Swimming Fun!

I went to the deep water Hydro Power class. Although it was a little underpowered for my taste, it was a lot of fun to be in the water and be able to freely move around with no pain to my foot. We wear flotation vests. There were 7 women.

The water gets cold after 1/2 hour but the class is one hour long. I won't say the time flew by but I did enjoy it. We finished with stretches in the 94 degree warm water therapy pool. I felt faint when I got out of that warm water which I attribute to being hungry as I took the class over my usual supper time. The large pool water temp was 81 degrees - big difference.

We didn't use the water dumbbells today but we used the noodle. The idea is to always stay as upright as possible in all the water aerobics moves to create more resistance against the water and to work the core muscles.

I asked spouse if he'd ever want to go swimming but he declined. Daughter and grandson might be interested one day. There were a lot of people lane swimming at the pool. The warm water therapy pool has its own coed dressing room. I'll go again tomorrow for an 8:30am class, maybe buying a ten class pass until I decide how long and how often I want to go. I want to try each one of the 4 different water aerobics classes. It will be interesting to see how many people are using the pool in the morning.

One good aspect of my foot injury is that it's forcing me to rethink my fitness program and make it a little more varied. One feature that was missing from my walking 7 days a week for 4 hours a day was any intensity training. I never did intervals or really pushed myself. I'm looking for that kind of experience now. I'm not sure that I'll find it in water aerobics but it's certainly a fun change of routine. I used to love playing in the water!

I'm going to return the swim cap and swim goggles that I bought from REI. The cap is so tight and so are the googles. I tried them on this evening but didn't use them.

Boy, you can really give yourself a good manicure and pedicure after soaking so long in the pool!

And the Diagnosis Is...

I saw the local podiatrist, Dr. Sauer, today. He thinks that I have plantar fasciitis and I tend to agree with him. He'll get digital copies of my right foot MRI to look at it further. I have an appointment with him on October 30 to get cast for othotics. (That's the same day as the north rim trip with Dorothy and Annie Apodoca so I'll have to forgo that trip.)

If orthotics don't work out - and I'll work for him until we can get the best fit and comfort - then I'll try out Foot Solutions in Santa Fe. I'm willing to try because Dr. Miller said it would take trial and error when I asked about orthotics and insoles. Dr. Sauer says that even if I did have posterior tibial tendonitis, another diagnosis that he considered, the treatment would be the same - orthotics.

This afternoon I'm going to try to go to the 5:30pm Deep Hydro Power water aerobics class at the Larry Walkup pool. I loathe getting wet and cold but suspect I'll actually enjoy the class a lot. Water aerobics would do the most to help my foot heal because I wouldn't be putting pressure on it. Getting some aerobic exercise would also do wonders for my psyche!

I'm considering buying a mini trampoline that I can use for circuit weight training which is alternating sets of weightlifting with aerobics. I'm guessing that a mini tramp wouldn't put as much pressure on my foot as weight bearing on the floor. I'll buy one from Walmart as they have a good return policy if it turns out that my theory is full of water!

I called Sun Precautions and asked if it would be all right to send in email size photos and a description of how I customized my Sun Precautions face guard. They said yes so I sent it in this afternoon.

I was distressed to find out that daughter's upper blood pressure number is 130. I always assumed, because she told me her blood pressure is always low, that she had my 110/72 numbers. We loaned her our blood pressure monitor so she can track her numbers.

I got a flu shot today at MANNM.

It's cloudy, cool and drizzly now - just the way I like it!

Estes Park Trip

Spent 2 1/2 hours packing this morning after breakfast. Then I did Denise Austin tape. I didn't like her the first time I did the tape because she talks and talks the whole time but it's upbeat, encouraging talk and the exercise is good, especially since I can't do a lot of weightbearing while waiting for my right foot to heal.

The foot and ankle specialist said I have bone inflammation in my calcaneus (heel bone) due to microtrauma in the area of my heel spur from Hades. I have to look up what in the world bone inflammation is. I didn't even realize a bone could get inflamed!

I asked the doctor about vitamin D and specifically, my vitamin D levels but he offered no enlightenment on that issue.

Unfortunately, I'm on my own as far as figuring out how to stretch and strengthen my feet and what to do regarding orthotics and what shoes to wear as that's not the purview of foot and ankle orthopedic surgeons.

