Something great happened this week, and I thought I'd share. It's been 3.5 years since that cab-driver pulled out in front of me, and hasn't it been all rehab all the time. The silver lining of the accident is how much I've learned about my body and musculature. Getting a personal trainer a while back taught me a few things:
1. Core strength matters. Besides standing upright, I could perform almost no lifting/holding/supporting activity when I started strength training (a shocker). I couldn't even perform a hop on my left leg- but it was 2 years before I realized that.
2. Everything's connected, and everything's correcting. So my body has adapted around the injury, but the evolving adaptation itself pulls things out of proper alignment. So stretching and maintenance continue to be important.
3. Without proper form and technique in the exercise regimen, you can really hurt yourself. (!!)
Since Scott at Goodlife started teaching the gym twerp some things, I've read the magazines, books from the library, and now I have a small library of strength training books at home.
In the beginning, I couldn't:
- perform a squat
- lift a barbell off the ground
- attempt a deadlift, even without weights
- perform a superman
- make it through hypers
- even think about a good-morning
I can now do all of the above, and all with some weight added. The other day, I finally executed 2 sets of Good Mornings, which was the hardest thing for me, and the last item to fall.
If you don't know- a Good Morning is where you place a weighted barbell across your back, and then you bend forward (maintaining a slight arch in your back, keeping your chest up), and then using your hips and low back, you drive yourself back upright. Repeat.
So this is a huge accomplishment for me, and I was thrilled to learn I could do it. I begin to fantasize about developing my spinal erectors, and actually seeing them in the mirror again!
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The other thing that might make me blog is a semi-weekly update on the plant situation. You may recall previous challenges to keep them watered. But all I have a potted husks at this point, with vague intentions of trying again.
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Well- and there is the Dallas thing... I can write about it now, but don't ask me to talk about it in person- We took her in to see a holistic vet the other week. She has these small little growths- two on her feet, one on her side, and one near her eye. They're all of 3-4 mm wide, and hardly noticeable. But the one near her eye ruptured, and so we took her in. The vet said they're nothing to worry about in a 12 year old Golden. Perfectly fine. Of course we could do a biopsy, but... even if they were cancerous (yes, the C-word), she's too old to be put under a general anasthetic, so we couldn't intervene anyway.
During the check-up, the vet found a very prominent heart arrythmia- which is new. I listened to it with his stethoscope, and my eyes widened with fear- I took in what sounded like shoes banging around in a dryer. Her heart was completely irregular. We also learned that she's got early signs of hip displaysia. This morning, her back-end literally collapsed as she stood in front of her food dish.
I was really upset at first (yes, of course there were waterworks), but on our second visit her heart was regular again. So we are in monitoring mode, which is much better than fear and panic mode. Now in our braver moments, we call her "Gimpy" and "bum-ticker," and try to laugh. But we no longer urge her to try to jog or to go up stairs faster than she wants. It's devastating though- even knowing all along that she's not going to live forever.
She's declining yes. And quicker this year than before- but she's had a helluva run, and you'd never know to see her romping in the ocean at the dog-beach, or chasing balls in the school-yard that there's anything wrong. That's my big girl, Dallas.
