# How much exercise?



## Eliza79 (Jul 23, 2013)

I am on day 4 (including the day of surgery itself) after a PT and trying to ease slowly back into normal life. I just went for a slow 20 minute walk outside.

How much exercise do you think is advisable per day for the first week or so? My Dr said walking is good but didn't give me a sense of how many walks or how long of a duration.

Would light 20 min walks twice a day be advisable or is that a bit much? I have a lot of neck pain and soreness. Today is the first day I have also felt shaky and had a racing pulse. I'm not on any thyroid meds yet. I don't want to rush things but also want to get moving some. I haven't had a BM since surgery and am trying to get my intestines to wake up...

TIA for any thoughts or suggestions!


----------



## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

I think you are just going to have to listen to your body.

If you feel shaky, don't go on that second walk.  Everyone is so, so different and everyone reacts to surgery, hormones, etc different, no one here can give you a specific answer.

Just get off the narcotics ASAP for the bowel issues. I was on them for two weeks earlier this year and that meant being on a stooler softener for a long, long time.


----------



## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Eliza, if you're not running a half-marathon by this weekend, then you are way behind on your rehab!

Just kidding, of course! :hugs:

Like joplin says above, just listen to your body, and don't push things too hard. (Ooh...maybe I shouldn't say that to someone who's a bit constipated...sorry.)

As for the BM, you may need to get a stool softener to get things moving. My surgeon was nice enough to give me a prescription for some after my surgeries, and that kept me on track. But you should be able to get something over the counter, too.

Slow & steady on the exercise. Your body will know its limits.


----------



## StormFinch (Nov 16, 2012)

What my doctor prescribed to me as a stool softener I could get over the counter for half the cost of my co-pay, aaaaaannd didn't work. I fell back on olive oil, 2 tablespoons twice a day until I got results, and then I dropped it back to once per day.


----------



## Eliza79 (Jul 23, 2013)

I need to try the olive oil. I have been taking stool softeners and fiber pills but no dice. I have even allowed the pain to increase so as to speed up the intestines. This didn't appear to work and I gave in and took another small pain pill. Mostly, though, I am relying on Tylenol.

Today I felt pretty good in the AM, other than major soreness, and went for a 20 min walk outside. The fresh air was fantastic. But ever since then I have felt dizzy and shaky and on the verge of tossing my cookies. I don't if the walk is the issue or just a coincidence but I feel like I am experiencing a temporary recovery setback. Sucks...

I need to be in less of a hurry to get out and feel like myself apparently. Will be relieved when I hear from the surgeon; waiting to see if I am in the clear is stressful. He is supposed to call me on Wednesday or Thursday with the pathology results.


----------



## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Eliza79 said:


> I need to be in less of a hurry to get out and feel like myself apparently. Will be relieved when I hear from the surgeon.


This!

It takes lots and lots of time.

(And if you really want to giggle, I'd be happy to confess my post-ankle reconstruction/OMGconstipation story. I'm quite good at self-deprecating humor.)


----------



## Eliza79 (Jul 23, 2013)

Who doesn't love a post-surgery constipation story?! Please, do tell!


----------



## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Miralax powder. That's the only thing that will help my Hashi's constipation when my thyroid is really acting up. And TMI, it makes things soft so it doesn't hurt like hades the first time you finally go.


----------



## Eliza79 (Jul 23, 2013)

jenny v said:


> Miralax powder. That's the only thing that will help my Hashi's constipation when my thyroid is really acting up. And TMI, it makes things soft so it doesn't hurt like hades the first time you finally go.


Thanks for the suggestion. If there is no movement tomorrow morning I will send my husband out on a mission for me!


----------



## KarenB (Jul 19, 2013)

Eliza79 said:


> I am on day 4 (including the day of surgery itself) after a PT and trying to ease slowly back into normal life. I just went for a slow 20 minute walk outside.
> 
> How much exercise do you think is advisable per day for the first week or so? My Dr said walking is good but didn't give me a sense of how many walks or how long of a duration.
> 
> ...


