Soooo, today was my second day of starting physical therapy again since the COVID quarantine. I’m so happy to be back into the swing of things, though it was hard to make myself want to go. I did get up and go though. I even dressed in peddle pusher pants and it was a cute little matching outfit that was so big on me that the pants were falling off of me just from standing up. That’s how much weight I’ve lost–my clothes don’t fit any more! Yay me!

I need to get some that fit just for wearing to physical therapy. Something comfortable, easy to put on but that still looks cute. I got dressed in real people clothes today. Seriously–I wear a night gown dress Mumu type thing to my assessment. I actually wore real clothes today. That’s a step in the right direction. I just wear my night dresses around the house. No one comes over; I don’t go anywhere. Why mess up clothes if I don’t need to?

But today was a milestone for me. I got dressed like a normal person. It felt good. I looked kinda cute, my nails were done and I brushed through my still curled hair. I looked all right in the picture aleck took of me. I didn’t hate it–that’s huge for me.

My physical therapist’s name is Haley. I think I’m spelling that right  but I’m not sure. I guess I should ask her, Hey, when I talk about you on my blog to literally tens of people, I would like to spell your name right. Bet that goes over well. Kinda like, let me talk about you behind your  back.

But there’s no fears there–I only have good things to say about her. She set a long term goal to increase my standing tolerance to five minutes. That would be a big game changer for me. But this is a long-term goal. We don’t expect I can do this tomorrow. Five minutes might as well be an eternity for me right now. I can barely stand for a few seconds before my back starts just screaming at me and I have trouble breathing and my heart rate goes up. Some of that is the pulmonary hypertension, the CTEPH. I can’t do much about that. But some of it is deconditioning. That I can do something about. And we’re starting on that with muscle strengthening exercises.

When we’re doing an exercise, she tells me what muscle groups are supposed to be activated, so I know if I’m doing it right and she tells me what this will help me in the real world. For example, one bicep strengthening exercise helps with pulling up to get into a car or pulling up to sit up in bed. The thigh muscle exercise helps with standing and pushing up from the seated position. That type of thing.

I have ankylosing spondylitis and it’s an autoimmune condition that causes the spine to start to fuse together and bend in a hump at the top. It affects posture and can lead to an awkward gate. I take a Humira shot every week, on Friday for it and psoriatic arthritis. It helps with the pain–I can feel a big difference on Monday when I take a shot on Friday. If I have to miss a shot, I can feel it.

I take pain meds before physical therapy. I forgot to take one today. I can do more when I take them. I try to keep  my posture upright as much as possible but I admit my back gets tired when I do.

That’s part of what we’re working on with physical therapy, to be able to have proper posture and the back is stronger to support it. Working on core strength and building those core muscles.

That’s all for today…. just journaling what I’m doing in the health department. Things are going well otherwise. I hurt a lot but I’m getting better every day. i have to believe that.

I love and need you all.

love and stuff,

Michy