Status Report

I hit a new high this week—four days in a row of walking and/or ellipticalling a mile and a half total. Also, here’s a first—I did it without experiencing post-exercise vicious discomfort. Not wanting to catch the attention of the, apparently napping, gods of stabbing pain, I took yesterday off. Today, I’m back at it.

My immediate goals are to:

• Raise my average daily walk/elliptical distance
  

• Extend my endurance i.e., be able to exercise for longer than 20 minutes at a time

and

• Begin working with weights to regain and increase upper body strength

Next month, when I restart outpatient rehab, I’ll reignite my balance and stretching efforts.

Thrilling no? The most exciting piece is that my traps, lats and pecs are no longer screaming at me post-workout. I only mention it but this lack of intense pain is fucking awesome.

On the home repair front, Ten is continuing to perform miracles with the kitchen rebuild. The ceiling’s done, upper cabinets are installed, most of the floor’s been laid and, with the electricians, he hooked up our new electric stove yesterday. Next up? Replacing the lower cabinets and sink. I feel guilty that I’m unable to assist...aside from doodling on the walls that is (no, that doesn’t actually count toward helping rebuild the kitchen).

Meanwhile, our boy Cake is usually mega mellow and wholly uninterested in the great outdoors (he likes watching the world from his various window seats). Yesterday though, with all the electrician action going on, he somehow found himself outside. After Ten noticed Cake was MIA, he and Jen performed a solid search of our tiny house before heading outside. Jen eventually found him fearfully hiding under the steps at our back door. He was exceedingly grateful when she picked him up and brought him back inside. Me? Incredibly enough, I managed to remain relatively calm despite not being able to join in the search efforts.

So, me, the kitchen and the cat are all doing AOK.