Did The Rest Days Hurt Me?

I slept so well Sunday night that I overslept this morning for the first time since I moved here. By the time I heard Stella whining and seeing her standing by the bed, the sun was already up and it was close to 6:30am. I grabbed the walker like I do every morning to get all the muscles and joints lined up as I walk down the hallway to the kitchen. Things felt different today and not in a good way.

On purpose I decided to take some time off from taking long walks outside over the weekend, calling it a rest day. I was beginning to question that decision as I flipped on the lights and let the hounds outside. None of the things I was feeling was pain but soreness. My knee was sore, for the first time in a long time my lower back was really sore, the side of my hip felt like there was a huge rock inside it and my groin was sore.

It sure felt like something happened in my sleep, where the leg may have moved in a way it's not allowed. Like too far to the right??? Or did I try to drag my heel up, bending my leg at the knee to loosen a tight leg? Whatever it was, I wasn't feeling good and I was a little concerned.

It wasn't even 7am and the hounds were begging for breakfast. They are both back to their old ways of demanding breakfast kibble as soon as they walk back inside the house. Stella will howl, Heidi will start barking. Both things you don't want to hear that early in the morning.

As I walked around the kitchen my leg started to relax a little and started feeling better. Some of the soreness went away in the knee, the groin and lower back. What concerned me was the feeling I had when putting weight on the right leg. I could tell the difference when I used the walker. It hurt a little at the top of my leg when I tried walking ... is that why it felt like a rock (not misspelled) was inside my hip?

While coffee was being made I thought I'd add 600mg of Ibuprofen to the tiny pill of Bayer Low Dose Aspirin with my morning water. Soon after those muscles felt much better to the point I could walk around the house, inside, without a problem.

It's good to see there is a hiking trail this close to the fence in my back yard. I had the 200mm zoom for this photo so he is on the other side of the natural wash. I've seen him and his dog on this early morning hike before. I hope to be able to hike that trail soon.

By the way my body felt I was going to take another day off today. To keep my feet and ankles from swelling I'd spend more time laying in bed reading a book instead of sitting in a chair. I was beginning to think the amount of time I laid in bed sitting up reading on Sunday was the reason for my sore lower back this morning. I cannot even remember the last time I sat up in bed to read a book.
 

It was going to be another great day here in the high desert. The Aerostat was already at work. I wondered how many photos it has collected of me taking photos of it or of me walking laps around my backyard?

There are times I wonder if Heidi is looking for her grass yard she left back in Indiana. Once I am in shape where I can get on my hands and knees I am going to buy her a patch of field turf and anchor it down on the right side of the patio next to the gate. As the temps cool I am sure she would enjoy laying in the yard in the sunshine ... just not on rock.

She finally gave up trying to find grass and decided the living room rug would work just as good for a late morning nap.

Stella spent most of her time going outside and then back inside a million times looking for that perfect sleeping spot. She finally found a spot that she uses every day before noon.

As I started feeling better I thought I'd test my leg and hip and walk a lap or two around the backyard. This is the first step of getting the shoe on my right foot. Once I slide my foot into the shoe under the tongue, I use the extended shoe horn in back to slide my heel inside. The only hard part is getting the shoe tied after it is on my foot.

I walked slower than I normally do, analyzing what my muscles were telling me. I felt both legs as I walked and they were the same size, no swelling and normal muscle movement.  The right side of my hip was not swollen, it was soft to touch and my incision looked perfect.

I felt so good after three laps that I walked through the house, out to the sidewalk and headed for the end of the block to the left. I continued to walk slowly feeling nothing out of the ordinary nor did I feel any kind of pain or discomfort. Did taking time off hurt me more than walking as much as possible this weekend?

Right after their lunch both of the hounds like to clean their feet and legs before they take their afternoon long siesta.

Stella was sure she had heard a food wrapper, maybe smelled something I was cooking ... she stood up from a deep sleep. I've never seen a dog so obsessed about food as she is.

Throughout the day I took short walks around the yard. I can't because it would cause me to break the 90° bending rule but I really feel if I could stretch my hamstrings I'd feel a lot better. Both legs are really tight of course without real exercises and with the trauma of surgery. It was one month ago today that I wrecked my bike. Tomorrow will be one month since I had surgery.

Towards the late afternoon I felt exhausted and had done nothing all day but read, take short walks along with walking around the house. That led to a nap almost two hours long. Once again, as soon as I woke up all the areas that were sore this morning were sore again ... at least until I walked into the kitchen.

I cannot lay on the floor to use the massage roller on my legs and back because I cannot get up off the floor like I can out of bed. I would love to be able to bend over to where I could touch my toes but that puts my hip past the 90° limit. These 4 weeks of little activity is starting to get to me I think.