I've made an appointment with Dr. Church for next Tuesday to discuss these issues and also to ask about getting a gait analysis. If this heel ever heals (I have my doubts), I need to address the poor biomechanics in my foot or the problem will just come right back. Dr. Miller did offer that this process would take some trial and error which is definitely an understatement considering that I tried 8 total shoes from Roadrunner Sports, plus a variety of shoes from REI, and still am no closer to finding a shoe that my right foot likes.

I'll go to the LA Fitness Center on October 1 to sign up for a 3 month membership to try to give my foot time to heal. I bought swim goggles and a swim cap at REI but have my doubts that I'll have step my dainty size 14 feet in the Walkup Center.

The Estes Park vacation will be interesting because we have never gone there just to sightsee. It's always been an active vacation of hiking. Spouse said he'll walk around Bear Lake when we go there. I'll sit and enjoy the scenery.

I need to look up info about the fitness center in Estes Park.

Daughter would like us to buy fudge and beer when we go there. We'll buy the fudge at the Alpine Visitor Center and the beer at the Estes Park brewery. We'll buy some also for daughter's father-in-law. He loves Samson Stout.

I've packed practically all my food for the trip. Spouse will buy some fresh fruit at Safeway. I need to stay away from bags of lettuce greens to avoid the intestinal blockage from my surgical adhesions.

Grandson's teacher says he's reading at 4th grade level!

Haven't Even Eaten Breakfast Yet

But I've done lots of shopping! I hand-wrung incredibly long over which weight vest to order and where was the cheapest price but finally ordered the Ironwear Cool Vest with 15.5 lbs. and a 20" wobble board from Allegro Medical. They had 15% off but with shipping, it still a bundle. The weight vest is supposed to help maintain bone density while wearing it for walking or just around the house. The wobble board will help my balance and strenthen my lower leg and foot. All of this is instead of signing up for a fitness club.

Then, I had a huge Vitacost order. Used an 8% off coupon on that from RetailMeNot.com.

I still have to make orders from Mountain Rose Herbs, Eden Foods Bob's Red Mill but will do that using the old fashioned land line after I have breakfast.

Saturday, foot misbehaved on shopping trip to Santa Fe but is better now. I stayed home Sunday so as not to aggravate foot.

Curves and Exercise Options

Thinking about Curves overnight, I don't plan on going back for my free week. I prefer more autonomy and anonymity when exercising in a gym. I was ready to do a 4th circuit yesterday when Crystal told me to stretch. My muscles aren't a bit sore today. Also, I feel that doing resistance work a little slower is better. The Curves machines are beautiful but in order to increase the resistance, since they use hydraulic pumps and not weights, you have to do the reps very fast. Regarding autonomy, the recorded voice that announces the 30 seconds are up doesn't allow me enough time to get seated at the next machine and get some meaningful resistance work in before the voice announces again that it's time to switch activities.

I will stay home today and do two Dummies tapes that I got out of the library. One is weightlifting and the other is stability ball. I'm not sure that I want to use the pool ever. The idea makes me feel very cold. I could just do the shallow water aerobics in the heated therapy pool but then you have to get out and get chilled. It's 70 degrees in the house and I need to put on more clothes. Is it time to move to Arizona? I'll get a TSH test at the October 11 health fair.

I have to begin conscientiously apply myself to doing resistance work 3 times a work to improve my bone density. I don't like the idea that my bones have thinned more since the last bone density 5 years ago. I'm not sure if it will be a home program or joining the LA Fitness Center. The LAFC costs $480 a year which we can certainly afford and spouse spends more than that on DirecTV but I balk at spending the money knowing that in the past when I've joined the YMCA, I've come to tire of publicly exercising.

The problem with a home resistance work program is consistently doing it, day after day, week after week, etc. But, I have no choice - I have to do it for the health of my bones. That's also why the idea of non-weightbearing aerobics like bicycling or water aerobics isn't very appealing. Maybe I could replace my walking for 3 days a week with the weight work because it is hard to fit both a good weight work session in and walk 4 miles too in addition to living my life.

I'm tired today and don't feel like going out. Plus, my ankle area has some mild discomfort.

Very Fall-Like Today

I love the trees downtown with their red leaves. Fall is definitely in the air today with the overcast over the mountains and cooler temps. I love it!!

Today I picked up my bone density results. It shows that I have osteopenia of the hips and spine but now osteoporosis. I have to renew my commitment to a bone building program of resistance work to try to improve my bone density.

