Category Archives: injury

Herniated disk – Round 2

Sigh.  In 2009, I herniated a disk in my lumbar spine.  In 2013, I now have herniated a disk in my thoracic spine.  Last week, my mid back felt a little sore, like I tweaked a muscle. I took some ibuprofen and that was about it.  It seemed to get better and then yesterday (Thursday) morning, it felt like I tweaked it again. I went upstairs and rode the bike trainer and as I was riding, I noticed my back was hurting more.  Then for the rest of the day it got steadily worse with spasms and grabbing pain. You know that sudden grab that locks up your core and makes you gasp?  That kind of pain.  And if you have never experienced that – I hope you never do. It’s awful.

I took some Aleve and a muscle relaxer last night.  Boy howdy did the relaxer knock me out.  Totally knocked me out.  We started to watch the football game last night and I don’t think I made it through 2 possessions and I was falling asleep. Went up to bed and slept for 9.5 hours. Can you believe that?

I started out okay in the morning, but then the grabbing spasms started happening again. I couldn’t even lift up a gallon of milk without triggering them.  I was pretty miserable and it just kept getting worse.  I was trying to take a shower and kept saying “ow” among other things.  I was almost in tears, too. John must have heard me because he came up to ask me if I was okay.  I am glad he came in because I had trouble getting out of the shower and then the pain got so bad I was lightheaded and felt like I was going to pass out.  I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I was very pale. Kind of scary.

John called the doctor and got me an appointment to go in. I am so glad they had an opening because I didn’t want to go to the urgent care.  I have a herniated disk at T11/12 this time.

spine

source

So, conservative treatment now of pain meds, antiinflammatories,  muscle relaxers, gentle exercise and stretching to start.  I have a script for PT, which I will fill (or not since it isn’t covered by my insurance) if I don’t start feeling better in a week.

I have my Norco now and as of the writing of this entry, the pain is down to a dull roar and the grabbing spasms are rare.  That is enough for me right now so that I don’t have to be paranoid about every move I make.  The Norco is making me a little lightheaded and kind of groggy, but reducing the pain is such a f***ing relief that I will put up with that.

As I said on Facebook, I am just thankful this wasn’t lower down and giving me the sciatic pain on top of this pain. Need to be thankful for the small things.  I will need to be chauffeured around this weekend since I will be doped up. Good excuse to get extra pampering, right?

Throwback Thursday

I was going through some old blog posts after Cammy did a bit of history review and realize that 3 years ago was when I herniated the disk in my back.  I can’t believe it has been so long. It’s weird to think that morning I had no idea I was going to have an injury that I would still be affected by 3 years later.

owie

That still was the worst pain (I honestly will say it was agony) that I have ever experienced in my life and the recovery was really slow.  To this day, I still have some nerve damage, which has given me muscle weakness in my left leg and residual numbness along my knee.  Not to mention the twingey back.  🙄

Things that changed because of that?

I no longer run.  I did get back into running for a while, but then it just didn’t feel good anymore.  My back didn’t feel good and my thigh felt bad during and the next day after anything more than 1/2 a mile of running.  I kept trying to get back into it, but it just wasn’t happening.

I don’t feel invincible anymore.  Just because you are strong and fit doesn’t mean stuff can’t happen to you.  I am very aware of positions that put my back in jeopardy , such as twisting around in my seat when backing the car out of the driveway.

I had to learn to let myself be dependent on John.  I am normally Ms. Super Duper Independent, I can take care of myself thankyouverymuch.  However, I could barely walk and needed John to help me out a lot for a while.  He took very good care of me, too.

I now have a new PCP.  My doctor at that time really dropped the ball on my care by misdiagnosing it first as a pulled muscle and then basically giving me nothing but muscle relaxants and pain killers, which were doing hardly anything for the pain.  I took my rehab into my own hands.

You just never know what can happen.  I am lucky I didn’t need surgery – or maybe I did and will never know that, either.

