Pentagenarians & Beyond: 03/02/2025

Today I did Lift Move & Restore Functional Total Body, 64 minutes, 242 calories, heart rate 102/132. I did not have a lot of time, but did LMR Pilates foam roller skipping most of the warm up portion and got in 10 minutes, 19 calories. Yesterday was a long day and my doctor gave me a med for the arthritis that I am worried about taking. It can damage the liver and have lots of side effects. I said no to Methotrexate, and I think Arava(Leflunomide) is similar. The doctor thinks that with the hydroxychloroquine may do the same for me as the steroid injections. I have spent a lot of time researching this. I have to go back in 3 months for more blood work and a check up. Usually I see my blood work within a day, but since it was Friday and they close at noon I guess it will be next week. I will come back tomorrow to read posts.
 
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This morning I did My Finished Step Combos. My Dad is taking all of them out for breakfast this morning and my sister said that Mom has started to set up breakfast 3 times, and she reminds her that Dad is taking them out and she doesn't remember. She has a much bigger issue with short term memory than long, and that's not good. But, they made it in and out of hockey games the last two nights. My Mom absolutely refuses to use the chair that Dad got for her, which in the moment she agreed to getting. It was real feel 5 degrees and my sister just left getting her inside to my Dad and her husband as she moves as the pace a tortoise would run rings around, and my sister had a coat, but no hat or gloves and refused to deal with the cold that long.

Valerie with enough food, water and litter boxes the cat should be okay while you're gone.

Diane Sue hopefully you can get a drug that you are comfortable using for your arthritis.

Hi Carolyn, Judy and Shannon.
 
Good morning. Yesterday was my rest day and I was finally able to go to the Farmer’s Market. It was a quick trip, but nice to get out there. I hadn’t been since before Christmas.

Cathy, great job with Restorative Yoga and Finished Step Combos. Your mother’s health situation must be very hard on your Father. Being a caregiver can be exhausting.

Valerie, nice job with the yard walk and park walk.

Diane Sue, nice job with LMR Functional Total Body and part of Pilates foam rolling. I hope that the medication helps without too many side effects.

Hello to Judy and Shannon.
 
I have a week full of medical appts, then if I survive, im done for a while. getting the strips off my wound is tonight before we go tomorrow. Ive been showering almost every day now and the patch is still sticking. apps with cardiology, endocrinology rheumatology and ortho this week. some are simple final visits I think.
diane sue I am probably at the point of some more serious arthritis medications. I test extremely negative for inflammatory arthritis, test results are as low as they can go, but they may want to try things like plaquenil or methotrexate etc because my NSAID is not working enough anymore. damn arthritis! I am not going to have a single functional joint left at this rate.

ive started doing counter push ups and will go to knee pushups and dips etc this week. i miss those! sounds weird but I do. im thinking i need to skip over- the- head moves yet, so will do moves without weights first.
cathy thats what we did with our other cats. stocked up the basement with litter boxes, autofeeder, etc. this guy however, loves to push things off counter tops. that is the biggest concern because he works at big projects sometimes! a week alone in the basement, even though it is a very nice basement, might be messy. he opens doors easily. he'd have huge windows to look out of and a huge amount of space. this trip we will try a kennel. that didnt work well for other cats but each is different.

that is sad about your mother. a lot of times dementia people stay physically able but mentally not, so they can get out by themselves and wander get into all kinds of trouble. its common to lose short term memory while long ago events stay in place . there's always someone wandering away from a care facility and getting lost. your dad is the one who might need help dealing with her so he can catch a break.
it would be incredibly hard to see someone deteriorate. and feel on call 24/7/365.
 
Hi, ladies. Yesterday was a “get things done” day, so we can call it an active recovery day. Today I took a five mile walk. It’s exercise, but that’s not why I do it. I do it because I love to walk.

Carolyn – Nice job with Perfect 30 Low Impact HiiT yesterday. Yay – so glad you got to go the farmer’s market today! Did you find anything yummy?

Valerie – I’m glad Puss can get some outside time to blow off some steam. How old is he again? Maybe in a year or so he will settle down a bit. Good luck with resuming upper body work. I know that will feel good! Ugh – sorry about all your appointments this week, but I know you’ll tough it out and make it through. And I’m sorry to hear about your worsening arthritis. We try to stay healthy and fit, but how are we supposed to when genetics and crap is against us?