I called Curves and they routinely give interested people a free week to try Curves out so I exercised there today and will tomorrow and next week until the free week expires. They use resistance machines with hydraulic resistance and it seemed to be good exercise. The idea is that the faster you move go, the more resistance you create. The manager was very friendly and helpful - showing me how to go around the circuit. I did 3 circuits and was ready to do another one but she said to stretch. They have a very cool stretching station and I really enjoyed my stretching. The cost to join is a $75 new member fee (normally $149) and $34 a month. LA Fitness Center is only $6 more and has more stuff to do so I doubt I'll join but this helps me to pass the time until the appointment next week with the foot and ankle specialist.

I'll probably do Curves tomorrow and aim to go to the pool's deep water aerobics class to see how I like that.

I also stopped by the BESC to try the Schwinn Air Dyne but discovered that it bothers my heel. Either that or some of the lower leg machines at Curves bothered it. I may have done 10 minutes on the exercise bike.

My right leg swelled a little yesterday. Today, I'm trying to walk normally around the house with a little assist from the walker sometimes. I can't keep putting so much weight on my left foot because now it's beginning to hurt.

Daughter and grandson come over tonight for spouse's birthday.

Tincture of Time Works!

The leg swelling is gone today. I don't know if it's because I've been walking on it around the house more or because I reinstituted the standing calf stretch that I have done every night for eons or because Dr. Church is such a wonderful healer that all he had to do was touch my leg and I was cured!!

I went to the library to look at the February 2008 issue of Consumer Reports in which they reviewed elliptical machines. The "best buy" was a Nordic and it was $1000. Hmmm, that would be two years at LA Fitness Center and the machine would probably break in the meantime. The next one was over $2000.

I'm still debating joining the gym but would really like to see the doctor in Albuquerque first to see what he recommends for my foot problem. In the meantime, I'm sure that my butt is accruing loads of lard from not exercising! : ) At least yesterday I had time to do abs, upper body and yoga from my fitness dvd's but today has been too busy.

A good plan would be to go to the water aerobics classes when my bathing suit comes tomorrow. Ack - I wasted my time showering as I'll get doused in chlorine in the classes! Ah, come on - you could at least try it. It would buy time until next Tuesday. Maybe I could talk the LA Fitness Center into another day pass to also buy time. What I really want to do is WALK!!!! Moving right along...

Darlene at Casey's

Darlene called me and I gave her my feedback regarding the chimney cleaning. I said I had been anxious about his unfamiliarity with removing the baffle, distressed at the lower pipe having to be cleaned from inside the woodstove and my resultant breathing of contaminants and concerned if the stove had been properly cleaned. She couldn't understand why his brush couldn't reach around the pipe bend. She told me that if it was a 90 degree elbow, the pipe would have had to be removed but his brushes should have been able to get around the 45 degree pipe bend.

She'll contact the owner about having someone come out to inspect that if there is any glazed creosote buildup and if the stove pipe is adequately cleaned.

She was very nice and patiently listened to my detailing my concerns.

I picked up a really nice wooden cane at the VNS today. Walgreen's Home Health Care no longer carries the canes with the hard rubber handle. My take on the cane is that perhaps the walker protects my heel better. Either that or the shoes that I wear for going around town are hurting my heel - just the slightest discomfort.

The bone density went very smoothly. I'll call later this week to get the results. I hope it's good because I have no intention of taking bisphosphonates. I read that doctors call them Tub 'n' Tile Cleaner because of the chemicals the drugs contain. The same chemicals are used for descaling.

I'm going to use the humidifier overnight the next couple of nights to help the particulates from the chimney cleaning to work their way out of my lungs. I'll get over it but it wasn't an ideal situation.

Now for laundry and shower. I feel I need to do both after the chimney cleaning.

This Is Why I'd Like to Live in a Tipi

Art of Casey’s Top Hat cleaned the chimney. He seems a good, kind, patient person. The trouble was that he didn’t know how to remove our woodstove baffle to clean the chimney. With the Quadra-Fire, you either remove the pipe from the top of the stove or you remove the baffle; otherwise, the baffle would become congested with the chimney soot.

I told him several times that it might be better to cancel the appointment. I felt extremely anxious when he started removing the screws to the combustion tubes and pulled out the kaowool blanket because I really wanted to cancel the appointment. I took out the manual for the woodstove to read the steps to removing the baffle to him. He thanked me for that later. I said again that it might be better to cancel the appointment but he said to be patient with him and he continued working on removing the baffle.

