Sleep Better After Shoulder Arthroscopy Surgery

Getting back home after the shoulder arthroscopic surgery wasn't too easy. Fortunately, my brother-in-law was there to drive us home. There was no way that we could have commuted by bus in the state I was in. Though relieved, I was still a bit nauseous and a bit groggy from the surgery.

An arthroscopic shoulder surgery is performed for many reasons. These can include SLAP (Superior Labral Tear from Anterior to Posterior) tear or lesion, partial or full thickness tear of the rotator cuff and others. Rotator cuff tears are among the most common conditions affecting the shoulder.

Lower Back Injury from the T-Bar Row Exercise

The T-Bar Row exercise is one of the biggest mass builders for the back. It recruits the big muscles of the lats, traps and the rhomboids. It is a pulling exercise that allows you to lift heavy weight.

Although T-Bar row machines do exist, most bodybuilders who train at home simply use a plain straight barbell. One end is loaded with the barbell plates and the other end is simply stuck or jammed to a corner on the floor.

Wrist Sprain from Lifting Weights

Just when I thought I was gaining good ground on my weight lifting, I sprain the wrist of my right hand.

This happened the other week on my leg and shoulder day (Wednesday). Presently, Monday is for Back and Biceps, and Friday is Chest and Triceps, lifting only three times a week.

No, I didn't accidentally fall on my right hand and then twist the wrist. The sprain was due to overexertion on the wrist as I lifted a barbell from a low position to a higher position.

A Case of Dengue in the Family

With the onset of the rainy season, Dengue outbreaks have been reported on the radio several times already. And I believe this year had the most number of reported Dengue cases thus far.

In our own subdivision, defogging operations have already been started. Well, the irony of it is that on the same week of defogging, my youngest daughter Sandra fell ill to Dengue. And yes, it's the first case of Dengue in our family.

Drunk Driving Accident at UP Diliman

Last June 2 was Day 3 of the week for Che's transfer and enrollment. She decided to transfer from UP Manila (BA Development Studies) to UP Diliman (BS Materials Engineering). It being a Wednesday, I couldn't use the car to take Che and DH to Diliman.

Later that evening, I received a call from DH that they'd be very late to come home. She apparently figured in a vehicular accident with them as innocent pedestrians.

Need for Fitness Training

It's been almost a month now since I had my right foot injury. I've quit putting on dressings and bandaids to the wound. Scar tissue has formed. The wound has dried and some of the old damaged skin is now peeling away on its own.

I'm now able to walk but not for long distances. Except in the mornings when I wake up, I no longer do this contorted walk after getting out of bed. Before, I had to roll my right foot a bit to the side.

This way, I stepped on the outside of the foot to avoid stepping on the wounded area. I did that for a couple of weeks and it somehow affected my right hip which made it hurt a bit.

Puncture Wound Treatment

In a previous entry, I wrote about a puncture wound injury I sustained while I was on vacation in Pampanga. I was rushed to the ER for the injury.

After the initial wound cleaning and treatment administered by the ER doctor at the hospital, I was asked to continue cleaning and dressing the wound at least twice a day. This is to continue until the wound closes, no longer bleeds and starts to dry. Funny, I was thinking accident insurance while I was at the ER.

A Bad Case of DOMS

That's Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. I was supposed to go swimming yesterday at Metro but I had severe body pains and was having a slight fever. Che was laughing when I seemed unable to lift a dish to pass to her over at dinner.

It's that bad. I felt weak all over - like I was hit by a truck, or pounded to a pulp. Just last night, I couldn't sleep because of my pain. At around 2am, I took Mobic 15 mg and that helped a bit. But it was only after massaging my chest that I felt relief and went back to sleep.

What did I do? Well, I went back to using the balance stepper exerciser after a long time.

I only did around 40 minutes and it felt fine (I usually did 1 hour workouts before) with no problems AT ALL. And this still was last Tuesday. A few days before, I did my old dumbbell exercises for the shoulders.

Shoulder Injury Improving VERY Slowly

Goodness. I thought it’ll never improve. The last therapy session I had (the “graduation” session) was last July. It’s been 3 months and it’s only NOW that I’m feeling a better sense of relief! It’s really taking a long long time. I was becoming hopeless that I thought of getting an MRI to the point of talking to Eduard (officemate) for details.

As it turns out, he too went to Dr. Betty Mancao for consultation and therapy. And he said to give it MORE time because his shoulder took like 5 to 6 months to completely heal. Whoa!

This past few days was like a milestone coz I’ve definely felt a better range of motion when putting my right arm overhead. In fact my right arm can bend overhead backwards enough to scratch my back. Of course it helps if I warm it up a little bit.

Now, I'm able to stretch my back and arms at the office. Stretching was still painful last week. Also, I can now sleep much much better at home.

Interpreting Poetry and Yay for Extra Joss!

