500 Miles
Peter, Paul and Mary "500 Miles" - YouTube
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To all,
Hats off to all of you who have endured joint replacement surgery and fought your way back to a meaningful use of that joint with physical therapy. As I’ve heard many doctors say, the surgery alone is not going to fix the problem, it will require weeks and weeks of physical therapy to regain use of that joint and obtain the maximum benefit. From my observation it seems like hips might go the smoothest with knees, ankles a bit more difficult and in my book, anyone who gets shoulder replacement gets double credit.
Congratulations to all of you who have made that very difficult decision to go through substance and alcohol abuse rehab. While the treatment is unlike joint replacement, the effort afterward to stay sober to me is very similar to the post-surgery rehab and physical therapy. Each day of making those tough decisions are probably not much different than the discipline required to trudge down to the gym, do your stretches or get in your 3 mile walk. Kudos to those of you who are fighting your way through a battle with cancer. While all of those cases seem so different, I am always amazed at how people involved in a battle with cancer can remain optimistic even when there is no guarantee regarding remission. It seems to me that post cancer treatment rehab can be all that more difficult but just as important to getting your former life back. And a bunch of Attaboys to everyone who found a way to do anything resembling an hour of weight training, yoga or treadmill work during the pandemic. You did what you had to do.
I first met Jeff Simmons at COM physical therapy after my knee replacement in 2012. During several of the sessions, my hands were shaking from the pain and I had tears coming out of the corners of my eyes as they tried to completely straighten my right knee after the replacement. And somewhat uncomfortable as they tried to make my new knee bend more than I thought it should! I really dreaded each and every session because it was so uncomfortable. I was emotionally and physically spent for several hours afterwards. But the experience prepared me for what would come after my heart transplant. The experience also allowed me to relate and empathize with those of you undergoing physical therapy or its equivalent for any number of reasons: maybe you hurt yourself snow skiing or playing tennis, maybe you were injured in a car wreck or from a fall off a horse, maybe an old sports injury, maybe you are recovering from a stroke, or complications from a disease that has impaired your life. We all get knocked down in life; for me, the workouts help me get back up and back into the game.
Barely over 5 years ago, I could not walk across the room unaided. I did not have the strength to pick up even the smallest of the chain saws at the farm, much less start one. I wanted, no really I needed, to regain enough strength to resume life. I wanted to be strong enough to be able to wade in the big river. I wanted to be able to catch and carry my granddaughter when she would jump into my arms. When we returned to Midland with my shiny new borrowed heart, I checked in with Jeff and we spent an hour going over more than a dozen machines designed to isolate and strengthen each muscle group. Together we filled out a physical therapy chart with the machine number, seat setting and initial amount of weight and number of sets and reps. I am almost certain my 7 year old granddaughter could do more than I did that first week. The second session with Jeff was to make sure my posture, form and pace was right. Since then, I am on my own. I am allowed to slowly add weight and gradually increase number of reps. The sessions never took more than an hour unless there were delays because other people were using the machines or somebody stopped me to ask about my new heart. I dreamed about getting through the first twenty or thirty such strengthening sessions. By the end of the first year, I could see that I was slowly getting back to where I had been before, but I was tired at the end of every day and had a hard time making it through a round of golf. Although it seemed very disappointing at the time, it ended up being another blessing in disguise; the combination of immunosuppressants I was taking was causing significant bone loss. My diet was changed and I doubled up on my supplements but the bone loss continued. In the second year after my transplant, the doctors ordered an infusion of drugs designed to stem the tide of the bone loss and at the same time, my primary cardiologist directed me to increase weight bearing exercises to three times a week. The combination has thus far arrested the bone loss and in the process moved me back in time to where I was before I had congestive heart failure. Also in that second year, I had to adjust my weight training after disc surgery on my back. All the more reason to make these sessions a part of my weekly routine, a part of my life, a way back home. I’m guessing it is the same for you guys.
A few years ago I stopped sending these transplant notes because, well, that was pretty much over. I wanted to share a personal milestone with you guys, who have been so supportive over the years. I keep track of my weight and strength workouts and this past week I clocked my 500th such workout. I don’t count treadmill sessions, which are important, but the weight bearing workouts took far more effort on my part. The main reason I am sharing this is that it really is not a personal milestone as much as it is a reminder of what can be re-built given time and effort.
One nice side benefit of the rehab sessions are the people there. These are other people who have gotten out of a warm comfortable bed to go lift, pull, push, squat and press until the old muscles remember the old days. You also have a chance of seeing someone fighting to live six more months after the cancer diagnosis. Someone return to tennis with a new knee. Someone with a really nasty scar down their chest after bypass surgery and they are slowing building up their strength and endurance after being given a second chance. It might be someone learning to walk again after a stroke or an accident. And many more. These are the stories that bring me back to the gym after work when I would rather go home, sit on the sofa and eat popcorn until dinner is ready.
There is a really early morning crowd usually with bad hair and little to say. The lunch people trying to squeeze in a 45 minute workout, a quick shower and 30 minute lunch in one hour. And the after work people who know that if they go home first, they will not make it back to the gym. Something about the smell of the chicken roasting in the oven.
Please continue with your rehab in all the different forms that it may take. If I can do it, you can do it. Please don’t miss the train. It may be your ticket home. Rehab may be your way back to that fuller, longer life.
Live well.
Ed