I had to laugh at that picture because my hair is almost exactly the same length as it is now.  I keep cutting my hair and growing it out.   😆  Some things never change.

Ace wraps and braces

Glad Friday is here!  I made it through the first of 2 busy weeks fairly unscathed.  Thank you planning!  I was ready to hit the gym this morning.  I decided on 2 lifting workouts this week, so today was day #2.  I did a heavy lifting rotation.

 

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Squats 1 sets of 10 with 65# bar1 set of 8 with 70# bar1 set of 6 with 75# bar

1 set of 4 with 80# bar

 Lower Body
Alternating Lat Row 3 sets of 10 with 20# DBs (40# total) Back
Barbell Chest Press 1 sets of 10 with 55# bar2 sets of 10 with 60# bar Chest
Decline Situps 3 sets of 10 Core
Stiff-legged Deadlift 3 sets of 10 with 65# bar Lower body/Hamstrings
Triceps Pull Down 3 sets of 12 at 30# Triceps
YTWL 3 sets of 4 each letter with 8# DBs (16# total) Shoulders
Lower Back Extension 3 sets of 10 at 80# Low back

I felt sooooo awesome doing this!  I actually pumped my fist in the air and said “Yes!” after doing my squats.  No one else was near by, thank goodness  :mrgreen:

Then I walked on the treadmill. I have to say now that I have had foot pain for a couple of days now when walking. It came on suddenly and hasn’t gotten better.

Lifting is no problem because the moves I do don’t stress the front part of my foot.  Wednesday night, I was sitting in my chair with my feet crossed and I pushed back with my heels – pressing on the left foot with my right – to sit further back and gotten a sudden pain on the top of  my foot.  It persisted and I walked yesterday (oops) and it still hurt. Then when I walked on the treadmill today it really hurt and I began to think that I might have broken it because it was point tender on the top of my foot.   I am 43 and have never broken a bone in my whole life.  I didn’t want to end that streak.

And to be totally honest, I have also been having wrist issues on my right. It’s is very painful with pushing and pulling maneuvers. Sigh. My body just has not been normal in a year and a half.  It’s rather annoying.

I came back home to have breakfast.  Grain free day again today.  I made the 1-minute muffin with the apple cranberry topping.  You all know the drill.

I then began calling places to have my foot looked at.  We do not have health insurance, so I wanted to go straight to an orthopod to avoid the cost of seeing my primary doctor (whom I don’t like) and getting referred to another.  Well, none of them were in the office today with the holiday unless I wanted to drive 15 miles (not).  So, I called my primary and there were no openings there either.  Ugh.  I decided to go to Urgent Care because I just wasn’t sure what was up.  I figured I would have them look at my wrist, too.

So, after lunch I headed out.

Long wait.  Long, long wait.  I finally made it into an exam room, where I waited some more.

Then the PA came in and did her thing, then sent me down for x-rays of my foot.  More waiting.  They could at least provide snacks or something when you have to wait for a couple hours…

Good news!  No fractures!  I, however,  have a midfoot sprain.  Bad news is that I have to rest it.  A lot.  Like 10 days.  I am not really limping from it, but I do walk a bit funny, so no need for crutches.  I have an Ace wrap.

Too bad none of my shoes fit now.  I had to tape my sandal onto my foot. John offered me his shoe to try on, but I decided that I didn’t want to look like I was enrolled in clown college.

So much for my goal of walking 3 miles 5 times a week during November.  John doesn’t think I can rest that long.  I have my doubts on that as well.

Now my wrist has radial styloid tenosynovitis.  Or in other words – overuse.  It is the motions of gripping the handlebars on my bike for many hours that aggravated it in the first place and doing things like pushups and turning locks and door handles makes it worse.  Anything that flexes the wrist basically (thank goodness not typing).

So, I also need to rest that and not do the motions that cause the pain.  This one I have a problem with because I do want to bike this weekend with the nice weather (if my foot can take it).  Bike season will be over soon and I will be able to rest it more completely.

