My doctor is trying to kill me! Okay, he’s not really trying to kill me — just almost kill me. Under the notion that ‘whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.’ He guarantees that within 3 months, I will return to clinic saying, “You are the best doctor ever!” To which he will humbly reply, “What? You did all the work!” 🙂 LOL! He’s hilarious. I enjoy our meetings.

So, since (for insurance reasons — apparently I am in that in-between of sick, but not with the correct diagnoses; i.e. I need to actually have a heart attack first) PT, Pulmonary Rehab and Cardiac Rehab have all rejected me, he’s going to start me on my own training program.

Sounds simple, right?

Ha!

My exercise tolerance is about nil. Which is what he’s looking to strengthen.

He got all excited when he heard that I had an elliptical trainer in my house. This is to be the instrument of my torture. Little does he know that my house … doesn’t have central air. Someone, please, set up a collection for this! 🙂

Four times a week, starting at 5 minutes per day. Increase by 5 minutes every week until we get to 30 minutes a day, four times a week.

Easy, yes? Are you laughing at me yet? What a wimp!

But I’m game. Nothing like the present. Maybe I’ll have a good day, even though I was so exhausted after my appointment that by 3 pm I just drove home and immediately took a nap.

So, I put on my iPod and got a nice running song and started. Ah, “Rhythm is a Dancer” by Snap. Brings back memories of high school. 🙂

30 seconds in: Yep. This is not easy, when you have a neuromuscular disorder.

1 minute: Muscles are starting to burn. So glad that I took anatomy, since now I can name them. 🙂 The first one to go was the left rectus femoris. Then the gastrocnemius.

But I can work through the pain, right? I’m tougher than that. I used to roller blade for 4 hours straight on feet 90% covered in blisters. What’s this?

5 minutes: done! Yes! I had turned on the AC in the bedroom before I started, and am sitting right up against it, with cold air blowing on my neck. Ahh. Now, the question is, do I bother getting up and making dinner, or do I just go to bed for the night? 🙂