was too eager to get the workout over).
So after my half workout, I decide to jump back on my bike and ride the 1.6 miles back to my house. If you noticed, I was smart enough to take a break and let my legs rest. In my mind, I'm still young and do things like I did in my teens. Lol. I will pay for it later, I guess. So on my way back, I suddenly (and I do mean suddenly) realized that I have to bike up a small incline with some very tired, sore, and throbbing calf muscles. I started to quit right then and there, but remembered that the bike was my only means home (besides walking). I didn't want to look silly pushing my bike all the way home. I just had to suck it up and set mini goals in my head. My Ipod was on shuffle and at that point in time one of the NBA theme songs began to play. I couldn't laugh to hard because I needed to use the restroom and I had at least a mile to go. Somehow the song motivated me and I was at the crosswalk crossing the only busy street that I had to cross. "Thank you, God!" is what I was thinking. For the rest of my journey home, Hakuna Matata played. The closer I got to be home, the faster I pedaled. I thought I was going to die as I rolled up to the garage! Needless to say, I crashed on the couch for about 30 min.
The next task on my plate was to get a compression session going. I think my new place of comfort for this is the couch. When I do a session in bed, my back seems to hurt when its over. So far, I have pumped my right leg. I'm currently working on getting my Xbox live internet connection going so that I can watch a movie as I pump the left leg. After that session, I plan on doing a 25 min Hip Hop Abs workout, shower, and off to bed.
So for my first day of working out, I completed 4.2 miles. Not bad! Not bad at all! I wonder what I will do tomorrow. Stay tuned........
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Fresh Start
Now that school is out and I have time to get myself on a schedule, I will begin to attempt to lose weight and inches in my lower limbs. Basically, today was my last lazy day. It is time for me to get it together and see what is possible in this lifestyle.
I have included my Leg Volume Tracking and Documentation Chart that came with my compression pump.I will update this chart each week.
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As you can see in the photos, the machine is quite simple (even with all the hoses).
In essence, the machine is made to manually drain the extra fluid towards your kidneys, therefore, you will experience an increase in urine output. My goal for the month of June is to pump everyday (twice a day if possible) as well as workout in the form of walking, aerobics, kettle bells, video gaming (Wii and Xbox), and a little running. I will try to hold myself accountable by posting each day on what I did and how I felt. If you are game, please feel free to join me. If you are not physically able to, then shoot me a message and ask me anything you want or give me some input. Hopefully, I can form a routine that won't change as much once school starts back.
I have included my Leg Volume Tracking and Documentation Chart that came with my compression pump.I will update this chart each week.
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| Each line is 10 cm apart and starts at my ankle. |
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| Flexitouch Machine
Basically there are 5 sequences that take place during the session. The first sequence is in the trunk area (waist and groin). The machine pushes extra fluid towards your waist in order to prepare it for the fluid being pumped from your lower limbs. The second sequence is in your thigh. The machine pumps the extra fluid towards your trunk. The third sequence is in your calf. The machine pumps the extra fluid towards your thigh. The fourth sequence is in your foot. The machine pushes the extra fluid towards your ankle. Sequences 1 - 4 take about 30 min. The last sequence (#5) pumps the extra fluid from your toes all the way to your trunk. It is a continuous cycle that last for 30 min. Once you complete one side of your body or the affected limb, you place the garments on the other side and start over.
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| Left Leg Compression Garments |
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| Fully Assembled |
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| Compression Time!!! (Takes 60 Min Per Leg) |
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Compression Again
I went to my PCP last week to ask about my results and if I needed to be on blood thinners. He was great about explaining the result about my test. He told me that I had a past DVT and it look like my vein reopened. He sent me to a vein specialist in Bentonville, Arkansas. Once there, they performed another ultrasound. I had to stand up for images as well as lay down for images. They taught me how to read the ultrasound. That part was pretty neat for me and makes me think about a secondary career. :-) Anyway, I had a lot of large, black spaces on my images. The blackness indicates edema/swelling. It was hard for them to see anything. So the plan is for me to wear these super strength compression hoses for 3 weeks to see if the swelling would go down. He feels like if they can get the swelling down, then we could get a better image. I really need it to decrease so that we can pin point the real issues that I have been having for the past 14 years. Technology is steadily advancing so I'm remaining optimistic.
Here is an example of some recent measurements:
Measurements at the doctors office were the following:
Right Ankle: 30 cm Right Calf: 47 cm Right Thigh: 69 cm
Left Ankle: 30.5 cm Left Calf: 45 cm Left Thigh: 67.5 cm
Today is Day #5 and my measurements are the following:
Right Ankle: 28 cm Right Calf: 44 cm Right Thigh: 58 cm
Left Ankle: 30 cm Left Calf: 41 cm Left Thigh: 59.5 cm
The compression garments that I am wearing are called Juzo Basic. They are a two-way stretch, graduated compression. Model: 4412, Type: AG, Size: IV, Color: Beige. Just a basic thigh high compression with silicone. I will keep you guys posted on future measurements. I have noticed that where my skin was hardened around my ankles, it is nice softer. The hoses are starting to be easier to put on too. I pray that they continue to decrease. I do want to say that the first few days were really hard to function. I walked very slowly and seem to be worn out. Today was my first day working out (aerobic weight lifting class) and I won't know the damage (i.e. soreness) until a day or two. Just keep me in your prayers and I will keep fighting the good fight. Until then, be blessed! :)
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