Funny how I type about these type of conditions all the time and now it is me that has them.

After several hours at the urgent care center, I stopped for a latte because I was so hungry!!!! and picked up my new wrist brace.

Welcome to Team Radiance wrist brace.   🙄  At least it is a flexi brace so that I can type.

Now I feel like a complete mess.

I did win the football picks this week and with being so busy all week, tonight was our first free night to have dinner out!  I decided to go back to The Tavern (where we went last week).  Only I got something I haven’t had in forever:

Chicken wings! (Hot, please).  Grain free, since they aren’t breaded!  Not fat free LOL.  Note I had veggies on the side, plus some sweet potato fries.   :mrgreen:

 

I really wanted some comfort food of grains, but chicken wings will do.   I used to eat these all.the.time.

Now for an evening at home with my foot up and catching up on some work that I wasn’t able to do while at the urgent care center.  I have no idea how much this visit will cost me.  I will have to await the bill.   😯

 

Here’s hoping that trialing my bike tomorrow won’t hurt my foot.

So why run at all?

I cannot believe it is Thursday already.  Gorgeous day on tap around here as well.  I took a rest day for the most part today.  I have put 200 miles on my bike since June 1st.  It’s making lifting hard to do.

Breakfast was a cooler weather classic – pumpkin cream of wheat!

Mornings in the 50s will make you want the warm stuff.  This was topped with some honey and toasted pecans.  Tasty!

So busy with work.  I think they are close to losing my primary account because it has been so behind.  I really hope not as I love this account and would have to be placed on another one – and who knows if I could be as productive.  I can only do as much as I can and hope some other people step up to the plate like they have been asking.  It does make it a little stressful.

That did make the morning go fast and I had a porch lunch and talked with John for the first time of the day (I was already working when he got up).

Don’t you love these outdoor lunches?  I would eat dinner out here, except the sun is blazing on the porch at that time of day thanks to the city cutting down our big tree when they redid the road.

So, I thought I would talk a little more about running.  I keep going back and forth as to whether I should continue to pursue it or not.  Unless you are a new reader, you know that my back has caused leg problems for running.  For a while, I thought I could run again and kind of had my mojo back, but then the pain became worse.  So I stopped.

For me, running was something that was a *huge* obstacle for me.  It was that one thing I could never do as an overweight child/adult and running always symbolized fitness and health.  I thought if I could conquer that giant mountain it would kind of close that old “fat book” so to speak.  So I trained.  And I started running 5K races.  And I began running some longer distances (the longest being 8 miles). I did a triathlon and duathlon.  I was running!  I could run!

Then I herniated the disk in my back and just being able to walk without pain again was enough let alone running.  I never was quite the same again after that.

It is almost like admitting defeat to not run.  Like I am less of an athlete.  Like I have let something get the best of me – which is probably the worst part of it.  That I am somehow taking the easy way out by not pushing through and doing it anyway.  I know that isn’t true.  I know that pushing through pain and doing something despite injury is not what you are supposed to do, and yet the thought is there.

Not sure if any of that makes sense or not.  It is so very hard to close a book on something permanently.

Let’s move on to less serious stuff, shall we?  Like latte time!  This is an iced almond milk latte with some chocolate chips.

Pixie is snoring away in the background there.

I had a real craving for pizza for dinner, but John suggested a froyo ride, which also sounded good to me on a hot day!  So, I just did my old go-to dinner of an omelet.

Broccoli outside of it tonight, feta cheese tucked inside.

It was a very nice night for a ride.

I snuck John into my yogurt picture 😈  My yogurt was honey almond flavor.  No topping tonight since it wasn’t a long ride and I had the chocolate earlier in the day.  One of the things I have to take in account when I am in weight loss mode.

And guess what?  No flat tire!  Yay!  We have to buy new tubes before our next long ride.  We have bought 5 tubes and gone through them all!  I am shopping for a new tire as well, but that might have to wait for next paycheck.

