Sinead I completely understand how you feel now having been so active. I too was a very heathy person. Never took a single tablet. Walked 6 miles a day. Loved being outdoors. Went to the gym and did swimming. That all ended rather abruptly 6 1/2 years ago when my back went click for no apparent reason. I was lying down at the time and just about to get up off the couch. Now it's a different story. I do go walking but nothing like I used to do!!!! That's been the hardest for me. But I'm pushing myself every week to do just that little bit more even if I have to pay the consequences later. It might be just an extra 5 mins but I try. Plus it's a great time to clear the head and do lots of thinking!!

I hate the fact that I can't do things around the house like I used to like painting and decorating. It's sooo frustrating having to sit/lie down and watch while my husband takes over I then remind myself that you know there are far worse off cases out there and I should be grateful that I can get out and about!!!

Thank God for my laptop/iPad too otherwise I would be a basket case

Take care

Jackie

Hi Jackie,

You know what, you sound just like me. I miss my activeness so much as you say it was a great way to clear my head and deal with the stresses of the day. Now I feel like that's all been taken away from me, like you I too push myself just that extra 5 min. Sometimes I pay the price for it and somedays I don't.

I've also put on alot of weight since i stopped being so active and with all the meds I find it difficult to lose it. I also find that all my energy goes towards staying strong and coping with pain. I don't have the concentration or the energy to work on a real diet and when I do I lose nothing. My doctor reckons that is the meds.

Hopefully one of these days we will both be free of this tortuous back pain and be reliant soley on our stims so we can walk 5-6 miles a day and maybe swim a little bit, i'd love to be like Kim, i'm very jealous (and happy) of her although i'm aware she is over a year sincer her surgery and we're both very recent.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one here that misses their exercise and the energy it used to give me.

all the best,

Sinéad

How about a little bike riding.... NO not the Harley D, I mean the push the pedal kind of bicycle. Prior to the wreck, I was riding bike 12 miles a day, whether my real mountain bike, or, if traveling, the hotel stationary bikes.

My wife and I now have bikes and we are riding to rebuild strength and stamina. It is a kick!! Hiking, I used to do, but cannot truly do the wilderness stuff I did because the legs are not what they were with the numbness and all, so I treadmill it, allowing me to hold on as I stride- balance and propreoception is not an issue then. Pool exercise in the local therapy pool is a good one for us.

I may not be doing all I did before, but there is no reason not to give it a go at what we CAN do. GO KIM GO!!!

Yeah, OOah,
Mark56