Cathy – I’m really sorry about your mom. And it sure won’t get any easier. I’m glad you live fairly close to your parents so you can keep tabs on how things progress. I went to California last summer to help my grandmother because her short term memory is basically nonexistent. It’s very hard when she asks if she ate breakfast, or thinks nobody comes to visit her even though her friends came just the other day, etc. I’m afraid my mom is headed the same direction. Her memory is getting really bad, and lots of times she seems to have trouble with comprehension. Dementia is just a hard, hard illness for all concerned.

Diane – Are your new meds for rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis? I sure hope they help and that you don’t suffer any bad side effects. I totally understand your concern about taking them.

Hello to Judy.

So, I have a couple of things … This might get a little long. My apologies in advance.

You know my nice, feel-good workout I did Friday with those three LMR bonuses? Well, damn it, I woke up Friday night, early Saturday with my shoulder throbbing. I was just like, geeeeeeze! It hurt! Fortunately I was able to massage some of the pain out, which tells me it was some sort of muscle cramp in my front delt. I know for a fact that it was from those shoulder stretches Cathe does in the Anytime Mobility, where she is kneeling, spreads her arms apart, and then rotates to each side, putting her head to the ground and stretching the front of the shoulder.

My thinking is this: This is the same arm I’ve had trouble with before, the one that I use for mousing. I suspect that I have some sort of tightness there that actually does need stretching and work. It doesn’t bother me during an ordinary day, but I think (and hope) that some more focused stretching will help it. So I’m going to gently stretch it every day, using Cathe’s stretches and work up to longer holds. I also bought a “Polar Roller” at WalMart. It’s a metal massage ball with liquid inside that you can freeze, and then get the benefits of ice therapy as you massage the muscle. Fingers crossed that this will work.

Second thing. I may be approaching the hip arthritis totally wrong. The last time I went on a long walk, it hurt for a couple of days. Nothing awful, but rather uncomfortable. Same today. But I took my walk with the intent of finding out exactly how much a walk will affect it. I went before lunch, and right now it feels okay. We will see if it stiffens up tonight. None of my workouts last week, weights or cardio, bothered it. I was originally thinking that all the squats and lunges bothered it, but apparently it’s the constant repetitive motion of walking. Makes me wonder if riding a bike would do the same thing.

I am rather upset that walking bothers my hip. I love walking. I have walked since I was in junior high. I used to wander all through the neighbors’ land, forest, fields, across creeks and through fences, when farmers owned large areas of the land. I switched over to road walks when more people moved in. I just love to be outside walking. It’s part of who I am. As I said, the pain isn’t bad now, but it’s still upsetting. I will try to remain positive. And take Tylenol!

Okay, thanks for bearing with me. I’m done.
 
I worked this weekend, 6 hours each day. I managed to get a 15-minute row in this morning. I also worked 8 hours on Thursday. That was way too much and I’m going to have drop my availability down even more to avoid this happening again.

Diane Sue-Great job with Lift Move & Restore Functional Total Body and LMR Pilates foam roller. I don’t blame you for being concerned about taking that medication. I hope it helps and that you don't have any side effects.

Cathy-Great job with your Finished Step Combos. I’m very sorry about your Mom.

Carolyn-I’m glad you got to go to the Farmer’s Market.

Valerie-I’m sorry about all of the appointments. I hope they go well for you.

Shannon-Great job with your 5-mile walk. I’m sorry about your shoulder and about walking bothering your hips. Stretching sounds like a good plan. I also have one of those Polar Rollers in our freezer. I’ve used it a few times and it does help.
 
No workout today and probably none tomorrow. I have an appointment for a chest CT in the morning and I think this is going to be a busy week. I may need to take my dog to the vet again. I wish I could keep her from licking her legs until they have sores. Just getting the elbows healed and now the back leg is swollen and bleeding. She won't leave it alone. She is old and lumps and bumps. Poor thing. I am at my wits end with all of this. Bandages do not stay on. I keep a shirt on her to cover her front elbows.

Cathy, nice job getting in your step combos. Dementia is such a sad thing and tough on family members.

Carolyn, that is nice that you were able to get out to the farmer's market. I hope the medicine helps but still worry about outcome. My daughter says maybe it will lead to me being able to get something better.