So much for a real rest day, but it was only 12 miles and we weren’t biking too fast.  Guess that is 212 miles this month so far 😀

My injuriversary

Ah memories.  One year ago today I herniated the disk in my back.

The worst injury I have ever suffered.  I was on crutches for the first time in my life.

The really annoying part?  I didn’t do anything out of the norm to cause it.  I basically turned to look behind me while I was propping up a bench with my hands in front of me.  That was all it took.  (point learned – always, always, always bring your arms in the direction your are turning your body).

It was kind of odd, because the injury hurt at first, but didn’t feel bad for a couple hours.  Then by the end of the day I could barely move and was crying from the intensity of the pain that went in the distribution of that red line in the photo above.  I didn’t come downstairs for 2 full days.

What I didn’t realize that day was exactly what it was.  At first, we thought it was a pulled muscle and that was the first diagnosis by the doctor, but then as the pain progressed and I began to get sciatica symptoms (aka agony), it was then found out to be a herniated disk.  I ended up with quadriceps atrophy and my left thigh shrank to a full inch smaller than my right thigh – and I could not stop it from happening!  The problem with nerve injuries is that you can physically move the limb around, but without the firing of the nerves themselves, the muscle fibers really aren’t active and will shrink from lack of use.

I panicked a little bit at the thought of gaining weight, but that did not happen.  I actually lost a little weight during the first part of being injured. Interesting, eh?

It was a long recovery, and honestly I never quite got back to normal. That was something I was afraid of and it actually happened.  I think I recovered very well, though.  The key was trying to move as much as I could as soon as I could rather than sitting around. I went back to gentle lifting after 2 weeks.  The only exercises I couldn’t do were squats, anything that was a split leg move, and anything that required bodyweight support like planks and pushups.  So I modified.

I could barely walk, but I was able to get back on the bike in a few weeks, albeit slower than before.  Running took months before it began to feel more normal, but I never got my pre-injury speed back.  I also began feeling more pain again with running since January or so and have since stopped running as of March.

What am I left with a year later? I get an achy back sometimes, especially after running, walking for a long time, or really long periods of biking.  The skin over the inside of my knee and a little of my calf is numb/alternating with hypersensitivity.  (yeah – that is fun and weird).  My left leg is also just a bit weaker than the right, which I notice when doing single-leg exercises.

Something I am also left with?  Fear of another injury.  Having never really had something like this happen before, I didn’t understand chronic pain or lengthy recuperation.  Now I do – and I know how easy it is for something like that to happen.  I am so careful now about how I turn and move with my back, like reaching into the back seat of the car or looking behind me.

I am just very thankful I can bike as much as I want.  I am not sure if running is out of my life completely, but it is on hiatus for now.  I am pretty okay with that as long as I can bike.

Speaking of biking – guess who had their bikes outside today!!!

It was in the 50s this afternoon, so we headed out for a coffee break!

The happy bikers:

Big smile!

A nice 12.5 mile ride.  It was on the roads because the path was mushy and had some icy spots, but a ride nevertheless!  Yippee!!

Thanks and a little more running

Happy Memorial Day!  A big thank you to all who have served and our going to serve our great country.

I have to work today (not complaining, though, seriously), but it still feels kind of like a holiday, you know?  My gym is closed today, so no strength workout.  That means brekkie a little sooner 😀

After letting breakfast settle, John and I went to the track for a run.  Feeling optimistic here:

I figured I would let my leg be the judge.  For the first mile, I was concerned about even doing 1.5 miles.  My left leg is fatigued.  But, I kept going.  It was strangely smoky out, too.  I think someone was burning brush.  I thought that was slowing John down, because he only passed me a couple times.  It never dawned on me that I might actually be going faster than I did the other day (duh).

