Thank you everyone, I can't tell you how supported I feel. LurchMomma, I too have cared for these patients, and want to get healthy myself!
Laura, thank you for making me feel welcome. My Garmin monitors keeps track of your steps, distance walked, calories and sleep. It automatically sets your daily goals based on your recent activity; it's not just a 10,000-steps-fits-all setup, and your goal target is displayed as a countdown during the day. After an hour of sitting on your back-side, the band gives you an audio alert and displays a red move bar that gradually builds, making you feel more and more lazy and adding to your guilt. You need to get up and walk for a couple of minutes to reset it and wait a further 10 minutes or so for the shame to subside. This is good for me as I can easily get absorbed in work and sit at a computer for hours - so the reminder is good!
I just want to say thank you everyone for making me feel welcomed.
Steps not steller, but did somehow lose 2.8 pounds! Probably just now getting rid of all the sodium from my KY trip!
NannaAnnie: That Garmin tracker sounds interesting! Does it track your heart rate? I have irregular beats and bradycardia a lot, so I was thinking about getting one of the more advanced fitbits that have the heart rate monitor. Not just for exercise, but just to sort of keep an eye on things.
Happy Monday everyone!
Last edited by LurchMomma; 07-25-2016 at 12:00 PM.
Good evening, Everyone,
LurchMomma, there is a more advanced Garmin than what I have that does heart rate monitor. (I have the less expensive version, but I'm ok with it).
Worked today, so steps were up a little - 12, 998. Rest well and bring on Tuesday!
NannaAnnie: Wow! Great stepping! You must have a schedule similar to mine. I, too, am off today. Every other Tuesday is a rest and recovery day after the 4 day stretch which includes my weekend on. My body hurts.
My steps were 11,713. I aim for 14,000 on work days, but lately have been falling short.
LurchMomma, nice job on the steps! It does sound like our schedules are similar!
My steps today were: 11,570.
I am a bit nervous as my family and i are taking our first vacation together ever!!! (My oldest child is 30!). I hope I can stay on task during the time away.
Good Tuesday everyone, now on to Wednesday!
Monday's steps = 8,864
Tuesday's steps = 13,266 A world record for me from being at 2 appointments in the afternoon.
Hi N.Annie I have a Fitbit Charge, but then my Dh let me get the Fitbit Alta for Mother's Day because I can change the band colors I bought 3 extra on Amazon $8 each pink, mint green & violet. Mine doesn't have the heart rate on it either because that's not important to me because that feature isn't accurate. Checking our pulse placing our finger on our neck is more accurate I'm sure that your family vacation is going to be a very happy adventure for you, enjoy the memories! What kind of trip will you be on, just remember to drink lots & lots of water to keep from being dehydrated Your steps are great
Hello April, I saw that you aim for 14,000 steps on work days you must not have any old or current foot, knee or ankle injury problems You are a very Lucky person & I envy you not having any of those painful problems. Great going with your steps Monday
Thank you for your message! I have changeable bands for my Garmin too. I love being able to have it fit my wardrobe. Thanks for the advice - water will be my friend.
I agree - April you are lucky! I have had severe knee and foot injuries, so steps take a conscious effort!
Happy Wednesday everyone! We can do this!
WOOOOOHOOOOOO DEE! Congratulations on the step record!! FANTASTIC!
NannaAnnie: I envy your vacation! I will be traveling to see my grown children in October and some of my grandbabies too. My kids are 28, 30 and 33 years old. One of the reasons I'm determined to lose some of this weight is so that I'll be more comfortable when I see them, and that I will look at least a little more like the mother who raised them! LOL. Other than the gray hair and wrinkles. LOL. Try not to obsess too much about your steps while you are gone. Just enjoy the moment. Maybe you can incorporate family walks or hikes around the locale you visit, and spend that time being active while enjoying the company of your children.
You are both right. I don't have a history of knee, leg or foot injuries. I do, however, have a history of lupus, and now, recently, Lyme disease. I'm having some trouble making myself get out of bed before 10a.m., and everything on me is achy lately. My whole body hurts and I am so fatigued I barely feel as if I can drag myself through the day. I spent a lot of time wading the creek in the sun with my little granddaughter in KY last week and noticed I had the old rash on my face that I get when I have an exacerbation of the lupus. I was diagnosed back in 1992, but I never really believed I had it. LOL. Over the years, I have gone through periods of this debilitating fatigue and aching. I have been taking a lot of aspirin the past few days and now my stomach is upset. I don't believe in meds if I can possibly avoid them. Aspirin seems to help the pain and it has been around forever. I hope the symptoms pass soon. I want to get my steps back up there again....
Have a great day! I hope Laura and Trina are doing well!
LurchMomma, I'm so sorry - both diseases are tough ones! I love your positive attitude - I would like to think I would be so positive, but not sure I would be. The fatigue can be so debilitating. I am thinking of you!
Nanna Annie: Thank you for the kind words. I really am very fortunate. The Lupus has always been more of a nuisance than anything. I've never been hospitalized. I came close to having to take prednisone once because the rheumatologist suspected I had pericarditis based on symptoms and two abnormal EKGs, but I went to church with a friend and they anointed me with oil and prayed for me, and the next EKG was normal. Rheumy had said if one more was abnormal, I'd have to take the prednisone. At least, that's as best as I remember it. It was 1992 and I was pretty young and not a nurse yet. I just take aspirin when it flares up and it usually eases up after a while. My creatinine has been mildly elevated a few times, but it pretty much hangs out around the high normal range. Anyway, I know that many, many people have severe symptoms and many people die from complications. I consider myself blessed to only have the symptoms that I do. The Lyme Disease is uncharted territory. I hope the antibiotics took care of the nasty little spirochetes and that I won't have any further issues. I'm not sure what is really bothering me now, so I'm calling it "Lymepus".