At one point, as he was struggling with how to remove the baffle, I asked him about removing the pipe from the top of the stove and he said it might get scratched. At the end of the job though, he changed his mind and said it would be better to remove the pipe than go through all that’s involved in removing the baffle.

He lost the washer to one of the combustion pipe retaining screws in the stove but, after lifting bricks up from the bottom of the stove, was able to find it. I put the retaining screws aside for safekeeping.

He eventually got the baffle out and went up on top of the roof to sweep the chimney. First, I had to ask him for something to cover the TV (right next to the woodstove) even though he assured me that the stove was airtight and nothing would come out.

When he got done on the roof, he told me that his brush couldn’t reach past the bend and he would try brushing it from inside. I’m not entirely sure that this effort, with brushes that looked too short to reach the bend, effectively cleaned the bend from inside but he told me that there wasn’t much soot in the stove pipe.

When he was done, I don’t know if he looked up the stovepipe to make sure it was cleaned and he didn’t mention if there was any glazed creosote buildup in addition to the soot he brushed out. He went out to get another brush to reassure me that the bend was cleaned but then he was moving the stove as he was trying to get the brush into the bend and I expressed concern that the pipes might be damaged.

At some point in this process, either when he was brushing the pipe from the bottom up or when he was vacuuming out the soot, I could smell creosote. I probably ended up breathing some of the fine particulate in because I was in the living room at the time.

He cleaned out all his gear and then came back in with a bill that was $99 for the cleaning and $50 for the baffle removal. I balked and said that Darlene told me that the cost would be $95-$115, depending on the pipe bend. I told him that I would pay $115 + tax and he refigured the bill for that amount.

I wish I hadn’t signed the statement that he had fully informed me about the condition of our stovepipe because, other than saying it wasn’t that dirty, he hadn’t. He should have told me if there was any glazed creosote buildup that his brush couldn’t dislodge.

All in all, it was a very stressful experience because I was worried about him damaging the stove when he took out the baffle and put it back. Now, I’m worried about lung cancer from breathing in the soot. The most important worry, though, is that I still don’t know if the woodstove is in safe operating condition. I didn’t know about the glazed creosote until I was Googling about the dangers of breathing in fine particulates. It didn’t seem like he was up on the chimney very long at all and I doubt that he thoroughly cleaned it.

I will never use Casey’s Top Hat again. I told spouse that the next time the chimney needs cleaning, we’ll replace the stove. If I had my way, I would not have a woodstove. I will call Darlene to give feedback to her about the whole experience.

Deflated

I went in to see Dr. Church at 1pm instead of 4:30pm (his request). He wanted me to come in earlier in case he ordered tests. He looked at my leg, agreed it looked swollen, said that the skin on my right leg was cooler than on the left and took my pulse at my ankle. He said that I had a strong pulse, he didn't think I had a blood clot, told me be sure to see the specialist in Albuquerque, offered me a prescription anti-inflammatory (I declined and said that he'd let's apply the tincture of time - end of appointment. I was so relieved he didn't think it was a blood clot but not quick thinking enough to ask him what it could be. I wonder, after some fruitless Googling, if it could be a ruptured gastrocnemius muscle. My toes feel very cold on that foot and it feels like something is "detached" right in the area where the gastroc usually ruptures - mid-lower leg. I feel sort of helpless because no solutions have surfaced on why my leg is swelling. It was somewhat better, less swollen, after yesterday's LA Fitness exercise session.

Afterwards, I went to Walgreen's Home Health Care to pick up a cane but the one I wanted, with the hard rubber grip which seemed the most stable and comfortable as opposed to the foam grip, was only in stock in junior size. Visiting Nurse Service called this afternoon to say they have a wooden cane waiting for me but I'm not going out again today. Tomorrow the chimney sweep comes, I go for a bone density at 1:30pm and I'll pick up the cane before the bone density test. I felt the cane did help me to only partially bear weight on that foot. I'm not obeying the orthopedist and doing total non-weight bearing - it was just too hard. The partial weight bearing doesn't seem to hurt my foot. I use the walker in the house but for partial weight bearing.

I'm feeling dismal about my prospects to get some good exercise. I really don't want to sign up for LA Fitness Center - maybe not even for a month. If a sign up for a month, I may want to sign up for a year. I've joined the YMCA before and then tire of going in as I'd rather do a DIY (do it yourself) exercise program. My bathing suit comes on Wednesday. I may try the water aerobics at the pool after all.

I'll look into buying a Schwinn Airdyne to use at home for cross training. Spouse could use it too.