Respawn time

[Benbear]

It is time for me to commit to respawning.  This summer I had back surgery, a fusion at L-3 through L-5.  I spent most of two months barely able to walk and stayed with my family.  I regained about 20 pounds of the 200 I lost.  I feel like a failure.  The time off of work for the surgery really wreaked havoc in my life by putting me in debt, getting behind in work, and worsening my anxiety.

 

I finally was cleared to start exercising again and have moved back home so I can control my diet.  It is time to respawn.  Even though I am sad that I cannot go back to serious barbell training, I know I should be thankful for my ability to do what I can. 

 

These are the things I promise to myself:

1) be thankful for the ability to walk without pain in my legs/feet

2)take full advantage what I can do ( bike, supported bodyweight exercises, using machines, walk)

3)walk a lot daily.

4)watch my diet strictly

5)be thankful for what I can do

 

I will get back on track.

[Scatterbunn]

Good luck with your respawn. You sound like you have a good plan of action. Just make sure, especially with your workouts you start slow and progress slow. You don't want to set back your recovery and lose progress.

[Benbear]

I have been taking it slowly.  It's been almost a month since I got the all clear to start exercising without the supervision of my PT team.  Worked up to doing a fairly challenging cycle of exercises and walking.  Compared to what I did pre surgery, walking hardly counts as exercise, but before my fusion, walking more than say 50 feet was complete misery.  I forced myself to do it, but it was as torturous as anything I had ever done before.  Now I can walk a good 30-40 minutes non stop with barely a tingle in my feet.  It is beyond wonderful.