Today, I was still having this mysterious headache that I seemed to have brought all the way from Nasugbu. I have several theories on what caused this and here are a few:

1. I was just super tired with all the swimming I did. I guess I lost some of the conditioning I gained after I stopped swimming for a while.
2. My neck muscles got the brunt of my heads-up breaststroke when I swam to the “payong-payong” rock formation and the soreness is creeping to my head.
3. I missed my hypertension medication Pritor last Saturday.
4. I ate something REALLY bad.
5. My sinus got congested from the swimming.

I suppose it’s one of the above, a combination of the above, or all of the above. Whatever it was, heck, it only took a satchet of Extra Joss (original flavor) to make it disappear! And not only that, the sore right shoulder I had seemed to go away with it too! Hmmm.

TM District Convention is fast approaching on May 1 at Tagaytay. But I won’t be going due to a prior commitment. Speaking of Toastmasters, my speech last Thursday (Apr17) on Interpreting Poetry in the Interpretive Reading manual went smoothly.

It wasn’t as good as I expected though. Reading the speech material just makes me less animated, I suppose.

To see all my Toastmasters Speeches online click on here!

Consultation with a Rheumatologist

I was at the rheumatologist today after being referred by the company doctor. This is for the right hip discomfort that I've been feeling for several months now.

I was number 5 in the queue but it seemed like eternity. I estimated each patient was in the doctor's room for 15 to 20 minutes!

Could it be Piriformis Syndrome? Sciatica?

The doctor that looked me up last week didn't come in today. I was complaining of some dull pain near my right butt at the hip area. And last week he suggested a pain-reliever, Mobic 15 gms, for 5 days - and hot compress.

Well, it's been over a week and the dull pain still goes on and off. I can even feel a slight muscle pull on my hip with my fingers as I walk.

I've searched over the internet and the closest that describes the pain is Piriformis Syndrome. The pain could extend towards the lower leg when the Sciatic nerve is irritated - or Sciatica - which could be worse because the pain can be excruciating.

It is much like the pain that I felt when I worked under a unit's sink in the apartment. My whole body was all scrunched up under the sink and I knew my vertabrae was not in the best position when I felt this searing pain that ran through my right leg. Ugh.

Anyway the pic below shows where the piriformis muscle is and where the pain is.


There are many exercises that can be done to stretch the piriformis with different positions, supine, prone, etc. But by far the simplest stretch I've seen that can be done anywhere is in a sitting position as shown below:


The nice thing about this exercise is you could even position the warm compress (hot water bottle for me) and sit on it. Isn't that convenient?

Body Pains all Over

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It's been 3 days since our swimming last Sunday but I still feel like my bod has been hit by a truck! There's so much soreness EVERYWHERE.

Must be the my poor old aging body unable to recover as quickly as before. Well, in fairness, I've been out of the pool for almost 3 weeks already.

And last Sunday was so enjoyable that I gave demos of my graceful Butterfly stroke here and there, every now and then. It was DH and the kids' first time to see it.

More Medication - Omepron

I went back to the ENT today who diagnosed me with Acid Reflux. I've been taking Omepron for 2 weeks already. He suggested 2 weeks more of the same coz I still have it.

He also said that I avoid the following: Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, Milk, Citrus, Peppermint, Fatty foods (read: yummy food). Yup, it's pretty much all that we need to survive. Just kill me already, alright doc?

After the ENT I went to the derma. It's confirmed that what I have is PLE (Polymorphic Light Eruption). It's gone now, thanx to my avoiding the sun.

Secret to Natural Weight Loss - Fletcherism

Ahhhh. Secrets, secrets, secrets. I even had a toastmasters speech on a secret. Speaking of secrets, I've stumbled on an article on weight reduction. It is entitled
Natural Weight Loss Plan - Best Kept Secret. A text document (pdf) of the site may be found here.

The Two-Beat Kick

Ugh, just when I was getting the hang of the 2-beat crossover kick, I've been told not to swim for a gazillion of reasons. Well, okay, maybe just two.

1. Left shoulder problem. The office doc advised me to quit swimming for a week and take Celebrex 100mg 2x a day for the shoulder. I was also told to have it x-rayed. She suggested me immobilizing it (how the heck am I supposed to do that?). For as long as it's strained or continually used, the inflammation will not go away. Okay, I guess "rest" is the operative word here.
   

Shoulder Feels Better

Guess I was wrong coz there were still PE studes today. Funny though but until now so many were not familiar faces. One guy, Aldrin, was exhilarated to complete a lap after seeking advice from me. He was shouting!

Apparently, he became my 'poster boy' that the rest, mostly girls asked for my help. It was all good though. I got the rest I needed. I felt that I had a good workout given my sore left shoulder.

Ear Ache and Shoulder Pain

A couple of things bugged me recently. My allergies and some shoulder pain.

