It’s now been a month since the Scientist and I started going to the gym regularly. I’ve gone six days a week for four weeks now and I can tell a big difference in many areas. My weight is almost the same right now but many of my other measurements decreased. I am sure the weight will follow suit with time.  I can tell a big difference in my stamina during this time. I seem to have latched on to the rowing machine as my favorite challenge. I started out doing three minutes each workout but now I do 4 intervals of 500m each with a minute break between each. I couldn’t have imagined doing that a month ago or ever, in fact. We have rower here at home but I never quite got going with it before. The main concern with the rower is my heart rate was increasing quite a bit and I didn’t know how high it was going. When I was younger, this was less of a concern but I now have to be a bit more cautious.

The solution was to pull out my old heart rate monitor and make use of it again. The battery in the watch died several years ago and I thought at the time I had to send it to the company for a replacement. Perhaps I was mistaken because current information shows I can change the batteries myself. Fortunately we had a pack of one size battery needed for the watch. It was just a matter of buying the other size required for the transmitter as it died out at some point. With minimal expenditure, I have an additional tool for use in my fitness program. One odd thing does happen now that I’m using the heart rate monitor. It’s compatible with some of the machines which makes it easier to use them without losing track of my heart rate if I let go of the handles. Anyway, I’ve found that the cooldown period on the workouts have all increased to ten minutes instead of 3-5 (depending on the length of workout).  The Scientist says this isn’t happening for him so we can only attribute it to the monitor.

Over the past couple of days I have worked out that I am staying under the maximum heart rate on the rower but I am in the high range, as expected. While doing my rowing intervals today, I slowed down the pace on a couple of them so that my heart rate remained within the optimal range. What was interesting is how hard it was to slow my pace.

I also started adding in some of the circuit machines into my routine. I am currently alternating cardio workouts with combination cardio/strength workouts. So far it’s working out well although I have been a bit sore when I’ve overdone it.

This week it will be six months since I had my knee surgery and it’s definitely not back to normal use, despite predictions of both physiotherapists I’ve seen. At my last visit, my physio signed off on my treatment. She was quite pleased with my progress, especially when she learned I’ve been using the gym lately. I had a bit of a setback last week when my knee gave way while I was in cooldown phase on the treadmill. I nearly fell off the back of the machine and it left  me shaken so that I started walking off-kilter again and have only mostly recovered this weekend after working hard to right the issues that have come about. I’m still having episodes where my knee buckles quite randomly for no apparent reason.

Which leads me to my surgeon appointment on Friday. He has also signed off on my treatment and says I am doing all the right things. But he also said I might still have another 12-18 months of rehab ahead of me. Or it might resolve in a few months. He says it’s all down to muscle weakness and it will happen but it’s hard to judge when it will happen. He also made it quite clear that my knee will never be perfect again…not that I was under any illusion that would be the case, especially with the arthritis affecting both knees. So while not exactly encouraging, it certainly wasn’t a total discouragement either since I know I am doing everything right. I also assume that as my weight decreases, the process will go even better.

I will finish out this update with my biggest accomplishment in some time. I can now use my healing leg to lead me up a step where I couldn’t a month ago. It isn’t easy and I can’t do it for every step. But I can do it some of the time so will have to make sure I just keep doing it and get stronger. I look forward to a time when I’m not totally worn out after a trip into town where I seem to be faced with more than the average sets of stairs.