After 10 laps, I was actually running okay still, although my leg was tired.  I talked to my body.  Heart said “Doing fine, this is slower than normal cardio anyway”.  Right leg said, “Doing fine, as long as you don’t ask me to carry the load of the left leg.”  Left leg said “Geez, Lori, I am pretty tired, but I will give it my best shot.”  So, I kept going for the final 2 laps.  My gait was starting to look a little funny by the end and I pep talked my way through the last lap with “Come on leg, you can do it!” “Just a little more.” “Don’t give up!”  John said he heard something, but didn’t know what I was saying.  Probably a good thing.

Anyway – I did 3 miles!  In 34:45.  That’s only about 5 minutes off my normal pace, so I couldn’t be more pleased.  I am almost back.  Or like John says, I am in the general vicinity.

Post workout drink:

Got to work and it was busy, surprisingly.  I kind of had that mental expectation that it would be a slow holiday and got a shocker.  Oops!  Does that ever happen to you?

Lunch break!

John made these wheat rolls for the picnic on Saturday and they are perfect for a little egg salad sammie.

And fresh blueberries at a good price.  It’s about picking season!  I can’t wait to get the first 4 pound bucket of blueberries again so I can be in an antioxidant coma with blue teeth soon…..

One thing about living on the main road in town, we don’t have to drive anywhere to see the Memorial Day parade as it comes right in front of our house!  It’s kind of nice. This is the view from our porch:

A bazillion emergency vehicles, which they love to do around here:

And then the little league teams that throw candy:

Very short parade (small town), but cute.  John made lattes when it was over:

and I had a bar:

Regarding what I was saying yesterday, 105 is *not* my goal weight.  I just wanted to clear that up.  That was what I was told it should be when I had lost weight in my 20s.  I was so bummed that I still had 45 pounds to go (when I actually looked pretty good), that it seemed insurmountable.  So I gained more :D.  Now my goal is actually 135, which is quite a bit more reasonable, and truthfully, there really is no reason I shouldn’t shoot for it at 5’2″.  That way I can keep my muscles and my curves (and my food).

Dinner time!  John threw a couple of ears of corn on the grill in the husks.  So good.  I love grilled corn.  It adds a little extra sumthin sumthin to it.

This is how Pixie spent the holiday:

She just barely opened her eye as if to warn me not to disturb her LOL!

Evening snack:

Plus we are going out for a coffee.  😀  I am paying the piper for the run earlier (this is my new favorite saying).  I have no strength in my leg left because I used it all up.  Oooops.  Guess tomorrow will be an easier day.  I’ll recap May and set new June goals tomorrow.

Question:  How did you spend Memorial Day?

Bagels and longer injury update.

Thanks for the congrats on 60-mile ride yesterday!  We do take a lot of breaks, so it isn’t like we plow through our long rides all at once, as it is for enjoyment and not a race.  John also thoughtfully pointed out that it wasn’t quite a metric century, since that was about 62.5 miles.  Whatever…

My legs feel pretty good today, just a wee bit tired, so we decided on a rest day and did not bike to breakfast.  Panera Bread bound, though!  It is Sunday after all (aka bagel day).

Blueberry.  And lots of coffee.  I have been drinking water like crazy.  Ins and outs did not match yesterday and I think I woke up dehydrated.

I have mentioned bits about the injury progress as it goes, but I thought I would give you all a more detailed progress report on what has been going on.  If you are tired of reading about it, skip the next few paragraphs. :mrgreen:  For those that are new (or just missed it), I herniated a disk in my back about 6-1/2 weeks ago, which presses on my sciatic nerve.  This caused sciatica symptoms (aka agony) and put me flat out for a few days and slow progress after that.  I keep writing about the problems with my leg, but as John likes to point out, my leg actually is not injured, it is the sciatic nerve pain from the disk pressure and it just seems like it is in my leg.  Again, whatever… 🙄  It created a deep pain in my thigh and knee, plus a burning sensation at times (underneath the numbness).  Lots of fun!  This was chronic for weeks, too.  Chronic pain sucks.