My allergies were already bad last week and last Monday it felt like my left ear had water. I've already been taking Virlix.

So I went to the office clinic and the doc (Elaine) gave Neozep, 3 times a day for 5 days. She also suggested a couple of drops of baby oil to soften the ear wax. I did the baby oil thing. But nothing happened.

Tire Split Open and Sculling

I went home at noon yesterday and then my rear tire burst. No, it didn't run out of air, but the steel belting just jutted out and hit the siding like mad. This was near the Alaska factory in the South expressway. I moved really slow like I was being towed. Fortunately I was able to have it replaced at the Servitek after withdrawing cash from a BPI atm at Munti. The new tire, Dunlop Japan, set me back by Php3,590. The reason I went home early was to rest coz I had a cold. Or so I thought. It turned out it was again those troublesome allergies. How did I know. Well, I got instant relief (last night up to today) right after taking Virlix. I must've gotten these allergies it after cleaning Unit B at the apartment. I got a lot of dust after cleaning the CR window.

Just did some frees and backs today in the morning. I attempted a flip turn but the water just went up the nose and boy, was it painful. My sinus hasn't really cleared up from the previous nights' sniffles. In the afternoon I did some seated sculling which is nice to do as a break from the usual. Maybe I'll try the other sculls next time.


Thank God our parking lot expansion at the office has been completed. With the rains, it was tough getting parked coz of the mud. And that made me not to go for a second swim coz, it's so hard to find good parking slots.

Lifestyle Change and Traffic Stress

Gulped 2 loads of water. One in breaststroke and another in butterfly. Did 3 sets of 50y Free, Back, Fly and Breast. I seem to have lost my blue coppertone sport. Did find 3 pcs of soap though.

On diet: I'm keeping with the veggie diet. I've not cut any break so far. I think I don't even need to coz I'm coming to work earlier now. It's because I no longer go swimming in the morning, but still leave the house at 6:30am. So I'm at the office now at 7:00am.

Now, it's good, no traffic to contend with. Diet now is mostly veggies but since I've not cut any breaks, I still tend to get 2 veggie dishes - sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the evening. I think the best arrangement would still to keep the 2 breaks, but keep them shorter, and more importantly, stick to 1 veggie dish. That may prove difficult though (the veggie dish part) because our cafeteria has limited creativity when it comes to cooking veggie dishes.

Am so delighted with the recent lab results. It was a great sense of relief and knowing it's not something like stones, appendicitis. or a needed operation. I'm still feeling some mild discomfort on ths same right spot though. But I still have around 7 more sachets of Psyllium to take. Hopefully, I'll be feeling much better after that. Actually, I'm contemplating on taking fiber on a regular basis too. Company doc (JP) said it helps take out excess carbohydrates and fats out of the system, or whatever that means. He also said buying it in powdered form (not in sachets) will be much cheaper.

After watching the Body Invaders series of Discovery Health on osteoarthritis, gout, weight control and many more, I'm now rethinking my lifestyle. That means diet, need for walking, maybe weight-lifting. I took on a lifestyle change many years ago (1995) to treat hypertension. Now, I'm for another lifestyle change. That means put in the minutes, put in the hours - for walking and swimming. Damned the work. It won't take care of me and my health. That is up to ME. I'm no longer taking some illness, or any discomfort , lightly. I feel something wrong, I'm doing everything to get it right. I'm at the age where I'll just have to take full advantage of our health benefits especially that is afforded by our HMO card (Medicard). Heck the company's paying for it! On food, I'm taking more caution with food, smelling it first, tasting it first. Unlike before when I thought I had a strong stomach that could take in anything. Now I'm taking Yakult too!

I mentioned to the company doc the issue of going away from my heart medication, Pritor, worried of long-term effects especially to the kidney. He said it even helps the kidney (really?), but that maybe I ought to see the cardiologist which he says comes once a month. Better check that out!

Stress: Ah, who needs it. Instead of passing through SLEX as I usually did, I drove to the national road to avoid the supposed traffic jam on SLEX. I heard it took Steve 2 hours to negotiate the traffic from the office to Alabang. And the drive through the national road? It took me an hour. Totally exasperating, as I kept mutterering to myself, "stupid tricycle and jeepney drivers!" Ugh. Next time I'll be bringing this stress thingie:


I bought this a long time ago from a Chinese shop at SM Southmall where they sell massagers and oils and pills and what have you. It has this embossed name "Safe Living" on one side and "SLM" on the other. It's like a spiked stress ball. But the nice thing about it is it gives (bendable) as it is crushed by the hand. It's like a sponge ball but it's made of rubberized plastic so it exerts pressure when squeezed. I took out the chain on one end (it's a keychain as shown) so that I can roll it around in my hand without being bothered by the chain. Maybe I could buy another one so I could massage both hands at the same time. But then, how will I hold the steering wheel?