Keeping It Together While Falling Apart

It's starting to feel more like Autumn. Mornings are chilly but brilliant sunshine warms the day to a pleasant 70F. I like it. Yesterday was the the town's annual Columbus Day parade. Normally we skip this event, but since the Italian American Club asked our Boy Scout Troop to be their flag bearers, and to march at the head of the parade, we had to attend. Between the actual march itself, the walk through the street fair, and the long long walk back to the car, we covered over 5 miles.

In the past this hasn't been an issue. Consider it an urban hike since it was all paved roadway. But my joints aren't young anymore. The back of my left knee started to ache on the walk back to the car. Normally I only feel it on Cardio Day, when I've abused my legs with lots of cross-trainer and elliptical pedaling. I was wearing my Ariart Fat Baby western boots which are immensely comfortable because they have a wide toe box. But the bunion started to get weird and the toes on my left foot started crossing each other rather painfully. I had to slow my gait just to keep moving. Which leaves me with the dilemma of finding a shoe that's "just right". Too wide and unstructured and my toes have a free-for-all. Too tight and the bunion is exacerbated. Ugh. I need "Goldilock shoes"...

I get to the gym late again. I'm actually getting up even earlier than before because the school district has finally hired more bus drivers to provide more buses. My son's new school bus is suppose to arrive 10 minutes earlier than the original overcrowded bus. New bus driver means the bus will be late. Because they don't know the route. Or the stops. It actually arrives about a minute ahead of the original bus. But at least my son has a seat going to school now. And I can stop pestering and complaining to the Transportation Department.

The gym is virtually empty. I'm surprised to still see The Mayor though. Ugh. He's got plates on the Smith machine, but he's so busy talking that I'm not sure he remembers what station he's at. I do my cardio warm up. My right foot goes numb. The bunion, which is the top of the first metatarsal, actually hurts a little. I'd like cushier shoes, please! Ideally, I'd try on shoes until I find perfect ones, but that's nearly impossible since brick-and-mortar stores rarely carry Wide sizes. And online shopping is never really free, especially if items don't fit properly and need to be returned! Brands keep shrinking their sizes too. Ugh.

Pull ups are okay. They've been easier, or I've been stronger. Push ups are easy because I only do 50. There are still plates on the Smith. I do my entire core routine. The Mayor is still gabbing. Ugh. Too late for him. I march over to the Smith and remove the plates, grab a flat bench and set up for benching. The shoulder is still wonky so I'm cautious. Worse, the Smith itself needs servicing. The right side feels as if the tract is off because there's a noise, and a vibration that shouldn't be there. As I add weight, I feel my right bicep complain. Which is weird because Bench Pressing is a Push movement, meaning pectorals, front delts and triceps. Biceps should not be part of the equation. Ugh. I go easy and don't chide myself for only 6 reps at 120 lbs. I can't even get 25 reps at the lower weights either. Double ugh.

Well, at least the knot under my shoulder blade is gone. Yesterday, after I spent a good 10 minutes using my knot killer on the floor, I got my hubs to press the remnants out with his fingers. So the back feels much better today, and I've regained most of my range of motion in my neck. Because a knot under the left shoulder blade tightens shoulder and neck muscles on that side as well!

I stick to weights in amounts I know I can do. These feel okay. Unfortunately, the gym is starting to fill up with HS boys. Ugh. Shoulders and then triceps. I'm done! In the locker room, I often play a game with myself after the weekend, where I try and guess how much my bad eating habits have cost me. Okay, banana nut bread with peach jam, apple ale and pulled pork with sauteed cauliflower. Chinese lotus seed cakes. Liverwurst and Swiss cheese on crackers. British chocolate pudding from the UK Gourmet store. I timidly venture 112 lbs and hope that it's less. The scale tells me 110.8 lbs and I breathe a sigh of relief.

When I exit the locker room, I'm surprised to see The Mayor chatting at the front desk. Because he's wearing street clothes. Like he went home, showered and changed, and then came back to the gym. Weird. His car, a distinctive black Mercedes sedan, isn't where I saw it this morning when I came in (he likes to park in the upper lot, away from all the riff-raff of the shopping plaza). I tend to keep an eye out for people I don't trust. Probably just because I grew up in NYC...

I'm trying to come to grips on having eye surgery as early as next year. My glaucoma doctor tells me that I'm better off taking the risk of blurry vision than losing my sight. That last visual field test, which I knew was going to look bad, has her worried. My pressures are both, remarkably, 14. They've almost never been the same value simultaneously. But 14 isn't good enough. Everyone wants my pressures below 11. Drops aren't enough. I tell my doc I'm extremely resistant to having the bleb surgery, where they cut a flap into the eyeball to drain the fluid. There's a lot of issues with trabeculectomy or sclerostomy, and I'm paranoid enough to think I'll develop complications. She tells me that the newest techniques involve implanting drainage shunts, and have better success rates. But she recommends I have cataract surgery first. What?

Okay, apparently everyone, by the time they're 50 years old, has thickening lenses due to exposure to sunlight's UV rays. I noticed a slight color difference in my eye chart tests where one eye sees a yellow tint instead of the white background. The cataracts are probably why I have trouble seeing in low light, and why my vision is a little blurry upon close reading. My eye doc says that cataracts take up room that she needs to utilize for implanting a glaucoma shunt. Artificial lenses are thinner. And the shunt is made of the same material as the lenses so there should be no issue with rejection or inflammation. So after I manage to wrap my head around this, I'll need to see how much my health insurance will cover. Because it always comes down to that: how much is it going to cost. Sigh.

Monday

35 x-trainer
Calories 166
Miles 4.47
Average Heart Rate 149

HGPU 26
Push Ups 50
Scissors 50
Bicycle 50
Crunches 50
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Superman 3 x 30s

Smith Flat Bench
Bar (30lbs) x 15
80 x 12 right arm
100 x 12 still some rt bicep
120 x 6
110 x 12
90 x 20
80 x 20
Right pulley is grinding

BB Front Raises s/s Upright Rows
20lbs x 15/15reps x 3sets

DB Laterals s/s Rev Incl Flyes
20/25lbs x 12/15reps x 3sets

V-bar press down
20lbs x 12
30 x 12
40 x 12