Interestingly, the disk itself cannot feel pain, so my back actually felt much better after a few days, but the sciatica was the problem.  I also had numbness in my knee and into my calf.  This numbness is still present today along with accompanying weakness.  I have also made a rather alarming discovery that my thighs are now 2 different sizes.  My right thigh is a full inch bigger around than my left.  I noticed that my pants felt kind of odd with several different pairs, so I measured and found that out. You can actually see the difference, too.  Probably some atrophy of the left leg and over compensation on the right.  The problem is that the nerve compression just won’t let the muscles fire in my left leg, no matter what I do, so they are weakening.  You can’t force that either, although it is coming back slowly.  It is going to take time, if the feeling even actually completely comes back all the way, which could be a possibility.  Obviously I can bike, but the main reason for that is that both legs work together.  When walking or running, there are points of time where the body is supported by one leg at a time, and that is why running and walking have been slow to return for me and still causes some pain.

So, that is where I am at currently.  I would say 95% back at this point both physically and mentally.  It seems like this injury has consumed so much of my thoughts and feelings for the last month and a half.  If I don’t have sensation back in my knee/calf after 8 weeks, then it is time for further evaluation.  So, I have had to re-evalute my race season this year and just take it week by week.

Anyway, back to the eats!  Blackberries were on sale, so I had some with lunch with my egg sandwich.  Also restocked with hot sauce, I might add 😀

Alas, it was back to work for me today. It was quite steady and went by pretty fast.  John spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen making stuff today.  He is turning into quite the chef!

Dinner time was a quick stir fry using this sauce:

4 ingredient stir fry:  Frozen broccoli florets, shrimp, coconut oil, and stir fry sauce.  How easy is that?  Not to mention tasty!

After dinner, we took a stroll to keep the legs loose.  It was quite warm today, too.  80 degrees.

One of the things John made today was a Queen Elizabeth cake as a test to see if I wanted this for my birthday in a couple weeks.  He made a half batch of it in a loaf pan to test:

It was really, really good.  Not sure if it is birthday cake material, so I have to think about that.

I also need to stay out of the rest of this.  I am challenging myself through at least Thursday to eat really clean (or the cleanest I tend to eat at any rate).  I am going to try to have as little sugar as possible other than fruit sugar.  That means no fluff, no honey, no chocolate syrup on lattes.  I will allow myself protein powder, as I need that prior to work outs.  Also, really limited bread, as in no bread or wraps or crackers.  It’s been a long time since I have done something like this, so it should be fun!

Question:  Are you challenging yourself to anything this week?

Golden Corral throwdown and return to running

** Non US residents are now able to enter the gummy vitamin giveaway!**

Hey!  I decided to let myself sleep until 7 am this morning.  And let me tell you, my upper body is s.o.r.e. from yesterday’s workout!  It think it was the incline hammer curls that really did it.  My upper body has not felt this sore in months!  (Yay, though, it’s a good sore).

I needed some good protein repair for brekkie, so that means the protein waffles!

That white blob on there?  I made some homemade fluff.  It was easy and not something I really need to know how to make, know what I mean?

Got to work straight away so I could finish up early as today is my dad’s birthday (happy b-day poppa!) and we were going out to dinner.

Lunch time was a chicken sandwich for more protein.  This was made with BBQ sauce (from my Open Sky shop) and Laughing Cow.

This was a really good sammie!  Plus a delicious red pear.  Lots of fruit eating today.

Nibbles with the latte.

I finished up work early and decided to try my hand (feet) at running again.  I walked down to the track.  I almost chickened out.  I went one lap around walking, then I jogged the 2nd lap.  It felt really weird and lop-sided.  Kind of like Quasimodo, although John said I just looked slow and a little hunched forward (thanks…).