Pain is mostly in my elbows today, general achy legs, really tired. Made myself go for a walk before work and I think it actually helped!
Good morning everyone,
LurchMomma, way to go on the steps! I am glad you have been able to hold Lupus at bay- the power of prayer is amazing! I know of someone who has Lupus that unfortunately her kidneys gave up - she is doing better now, but had a rough go for a few months, kidneys working again. Praying your Creatinine stays in a healthy zone and you are able to live life to its fullest! I love "Lymepus"! What a great name! Yesterday was less active - not at work, so easier to sit more!
Steps Thursday: 9,610.
Have a great Friday everyone!
NannaAnnie: Those steps of yours are great for not working. I'm off today, but "on call", so we shall see. As of yet, I'm barely chugging forward. I hate being on-call. Can't plan anything. Oh well, such is life in nursing. One weekend every thirteen weeks. It used to be worse than that, even. When you only get two days in a row off every other week, it causes that much more resentment, especially on the Friday before. LOL. Can't even look forward to your (every other) weekend off.....
My new motto: Focus on "fitness", not "fatness" and the weight will take care of itself!
Afternoon all. Been a very rough week for my boyfriend and I as we put our 13 yr (+5 mos.) Dog to sleep. April, the Stephen King quote in your signature is particularly apt right now. We know we did the right thing, the right way & at the right time for our doggie, but we sure will miss him.
Past 7 days of steps:
Fri. 7,491
Thurs 6,083
Wed. 3,311
Tues. 6,266
Mon. 6,215
Sun. 2,916
Sat. 4,815
April - Wonderful job on steps. I hope your weekend on call is still enjoyable. I like your new motto.
NannaAnnie - Good job on the steps on your day off! I get more steps on my workdays too, but from my commute, not my job.
Hello N.Annie, It's so wonderful seeing people caring about something that we all take for granted in life, 'walking', that is available Everywhere with the exception of people with lower immobility I hope that if you know other people who are also using a fitness tracker that you will invite them to join our thread for support. Are you also a nurse as April is? I remember you saying about having a day off. Your steps are wonderful, our health is about keeping mobile because Walking is a important part of our 'bodies having its personal health insurance'
April, I enjoy your positive energy that you share with us. 3FC has touched so many lives, it's amazing to come somewhere that we are accepted & not criticized for being ourselves, we each have beauty. Your new motto should be taught by all physicians My steps fluctuate, I wish mine were stable like yours are. Great going sister!
Laura, Thank you for sharing Coal with everyone. I remember his pics & how happy he was, that's his memory he needs you to think about, not his final weeks of pain. Are you using your cellphone app or your pedometer the most now? When the holiday season starts the trackers will be back on sale again, do you think you'll get another tracker then? Do you look at your Fitbit friends app, I about fainted when I saw my steps yesterday-Friday from hiking in our woods by myself.
Well, I made it through the day without the dreaded order to drop everything ("everything" being, in my case, LAUNDRY, a very important and necessary endeavor, don't you know.....) and report directly to work. Phew!
Laura: I understand and am sorry about the loss of Coal. It is so difficult, even when you know the time is coming, and you can somewhat mentally prepare for it. My profile picture is my dog, Phoenix. I don't know if you saw my post a few days ago about losing my dog and my stepson on the same day, but the oddest thing happened that I didn't mention. Our other two dogs were deeply affected, Dodge, our chocolate lab laid in the kitchen floor and kept vigil at the spot where she died for hours, and Zip, the Jack Russel, was just bereft and not "zippy" at all. Of course, when we got the call that my stepson, James, had been killed, the loss of Phoenix was swallowed up by the grief over the loss of James. I mentioned in the other post about the awful, mournful sound of desolation and despair that Phoenix uttered just as she was dying and how, in retrospect, it seemed as if she was warning us of what was coming, and how it seems as if everything in life is somehow connected.....what I didn't mention was the fact that when I went to get the newspaper that had James' obituary, I unfolded it, and on the back was a huge article about the grief of pets and how when one dies, the others mourn. Now, to me, only GOD would arrange something so coincidental as that. They both died on the same day, and the obituary and that article both appeared in the paper on the same day. It was like GOD was saying HE controls all things, not only when people die, but when their four footed companions die as well. I will never understand why GOD took James so young, but I feel like He used the death of Phoenix to somehow comfort us. Sort of like showing us that EVERYTHING is intentional and that even "accidents" aren't accidental.
Dee: Great Scott you wild woman! You almost DOUBLED the record you set earlier in the week! That is simply AMAZING! Congratulations! Thank you for your kind words earlier. I do believe we often focus on the wrong thing. It should be about optimal health and not arbitrary numbers.
NannaAnnie: I hope you are having a great weekend and racking up the steps on your Garmin!
I went for a walk just before dark and managed to get my 10,000 steps, which is my goal for my days off. I think I'm getting a little bit of my chutzpah back! Yikes! A little chutzpah goes a long way!
April
Last edited by LurchMomma; 07-31-2016 at 02:59 AM.
A world record for me 
from being at 2 appointments in the afternoon.
I have a Fitbit Charge, but then my Dh let me get the Fitbit Alta for Mother's Day because I can change the band colors 
I bought 3 extra on Amazon $8 each pink, mint green & violet. Mine doesn't have the heart rate on it either because that's not important to me because that feature isn't accurate. Checking our pulse placing our finger on our neck is more accurate 
I'm sure that your family vacation is going to be a very happy adventure for you, enjoy the memories! What kind of trip will you be on, just remember to drink lots & lots of water to keep from being dehydrated 
Your steps are great 
We miss you both.
April, the Stephen King quote in your signature is particularly apt right now. 
