May 30: In Stow at Judy’s for my rehab.
May 29: Managed to stave off boredom today by going into University Hts in Clev in mid morning with my sister and Mike where she’s taking these Pilates Teacher classes. Plan was for me to go to a coffee shop and Mike to walk the dogs while Kim takes the class, then we all head to downtown Clev to the Chinatown district where we’d go to this wonderful, huge Asian Grocery store.
Got to University Hts by 11 AM, and I worked on my computer in a coffee shop for a couple hrs. Then we drove to the grocery which is somewhere off of Chester Ave. I just love these places, and as I’m shopping a gazillion recipes are going through my head. Right now my big goal is to replace many of the sauces I currently have with low sodium versions. So today my aim was low sodium Oyster sauce. Found that plus a few other items to restock my Asian sauces pantry.
Got back to Judy’s and I was just right back in the “dead zone” again. I mean all I wanted to do was to just lay down and rest. Just felt spent - from my strenuous day of grocery shopping! Yup this open heart surgery stuff is indeed serious business, and I still find it amazing how low I’m going to have to sink to before the long and arduous journey back to my prior fitness level - hopefully a better fitness level. Snoozed on and off for about 3 hrs as Judy watched some movies on TV. Then I forced myself to get up to do a walk, the same 2.5 mile route I’d done the day before, and I’ll tell you what, being just that little bit fatigued made this tougher than I thought it would be. Now it wasn’t crazy hard where I had to stop and take a break, but I felt the effort today.
There is this smallish hill on the route, and I made it a point to walk it slower than I had the day prior because I’m not supposed to get my HR anywhere past RPE 3-4. For those of you who are not familiar with the RPE (rating of perceived exertion), it goes from 1-10, with 1 being equivalent to sitting on the couch, and 10 being your HR is so high that it feels as though you’ve reached max HR. So my 3-4 is pretty dang easy really. I’d call it low to mid Z2. So Z3 and above right now for me is forbidden, what with all that nice, new micro suturing of my coronary arteries. And I get it, so I’m not going to buck my stipulations. My goal is to be a very good a patient - and to do exactly what I expect my coaching clientele to do in order to be good clients - listen!
Finished the walk, plopped on the couch and watched to idiot box for a couple hours, trying to stave off the inevitable: trying to fall asleep with my upper body propped up in the sitting position with my legs stretched out in front of me on top of pillows. Right now trying to sleep like this is just killing me. I’m a fetal position sleeper, and to have no other sleep position available to me other than on my back, with my back propped up, it’s miserable. And I’m getting to the point to where I just dread trying to go to bed each night.
I’ve tried to sleep in the supine position, to no avail. Feels as though I have a boulder on my chest what with all that suturing. Then it’s almost impossible to get up since I’m not allowed to put much pressure/torque on my chest by pushing, pulling, twisting with my arms. Now my abs are strong as steel, but the strain it puts on my chest to try to rise without using the arms - it’s so incredibly painful and dangerous that I’m just not into taking the chance on damaging that sternum. So I’ve found the most comfortable/and safe sleep position is with my back propped up at about a 45 degree angle so I can lop a leg onto the floor and push with my leg as I twist and use my abs to get up into the sitting position. Feels good for about 5 minutes and then the hell starts, probably because I’m just not used to sleeping like this. I snore like hell on my back to the point to where I wake myself up! What’s more I’m surrounded by like 8 pillows to prop up arms and legs and head and back. I’m just praying for the first night where I can go back to that fetal position and to do it while lying on a bed instead of a couch!