Yesterday was a big day for me. I reached my “optimal strain goal” by exercising longer than normal.
I naturally wound up getting in many more steps than usual—more than 7K.
These were extraordinary accomplishments for me, considering how much I've struggled just to get in 1,000 steps each day since I developed chronic pain and severe arthritis in both knees. I can't express how frustrating it's been to have to just… “live” with multiple knee injuries (like meniscus and MCL tears) that would generally receive better treatment for a slim patient.
The knee stuff completely derailed my life, and my mobility became particularly limited this past fall. After my knee pain and pneumonia kept me home for so long, I knew I needed to take drastic measures to get my life back. I realized I had to make my health my number one priority. If not for me and my quality of life, at least for my daughter Sophie.
At the start of this year, I couldn't handle many physical tasks. I couldn't stand for more than a few minutes, cooking was a nightmare, and running normal errands was out of the question. Just taking a shower was so exhausting that I took them twice a month.
Since going through CDT and prioritizing my health in 2024, I am taking showers two to three times a week, cooking daily, and I'm working out at the YMCA with a personal trainer. I have begun to run more errands again and I can see that I am slowly making some progress.
It doesn't always feel like I'm making much progress, though. Getting up out of my chair at home is still very painful. I still don't have the energy to run multiple errands in one day.
I am not able to consistently hit my strain or step goals every day. I've discovered that I typically sleep pretty poorly whenever I have a very active (for me) day. It's hard to fall or stay asleep on those nights because all of my joints, including my fingers and toes, ache so badly. Not too mention all of the management still required for my lipo-lymphedema.
My quality of life hasn't improved dramatically because I still have such a long ways to go, in terms of managing my disease and leading an active life. I don't have a social life. I can't commit to making many plans because I don't know what kind of day I'm going to have. At the moment, I'm still worried about managing all of the tasks for my daughter's birthday party in April. I'm constantly worried about paying our bills and meeting our basic needs since this year has seen me get more and more behind financially. I still don't know how to carve out enough time to make a living again.
Of course, the little bit of progress that I have made has been eye-opening. I've learned that it takes A LOT of time to regain your mobility and strength. It's something I have to keep working on every day, or else I quickly lose those small gains. Because lipo-lymphedema comes with symptoms, like unexpected insomnia and flare-ups, there's a lot of uncertainty in my life.
I'm doing my best, however, to prioritize and balance my recovery with my rehabilitation work. There's been a bit of a learning curve as I'm looking at my needs differently now that I'm using a fitness tracker and strength training.
Honestly, I love using the tracker because it's helped me get more activity into more of my days, and it's helping me to prioritize my sleep. Left to my own devices, I was getting 4 to 5 hours of sleep and running myself too ragged.
For now, I feel guilty about investing this sort of time into myself when there are still so many uncertainties in my life. At the same time, I know I have to get my health and mobility back if I'm going to be the mom Sophie needs, AND if I'm going to do full-time work again.
All in all, it's been very hard self-work, but it's been rewarding, too. I still hobble around slowly on most days, and getting through each day is a challenge. Even so, I'm making progress. I'm even excited to see where I will be after another three months of training. By the end of the year, I hope I'll be able to take Sophie to the Zoo again. That would be a great measure of my improved mobility—if I can handle long-distance walking again.
Be proud of yourself. You are on the right track!
I'm proud of you, Shannon! You deserve to take the time to work on yourself. You will get there!