I started walking on day 3 after the first surgery, and pretty much the following day after the second. I started with about 30 minutes and now I'm walking one to two hours with no problems at all.

Prior to all this I was running 10km once a week, doing two sessions with my PT (lots of strength training), and at least two other days of gym classes like spin or Crossfit. Working out was my mental space and sanity, and not being able to do it has been really, really tough for me.

3 days out from the second surgery I was feeling really good, so stupidly decided to move more than a few heavy things from one end of the house to the other. Later that day I got a LOT more swelling in the wound, and it is STILL more swollen than initially after the surgery. Suffice to say, I learned my lesson, and I'm easing into things now.

I am going to wait until the weekend, and then assess how I feel. If I'm feeling okay, I am going to start with low impact stuff like light jogging, the bike and maybe the elliptical at the gym.


----------



## Eliza79 (Jul 23, 2013)

Wow, KarenB, you're amazing! You put me to shame! Are you Australian by any chance? (my husband is Australian and from a family of fitness and rugby lovers) Glad things are going so well for you. It sounds like you will bounce back from these surgeries due to your fitness level, which is awesome.

I will try another walk today to see how I feel but have to fight my mom and husband, both of whom want me to convalesce in bed or on the couch 24-7, which is not helping with my energy level or constipation issues! I normally walk 5-6 miles a day and jog as well multiple times per week so this is a challenge. I feel like a slug and look like frankenstein. Boo!! It sounds like I need to work up to the longer walks, ESP so I can prove to my family that light exercise is not going to do me in. They freaked a little when I was shaky and dry heaving after my walk yesterday, but I'm still not sure if that was caused by the walk or a coincidence.


----------



## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Well, you don't want to be all shaky and such, but be sure to tell them that the longer you lay on the couch, the more at risk you are for a post-op blood clot. Therefore, walking, as tolerated, is really good!


----------



## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

And here's my post-op poop story...

I fell and dislocated & shattered my ankle on a Sunday morning. They set and splinted the ankle and sent my home on crutches with explicit instructions to 1) not put any weight on it and 2) take two Vicodin every fours and not to miss a dose so I could "stay ahead of the pain." Surgery was set for Tuesday morning.

When I woke up from surgery, I had no pain in my ankle, thanks to all the novocaine they injected into the joint, but my stomach was killing me. Two days on the painkillers had backed me up and I thought my intestines were going to burst open. My husband works at the ortho group, so before we left the hospital, he scurried down to the pharmacist and got a stool softener. He told me to take a couple of doses during the day Tuesday and if nothing happened by Wednesday, to try Milk of Magnesia.

By Wednesday, I was really, really hurting. The novocanie had worn off and my ankle really hurt. My stomach ached. Because this was an unplanned surgery and patients apparently never consider that caregivers have families, my husband couldn't take the day off, so I was home alone, feeling very sorry for myself. So, in the fog of irrational thinking, I guzzled a mega dose of the milk of magnesia (a choice I do not recommend) and waited and waited and waited. Still nothing.

My mom called and, as I'm sure everyone can appreciate, I was relieved because when you are feeling down and out, there's no one better than mom to listen to you whine. While I was talking to her, my cat jumped up on my belly and began kneading himself a place to lay down. It was about that time that I became overwhelmed with that familiar, yet somewhat terrifying sense of urgency. I got off the phone as quickly as I could, dislodged the cat from his sleeping quarters, lifted my leg off the stack of pillow and over and around the coffee table that I had pulled close to the couch, retrieved my crutches and began feverishly crutching my way to the bathroom. Which might not sound like a big deal, but believe me...one day after seven screws and a plate are installed into your leg, the "blood rush" feeling that hits you every time you stand up almost causes you to pass out, so you have to move slowly.

