Just setback after setback.  This week, no elliptical, no walking, NO BIKE.  Just swimming. 

That there is a beautiful moon out tonight.

When I was a young lass growing up in Southern Indiana, I had to practice piano 2 hours a day and spent the rest of it sniffling due to allergies.  I had composer idols but my performing idols were Barry Manilow and Liberace.  I used to think I was a freak because of that, but reading the interwebs, it’s very, very typical of the 70′s in a home where ‘rock’ wasn’t really allowed, just Broadway, classical and easy listening.  You are never alone on the interwebs.

When I was young, I didn’t know that Manilow lifted from Chopin for the beginning of “Could It Be Magic”.  I learned the beginning chords by ear (not a natural, had to listen to it tons of times) then when I was a few years older, found out we had the sheet music in my dad’s pile of books.  And that Manilow didn’t write it.  I am disappoint.

Anyway, I didn’t follow Barry Manilow much after I was introduced to the Violent Femmes (my ‘gateway’ band) but I did always hold the blue Live album close to my heart. 

Today’s swimming soundtrack is brought to you by Barry Manilow.  Soft-rock on, Fanilows.  Soft rock on.

Xanga and livejournal were namechecked in entertainment weekly as being obsolete. Ha!!! I’ve been blogging various sites since 1997 so git off my lawn entertainment weekly. I paid for lifetime, I’m getting lifetime.

I was diagnosed with tendonitis of the psoas and given a painkiller and steroids.  This is the second time this year I’ve been prescribed a steroid, methylprednisolone, and I’m loopy as hell right now.  But I got my cashflow statement to balance so . . . fuck if I know if it’s right.  I started plugging numbers in and wow, man, wow.

Setback.

I’m walking pretty gimpily and a re-measurement of my leg is a 2cm difference vs. 1.5cm from 2010.  The way I was measured is pretty rudimentary but it’s sound.  On a day after I haven’t done any impact exercises, I lie on my front and stretch out.  The physical therapist presses down on my back, sees if it’s curved, if there’s any scoliosis he can see.  Stretch a little more.  Lay on my back.  I bend my knees to make my hips even and the PT presses down on them and visually inspects it.  Then he measures each leg from the hip to my ankle bone.  2cm difference. 

This means I can’t use the jacked up shoes I finally got altered on their own.  I have to put inserts in them but I’m having a hard time getting the right height.  Everything just feel weird.  In normal shoes, I have to stack heel inserts and 2cm is too high – my foot ends up almost out of the shoe.  Bugger!!

I see my doctor tomorrow and it’s been recommended I get a full lower body x-ray to get a proper measurement.  Whether that will happen tomorrow or if I’ll have to go through more range of motion tests and schedule it with another visit. 

Aside from that, the strength, core work and stretching is going so well, my PT called me a beast.  Now if only I could actually WALK normally, that would be a dream.  I’m trying to keep my hopes up and work hard but the pain . . . I wonder if I’ve torn tissue away from the anchors. 

Because of the setback, it was another week of assisted stretching and ordered to rest a few days.  Lots of ice.  But I could add elliptical (nice to burn more than 100 calories in an hour) and here’s the surprise – the PT said if we can figure out this leg length problem and walk without pain for a couple of weeks, he sees no problem with me transitioning to intervals with running starting in April.  It’s a big problem to solve but it’s a light at the end of a long tunnel.

Here’s a bit of Sunday joy for you.  Before my bf went to work for them, this studio put out an award winning cartoon called The Gruffalo.  Way not to get eaten so far, mouse!

I love the animation and it’s a style I prefer.  The tendency towards too much realism puts me off sometimes.  The scenery, all that loving care and amazing detail of other shorts, these are exquisite.  And the understated voice work, it’s so matter of fact and charming.  I guess I needed a break from all the flash and latest FX.  It deserved the Oscar it got a few years ago. 

Nominated for an Oscar this year is Adam and Dog.  A pre-Eve Adam and his dog, the relationship they form and how it ends up after, well, you know.  NSFW – it’s Adam in his full frontal animation adaptation.

My puppy would go with me but not if I had his medication for his ear inflammation.

Protected up

PS Buyit’s now a granny!  Stop by her site and see the new addition to the latest generation of Texans.  So many great things in Texas, I miss you and miss the state!!  Hope to get back there soon and treat my peeps to dinner and margaritas.  You know who you are.  If you’re in doubt, just say hi.  The more the merrier.

I had a bit of a setback last week as I was feeling, hearing clicking in both hips and walking was very lopsided.  My regular PT was sick and I worked to midnight quite a few days so my fatigue level contributed to my lack of form. 

I crammed in cycling, sometimes just hopping on for 5-10 minutes.  Didn’t get to the gym before close but I took afternoon walk breaks with my coworker who would tell me if I was lurching or wayyyyy lurching.  Bleh.

This week, PT decided to pull back on the leg weights.  We still worked on some balancing and leg band exercises.  If I’m not better next week, well, I have a follow up with the doctor the week after. 

So without the leg press and some of the other resistance exercises, he added some very easy cardio.  Low resistance elliptical for 10 minutes and backwards walking for 5.  Nice!  No pain with either.  In fact, walking backwards was much, much easier than forward walking on the treadmill and it felt great to stretch the hip flexor.  I haven’t tried it by myself.

I’m having a lot of trouble getting to the gym before it closes.  The year end close is killer again. : (  But I’m trying my best to get in the most crucial exercises which are the cycling, rotation, balancing and stretches.