My inner eye was turned so far inwards to assess myself that diamonds could have been dropping out of the sky and I wouldn’t have noticed! I was concentrating really hard because running with a weak leg certainly feels odd.  I kept waiting for it to give out.  It only did that a little bit once, but I just had to hop skip to catch it.  So, I alternated walking a lap and running a lap 4 times.  That meant I ran a total of 1 mile today!  Long way to go, but I now have a starting point to work with.  I am shooting to run a 5K race in 3 weeks if all progresses okay.  John is hoping for a PR at that race.  Today he did 5K in 26:33 – he is Speedy Gonzalez!

So – out to dinner at Golden Corral.  How many of you have been there?  If you haven’t, it’s a huge buffet like Ponderosa or Stuckey’s and the like.  We haven’t been there in a few years.  Not really the best place to try to eat sensibly (although you can).  I still can have real issues with buffet eating.  That was where my dad wanted to eat, so off we went!

I channeled my inner Rosie and walked through the doors.


My plan was to allow myself all the veggies and fruit I wanted, some lean protein and 1 dessert item.  No rolls/bread and no junk lettuce.  This was round one:

That’s clam chowder, about 160 calories for that bowl according to the website.  The brussel sprouts were lame.  I was excited to see them, but I think they were frozen because they were mushy, so I didn’t eat them.  Not like my good roasted ones!  1 piece of fried okra just to see what it was like.  M’eh.

The fruit plate along side:

Then I went for more fruit and veggies:

That was one limp asparagus stalk.  Ick!  I was glad to see some nice options here.  I almost got some fish, but I should quit kidding myself that I am going to like it.  I wish there was some shrimp or some other kind of seafood protein on the buffet.  No other corporate meat allowed, so I was lean on protein tonight.

Happy birthday to dad!

He actually winked for this picture, but I just missed it and he looks annoyed 😀

My dessert:

I am extremely pleased at how I ate.  I stuck to my plan for a change!  I did eat more than normal, but it was all pretty good stuff.

Golden Corral:  0

Lori: 1

Question:  How do you handle buffets?

Clean eats and no running.

Okay, I promised myself that I would eat much cleaner today, so here goes!

I woke up not too early this morning.  For the last couple days, I have been able to sleep on my stomach again!  For whatever reason, my herniated disk made it very painful to try sleep any way but on my back, which is my least favorite sleeping position.  So, that hasn’t meant the greatest of sleep for the past month.  The last couple of nights I have been able to be on my stomach, although not with a bent leg yet.  Funny how little things like that can make me so happy :mrgreen:

I needed some good super foods for brekkie, so that meant protein waffles!  I added some extra oat fiber to them, too.

Then hit the ground running with work.  Since I actually ate early – I was hungry for a morning snack, but I told myself it had to be clean!  So I made a mini green smoothie.

1 cup of spinach, 15 g of chocolate protein powder, 1/2 a banana, cinnamon, ice, and water.  It was pretty good, but I think raw spinach may not agree with my tummy.  I get rumbles whenever I have a green smoothie anymore.

Lunch time was a baked crabcake and a pear, which I ate while working.

That actually slows down my eating because I work by typing, so that means I have to put the fork down to work LOL!  The good side to a bad habit.

I filled up all the bird feeders the other day.  So many different birds on this one today from sparrows to gold finches to chickadees and a woodpecker (surprising!).  All day this was going on – but when I sat there with a camera to take a picture, all I get is this.

Had the usual latte for a snack, just as I finished up work for the week (early to boot – woo hoo!).

Plus an Attune.

After finishing this and a little goofing around, I went out for a walk.  Went to the high school track, and John followed to run.  I would say I am probably about 90% healed from the herniated disk at this point, but the last 10% is  the weakness/numbness.  I still am unable to run.  I can kind of shuffle for about 5 yards, but my leg just gives out, so I can’t do it.  Same reason why I can’t do split leg lifting of any type.  Walking is okay, but my thigh feels so tight when I walk.  Not sure why that is – I stretch and foam roll every day.  It’s funny how what seems to be the easiest form of exercise (walking) is the slowest to come back when I can bike pretty well and do most of lifting exercises.  I actually yelled at my leg to wake up last night LOL!

