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Home of Jason Johnston
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Catching Up, Part I: Health
It's been fifteen months since my pleurodesis lung surgery. Last summer after the surgery I really didn't do a whole lot in the way of physical activity ... went on a couple easy hikes, maybe a short bike ride or two ... but for the most part I took it easy to make sure I was good and recovered. Julie also had her surgery last July so I was motivated to stay inside and help her recover rather than getting out.
This Spring, however, I promised myself would be much different. Once fully recovered, the lung surgery practically eliminated the nagging chest pains I had been living with for the prior few years, and as that pain disappeared my appetite improved drastically. I made a conscious effort over the fall and winter months to put back on the weight I had lost due to my poor health, and even more. I feel now that I'm at a much healthier weight for my build, and I have more energy as a result.
I didn't just want to put on weight, though... I needed to get my strength and stamina back up too. Julie and I both bought inline skates since it looked like a good way to get exercise and enjoy being outside without a lot of impact on knees and ankles and such. Julie never really got past the oh-crap-I-can't-keep-my-feet-under-me phase, but I stuck with it and pretty quickly became comfortable enough to really enjoy it. I also quickly discovered that Broomfield has a great network of wide paved paths that are perfect for skating. I can skate all the way from our house, down through the Broomfield community center with its ponds and recreational fields, all the way to Hwy 287 (and probably beyond), roughly a six-mile round trip, almost entirely on concrete paths. It's a great overall workout and has helped a lot with my strength and endurance.
The other thing I did was to finally splurge and buy myself a very nice mountain bike, a Gary Fisher HiFi Plus. I had always enjoyed biking as a kid (many of my fondest memories are of riding along the Santa Ana River trail with my dad) and also in more recent years, but the poor old bike I'd built from parts and kept from disintegrating all these years was showing its age and was no longer very enjoyable to ride. Buying a new bike had been on my short list for a few years but always got pushed to the back burner for other more pressing needs. But finally I saved up the money and decided to treat myself to something that would not only replace my old bike, but would also be able to handle actual mountain bike trails since we've got so many here. I had never done that kind of rough riding before, but I had a strong feeling I'd like it. I haven't been disappointed either; I've taken it out on a few trails and it handles amazingly well, and is nice to ride even on our local gravel and concrete paths. Julie also got a new bike recently so we've been doing some early-morning rides together which are lots of fun.
With all this rollerblading and biking, my strength and endurance are the best they've been in years. It feels great to be healthy, really healthy, again.
