New To My Blog

You must Start Here If you are new to reading my blog, it is very important that you start with my first entry. It is called "The Car Accident". This even started everything, so read that first. Click on "The Car Accident" and it will take you right to that post.

PT Workout

Boy! They sure did work me in PT. Lots of stretches and there are a couple of spots that they rubbed down really well. My upper ankle is still pretty swollen and they worked on that. My index finger is still giving my problems and they worked on that. Good thing I got Ice afterword.

Start Running From Scratch

A Great Article Runner's World has a great article about how to start running. It is for people who are new to running or someone who is starting back to running after a long lay off or injury. The Title is "A Fresh Start". Check it out. I will as I get my fat butt in shape.

A Message From A Friend

From A Recent Email 200 lbs? That's nothin, man! I got ya beat by 46 lbs - and that's down from the beginning of the year (I think I started at 264, and I seem to have gained a couple back over the last week while on vacation). Although, in my defense, I seem to have very heavy bones which makes 210 about my ideal healthy weight. So, according to the gym scale this morning, I've got another 36 lbs to go. Q: How much are you trying to lose? A: My ideal weight would be 160 lbs. I got close when I was doing Triathlons at 169 lbs. Q: And how do you go about it with the heart problem? After a half hour on the eliptical I'm drenched in sweat and my heart rate is up around 150-160, so I can't imagine what kind of exercise would be okay for you. A: Exercise is not the issue really is is my blood preasure. I need my blood preasure to stay bellow 130/40. When I raced my heart rate would get to about 140 bpm. When I worked out, my heart rate would get to 170 bpm. Because of your age (41 years), it sound like you are working in the high aerobic range. Great for health but actually lowsy for loosing weight. Keep your heart rate at about 90-100 (65% of Max) for twice as long and you will burn fat like crazy! When you get your heart rate high, your body can't burn fat fast enough to keep it fuled so it uses your sugar store and oxygen. another problem with that is you feel hungery after you work out and so you eat. You need to replace your sugar store, but you end up increasing your fat too. Mostly because we tend to eat too much after. So slow and long will help you burn more fat. Target Heart Rate I used the Method to determine your Target Heart Rate by the American Heart Association.

One More Photo

The Splint

This is my arm in a splint. My daughter and father are with me also. The splint was heavy and oh, did it itch! But as the swelling went up and down, the splint was a lot better than a cast. After a month the splint came off and a cast went on. The cast was worse! It itched worse and was heavier. It was a short cast thought so I could move my arm at the elbow.

Home In Aircast

Aircasts

The new advancements in break technology. normally a person would have a single break. The doctors would cast it and then you get crutches. But when you have two bad legs and a bad arm, crutches don't make sence. so they put me in two aircasts that would allow me to walk with a walker. the walker even had a special brace for my broken arm.

Another Picture

The ICU I still don't know how my wife did it, but she got the ICU to let my girls in to see me. This picture was taken just before they arrived. I am sure more pictures were intended, but the camera didn't seem to come out. I remember see the expressions on my girl's faces. They looked really concerned. I made a quick decision to act as healthy and happy as I could. as soon as they saw I was fine. They cheered right up.

Photos

Here They Are: The Photos

My sister asked me to post some pictures of me on this blog. So here they are.

This is me in the ICU at Chapel Hill. The red nose is from burns. It is hard to tell but there are small burns all over my cheeks. They had just taken me off Oxygen.

Just Another Walk

Well, I slapped on the pedometer and off I went. I walked just over a half a mile. According to my pedometer most of it was done at an aerobic pace. Yeah! However it said I only burned 47 calories. Booo! That is like one corn flake! It only took 11 minutes, so we are making progress. I will feel better when I am back to running. I so need to get my butt back in shape!

Physical Therapy

My Evaluation I went to my first appointment today. The scheduled me for 45 minutes and wished they had scheduled me for an hour. The measured both ankles and my wrist to see there size. My right ankle is so huge! I can barely get my show on. then the used a tool to see how far I can move my joints. they are better than my last doctors appointment, but I am in bad shape. they also measured my grip strength. 40lbs on the left and 40 lbs on the right. I also stood on one foot to test my balance. Balance in my left foot is okay, but I could barley do it on my right. I also did toe lifts. That is I went from being flat footed to standing on my tip toe. I was able to do 20 reps on each foot, but my right ankle swelled up like a balloon. It required ice after we were done. My Assignment I have seven stretches and exercises I need to do and I need to do them twice a day. Stretch Gastroc uni standing (Runner stretch) Stretch Soleus stand (Soleus stretch) AROM ankle alphabet (Ankle alphabet) AROM finger lumbricals flx/ext (Finger bye bye) AROM finger PIP flx/ext intrinsics (Dragon head) AROM hand/finger tendon glide (Hand tendon glides) Stretch wrist flexors bil (prayer) (Prayer stretch) Well that is it. I will keep walking and doing my exercises and stretches and we will see how it goes. I will also go to PT twice a week for awhile too.

