Don't rush me

Wow. Haven't blogged in a while. A short one for now. In Boston we haven't really had summer hot weather yet. But non-summer is right around the corner!

- July 3rd, I was in Target. The outdoor furniture section was gone, replace with the Back To School kiosks. If you want to torment your children, take them to target now for that back-to-school shopping experience :)

- Today (July 14) my email from Maggiano's (local restaurant) reminded me to book my holiday party now - "Holiday dates fill in quickly!". The email had Christmas ornaments on it and everything...

sigh.

Broccolli. Tasty tasty broccocolli

Had my first large garden harvest today. Had had one broccolli crown 2 weeks ago, but that was just a taste. Today I got about a half dozen crowns. Steamed and drizzled with some rosemary olive oil. mmmm. Some spinach was ready for the picking as well tonight. Planted some Mustard Spinach - a very unique taste. I was able to harvest enough leaves to actually cook. Sauteed them in a pan with some garlic, olive oil and pepper. A very nice veggie combo with dinner this evening...

PT Moving Along

Wow - almost a month since my last PT blog. Things are going faster than I had ever expected...

My PT guy has been really great. he's a nice guy, and a pleasure to work with. Answers all my questions and deals with me when I try to get out of things. :)

The first few weeks were more about stretching (previous blog post). We slowly moved to arm raises, where I started raising my arm on my own. It was nice to be able to start doing a real activity again. And then the fun wore off when I had to do to arm raises at home as part of regular exercise. There's one tendon in my shoulder that's still stiff, and while I could do arm raises, I couldn't do too many in a row.

The more I go to PT, the more fascinating the shoulder joint becomes. There are a lot of different muscles working together to move this ball joint around. Only part of what we've been doing has to do with the repaired muscle. A lot has to do with all the other muscles that haven't been raising my arm since January, and have suffered some atrophy.

A lot of the PT sessions are 'training' the other muscles how to do their work. For example he would ask me to do some movement and it would be almost impossible. Then he would hold my arm immobile while I tried to move it back and forth. This would 'teach' the muscles how they're suppose to work. After that little exercise I would be able to do do the movement with no problem.

Last week came the big news. Permission to start using the arm. cool. I'm almost normal. :) Still stiff though. I can reach up and get a glass or open the shades, but it still feels tight when the arm is fully extended. Actually holding onto the subway bars with my left hand (a little erratic exercise).

So this past week we moved forward again. Some stretching and progress check. Then progressing even further - he puts a 3lb weight in my hands. I of course ask 'what do you expect me to do with this". Well, I couldn't lift it, so we went back down to 2lb. After a number of arm lifts, we tried with 3lbs again and I got a few raises in.

While I can use the arm for almost everything, the shoulder is still 'learning' how to work right. If I pick up a glass and take a drink with my left hand, the arm is still shaking a bit; a symptom of the arm remembering what to do, and learning how to maintain control. that should clear up over time...

I bought up some hand weights and am doing some weighted lifts at home now to try to build shoulder strength. I continue to use the arm daily... I hope this week to get some more strength, and to try to stretch a little more and regain some more range in the arm. I've gotten so much done in the last month, but still waiting for raising my left arm to be as simple and effortless as raising my right is. (OK, how many of you are now lifting your arm.. :-)

Lilac Time

That time of year again. The lilac bush that is slowly taking over the garden is in full bloom. last year it rained every weekend in late Spring, so I never got a chance to prune it back. Then it was summer, then come fall the buds were already in place. So after this bloom, it'll definitley get a haircut.

But for not, it's pretty amazing. the fence behind the lilac is about 6-7 feet tall, to give you come scale. When the wind i right, the lilac smell can be smelled throughout the garden. I'll cut off a bouquet every morning, and still I won't get to cut all the blossoms. They come and so do quick, I feel as soon as you start enjoying them they fade away. but I'm sure the broccoli will be happy when I cut the lilacs back. (Yes, Lilacs do enjoy getting a hair cut ;-)




A close up of the flowers.



A few years ago I planted a second one, closer to the aisle. This is the first year it has given me a blossom. Nice white flowers. Decent scent. Growing taller as well, so I hope next year I'll get even more.



Thre in some nice sots of the bleeding heart as well.

More garden 2009

The broccoli are doing well. not exactly skyrocketing, but they've settled in and are taking hold. Not as tidy a bed as I'd like, but with the bum arm weeding isn't high on the priority list.

