Getting better all the t-i-m-e

Three old farts reading the news

Our barista took this picture of us this morning, at my behest. I stayed away from the Saturday morning walk for two reasons: first, my hip is better but not great, and second, I caught a cold that has kept me home for two days. This morning I'm resisting taking any cold medicines so I can be sure that I'm actually on the mend. Who can tell with drugs running through your system?

I have been doing the exercises suggested by the physical therapist on Thursday. I know some of my readers think I should have gone to the doctor for a "real" diagnosis of my hip problem, but last year when my knee went out on me and I followed that route, I learned only one thing: medical doctors are the LAST ones you want to see with an overuse injury. They took x-rays and looked at them and said, "huh." Nothing showed up, and I knew it would be the same with this hip problem. And all by itself it started to get better, even before the physical therapist, but I know what I can do and what I can't. Walking fast is the most difficult movement (that's what the ladies do), and with it being so sore, I didn't want to stress it with a hike all day long on Thursdays. But this coming Thursday, I'm going to join the Senior Trailblazers, if all continues to improve as it is right now.

After the coffee shop, I decided to try a short walk by myself and see how it went. One thing that Dr. Ed said was to listen to what's going on in my body and pay attention, back off if it hurts and push it a little bit otherwise. So I walked along Boulevard Park for a couple miles and then took the bus back to my car. It was a very successful outing, and I then came home and used the foam roller I ordered from Amazon to work out my hip. He told me to be sure to do the same thing on both sides, and when they are equal in sensation, my hip should be the way it was before the incident two weeks ago. (It feels like it was longer ago than that, but it wasn't. Just two weeks.)

On Thursday morning I went to have my blood drawn in anticipation of my annual doctor's appointment coming up this Wednesday. Because of being able to see the results online through the hospital's  medical records, I see that my results are rather exciting: my total cholesterol is now below 200 (198), and my "good" cholesterol is 84. Another amazing thing is that my triglycerides are 39! That's down from 75 last year. Anything under 100 is good. I was really surprised at the drop. So the family problem of high cholesterol seems to be under control, with exercise and statins. It gave me quite a boost and I resisted sending the results right away to my sister. We are a little bit competitive in this regard, but I know she'll read it here. Yay for good numbers and healing hips!
:-)