Walking for Exercises

Right Now About all I can really do for exercise is walk. I have a pedometer and I have measured distance on my road so I can track how far I can walk (Actually run, prior to the accident.) Getting Started As soon as I got the Okay to walk, I walked a quarter of a mile. Then I walked a quarter of a mile, four different days. Each week, I would increase the distance. This week I will be walking 5 miles. Ultimately I want to wear my pedometer all the time and walk 10,000 steps a day. Rules of Thumb You should increase you walking by no more than 20% of the miles you walked the previous week. So lets say you walked 10 miles in a week. 20% of 10 miles is 2 miles. That means you shouldn't walk more than 12 miles the next week. That DOES NOT MEAN walk 10 miles on Saturday then walk 12 miles on Monday because it is the next week. What I Did Today I am luck to live close to the grocery store so I walked to the store and picked up a few things for dinner. Total Distance to the store and back is 1.5 miles.

How Far I Walk

I need to get my fat butt in shape, but I do not feel like I am making Progress. The Appointment I had my Vascular (having to do with my Aneurysm) appointment this past Tuesday. Well, in spite of Medication my blood pressure is not where they want it 131/60. The top number needs to be bellow 130. In spite of increased walking, I now way 200.0 lbs. New Information My aneurysm hasn't changed in size or length, but I had a CT scan with a special dye called contrast. What they saw were two holes in the wall of the Aorta wall. One at the bottom of the aneurysm and one at the top. As they watched the dye they saw it enter the bottom hole and move up to the top hole and out. That is right, the blood was flowing the wrong way through the wall of my Aorta. Now they want to do surgery to fix it. We decided to talk about it (We as in my wife and I, and talk to other medical professionals who are our friends.) My biggest concern is that surgery was originally ruled out because in 25 years the hardware would go bad and need to be replaced. That would make me 66. Not a good age for surgery. Doctors said it would be better to wait a few years because medicine was advancing and new technology may be available. Well, now they want me to have surgery, which mean I am looking at surgery again at about 66. One thing is for sure though, it is not getting better and it is not changing fast. But it ca only get worse. Once it gets a centimeter bigger, the odds are 90% chance of this thing blowing with in six months of that change. My Weight Well, the medication I am on to keep my blood pressure down make me tired. So tired that as soon as I finish walking I need to take a nap. The problem is I am gaining weight fast, because I really am quite inactive. I might be up to 3 miles a week, but that isn't crap. And then I get tired and can't do anymore. So I am gaining weight and it is causing my blood presure to go up! We are trying to find a new medication. I will keep you posted.

My Vital Data, Measurements, and Weight

All right here they are. All the vital health data that I can think of. If I need another, please let me know and I will se what I can do.

1. Weight = 199.2 lbs
2. BFP = 23%
3. BP = 120/60
4. RHR = 70 bps
5. SHR = 81 bps

Measurements

1. Neck = 17.5 in
2. Chest (relaxed) = 43 in
3. Chest Expanded = 46.5 in
4. Expansion = 3.5 in
5. Waist = 44 in
6. Bicept = 13 in
7. Forearm = 11 in
8. Hips = 40 in
9. Thigh = 22 in
10. Calves = 14

Damaged Joints vs. Okay Joints Right Wrist = 7.5 in and Left Wrist = 7 (.5 inches in swelling) Right Ankle = 10 and Left Ankle = 9 (1 inch in swelling) I so need to get my fat butt in shape.

My Current Workouts to Recovery

I so need to get my fat butt in shape. So far for workouts all I have been able to do is walk. The first week I walked a 1/4 of a mile twice. Total = .5 miles The next week I walked a 1/2 mile 4 times. Total = 2 miles This passed week I walked a 1/2 mile twice and over a mile today. Total = 2.25 Miles I will keep you posted to my progress.

The Car Accident

Thank You
First I want to thank every for their support and assistance to my family during this passed couple of months. I would also like those who don't know to hear from me what happened.

