I met a PT at the gym today that is into rehab training and had to write out the following list for her. I’m hoping asking for help in my training will get me back on the road again doing what I love. The reason I’m posting the list is that if I can do the following workout with the amount of scar tissue and damage and limitations I have then what excuse are healthy people using not to pull the thumbs out of their backsides and get on with living. There comes a time when its better to ask for help than to try and trudge through the same problems over and over again.
Injury list highlights
L4 to S1 back injury 2 operations
2003 first bilateral lung transplant
2014 second bilateral lung transplant
throat cancer, shoulder cancer
severed quad tendon
sternum broken 3 times
scar tissue right groin 90 litre blood transfusion
left shoulder severe arthritis
most recent – tore the tendon off my right bicep a few months ago
Limitations
bending left leg, placing too much pressure on knee such as stepping off a curb too quickly. walking up stairs without a handrail. distance and speed of walking.
60% lung capacity I run out of breath quickly.cant raise left arm with weight over shoulder height, cant breath bending over diaphragm injured.
Goals
get the leg working enough to get back into the field and doing training courses on the east coast. finish Level 2 bushcraft, native foods, wilderness medicine, primitive fire lighting. Increase lung capacity. Put back on 15 kilo body weight.current weight 62 kilo. (lost 10 kilo with COVID last year 16 days in hospital and 6 kilo this year with lung infections 6 weeks in hospital.) Get back into full time martial art training. Only managing 30 minutes a day Jo staff katas.
Current work out 4 sets 20 reps aim 5kms on bike. I switched from a three day split when I restarted road bike work.
Day 1 chest
dumbbell coffin press
machine chest press
cable high raise
pec dec
day 2 legs
leg press
leg extension
seated hamstring curl
calf raises
glut machine
thigh squeeze
day 3 shoulders
front raise
side lateral raise
upright row
shrugs
(require rotator cup exercises)
day 4 ABS
side bend
cable crunches
oblique twists
(require lower ABS exercises)
day 5 arms
triceps
cable pushdowns
overhead cable
machine tricep press
biceps
cable pull up
machine curl
bicep pulldown close grip
day 6 back
seated row
lat pulldown
dumbell one arm row
machine rear deltoid
What I didn’t mention in the above list were the recovery times.
L4 to S1 back injury 2 operations – not even going into that and the amount of pain. 10 panadiene forte a day and a 6 pack of beer a day to function for years.
2003 first bilateral lung transplant – 38 days in ICU 60 kilo from 85 kilo. the nerves to the lungs didnt kick in straight away I had to try and walk with a respirator in the neck trying to get them to work. I barely made it to the door from the ward bed the first day. The transplant lasted two years and I had broncalits obliterans, went down to 25% lung capacity spent 9 years on an oxygen hose until they said I was going into respiratory failure and had a year to live. I lasted 15 months and the night I went into hospital for the last time I was called for the second set.
2014 second bilateral lung transplant – 58 days in ICU 50 kilo couldnt get out of bed, it took four people to lift me into a chair and I couldnt even hold my head upright from loss of muscle mass. dragged my arse around in a gutter frame trying to get my legs to work . was in hospital for four months. started back in martial arts 6 months later. the scar tissue in my right side put me on endone for 2 years. I was coming home from training and taking an endone and chugging two beers to stop the pain.
throat cancer, shoulder cancer – cut it out no chemo. had to dig out a piece the size of my thumb out of my shoulder twice.
severed quad tendon 6 months in a leg brace another 3 months trying to bend the leg.looking at a 3 year recovery or more ?
scar tissue right groin 90 litre blood transfusion 2 year recovery. the aorta was too short when attaching the lungs. 90 litres should have killed me. the scar tissue swelled up like a big German sausage. they cut it out and I had to wear a vacuum drain till it healed. . they gave up knocking me out for the removal of the foam from the wound and would give me two endone as the foam goes solid over a week. As nurses do they leave the call bell just out of reach and i had to help the doctor pull out the foam.the hole was large enough to put my fist in. as mentioned two years dragging my leg around, skulling beer and endone at the end of the day.
tore the tendon off my right bicep a few months ago. The whole arm swelled up to three times its size and they thought I had compartmental syndrome. which requires cutting 6 inch cuts into the muscle to relieve the pressure. just missed out on that. 100mg of fentanyl and two endone to relieve the pain. didnt even feel it. takes 200mg to knock me out for a broncosopy. Ill be pulling the hose out of my throat at 150mg.
So Four years in a wheel chair and 12 years of my life on an oxygen hose. Had to walk the dogs from a mobility scooter and too many times to count how many times in gutter frames. The nurses had to steal them in the finish to stop me from dragging myself from the ward bed to try and exercise to try and get the legs or the lungs to work. I kept wearing myself out. I became hooked on latte’s from trying to make my goal to walk from the ward to the hospital cafe every day. It didnt matter how long it took me and an hour to recover sitting there outside the ward as long as I did it.
Im on a mixture of tramadol, endone, lyrica, panadiene forte. I try to stick to panadol osti unless I have a flare up and no longer touch alcohol.
My animals got me through all of that.I had to live long enough to look after them. now there all gone Im a little lost. I keep thinking of getting another staffy but I want one to rehab. My brindle was beaten severely and it took two years of rehab to get her to walk right. I seem to have a knack for it. Its hard finding 30 kilo staffys anymore.
30 scars 30 victory’s
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