Living ~400lbs

Category: my knee h8s me

  • …and believe me I am still alive

    Still here, still working, still good.  Still seeing incremental improvements to my knee.  Just not updating much :) I have been using a cane.  This is both good and bad.  Good in that the cane helps my balance when my knee decides to not support me.  Bad in that it always takes a hand.  You…

  • Feeling Better

    I caught up on sleep over the weekend.  This is good thing, since I turn into a bear of very little patience when I don’t have enough.  ;) I also realized yesterday that I’ve gone days without taking ibuprofen for my leg.  I passed “Not hurting all the time” a little over a week ago…

  • Thankful Thursday

    (Yes, starting these weekly exercises in gratitude again — just under the wire :) 1) I took a Vacation.  My first full week off in over a year.   Even though I’m still limping.  Woohoo! 2) I’m adjusting to using a cane as needed, and discovering I don’t get more looks than usual with it. 3) …already…

  • Thankful Thursday

    [Another weekly exercise in gratitude.] 1) My knee may not be getting much better but it’s not worse. 2) Being able to structure my day around resting, icing, and exercising my knee. 3) Ibuprofen, Doan’s, heating pads, and other such modern wonders. 4) The man of the house, for being patient with my whining. 5) This summary…

  • On the Hamster Wheel

    One of the frequent refrains in the discussion of Angry Gray Rainbow’s “I Hate Exercise” post was the dislike of exercise bikes, treadmills, and other “hamster-wheel exercise-for-the-sake-of-exercising”.   I grinned when I saw it, because yes, I’d rather walk to someplace than walk in place or around the block. But, then, there’s today.  Today my…

  • So how was your weekend?

    Continuing from last week, my left thigh and knee are very sore today. Saturday I went to the soccer game and found that walking a 1/2 mile or so, generally, wasn’t a problem — as long as I kept a regular stride and speed, and stayed on mostly level sidewalks.  (Which is much easier on…

  • Fun: Two Lumps: Fat & Furry

    The left leg (which has traditionally been the “good” leg) has decided to give me pain and occasionally not want to work.  I’m not thrilled with this.  I am exercising carefully and taking ibuprofen and trying to not freak out. In the interest of not freaking out, I’m reading They Still Suspect Nothing: Two Lumps Year…

  • Thankful Thursday

    [Another weekly exercise in gratitude.] It’s Thursday and I’m thankful for: 1) Over 300 responses to yesterday’s poll and some great discussion in the comments.  Wow! 2) Ibuprofen, because I slacked off on walking for a week and strength training for mumble and both knees hurt. 3) But, despite slacking off I can and did walk a…

  • What’s Enough Exercise?

    This started as a conversation over at Spoonforkfuls’ blog. living400lbs Says: […] One of my recurring issues with injuries is finding the line between working out too much and not working out enough…. spoonfork38 Says: Yeah, it’s that definition of ‘enough’ that gets me almost every time. I mean, enough for what, exactly? living400lbs Says: In…

  • Small Pleasures

    Tuesday I got tired of feeling stiff each time I got up from my desk.  I started an experiement: even if I’m just getting up to get coffee/tea or go to the bathroom, I “take the long way”.  I walk through more of the office than strictly necessary, then downstairs a flight and back up.…

  • Thankful Thursday

    [A weekly little exercise in gratitude.] 1) I haven’t had a romantic partner try dropping “hints” about my weight.  Part of it is that I’ve had enough of a chip on my shoulder to say, “I know I’m fat.  I’m not trying to make my weight go up or down. If that’s a problem for…

  • Thankful Thursday

    1) Back at the gym with its many different sorts of weight and cardio machines … 2) … and my knees are NOT hating me.  :) 3) Not getting embarrassed when I start sweating and breathing hard before my workout partner (who’s on the next treadmill over).  4) A good weekend away from work.  …

  • Thankful Thursday

    [Another weekly exercise in gratitude.] 1) Started doing full squats again* – not very many, and not using any extra weights, but even so, I am pleased with this progress.  ;) 2) Finished a big rollout at work, which has seriously reduced my stress.  3) Three-day weekend coming up. 4) The insurance company finally approved…

  • Fun with Breathing

        Manufacturer’s pic of my CPAP mask Sunday night (and Monday morning) I kept waking up due to my CPAP mask blowing a stream of cold air on my lip.   I thought it was perhaps an inadequate seal between the rubbery “nasal pillows” and my nostrils, but futzed around and eventually got back to…

  • Knee Rehab: Feeling Good :)

    Well, not completely.  I am a bit amused that I can work up to a brisk, steady clip on the treadmill in my office building’s mini-gym with no limp, then limp as I’m walking to my office.  I think it’s partly that I am usually walking a bit slower when I’m off the treadmill…and that the…

  • Thankful Thursday

    My knee doesn’t really hate me anymore.  It’s just occasionally crotchety.  New shirt from Ulla Popken arrived and fits nicely.  Sunny days lasting til 7pm seems to be counteracting my SAD a bit. Taking time to stretch.  A weekend with nothing scheduled and nowhere I had to be.  :) 

  • Walking review: Burke Museum

    Since the knee has been bothering me lately, I’ve been making more of an effort to go for walks.  The University of Washington’s Burke Museum, which focuses on natural history and culture, has a special exhibit on … Coffee.  In Seattle.  Of course.   Cynicism aside, it was an interesting overview of the history of…