Saturday, June 14th
I woke up at 6 am, dressed and drove my oldest daughter to South Carolina. I was going to start filming a pioneer trek reenactment, for the youth of my church, on Tuesday. My sister-in-law and her husband have just had twins. My oldest daughter was going to spend the week of the trek with them to help them out. I arrived in Rowland NC. At 8:am. My brother-in-law met us there at the BP. By 8:30 AM, everyone was back on the road. My daughter was on her way to Charleston and I was heading home. Around 10:00 am, I stopped at a McDonald's to go to the bathroom and get a drink. I felt good. I remember entering Aberdeen were Highway 1/15/501 merge together. I remember making the right hand turn and heading down the road. That is the last thing I remember.

What Happened?
According to witnesses, I made a sudden left turn, into on coming traffic. The speed limit in that area is 35 mph. I am also aware of speed traps along the road and would ave been doing the speed limit. A gentleman traveling in the opposite direction was also doing the speed limit. At 10:30 am we hit head on. I do not remember any of this. It now appear that my left front tire blew and I lost control turning into oncoming traffic.

EMT, Lights, and Sirens
The next thing I remember is hearing a man's voice. He said he was a military EMT and to hold still and not move in case I had a neck or back injury. He then told me to close my eyes because they were going to break the window to get me out of the car. I heard sirens, police, fireman. I was finally cut out of the car. They put me in a neck brace and on a backboard. I was taken to Moore regional hospital and my wife was notified. I had a CAT scan done of my head, abdomen, and back; x-rays of all my limbs; and placed on oxygen.

Help From My Church Leaders
Bishop Houseman, the Bishop of the Pinehurst congregation of my church was contacted by my wife and two Elders came and gave me a blessing. I do remember talking with the briefly, but I do not remember who they were. I listened very carefully to their prayer and I do remember them saying that the doctors would find all the injuries.

Unexpected Surprise
Well, come to find out that during the CAT scan, the doctors found an Aorta Aneurysms in the lower abdomen. It was discovered that I had broken my left leg, severely sprained my left ankle, jammed several fingers, and broke my right wrist in several places.

Resetting My Arm
The Doctors put my left hand in traction. It was kind of like putting my fingers in a metal Chinese finger trap, lifted my hand into the air and placed a weight on my elbow to pull it down. I was given a shot for pain then the Doctors re-set my hand. Even though it was very painful, I have to thank them for doing a great job. It was very painful!

The Flight
Because of the aneurysm, it was decided that I needed to go to UNC Memorial Hospital. They flew me out few minutes later. I spent 3 days in ICU.

Surgery, 1 or 2?
The day they moved me to a regular room they scheduled surgery to put pins in my arm and leg. Then to repair the aorta. More X-rays were taken and one more CAT scan of my aorta and one of my wrist.

Divine Intervention
My wife wanted me to have another blessing before surgery so she called a friend of ours. He came with one of the Elders from his ward (congregation). In their blessing, I was told that I would recover quickly and people would be surprised at how quickly I recovered.

No More Surgery
Not more than 30 minutes after I left, the doctors in charge of my arm and leg surgery came to tell me that they were canceling it. The CAT scan revealed that my hand and wrist were set so well, that the bones were healing exactly were they needed to be, the same with the leg. Then the doctors in charge of my aorta decided that the the aneurysm was stable and could be treated with medication for now.

So This Is How It Went Down
Currently I am home. Both legs were in special support boots and my right hand was in a splint. All cuts have healed well. I've got my glasses back, and the small burns on my face and nose from the air bag are healed. I was supposed to be in a wheel chair for a month, but it only lasted a week and a half, then I started walking.I had a walker for another couple of weeks. I was supposed to be in a walker for another month and be up and going by about August. Then with the help of the boots I was able to get up and start walking with out the walker quickly.

Appointments
I had a follow-up on my wrist and aneurysm. The doctor put my arm in a cast. I chose blue. White would be too dirty, black would be to hot, and I just don't do pink.

The Ticking Time Bomb
My aneurysm is unchanged and I will have a follow-up in a month.

It's Off
After 3 weeks the doctor took my cast off and gave me a brace. As long as I was comfortable I could start walking with out the aircast boots and I didn't have to wear the brace all the time. I took the boots off and put them on twice more. They have been off for several weeks now. I wore the brace a couple of time, but it irritated my arm. So I took it off and never wore it again.

I Am So Glad I Have A Great Wife
My wife was on vacation while I was in the Hospital and was off the next week. After that my parents flew in and stayed for just over a month.

No Cooking!
I have a freezer full of frozen prepared meals, that my girls can reheat. Several members of my church have stayed with me while my wife left to do shopping and thanks to all the families that have watched my girls.

Thanks to everyone for all the help and support. Now I need to get my butt in shape.

See you soon!