Week Three - Thursday

Today was the first day that I walked all the way to the rehab room without stopping and without much shortness of breath. What a victory ! I also added some time to some of the exercises and did all 4 machines. I cannot believe that I forgot to do the recumbent bike on Tuesday! I mixed it up today for a change and to keep it from getting boring, a dangerous state for anyone exercising because that leads to disinterest.

Before I started, my BP was 169/90, Pulse 100, O2 97%. By the time I was finished, my BP was 140/76, P99, O2 96%. I use my O2 at 4L anytime I'm moving around.

First I went to the UBE, upper body ergometer, and finally got up to 10 minutes! It isn't the torture it used to be either and that makes me so happy!

Next was the recumbent bike and I cycled for 8 minutes, up from 6 the last time. It's starting to become more natural. The first few times I felt like I was really jerking my legs.

Then the treadmill for 15 minutes at 1.0. Again, I've added some minutes to this one also. Maybe next week I'll a little more spead to it. But for today, it felt really good to get to 15 minutes.

Finally I went to the Nu-step. I just love this piece of equipment! I've got a pretty good rhythm going on this. I did 15 minutes at Level 5 and was able to do 1,525 steps. Maybe next week I can go for 20 minutes.

I should mention here that everyday at home I do breathing exercises for about 15 minutes about 2 or 3 times a day. I do diaphramatic breathing and sometimes use a P-Flex, an inspirational muscle trainer. I know I should use that everyday and I have no good excuse for not using it, so I am going to have to work on that! I also work with 3lb weights every other day for arm strengthening.

So my endurance is better and my blood pressure is better and I am so excited for what more I can do! See you next week!

~Eileen