What do I do while standing?

Week 5: I'm not sure if I'm at a stand-still or if I'm not going to progress any further. I'm a positive person. I vote for the former...stand-still. I was a little slow this week, and my legs are aching a lot.

One thought I do have frequently is, "When I can walk/stand for long periods of time, what the hell do you do?" I've sat for so long, I forget what to do when I stand. For six years, I've sat at my computer; that's all I remember what to do. I do a lot of thinking stuff; designing stuff; teaching online stuff. Now, how do I do that standing?

Week Four

Today is the end of week four after my surgery to improve my blood flow in my jugular veins. Before my surgery, the doctor told me that the increased blood flow will alleviate my cold hands and feet. Also, my MS is affected by heat and cold. I completely melt (I'm unable to lift my body parts) in extreme heat, and shiver uncontrollably in the cold. The doctor said that my body is unable to sweat, which is the human's form of air conditioning. He said this will change after the surgery.

Boy was he right. I sweat like crazy, which is a good thing, because Oregon's dry desert heat used to incapacitate me to the point that I haven't been outside much during the summer months in years. My skin is so white, it glares on the eyes brightly. The glare makes it hard to see :-)

Muscle building still is not progressing as fast as I want. I'll hang in there though.

Today is week three...

Looking at my week from the outside in as a therapist, I can say things are fine; however, most of you know me as an athlete, and I still have that athlete mentality. Gaining strength should be easy and improvement should be quick. But, it's not going quite that quickly.

Walking is tiring! :-/ I not only have been in a wheelchair for the majority of six years, I've also had an ankle brace on my leg that supported my foot from dragging on the ground, which would make me trip and fall. I took the brace off on Saturday and haven't put it back on, even though, I really really wanted to, I didn't. I figured the only way to strengthen my ankle and calf muscle is to give them no support.

I started doing laps in my house. :-) I can do three full laps in 15 minutes with the walker. Bob did ten full laps in five. I'll get there.