March 21, 2008 SIDELINED!!!!

I can't believe it. I'm banished from the gym. CRAP! I did my 60 minutes on the elliptical on Tuesday, and noticed that my left kneecap was bothering me. Wednesday, I did the treadmill, and got off after 50 minutes because it really hurt. I iced it, but that didnt' help. I took Thursday off as a rest day. Today at PT I asked Charlie about it. He said "your check engine light is on". I love the analogy. He said no gym in the acute phase, where it really hurts, even when I'm not exercising. When it gets a bit better, I can start slowly, maybe with the recumbent elliptical for 10-15 minutes. Then I can build up from there as tolerated. Heather thinks I may have developed some tendonitis, but since the pain is right over the kneecap, I don't know if that's likely. In any event, I CAN'T EXERCISE! And it's driving me nuts!

In other news, the scale was down 1.1 this week, on my new Tanita IronMan scale. I like the scale, and it weighs basically the same as my old one, so I know it's pretty accurate. It says I am 48% fat--alot different from what they said at Canyon Ranch, but, unfortunately, probably more realistic. Also, my C reactive protein was UP, this time to 75!! That's 25 times the normal max of 3!!! This is not good. Now I have to go see Dr. Rossi next week, and I'll probably end up having all sorts of tests done. It's probably due to my arthritis and went up becuase of the surgery, but who knows. My iron level is up to normal, which is good, and I don't have to have more IV iron--for now. BUT my hemoglobin is still too low--it actually dropped from 10.3 to 9.8 this week, which makes no sense at all.

I discovered a new, yummy lunch/dinner option. We had tacos on Tuesday, which I made with 1/2 and 1/2 ground beef and ground turkey. Very yummy. So, I kept aside 4 ounces for the next day, and just ate it mixed with rice. Quite tasty! Gotta get in that protein. I started tracking calcium intake too. Supposed to be 100-150 mg daily. Well, today I got...32. WOW, that's really sad. But with no dairy, I'm not surprised. Good thing I'm supplementing. Oh, speaking of which, I get to take yet another supplement--Glucosamine & Chondroitin, 3 horse pills a day! Those babies are ginormous!!

Today I had a MUCH needed massage. My neck and shoulders are sooooo tight! Laurie said she could see the atrophy of my shoulder muscles, but that will improve alot when I am cleared to do more active exercise with that arm. When I walked in, she was amazed at how I looked--she could really notice the weight loss! It's been an insane week with the kids, and now they're off for 10 days. This should be lots of fun...