The short story: I didn't make. Not even close. There was a poop explosion, the likes of which I have never seen (and I have horses...I scoop poop all day long, so when I tell you I had never seen anything like it, I reallllllly mean it). To borrow a line from Austin Powers, I honestly thought I blew out an O-Ring. I began to panic...thinking I would need anal reconstructive surgery and I was also sure I must have gotten poop on my splint...meaning I'd have to tell a surgeon AND all my husband's co-workers that I crapped my pants. I wanted to curl up in a ball and die...I ended up just standing with my crutches in the hallway, surrounded by a poop explosion, and cried for a good long time.

I finally hobbled to the bathroom. Because my splint when high behind my knee, I had, to that point, not been able to dress myself. It probably took about 15 minutes of me rolling around on the floor of the bathroom (in soiled clothes, no less) to get my pants, sock, and underwear off...and then who knows how long for me to roll myself into the bath tub to get cleaned up...and then I had to crawl across the bedroom to the dresser to get clean clothes, only to roll around on the floor again trying to get my clothes back on.

By then I started to feel a little better. I was clean, had fresh clothes, and the awful pain in my belly was gone. I had tied a plastic bag to my crutches to carry things around so I put all my dirty clothes in that and was crutching my way to the laundry room to throw them in the washer when I came around the corner and saw my dog...in the hallway...eating the remains of the poop explosion. This should not have surprised me, considering she eats any kind of poop she can find, but there was something terribly disturbing about her eating MY poop.

I began picking up my pace on the crutches, while yelling at her and sort of swinging the bag of poop covered clothes in her direction in an attempt to "shoo" her away. This is when I learned a fundamental lesson in life: poop will not kill a dog; if the dog offers to clean up after you, let her. In my haste, my crutches landed on a stray, um, "puddle" of poop (I told you it was a poop explosion). It slipped out from under me and I ended up on the floor, back on top of the residual poop, on my back. Thankfully, my ankle didn't really hit anything...but I ended up with a gigantic bruise on my tailbone, another set of poop covered clothes, and a dog who was more or less sitting on my chest, gleefully licking my face with her poop covered tongue.

It was definitely a low point. :tongue0013:


----------



## Velcro (Jul 26, 2013)

Oh Joplin! You win!


----------



## Eliza79 (Jul 23, 2013)

Oh god, I feel for you, I really do, that must have been a total nightmare, not to mention completely disgusting, but that was just what I needed! You had me giggling so hard I almost peed my pants! Thanks for sharing the poop explosion story. the concern about anal reconstructive surgery followed by the dog licking up the poop is just too much!! I hope your husband felt appropriately sorry for you by the time he came home...


----------



## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Oh my, joplin. Oh my.

I think I am laughing and crying (with you, of course, not at you) all at the same time.

I'm sure that was devastating at the time, but it's good you can see the humor in it now.

:hugs:


----------



## KarenB (Jul 19, 2013)

joplin, I'm so sorry, but I read this in bed last night and laughed so hard out loud I woke my husband. How terrible for you - you tell the story very well though!



Eliza79 said:


> Wow, KarenB, you're amazing! You put me to shame! Are you Australian by any chance? (my husband is Australian and from a family of fitness and rugby lovers) Glad things are going so well for you. It sounds like you will bounce back from these surgeries due to your fitness level, which is awesome.
> 
> I will try another walk today to see how I feel but have to fight my mom and husband, both of whom want me to convalesce in bed or on the couch 24-7, which is not helping with my energy level or constipation issues! I normally walk 5-6 miles a day and jog as well multiple times per week so this is a challenge. I feel like a slug and look like frankenstein. Boo!! It sounds like I need to work up to the longer walks, ESP so I can prove to my family that light exercise is not going to do me in. They freaked a little when I was shaky and dry heaving after my walk yesterday, but I'm still not sure if that was caused by the walk or a coincidence.


Hah Eliza, I'm not sure about amazing, but I am certainly Australian! I live I'm Sydney but I grew up in Wagga Wagga. I wasn't always a fitness lover - from 2009 to 2012 I lost a total of 59kgs (I was very, very big) and became a fitness junkie in the process. I'm super anxious about the idea of gaining weight back through this whole process, but I'm trying not to obsess about it - easier said than done!

