I didn't go directly from straight bed rest to Slim Series, but pretty close to it. I was very aggervated with my doctors, and went into the mind set that I was going to prove all 50 of them wrong, and I did. They told me I'd never walk again, and even if I did walk I'd have to use a walker for the rest of my life, as with how weak my muscles had gotten it would take me years and years to build them back up and with all the fractures in my back, it was impossible to think I'd walk again without assistance. So I did what exercercies I could laying in bed, and used some of my old Kathy Smith tapes I had recovering from having my head put back on my spinal cord at age 13, and well I modfied those tapes as I did everything on my back instead of standing up. And then I got slim series, I still couldn't stand up for anything over 90 seconds, or I'd be gasping for breath and my heart rate would hit 200 +. As not only did the medicine weaken my bones and make them break and then compress, it even weaken the muscles around my heart, so it had to pump twice as fast to supply blood as it was too weak to do one big thump and get all the blood where it should have been.
So I did what I could from the chair and finally move around with a walker as what I actually need was something to hold my upper body up, my lower back was just too weak to hold the upper body. I know sound weird. So just fought and contined on and last September I finally got rid of my walker completely.
But I had no choice besides to do something drastic, I need to push myself to the limit and not allow a single inch less. As I know if I back off I wouldn't be able to walk ever. As the motivation would fade and the pain would get the best of me. I had already had to learn to walk all over again at age 13, I knew what to expect and how hard it was. And if you back off, the pain about drives you nuts when you try again. I made that mistake at 13, I didn't want to repeat that, as the pain in my back was so bad just laying in bed, I had to take a ton of really hard pain meds. The stuff I was taking could take out a 250 pound male and knock them out cold for over 5 hours. I was still in enough pain with the meds that I never got any rest, and I knew I wouldn't if I just laid there, or sat in my wheel chair. I really didn't have the choice to go slowly I had to have results just to get some help, as no one believed I could walk again. Over 50 specalists didn't believe it and told me point blank I wouldn't, and they weren't going to get my hopes up and put me in more pain to put me through therapy, to only show me I can't walk. They told me it was too devistating to the paticent when that happens and they really feel like a failure, and the last thing I needed was to be depressed in my condition.
I started to workout and my heart started to get stronger and my pulse rate was going down. And I learned how to do aerobics with a walker, granted I couldn't add in the arm movements but I got my legs moving and doing all the exercises, my arms at times took 90% of my weight, but it got me to where I needed to be. As I started slim series I could not walk with my walker in from a handicap space into the store without sitting down, 20 feet from the door I just walked through. So I was still pretty much restricted on on primarily bed rest. And luckly my walker had a seat on it. So when I did get tired I could sit down and rest. And if I wasn't walking I had to sit, as standing was my worse enemy. If I stood for over 90 seconds I'd be gasping for air as my body was working that hard to keep my up.
For most people I jumped into SS way too quick. But if I hadn't I'm sure I wouldn't be walking or doing Cathe now. That I'm sure off, as my body was healing and if I didn't get it moving then and adjusting to movement I would have been in a lot worse shape. And just for the record before this happen I was a personal trainer, and I'm back part time as one, just haven't reached full time yet. So I had a very good idea of what I was doing and the risks I was taking. But I also knew if you didn't start building yourself up during the healing stage you are in a world of trouble. As it can take 3 times longer or more to get things back if you wait as well as sometimes you lose the window to have a full recovery. Granted when I did Slim Series the first few times threw, I never once picked up a weight. I couldn't even lift a quart of water and pour it into a glass. But cycling my takes as I progressed I also make sure the workouts were harder and harder. There weren't too many days I didn't go to bed sore, and very tired, but I needed to be exhausted to even sleep or the pain in my back would keep me up. I found that out a few times I took the day off from working out competely, I was luckly to get 2 hours worth of sleep, because of the pain, but if I exhausted myself, my mind seem to tone it out enough that the pain didn't wake me up.
And yes I did those workouts on very tough pain killers, which is a big no no, but as much pain as I was in, the pain killers never ever took it all away, so I learned to tell the difference between my normal pain and workout pain. At first that was really tough to do but then I got the hang of it. And never had a single pulled muscle or ever over did it, during that time.
As for getting stepped on and pushed around I had a guy do that to me yesterday. I was walking on the side walk into a store, and I don't walk slow especally when it's freezing out. And he decided to try and run around me, and nearly knocked me down. But it seems like I'm always some type of moving target. Even older people will run their shopping cart right on top of my foot, unless I got something big and heavy in my arms. I'm not sure if people see that I'm small and think they can get around and don't realize how big they really are or what. But then again I live in the state that people have the absoultely the worst attitude. When I live in LA, people were a lot happier and a lot more considerate. Even New York people are in general a lot nicer and friendly then they are here. It's really strange, I'm kind of thinking of moving just in case it's in the water or something. I don't want to be like that.
Kit
