So How's it Going, You Ask...

Day 4, Thursday, July 9, 2015

Everyone keeps asking me how the exercise is going. I'm going to a class specifically for Parkinson's patients, called The Climb. Let me sum it up.

BLAAAHHHHH!    YUUUUUCCCKKKKK!    OUUUUUCCHHHHH!

To put it in perspective for you, let me share a conversation I had with myself during today's exercise class.

"Ow, ow, ow ... I better not do any more of this exercise because I strained by lower back in class on Tuesday." Stephen said not to do anything that hurts it, and this doesn't feel good.

A few minutes later, "Ouch! I'm getting knots in my neck. I better take a break from this exercise and work out the knots."  I roll my neck back and forth, somewhat dramatically, while everyone else keeps going on the upper arm workout.

Two minutes later:  "Oh, I hate this. This motion is causing my left arm to shake." Okay, I actually looked around the room to see if anyone saw my arm shaking.

It was in that moment that I realized I was surrounded by about 15 Parkinson's patients:  2 women, both older than me, along with about 12 men, all probably in their late 70's, 3 of whom arrived on walkers. And every one of them was doing all the exercises ,,,,, and shaking.

And, the worst realization was that I had no excuse not to participate in all aspects of the class. I further realized I was being a baby. Discomfort is apparently what it's all about when exercising. You know--feel the burn, and all that baloney.

So, that's how it's going. It makes me feel crummy while I'm doing it, I dread going, it makes my tremor worse, and it makes me aware of how weak my muscles really are. Plus, I have to face ugly things about myself.

But I'm going. I'm doing it, so don't give me a hard time!  My first day off was Monday, and I went to class on Tuesday, and again today (Thursday), and will go again on Saturday. When I go back to work, I'd like to see if I can get off work every Tuesday at 3:00 so I can make the 4:00 class. I should also be able to make the Saturday class 3 out of 4 weekends.

I do have one positive thing to say about exercise:  I generally have more energy when I finish. Today I had so much energy that I tried to do too much, and wore myself out. After The Climb, I went to the grocery, then came home, put away groceries, made supper, and cleaned it up. I was worn out after all that! But, again, I'll say it:  I WENT! The doctor wanted me to go 4 days a week, but I'm at least getting 3 days in -- that's improvement, right?!

It's late and I'm tired, so that's it for tonight. True confession before I go:  I spent too much time trying to create this blog site, and now I don't have any energy to write my post, so this is all you get!