Second PT session

Had my second session of PT today (Physical therapy). Apparently I'm progressing along, as I didn't get yelled at. :) That's one of those things you do the exercises you're supposed to, but you wonder if you're doing enough... the woman I met with today thought I was progressing nicely. And then proceeded to torture me...

Last week was my first session. Doc just gave me some basic stretching and passive 'arm swinging' to do. If you check out this web site and scroll down to the images, you can see the swinging motions and the 'wall climb' stretches I have to do.

I'm basically starting off by stretching the joint and muscles as a first step to use them again. For the wall stretches, you put your hand against the wall with your arm horizontal. Then use your fingers to 'crawl' up the wall, slowly stretching your arm upwards without using the shoulder muscle. I do one stretch facing the wall, and then one perpendicular to the wall. Those are a lot harder. Last week I really couldn't stretch more than an inch or two more than horizontal. Now I can go almost vertical - maybe 20-30 degrees more to go before the arm can stretch up a full 180 degrees. Hopefully I'll be there next week.

So the woman today pretty much went to town on the arm. I laid down and she just tried to stretch and rotate my shoulder in different directions. Yow. Some were easy. Some were "hey Hey HEY!". A little tight in some directions it seems. Funny though. She'd move my arm in some weird direction and I wondered if she was helping or just trying to extort money from me. :) Then I'd use my right arm to try the same motion, and could move it in that weird direction easily.... Guess some stretching will take longer than others. So I have one additional stretch this week (#2 on that web site is my new one - the rest of those photos happen to be the sae stretches I've was doing since my first visit)

So still no lifting of the arm; just these stretches. In it's own way, I feel a lot better. Before PT, my arm was in "do not use" mode, just hanging by my side, not doing much with it. Now that it's "safe" to use the arm, I've found the stretches are making it easier to do things. So simple tasks like putting on socks, tying shoes, washing a dish or two, are now much easier to do. (Activities that don't require raising the arm, mind you). Just having that greater mobility back makes me feel like I'm getting back to normal.

So I'll continue to stretch, and see what torments await me next week :)

Math R Us

Had two interesting mathematical experiences this weekend. Being a smart guy, it's always interesting to see when people actually pay attention to numbers.

The first was an email I got. One of those things your family forwards to everyone, and never deletes all the old header information. This one was a letter to the editor that had supposedly been published - and is now circulating the internet. Basically, it said there were 40 million people "ready to retire". Pay them a million dollars each. That will free up jobs, give people money to spend, and be cheaper than the current bailout. Apparently neither the letter writer, the newspaper, or anyone on this chain of emails bothered to do a little math. 40M * 1M is 40 trillion dollars, about 50 times more expensive than the 800 billion bailout. Maybe they just didn't know how to use big numbers.

The second was more fun. I asked the hardware guy to cut me 15 feet of chain. At the chain display it took him a minute to find the yardstick sticker that was stick to the shelf holding the chain. hmmm. Maybe there was a reason he was sweeping the floor...

So he starts measuring chain. 1 yard. 2 yards. 3 yards. He stops and goes for the cutters. I stop him and remind him I wanted fifteen feet. He points to the measuring sticker and say No, this is a yard, not a foot. I said Yes, I Know that's a yard. Then he gives me a bit of a "you silly customer you" looks. I retain any composure I might have and resist chuckling. Instead I resort to my fingers. and count for him 1 - three 2- six 3- nine and stop with three fingers raised. After way too long a pause, he finally realizes what's going on and laughs it off.

At the register he gave me a little discount. Hopefully that wasn't a math error either. Perhaps more broom is in his future...

That darned economy

So my retirement plan only lost $11K last quarter. Does that mean things are looking up? :)

New England weather

So was I the only one unhappy about the weather this weekend?? Friday in the 70's was beautiful, but mid 80's Saturday and Sunday was too much to bear. I don't need the summer doldrums now - it's only April!! :) Plus, it was tough being outside. The trees here don't have leaves yet, so if you want for a walk or down to the park - there was no way to get out of the sun - it was jsut beating down at you all the time.

So when the strong breeze kicked in around 5 and brought cool April temps back in I was a happy camper. And I may actually be able to sleep tonight. Got frustrated at the weatherman though. Tomorrow will be 67 degres - 7 degrees above normal. And he described the day as being 'cold'. ugh.