As always I never wait to update all of my devices when a new Apple Operating System update comes out. Finally they had one for their desktops (iMac) and laptops (Pro and Air). Unlike things I read on the forums, I've never had problems after doing an update, for the computers, phone or watch. I guess I am lucky in that regard. I am now using the new macOS Catalina.

For those that use Blogger for your blog ... just an FYI ... unlike some others I have not had one problem with blogger working anytime day or night. I upload all of my photos at one time without a hitch. Even after the new Catalina OS update on the iMac I did not have an issue running any of my blogs.

I am finding out that I just cannot sit in a chair for too long. 30 minutes is about as long as I can sit without feeling something in my hip.

So with that ... I'm outta here for tonight. It was a good day but I admit I was a little concerned by the way I felt when I took my first steps of the day.

I can't wait to get back to blogging about day trips here in the Wild West.

A Weekend Of Resting The Hip

This photo shows about all that happened over the weekend. I wanted to take some time off from walking to rest a little. I took more rest periods and siestas than I did walks. I figured a couple of days off would help the hip heal. No worries, there was no soreness or pain that dictated my decision. I just needed a break. Read books and watched a lot of football games.

Here are some photos scattered through Saturday and ends with two photos of Sunday's sunrise.

Again it was beautiful weather this weekend in the Wild West.

I Feel So Good It's Scary

I cannot say a lot happened today as I made an effort to take a rest day. Yesterday was a big day for walking and I did things for the first time. I watched a little football today, the end of the Red's last baseball game for 2019 but spent most of the afternoon on the phone talking to two old friends that have had heart surgeries. One friend just had his 8th heart attack at 66 years old. My other friend at 65 years old had his heart surgery a few years ago. But that is not all of the medical talk ... MJ my dog sitter stopped by yesterday to see the hounds and pick the check for the last week she worked ... she fell last week and broke her arm !!!

After waking up at 4am for the first time of the night I couldn't go back to sleep and finally gave up about 45 minutes later deciding it was time to make coffee. The hounds never woke up to follow me to the kitchen so they must have finally fallen back into their routine. In fact at 6am they were still sleeping and no whining for breakfast.

I could tell by the time I walked to the kitchen with the walker that I was stronger than yesterday and felt no soreness in the hip or leg after my long walk to the mailbox and back Saturday afternoon. That mailbox is across the street, around the curve three houses down and then about a half a block after that. The post man left the biggest Amazon box on my porch but put the three other Amazon padded envelopes in my narrow mailbox along with some letter mail.

I took it slow. I took short steps and I stayed on the sidewalk, always aware of the uneven sections and making sure my cane was near while walking. Yet ... I did most the walk on my own, slowly, holding the cane in case I needed to balance myself. At no time did I feel dizzy or lightheaded. As soon as I got home, I opened up the packages that included another seat cushion, some DVDs and a couple of books.

I could tell the walk took something out of me so I laid down for about an hour and eventually fell into a 30 minute siesta.

I have walked about a 1/3 of what I have the past three to four days. I wanted to rest, relax and let the muscles recuperate as if I was taking a day off from riding a bike. I am kind of in a 'danger zone' because I felt so good today. I did a lot of walking inside the house on my own without a cane or the walker. I watched how I turned walking and how I turned going from the fridge to the kitchen counter. A few times I actually forgot what my situation was. That is not a good thing ... it's when mistakes are made.

So I am kind of between what to do. My doctor told me to "listen to my body" and walk. Well my body tells me to walk on my own with no support. Friends I have talked to today all say I need to walk with my cane no matter what. "It's only been 3 weeks" they say. My two heart surgery friends tell me they would walk with the cane at this point in time no matter how good they felt.

My hospital booklet tells me I can drive between 3-6 weeks. I have only a couple of places I need to go to but neither trip involves any kind of shopping. I will continue to have groceries delivered for months from now. I will call the doctors office tomorrow to see if I can drive or not. I feel like I can and with the seat cushion that came yesterday it is also for car seats giving me just enough height to get in and out of the car without breaking any rules.

I've thought more than I wanted to about my heart condition and that might have been brought on by the two long phone conversations with the two friends I spoke of. At least I will have everything lined up if I have to have surgery out of town. Someone to take care of the hounds and another keep an eye out on the house. I would prefer to have someone live here 24/7 while I am out of town for surgery. MJ said she will still be able to do her job after the put a new hard cast on her forearm Monday. She might know someone to stay here full time with the hounds.

I have also thought about diets today ... lots of thinking ... too much sitting around ... too much letting my mind wander. Like I have said before there is just so much diet information out there I don't know what is the best, who to believe etc. Every doctor, friend, etc has their own ideas on the best diet and they are all different.

One good thing ... all these people that I talked to, including the neighbor that had knee replacement surgery, from heart surgeries to knee replacements ... they all survived their surgeries and are back doing their normal hobbies and activities.

A lot on my mind today ... I need to get started on one of those new books I ordered.

The perfect weather day her in the Wild West today.