Feeling Good Walking and Running

Another Walk and Run
Well, I did it. Another walk and run. I went about 1 mile and a half, in about 18 minutes. It felt really good. Once again I ran 3 minutes and ran 2 1/2 minutes. This will be my additional 10% run and Thursday I will just stick to the 15 minutes. I really don't want to over do it.

Motivation
So many people have email me that they walk or run for fitness, then stop. They just can't seem to keep up with it. then they ask me how I stay motivated. The first part of motivation desire. you have got to want the results more than the inclination to not go out and walk or run. another part is Hope. Do you have the hope that running or walking will actually help you? do you believe it? Well do. when you believe it and want it. you will get it.

Time
Another reason people have told me they don't keep up with running or walking is because they don't have time. These same people have time to read email, surf the net, play on their wii, watch Monday night football, etc. I would suggest 30 minutes a day, and believe me that's not much. It is essentially 2 Saturday morning cartoons. If nothing else 15 minutes a day! That's it. Hope and Desire
While at PT a saw a number of older people that fell down and hurt themselves. Just from falling down. I know of people that just can't do basic physical activity. Walk to the corner, go up stairs, or do house work, because they have slowly become to weak to do them. The lack of exercise could have been from an injury, an illness, or (the most common) time. The older you get the faster time goes by. I don't want to be that guy that is 70 years old and need help getting out of a chair. Well, no matter what your situation is, it is never to late! I know of a women who took up running at 70.

Getting Started
If you have had an illness or injury that has prevented you from exercise of any kind, I suggest you talk to your doctor and get a referral to a Physical Therapist. Physical Therapy will get you on the right path, at the right pace, designed for you. Some long term injuries may require special medical treatment. I would suggest that you get the treatment you need and get on a physical therapy plan. If it has just been a long time since you have done and fitness program, once again consult your doctor first. Once you have been cleared, do a search on my blog for walking and start a walking program. If you choose to run, ease into running.

You Will Be Surprised
Walking and running will help you feel better physically, feel better about yourself, and get your body moving.

Running Is Not For Me
That's fine. I will post about running later, but there are plenty of things you can do other than running.

Walking Is Not For Me.
Okay, now we have a problem. In a post about running I will also talk about walking. But walking is essential to everything we do. We get out of bed and WALK to the bathroom, WALK to the kitchen, and WALK to the car. Every exercise program must include at least walking.

NEW POST AND CONTEST!
In the next week, I will post how much I weigh! email me with how much you think I weigh. the closest guesses will win a prize. Email your guess to getmyfatbuttinshape@gmail.com and get a chance to win something special. i will post the Prize in the next few days. In the mean time I need to get my fat butt in shape.

PT - Not A Lot of Progress

Friday Re-Evaluation
Well, I went back to PT on Friday for a re-evaluation. No knee problems, but my ankle and right index finger are like frozen. He worked with both a lot and I really didn't feel any pain. They are just really stuck. But it went well. I finished off some lunges. Well, that I paid for the lunges. Other than soreness, I will explain later.

The Incision Line
Well, when the doctor cut on me of course there is an incision. The inner layers were stitched and the outer layer on the skin was glued. This new surgical glue is used because it has reduced infections by 90%. Hey sounds good to me. Now the incision should have healed by now. The problem is every little thing I do, it make a micro tear on that line. Now from picking up girls, laundry, bending over, getting hit there by the littlest child, etc, I have small tears all the way across the incision line. Of course they bleed like crazy, scab up, and the scab attaches to my underwear, and then when I get up and move or walk, it tears off and it bleeds again. To top it off, I am incredibly sore! My wife mentioned this to her mother and her mother said that it should have healed by now. No kidding!

More PT
I went to PT again yesterday and "oh my gosh!" I have no balance. PT was fine but my knee is not doing so good. It is sudden too. It felt fine and then just yesterday, I would get a sharp pain and it feel like my knee is going to dislocate. I have got to get that looked at.

So... That is where I am. Very little walking, some PT and now the knee problem is back. Leave a comment with any advice.

Pre-Surgery Meeting

The Waite

As advanced as the medical profession is, I don't believe they have the one basic tenant of all business down pat. Scheduling. I was actually seen and worked on by someone for 45 minutes to and 1 hour. But I spent 4 hours at the hospital. Aside from that, the care is great.

First Meeting

Well we met with the doctor and asked all the questions. I seems that when they doctors first saw the problem, they thought it might heal itself. After the last CT Scan and they saw the holes and the blood moving the wrong way it became clear it was only going to get worse. The reason for surgery now is to avoid and major arterial wall damage that would require a more extensive surgery. What is planned is quite basic.

The Surgery

First they will give me anesthesia, then the doctor will cut a 4 inch slice into my groin (see the illustration.) Inset the sting and sew me back up. The stint will block the blood flow into the wall of the artery and it will then heel up.

Recovery

I can take it easy and do just about everything after surgery. 2 weeks later I can start PT and walking again. 4 weeks and I can start running and pool work. 6 weeks and I should be just fine.

The Bad News

I can't believe this, even with my medication my blood pressure was 155/93 and I weighed 208 lbs. That is 2 shy of the most I have even weighed!

So Cute!

My second daughter ask my wife if she could stay home and spend the day with me, just in case I don't make it. I thought it was cute, my wife didn't.

Next...

Wednesday October 1, 2008; early in the morning will be surgery. My next blog will be October 2nd, after I get home (unless I don't make it.)

P. S. - I have an account at for live video broadcasting. When I am rebroadcasting again, I will let you know what date and time. To see my broadcasts go to www.stickam.com/larsen0966

A Lot Of Miles and New PT Treatment

A Word About Walking
When walking there are two general ways of classifying your pace. There is walking and then there is aerobic walking. Walking is what I do with my kids on Sunday when we go to Grandmas house. Aerobic walking is walking at a pretty brisk pace for at least 10 minutes. If you walk briskly for less than that, you really never get your body into the aerobic mode. Aerobics is the way your body fuels its muscles and not whether or not your winded. I am trying to get in a minimum of 3,000 aerobic steps or 20 minutes of Aerobic walking. That is about 1.5 miles of walking briskly. I want to get 10,000 steps a day. We will get to that in the near future.

The Walking Miles For The Week
I walked 7.7 miles at an aerobic pace. The problem still is that after I am done walking I need to take a nap. That medication is killing me. I see the Doctor next Thursday.

Walking In The Pool
I had Physical Therapy on Tuesday and Wednesday. These two days I did pool work. There is a pool with a treadmill in the floor and I did some walking and running in the pool. What the pool does is reduces the impact of the walking and running, but provided resistance by moving through the water. I still can't run on land. It was a good work out and I felt muscle work out through out my legs. I was very tired when I was done, but it felt great to actually run again.

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!