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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

A medical year in review

Last year, at the beginning of April, I had lost a lot of weight. I should have felt the gain of energy everyone talk about. But it was not my case. My right shoulder was giving me so much pain that I had problem to lift it over my head. My back was also acting up and once in a while I was taking pills (Aleve) for it.
I consult my doctor and he send me for x-rays. The verdict was devastating, I had degenerative bones problems and I was not to get better. The doctor even told me that I had to give up pickelball entirely.
I didn't like that, I keep playing but I was trying to only used my left arm, not an easy task for a right hand guy :) After a while, I decided to used my right hand but not smash the ball (because it involved bringing my arm over my head and I just couldn't do that without excruciating pain).
I was really down. There I was doing my very best to get healthier to find out that the quality of my life was diminishing as fast as my waistline.
The doc send me to see a physio therapist. At my first meeting, she said that what I had was bones of a 55 years old and was just the normal aging process. However I had a tendinitis to my shoulder. This could be fix, I need to get a doctor to removed some calcium in my joint.
By the end of the summer, nothing was medically done but at least I had hope.
I kept playing pickelball, always careful about movement. At one point the ball was just too perfect and I smash it without putting any strength to it. I felt a little discomfort but nothing that I couldn't manage.
As time past, I kept hitting the ball over my head more often and what happen; I started to feel better.
During the fall and winter, I started to gain weight (about 20 pounds), the strangest thing happen; I started to fell more energy and the pain is now almost gone. Even my back, with the extra weigh I would think that it would get worse but it's not the case.
Now I can smash the ball as hard as I want. I don't push it because I'm nervous about the previous pain and it's still a little tender but I'm so happy with where I am right now.
I'm about to get back on the health trail and drop the extra weight but I'm curious, does anyone out there ever had an experience when putting up weight made you feel better?
I keep talking about pickelball but I know many has no idea what this is, I'll post about it but here is a clip of it if you want to see more.

I forgot to mention, I had some works done on my knees, here is the x-ray:
 

7 comments:

  1. That is a great x-ray of your.... knees.

    I have no answer about feeling better at a heavier weight. I didn't think you got dangerously skinny before, just healthy. Maybe you are now at the weight that is right for your body? 20 lbs extra isn't much. Everyone is different. I think how you feel is more important than being slender. You can impress people with your pickelball skills instead of your waistline.

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    1. Oh I should have point out on the x-ray... the light part on the knee it's titanium :-)

      By all means, I was not skinny. Now I'm still not skinny but with an extra 20 pounds LOL

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  2. It's a continuous journey, isn't it? And the game picks up as we get older. I find that I feel much better when I'm moving around more. I exercise regularly but not to an excruciating level. I'm starting to have my limitations! But as long as I'm active, I feel good.

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    1. YES YES YES

      Keep moving, this is the number one factor to slow down our body aging process... all winter I have witness people in their seventies acting like kids 'playing' but I saw also the 'old' one getting older while doing as little as possible.

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  3. Oh My GOD! I don't even remember what I was gonna comment about, now that I've seen that xray. You are too much.

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  4. Hahahaha! I'm glad that you are feeling better and getting more movement. And I'm really glad to know what pickleball is, especially after that xray!

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