only 10 short weeks before I take my first steps and start crossing the Mississippi into Wisconsin so I will do weekly updates like this until then.. Although my profile provides the basics on the, who/what/how & why's for doing OLDGUYWALK. This is my attempt to fill in all the spaces.
DISCLAIMER- I am not a writer- (as you will soon find out) but want to share my thoughts via this forum and hopefully not put everyone to sleep. Apologies in advance for taking such a serious tone to this post but I think it is required for the subject at hand
How does this OldGuy Walk (OGW) get done. (PART 1)
Most would think it was the other way around but the easiest part is doing the workouts in preparing for the 250 mile trek by foot & pedal across our great State. The hard part is the planning, the coordination and the time management of working full time with 2 kids, 2 dogs, and hopefully a very understanding wife.
Historical snapshot - Feb 2010 - Oct 2011
About 2 years ago I was pushing the scales at 380 pounds finding even my 46-48 inch waist jeans and 3x t-shirts getting snug. Then my wonderful supportive wife Jen suggested we try weight-watchers try to lose a few LBS and get healthy again. I thought it made sense since my doctor said my cholesterol was awful and I had started showing a high risk for diabetes. But dieting and lipitor alone was not the only thing to help get me going. Jen said she could see me reach for a goal of doing a triathlon which at the time made me think she'd lost her marbles. But as little by little weight came off and I was able to walk more and more during the end of winter 2010 I started to feel differently about that crazy women's suggestion and said what the heck GO FOR IT!. First thing I did was make a commitment to myself and also start by telling others I was going to do a triathlon. This established a set goal I was unable to change without admitting I failed. I enlisted a nephew (DJ) and a friend from Madison (Thanks Dan) to join me for encouragement and set out to workout as often as I could setting my sights on completing a Sept Sprint Tri event in Whitewater WI. The event was 500 yards of swimming, followed by 13.7 miles biked and a 5k run to the finish line. Starting in March and all the way through that summer I walked/ran/biked/& swam 5-6 days a week (even at times in the rainy stuff) Getting up at 5:30 am or earlier I was able to pull my out of shape body from the bad direction it was headed and by the time of the event I had dropped about 80 lbs weighing in at 295 and was ready for anything- BRING it ON was my attitude! Well I learned a valuable lesson that day of the TRI, one that I hate to admit was a little bit of a disappointment. I finished dead last among all the men who were in the event, in fact most of the women had better times than me. I still felt some satisfaction that I was able to get back to being a bit more healthy but boy oh boy I wish I would have done better than at least one other guy!!
After the race - After doing the triathlon you'd think I was turning a corner into off the rack clothing stores once again that did not begin with the words- BIG N TALL. Well that's where you would be wrong, you see I went right back into eating poorly and not working out before the 1st frost hit that Fall. I let my satisfaction with my effort over shadow the real reason for doing the triathlon in the first place. It was not about finishing ahead of anyone it was about finishing and to keep on living a healthier lifestyle. So guess what, I gained back 25 pounds in just a few months and just before we poured gravy over the mashed potato's at thanksgiving I was already above the 320lbs mark. That's when something else hit home with another wake up call.
Devastating News for the holiday's - As Christmas fast approached we wanted the family to gather together, Jen's side on Christmas Eve and than my side Christmas day as we had done traditionally since we got married. My Mom whom was quite the hypochondriac in my opinion always complaining about one ache or another was on the phone telling me that the Doctor she had seen thought she had pneumonia.
I scoffed at her , thinking here she was trying to avoid spending another Christmas at my home for gift opening with our kids. (she'd missed several holiday gatherings in past years so I expected it) Well selfish me I was consumed with the "what now Ma "syndrome and never thought it was anything but a bad cold and she was making a big deal over it. (we all know the Cry Wolf story- right). Well as it turns out after being a bit gruff with her only a week earlier and just before Christmas she called again and said the doctors suspected small cell lung cancer and she did not think she would make to my home for gift exchange and opening. Never hearing of such a cancer , I did not believe it (something I will never forgive myself for) "SO OK" I said, and upon telling Jen the news we just went about Christmas activities not expecting her but hoping my dad would join us.
Christmas day came and neither my Dad, Mom or older brother showed up. So my other brother, his wife and nephew and niece along with my Family set off to make the best of a bad situation and start dinner without them. No sooner had we set the table my father and brother arrived (no mom in sight) I then learned that they had just come from the hospital where my mom's diagnosis's was confirmed as small cell lung cancer and a oncologist appointment the following week was set up. At first it was pure shock to me and the rest of the adults but we somehow went through the motions for my young kids sake and continued on with Christmas day festivity's. The next day I called and talked to mom and told her how sorry I was and what we could do next. Guilt ridden over how crappy my attitude was regarding our earlier talks I wanted her to know I would be there all the way to talk to the oncologist and help hold her hand as we looked for treatment options for her. For the first time in my life I saw my Dad who is normally pretty stoic, show an inability to deal with what was being said, I had a pretty hard time dealing with it too!! But Mom needed a hand holder and I was determined I would be there if she needed mine.to hold onto.
