Back in the Gym Again1

Last night Rich and I went to the gym...tonight too.  It feels so good to get back to familiar patterns.  We have had a series of difficulties since April that have kept us out - other than meeting with our trainers - and finally we are moving in the right direction again.

Yesterday Rich had an appointment with Dr. Dimeo (his pulmonologist) to determine lung function and if the pneumonia had gone.  It hasn't - although it is markedly improved and hence the exercise.  He is on another antibiotic course and another round of steroids and will see Dimeo again in a couple of weeks...but the improvement is good.

For me - I had been pretty sick and experiencing some horrific vertigo.  Couldn't figure out why.  However, I had gone to the dentist between Wisconsin and Oklahoma because I was experiencing intermittent tooth pain.  The dentist discovered a tooth that needed a root canal even though I wasn't experiencing pain or any other symptoms...the tooth that was bothering me was cracked and in Oklahoma it actually broke and gave me quite the relief.  To make a long story short...I had the root canal last week and work done on the other tooth for a crown and now the vertigo is almost gone.  I don't know whether it was the infection and since I have been on an antibiotic that has helped or what...just grateful to be able to hold my head up or lay down and not have the world spinning! :)  And, since I can do that - I have been able to exercise the last couple of days without falling...yea!

And - as I long have learned - when the exercise is in place somehow, for some reason, diet becomes much better managed.  I have theories...but what is more important is that it is actually a fact.

Dr. Dimeo cautioned both of us to take the come back very, very slowly.  He told Rich that if he thought he could do 10 minutes then to shorten it to 5 instead.  And intersperse the aerobic with a couple of minutes of strength exercises so that his body has a chance to catch up.  Said it is the fastest way back to our peaks.  Yesterday I did 20 minutes on the bike and then an additional 10, and then 30 minutes in the pool.  Tonight I did 22 minutes, some abs and triceps work and then an additional 8 minutes on the bike.  But, tonight I traveled more distance - did 6 miles.   On our way home we noted that our bodies are so amazing - they are so quick to give up the strength and fitness...but they are so quick to respond to good care too. 

Yesterday, at lunch, there were a couple of guys sitting behind us discussing America and freedom.  They were obviously foreigners - sounded Russian, Czech, or something like it - but speaking English.  I didn't mean to eavesdrop but the conversation started softly and grew loud enough that not hearing would have been impossible.  Anyway - the nuts and bolts of their discussion was that you achieve what you get in the future by doing those things you need to do to achieve the result today...in essence today determines both the future and the past, especially since today becomes the past tomorrow.  That what is so wonderful about living here is that we really do have the freedom to choose what we will do with today to achieve what we want in the future.  I have thought about the wisdom of these young men in their discussion.  Too often we want the results of our intentions rather than having to do the work...and it doesn't work that way.  It doesn't work in weight loss and fitness, charachter building, education, getting out of debt, food storage...or any other endeavor.   Today is all we have.  I love Emily Dickinson's "Forever is composed of nows."  Or Emerson who said, "We are always getting ready to live but never living."  Or Charlotte Perkins Gilman's, "Eternity is not something that begins after you're dead.  It is going on all the time."  Truly, if you worry about what might be and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is...  It is nice to not be ignoring today in my quest for better health...or planning to do better "tomorrow"...because today is all that I have.