I think my fitness has definitely helped, and I'm sure yours will too. It definitely sounds like you're up and amongst it, and I reckon, so long as we're not pushing it, moving our body can only be good for our recovery in the long run.


----------



## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

KarenB said:


> Hah Eliza, I'm not sure about amazing, but I am certainly Australian! I live I'm Sydney but I grew up in Wagga Wagga.


I just love the names of some Australian cities/towns!


----------



## Eliza79 (Jul 23, 2013)

My husband is from Sydney too!

I am also anxious about gaining weight and not returning to my Pre-surgery fitness level. This whole process requires a lot of patience, which is hard when everything feels normal feet up, until you reach the neck! Although, I have to admit, that I've been more fatigued and slower than normal for a few months now and especially after surgery, so recovering will be a multi-step process. Karen, I hope you will soon find the right med mixture to get you back into your routine and feeling good.


----------



## KarenB (Jul 19, 2013)

Eliza79 said:


> This whole process requires a lot of patience, which is hard when everything feels normal feet up, until you reach the neck!


THIS. So much this. In hindsight I was fairly physically fatigued heading into surgery. Working out as much as I was, there was not one day of the week when one set of muscles wasn't hurting. My legs and arms felt so strong after a week of rest - all they wanted to do was run and lift, but like you say, from the neck up said NO!

I have been encouraged to try yoga. I think it might actually be good for me - I usually run at a hundred miles an hour. Maybe I need to find my 'zen' haha.


----------



## Eliza79 (Jul 23, 2013)

Yoga is great and really helps with calmness. I find that running provides the stress relief and endorphins rush that I often crave but a helping of yoga helps the mind as well. Let me know if you try it. Although, right now I think many yoga poses would be painful due to needing to hold the head upside down. Ouch!

So far I am on day 6 and have just been walking. But my goal is to get back to the distance I was walking pre- surgery and then once I m no longer in pain, to add some light jogging and later strength training.


----------



## KarenB (Jul 19, 2013)

I was really lucky that a yoga school near my house does a class called 'restorative yoga', which is specifically for beginners and people recovering from illness etc. I really enjoyed it - it was a lot about meditative breathing and awareness, and holding poses for a long period of time. There was only one pose that caused issues with my neck, and I just left that one alone.

I'm going back tomorrow night and I'm thinking about doing a 6 week beginner course!


----------



## angel711baby66 (May 7, 2013)

This post is older but I will comment anyway. I work out about 6 days a week and so the surgery really put a stop to that for about 1 week. I walked for about 45 mins the day after surgery and by 48 hours I was on the stair climber (very very slow level). It has been 4 months since my TT and I have just gotten back to the levels I was at prior to surgery. I had to listen to my body and take it easy. I wasnt able to run for about 2 weeks because my neck was so sore but after that I worked my way up to where I was.


----------



## Eliza79 (Jul 23, 2013)

Thanks, it is helpful to hear about how long it took people to get back to their regular fitness routines, and how important is to ease back into aerobics and weight training.

So far I have been walking everyday at least 2 miles, and each day the walk gets a bit brisker. Yesterday I walked about 3 miles total, 2 in the am and 1 in the pm. I am on day 10 post surgery and hoping my neck will soon feel well enough for me to graduate to light jogging or an elliptical machine at the gym. The main thing I want to do is lift some weights because I feel so weak now after not lifting anything! But I can tell that that will be the hardest thing to do after this. My neck and shoulder muscles ache bad whenever I vacuum now so weight lifting is still out of the question.


----------



## KarenB (Jul 19, 2013)

I did my first spin class today! I was so happy to just sweat. I didn't push too hard, and I left the really high resistances alone, but I felt SO GOOD afterwards. If I get some sleep tonight I will go again in the morning before work and do some light intervals on the treadmill and perhaps some time on the cross trainer.

It's so good to feel a little bit normal again.

I am not going to do any weight training for at least another 2 weeks. Eliza, I get the same thing - dull ache and additional stiffness whenever I do too much. So as much as I mentally need to work out, I need to be patient!


----------