Valerie, that is a lot of appointments in one week. They put me down as Rheumatoid arthritis with negative factor on my charts along with cervical spondylosis and osteoarthritis. I gather blood tests are not always accurate on that. I have had x rays, and mri, bone density scans. Just the fact that I can see my thumb joints are protruding more so obvious there and they have that as osteo-arthritis. I need something to help slow the progress. What I am doing is not helping. Reading on the Arthritis foundation site negative Rheumatoid arthritis is often something else.
I hope your cat learns to do well riding in a crate so you can have a peaceful trip.

Shannon, it is nice to get things done and sit back and feel good about it. Yesterday was my get things done day. Cleaned, scrubbed, and put everything in order so I would have today free. Husband is off the next few days, so maybe get some things done outside. Walking is good for you, and it is nice that you enjoy it. I used to take my dog out for walks once in a while at our last home. There are so many walkers of dogs around here, my dog would go nuts. The meds are to help with all of the problems I posted above to Valerie. I am just having a harder time taking care of the pain. I am trying to work on strengthening my bones since my bone density was down. It is hard to keep up with all of it.
I rather like that side to side shoulder stretch with the arms stretched out to the sides. The front of my shoulders is sore most of the time and I try to stretch and massage them off and on all day. Maybe a little stretching the legs and hips before you head out for the walk? The cold massage ball sounds like a nice idea.

Judy, that is a lot of work hours. Nice work getting in a 15 minute rowing session.
 
Well my workout plans got waylaid this morning. I had things set up for an upper body workout and while I was sitting at breakfast, I started realizing how tight the whole middle section of my back was. So I did the STS 2 upper body foam rolling, and found a few tight spots. Of course, except for an area on either side of my spine they weren't in the middle of my back, but more shoulder blade and lat areas. So, after I did that, I worked some more focused time on those areas. It's still feeling tight, but maybe that will have a delayed effect. We'll see. We talked to Derek for about an hour last night. He's excited about some opportunities at work, as he's been there long enough now to get trained on training animal behavior. But, dang if at one point he didn't make a comment to the affect of "when you come..." at which DH looks at me like what? So, I guess we'll be having that talk sooner than I'd planned. LOL I'm really not sure right now whether or not I'll end up going to see Nick. Not only hasn't he decided when he's taking the test so he can apply to med school, but his roommates are leaving sometime in May and he'll be getting new ones. And, I don't want to go any later, because it can already be very hot there in May.

My Dad is now doing everything around the house, and he's not loving it and there's things he just can't physically clean and he's embarrassed about it, but she won't let him hire someone to do it. Ugh. He says he'll take care of her as long as he can. The problem is that they haven't any plan, for when he can't. Us kids feel that when that happens it's going to happen fast, and be a huge issue. But he basically told my sister that it is not open for discussion, so on their heads be it.

Shannon Valerie would have a better idea, but I think the motions for walking and biking are different enough that if walking is the problem a bike might be okay. Hopefully, you can figure out what will work for you. Having to give up walking would be hard for someone who does it so much.

Diane Sue, I hope you are able to find a solution for your dogs licking. It's a behavior that is so hard to stop, and hard on animal and person.

Judy an 8 hour day for that type of work is rough on the body. Cutting hours sounds like a good idea.

Valerie I hope all your appointments go smoothly. You like dips! They are one of my least favorite exercises!
 
Happy Monday, everyone. So, now that I whined and complained about my hip, it didn’t bother me at all last night, after my long walk. Doesn’t that just figure? As my mom said, arthritis will do what it wants, when it wants. I will say, though, that I felt some mild discomfort for nearly the whole walk. I’m just glad it went away. So this evening when I lift weights, I will see what happens when I use the booty band, which is another suspected culprit.

Judy – A while back, you were thinking about retiring. Maybe it’s time now? Three long days on a hard concrete floor is definitely too much!

Diane – You handle your health issues with grace and determination. I’m sorry you have to deal with so much pain. I know where you’re coming from about your dog. I have a high maintenance little punk too. It’s good that you are able to take such good care of yours. Does she have allergies? My parents used to have a Rottweiler who would get hot spots, and they were really hard to clear up.

Cathy – I hope your back will be okay now. Good job on listening to your body. Nick is in Texas, right? Aw, come on. You can handle a Texas summer, LOL. At least you don’t have to visit Derek in the middle of winter! You are probably right about your mom, that when it’s “time,” there will be no warning. Because it will be all of a sudden when your dad realizes he just can’t handle it anymore. I really feel for him, and for you “kids” who will have to make a lot of tough decisions all at once.