Anyway, I came back and had a nibble before cooking dinner:

I was in the mood for sweet potatoes tonight.  Going with more superfoods on my clean eating day.  I sliced one up, sprayed with nonstick spray and salt and pepper, then popped in the toaster oven on 400 for about 25 minutes.  Golden brown and delicious!

Those are shredded brussel sprouts on the side.  Funny that it looks like cauliflower in there.

I made up my dessert for later.  This is a pseudo protein cheesecake.

  • 32 g of fat free ricotta
  • 15 grams of strawberry protein powder (soy)
  • enough water to make it creamy
  • 2 chopped strawberries
  • cinnamon

This is chilling in the fridge now for during the movie.  About 100 calories and 14 grams of protein!

I think I will make it eating clean today!  I am reminding John not to let me snack other than this pseudo cheesecake.

Question:  What is your favorite sleeping position?

More lifting progress.

Boy howdy it was hot last night!  We didn’t think to put in the window AC unit and it was 85 yesterday, which meant the bedroom was stifling hot.  Ugh.  So, not the best night’s sleep.  Humid this morning, too.  After quaffing my protein drink, I headed out to the gym.

15 minutes on the stationary (3 miles).  Then the iron:

  • Deadlift/row combo:  3 sets of 10 with 45# bar
  • Dumbbell squats:  3 sets of 8 with 10# DBs
  • Chin ups:  4 sets of 1
  • Barbell chest press:  3 sets of 10 at 55#
  • Face pulls:  3 sets of 15 with 20#
  • Crunches:  3 sets of 15
  • Hammer curls:  3 sets of 15 with 12# DBs
  • Good mornings:  3 sets of 10 with 30# bar
  • Overhead triceps press:  3 sets of 15 with 10# DBs.

Assessment:  Couple exciting things – I did squats with weights for the first time in about a month.  I do find that I tend to lean to the right because of the weakness in my left leg, so I have to be really careful not to do that or I will end up with a huge right thigh LOL.  I actually tried the 15# dumbbells, but couldn’t quite do it.  I also did full chin ups for the first time in a month.  I lost a wee bit of strength on these, as evidenced by the single sets, but I am pleased that these do not hurt to do now!  Yay!

Even though it was pretty warm and humid this morning, I decided to have oats for breakfast.  When John shopped without me a few weeks ago, he got quick cook oats instead of rolled ones, so this bowl looks funny.  Pumpkin oats topped with nutzzo and the last of the maple cream.

In my new bowl!  I don’t know why clear dishes and cups are so appealing to me, but they are.

I have to tell you, my leg is driving me crazy today.  I am having phantom itching now.  I still have the numb spots on my knee and my inner calf.  Those spots itch now, but when I scratch them, I can’t feel that – so the itch never goes away.  I had this some yesterday, and more today.  Maybe this means the feeling will come back soon.  I have been rubbing my leg, because I can’t tell how hard I am scratching those spots and I don’t want to break the skin.  This is fun – I told John it’s like spinning the sciatica symptom wheel to see what comes up for the day :mrgreen:  It’s always something different.  I do like variety at any rate…..

Lunch time with its lame accompanying photo:

Lunch eaten at the computer  – guilty as charged.  Tuna wrap hidden in there.  We didn’t really buy enough fresh fruit for me this week (we kind of shopped in a hurry yesterday), so I went with applesauce.

Who’s ready for chocolate??

As much fun as I had working Storm yesterday, I am a cat person at heart.

Dinner time.  John cooked up pork and chicken for the week, so I had trouble choosing, but ended up with pork 😀

I love anjou pears.  I decided I don’t like the green pears as much.

Done with work and will be going out to work in the garden a little bit.  Or possibly out for coffee as John got the scooter running for the year, vroom, vroom!

Question:  Do you ever eat at the computer (or somewhere not at the table)?