Contrary to how it may have appeared, I did not die suddenly of a broken wrist. I have not been writing despite all the resistance training–that is the training against resistance.
I am happy to report these many months later that my wrist is doing great. I have a slight bend in my elbow when I do pushups. The hand bone of my middle finger seems to push into the floor and impede the complete flex of my wrist. When holding weights, my wrist does not quite flex the same on the thumb side. And each morning my hand is stiff for flexing and stretching. Other than that, I have the same grip strength in my right arm as my left.
I got back into the gym in early March. It was 7-8 weeks post surgery. I also started playing wallyball with the brace on. As I slowly worked into each activity, I learned just how much wasting away of muscle occurs in a few weeks.
My arm was very weak. The reason for testing grip strength in seniors, as an indicator of overall health and wellness, is because if you can’t grip something in your hand, you won’t be lifting it. If you aren’t lifting something your arm strength deteriorates quickly. No need to ask how I know. Those first few dates in the gym were interesting. I was able to modify exercises at first and over time let go of the need for modification.
I have been going to the gym regularly since March and have increased my strength beyond what it was prior to the break.
I learned that the body heals quickly when we are strong and healthy. I found that my outlook was pretty positive and accepting through the process of healing; it wasn’t always easy and it took a practice to maintain or get back to that place on occasion. I also recognized how tiring it is when the body is healing. I went through a couple of week of being very sleepy. It is a distant memory now.
In other news, we went to Orlando Florida in May. Our daughter lives in the Netherlands and she and her boyfriend were going to Disney and Universal Studios and invited us to meet them there and hang out some. We did a fair amount of walking and even checked out an investment property while we were there. It was great seeing our daughter an meeting her boyfriend.
We welcomed another grandson to our family in mid June. He is healthy and content and growing. His 2 year old brother is excited for him to grow up so they can play.
June also had us working on the yard. After 2 years of not detailing, the flower beds were overgrown. We celebrated my parents’ 60th anniversary in July with a family barbecue at our place.
Our 35th anniversary was mid July and rather than go some place at that time (as we will be going places later in the year), we decided to stay and celebrate over a week which ended up longer. We had family here from out of town so we also went out prior to our anniversary by chance. On the day of we we went for wings with friends. Next day was our regular dinner at the Keg joined by some family. Went to Taste of Edmonton on the next night. Ran into family there. Next was a night at The Mayfield Dinner Theatre. Rib fest followed the next day and a family dinner the following. Night off, then wings with an out of town friend and the next night a dinner with our son and family. We were ready to settle in to a home cooked meal the next evening.
August has been very hot here. I got out for a couple of runs in the mornings. I have been getting up by 6 am and listening to the live REI morning show on Podbean. I have been getting an earlier start on my day and my work outs at the gym have moved to the 8:00 am start time rather than 9:30.
We had a great family time last weekend. We had a wedding celebration for a wedding that happened during covid. We also had our annual family reunion after missing 2 years. It was so wonderful to see family again.
And finally, I got Invisalign this week. I am on a 38 week program. So far they are somewhat irritating at times. I normally graze at the garden when I go to get veggies so that was sad when I went out yesterday and couldn’t snack on peas. Today I went and picked a few raspberries in a bowl before lunch.
We have a couple more weeks of summer and the forecast is for sunny and hot. Going to be taking advantage of that. The mornings are cool and there is that glorious smell that goes with it of dewy composting foliage, the earthy smell as fall approaches.
All caught up. I have been formulating some ideas for blog posts in my mind and felt it might be good to do a bit of a catch up. It also gives me perspective in a year when looking back. Enjoy the rest of your summer.
A New Dawn 