Hello to Judy and Valerie.
 
This morning I did Low Impact Sweat workout one. That was 28 minutes and 179 calories burned. My average heart rate was 132 and maximum heart rate was 175.

Valerie, you do have a busy week with those upcoming medical appointments. It’s good that you have started the modified upper body exercises.

Shannon, I’m glad that your walk didn’t bother your hip this time. A spin bike might be a good way to use other muscles. Valerie or Judy can give you more insight on that.

Judy, that’s a lot of work hours. Hopefully you can reduce that a bit going forward.

Hello to Diane Sue and Cathy.
 
diane sue I was looking for a cat repellant spray that would stop going on certain shelves. we keep things on a shelf in the TV room. salt, toothpicks, tv remotes. I read reviews. people use the sprays on animal body parts they wont leave alone, like hot spots or surgical wounds that need to heal. I started looking for "bitter apple spray" and ended up with something else. sprays that taste or smell bad to the anumal (but arent toxic) to discourage the dog or cat from chewing on a body part, as well as chewing on the furniture. he hasnt gone on the shelf since. sometimes its a matter of breaking a habit. some things need re treatment.

I dont feel much overlap between walking and riding. the position is different, muscles used are not the same. or maybe same muscles but used differently. I can ride more often than I can hike. even when I had bursitis in one hip I could ride just fine.

cardiology went well today, the adjustments in settings took care of the problem. hopefully the other things will go ok. I am not looking forward to the spine surgeon one, my back is bothering me again especially the last 2 weeks. not sure what to think at this point.
 
Today I did 45 minutes of Peloton Rides, 15 minutes of Peloton Upper Body and Core and I finished with LMR Restorative Yoga.

Diane Sue-I hope your chest CT scan goes well. I’m sorry about your dog. That must be frustrating to try to keep her from licking her legs.

Cathy-I hope your back feels better after the foam rolling. Yes, 8 hours was too much. I won’t be doing that again. I’m sorry about what your family is going through with your Mom.

Shannon-I’m glad your hip is better. I agree, retiring seems like the best thing at this point. I’m planning on switching to seasonal. That way I will still be in the system if I want to come back next year for a few weeks in the busy season. I like keeping that option open.

Carolyn-Great job with Low Impact Sweat workout one. Yes, I do need to make sure I don’t get scheduled that many hours again. It was the 8-hour day that pushed me over the edge. I will never do that again.

Hi to Valerie
 
Good morning, ladies. My weight lifting on my own went well last night. No problems with the booty band. I guess my hip was just in a foul mood a while back, so maybe things will be good for a while. It looks like the first big thunderstorm of the season is coming today. I think it will move through pretty quickly. But we are going to have some very strong straight-line winds. It’s already quite windy, but the forecast is calling for it to get stronger after the storm line moves through. My poor dog is already in hiding.

Carolyn – Yeah, I’m still going back and forth about the spin bike. I still don’t want it in my living room though. Nice work on Low Impact Sweat. I really like that one.

Valerie – Congrats on finding a way to stop Puss from climbing on the shelves. Silly cat. I’m glad your pacemaker issues are all straightened out. But oh dear, I’m so sorry your back is bothering you. Keep us posted, please. Thanks for your input about riding versus walking. That’s pretty amazing that riding didn’t hurt when you had bursitis. Very good food for thought.

Judy – Switching to seasonal sounds like a great idea. Does that mean you will still work this spring, but then be off until next spring?

Hi to Cathy and Diane.
 
This morning I did Live Crush it Low Impact and Bun Burners Barre and Ball. The latter has a no equipment standing section, barre only and then ball and it is pretty brutal. LOL I wanted an extra leg focused stretch, so I ended up doing the 7 minute stretch from Butts and Guts. I'll have to remember that one in the future. The foam rolling yesterday did the trick and within a couple hours, my back felt totally fine. There's a definite plus to living close enough to my parents that I just do 3 hour visits. My sister gets all the fun stuff when she goes and stays. Today they are going shopping in the rain at Mom's pace. Yesterday she cleaned all her figurines while Mom sat there and watched to make sure she put them back. Not kidding when I say both her Mother and Grandmother in there later years accused people of stealing things from them. We kids have long joked that it's going to happen to one of us at some point, and my Grandma cut both her kids out of her will, so we joked about that, too, but now she's reached the point where it's impossible for her to know how to contact the attorney or get herself to their office. I've always been very grateful, that I have pretty much no traits from that side of the family.