The day of appointment came and the Doctor a kind man entered the room and gave the worst news anyone would ever want to hear. Mom was terminal and had very little time based on the test she had already taken. He was clear and concise and said with treatment her life was at best only a few months from ending, without it, just a few weeks. Mom needed to decide her course of action but nothing about it was good. Treatment with radiation and Chemo would only worsen her quality of life but prolong it. Doing nothing meant hospice care when the time came and keeping her as comfortable as possible. In the end she decided to let the cancer take her because she had no fight left in her. She gathered the whole family together a couple days later and told us all what was happening. After a lot of anguished looks shared with some heavy crying and hugging one another we all honored her wishes.
Jen's niece Megan who worked in a nursing home came to look in on Mom the following weeks and help dad out, but within 2-3 weeks Mom needed to be moved into a hospice care facility. Less than 3 weeks later she passed away and I held her hand as much as I could until the end, finally reading her eulogy at the funeral. Feb 4th 2011
What next- Do something!
As I written above my relationship with Mom was not perfect, but the love I had for her was never in doubt. I told my wife that I needed to raise awareness of detection inadequacies for lung cancer and wanted to do some type of tribute to her and raise a donation for any organization the works on this important issue. I googled lung cancer detection research and ultimately found the LUNGevity foundation.
One of my first idea's was to do a Forrest Gump type walk/ run across the country. Jen said I was nuts and talked me part way down from my perch. The 2nd idea I had was to walk from lake Michigan across Wisconsin and the over the Mississippi river crossing into MN. Well she was not sold on it but relented to my aspirations and off I went to start training for this yet to be named event. A month passed and I began in earnest to walk 3-4 miles a day with a day off per week to rest. While training I remembered my times getting ready for the first Tri and started to do some light combo jogging along with the walk. One problem thou I developing this nagging aching pain in my right knee (more on that later) So April came and my first birthday without ma (age 53) and I decided to start walking 2 times a day 3-4 miles each time and build up endurance. I threw event names at Jen for her feedback and also a way to drag into my crazy dream.
We came up with names like the "Fat Guy stroll" or "Fat Old Man walking". She came up with OldGuy Walk. After more pestering for help she even built my Blog and got me set up with a facebook page- OGW came to life and I was on my way!!
Summer time- 2011
Come May - Jen came home from work telling me that her company was doing a wellness program in June called the Ironman Challenge - It was a compilation event that would let you record distance and time to add together over the 30 days in June to complete a full Ironman (6.7 mile swim,112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run (or walk in my case) I embraced this as another goal to achieve and completed the entire activity over 26 days in just 15 hours 7 minutes (thank god we have a pool). Yep I was pretty pumped at this time. But my right knee just did not seem to be feeling better, in fact it was worse.
One of my neighbors who walks down to the bus stops with her her son and my kids in the mornings happened to be a registered nurse and after describing my knee pain to her she said it sounded arthritic. "Nonsense said my inside voice!!" Well by this time Summer was in full swing and by July I was doing 2 to 3 walks per day avg 4-5 miles each. The Knee hurt all the time, even with popping 3 to4 ibuprofen a day and it was getting worse. First I thought maybe I had a ligament issue or a meniscus tear but I pushed through the pain determined not to let it stop me from doing OGW.
August arrived and Jen and I started to talk about the setting a date in 2012. I was now able to do at least 3 to 4 walks daily taking only one day off per week for rest. Getting up at 5am for my first walk and finishing off my last walk around dusk. Then I hit the proverbial knee wall- That 2nd Saturday morning I got up early as usual and decided to walk as far as I could non-stop. Almost 14 miles in fact, but when I finally made it back home my right knee literally locked up and hurt so bad that I could hardly limp through the next 3 days.
Jen said, " CALL THE DOCTOR"! - I did but he happened to be unavailable for 3 weeks because he blew out his Achilles in baseball game, so I was coy and told my wife I needed to wait until Mid Sept to see him and would slow down but kept on trying to build up my endurance (unsuccessfully thou). My knee only slightly improved and again my neighborhood nurse mom said it sounded like arthritis. That's when I started to consider it possible. The day of my doctor appt arrived and he suggested physical therapy and to lighten my load, take shorter walks and less often. I complied still with a firm belief I would heal up and all would be well.
DJD prognosis's - See part 2 next week - How did I continue with OGW?
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