Shannon that's great that those things didn't bother your hip. I hope the storm doesn't impact you too much. Yes, Nick is in Fort Worth. Hands down if I had to choose I'd take Derek's cold over Nick's heat. I'm a 65-75 degree girl. Once it hits 80 it's too hot. We've had the polar vortex here before, and those temps get pretty brutal, but I'll take them over 90-100+. I actually want to move to the UP when my husband retires, but he's now I don't want to be cold. Well I don't want to be hot. So...to be determined.

Valerie it's great if you found something to stop your cat getting on the shelves. That's a battle I conceded long, long ago. LOL I hope whatever is bothering your back is not serious.

Hi Judy, Carolyn and Diane Sue.
 
Cathy I don't try to keep him off all shelves. theres one spot between our chairs where I keep salt shaker, red pepper flakes and toothpicks. he was swatting all those off the shelf. also the squirt gun we keep for punishments! I sprayed that shelf with the repellant spray. he didnt notice immediately but now avoids it. no damage but the salt spilled etc. I don't let him on countertops. the squirt gun works best. he's learned to at least not do it when we're watching.
I'm with you on the heat vs cold. I also dont go over 80. if its humid even sooner. I don't want to be anywhere I have to face 90-100 degrees. no way. no tolerance for it.

my mother apparently wasnt thinking clearly about a lot of things. I talked to her regularly but she never told me my brother had her sign away her house and remove my sister and I from her will. I will not forgive her for that. or the attorney who thought it was just fine to do it. I am fine, was not counting on an inheritance, , but my sister is a mess and needed the inheritable assets from her. didnt happen. so I stuck with managing her and brother took everything. I will never speak to my brother his wife or children again. hateful little bastard. no forgiveness here.

had some lab0s and a dexascan this morning. I have more things thursday, while DH is off getting taxes done today. then I think Im done as long as everything checks out ok but DH has a few things next week. endless!!we are getting a shpower door put on tomorrow to complete our bathroom remodel. we acted as our own general contractor and did some ourselves, and hired different people for the rest. the door mount reeures drilling thru the new tile so we hired a glass shop to do the door. then we can put up towel racks and its done.!!
 
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Yesterday I did a 30-minute Row Bootcamp and 60 minutes of Yin Yoga and PT work. Today I have a hair appointment and will probably make this an active rest day.

Shannon-I’m glad your weight lifting went well. I hope you did ok with the weather yesterday. I’ll have to talk to HR to see how seasonal would work for me. Personally, I like the idea of staying in the system in case I want to go back.

Cathy-Great job with Live Crush it Low Impact and Bun Burners Barre and Ball and the stretch from Butts & Guts.

Carolyn-I hope your husband’s appointment went well.

Valerie-I hope your lab work and dexascan results are good.

Hi to Diane Sue
 
Today I did Pyramid Pump Upper Body.

Valerie we keep nothing that we don't want to meet the floor on the table anymore. Napkins and salt/pepper are nearby. Tux doesn't believe things should stay where we put them. It's fascinating to me that Chester who is very wide and bulky, can walk around and through things that you would swear would just get knocked off my movement as if he's a ballet dancer. Tux is a total bull in a China shop.
 
we are working on training Puss to stay off countertops. fairly successful so far. my goal is not perfection but improvement which we are achieving. I think. DH is big on punishment (squirt gun) while Im focusing diversion. if its not fun, he will stop going somewhere, like the master. he's always trying to get in there and DH chases him out. I call him out and he comes with me. after he's been there a few times, its the least interesting place of all so I think it will go away by itself. we let him outside several times a day and that works fine. he doesn't stay out long but I think it will get longer as he learns what he can do for fun. hes very motivated by food, so a greenie or two helps good behavior. Puss sounds like Tux. he loves to pick things off shelves and carry them around and play with them. anything he can get his paws on. we found a dixie cup in the basement where we dont have dixie cups. he must have taken it from a bathroom on another floor and moved it. he is fascinated with toilets. absolutely drinks there. loves to watch the tissue swirl around as the toilet flushes.
 
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