Resistance Exercise Attempt

The last time I lifted weights was probably 7 years ago. Once I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, I was told to avoid the weight room and stick with the treadmill. However, there seems to be a shift in that thinking within the medical community. It seems that a little resistance training isn't as bad for a sick heart as they once thought.

Since I've been having this post reversal nerve pain, I haven't even dared to think about the idea of weight training. It's been hard enough getting to the treadmill, let alone picking up weights. Nerve pain doesn't like a lot of physical activity. In fact, in my case it seems to hate it. But it also hates laying around all day too. Quite a conundrum.

Well, I've employed my wife who is a physical therapist and asked her advice. I feel incredibly deconditioned and think my heart is suffering. I actually told someone that I felt like I was dying. So there you have it. Something has to be done, right? But what?

My wife suggested some very low, trunk stable resistance/lifting exercises here at the house. We have these kettle bells from her workouts and so the idea is to use them with high repetitions. I have now performed a type of chest press, row, curl, overhead stability lift and military press twice in the last three days. My goal is to keep the weight in the 10-15 pound range, but have the reps begin at 12 per set.

I had some pain in my right groin the day after my first exercise day. But I also leaned over to pick up a rock on a beach and felt something pop down there. So I'm not sure if it was the exercise or the bending over that brought on the pain. I took some tylenol and it went away. Last night I performed another session. This morning seems okay so far. Nothing out of the ordinary.

To make things interesting, I had an E.J. this morning. That is my first one in about 4 weeks I believe. Everyone has been sick with this stinking cold thing. I'm still coughing and my wife is still sniffling. So intimacy has been a rarity.

I'll try to get to the treadmill today, since I'm feeling a little bit better (with my cold I mean). My goal is to walk on the treadmill on the one day and use the kettle bells on the next day. Maybe my body will let me continue this pattern for a couple of months! That would be exciting. Just the idea of doing some kind of exercise makes me giddy. I can't wait. I'm also going to try to eat better.

Discipline is something I have rarely had in the kitchen. But having a belly doesn't seem to help my pain. Especially when I sit down and it hangs over my belt and pushes the inguinal tissue down. That can't be good. It may not be bad, but I'm going to think it is to help me with my motivation and discipline.

I hope to continue cautiously, plodding forward without over doing it. I can't afford any setbacks. I hope to see a cardiologist in our new city in the next month or two. I want to get a good report, so that should provide the necessary motivation and discipline too.

I continue to have good days here recently, except for two days ago when I bent over at the beach. I'll be curious to see what happens in the coming weeks. I hope people continue to pray for me like they have. It's great knowing that people are supporting me in that way. I love them all dearly for it and thank God for them in my life. Lord willing, things will continue to stay stable. I pray they do.

Plowing the Field

Day 3 of walking and eating right is going well. I'm having a lot of nerve pain though. I think that might be related to the stretching I've been doing after my walk. It seems like stretching makes the nerve pain worse. I may skip that step today. But, I'm going to keep walking even if I continue to have pain. That's a hard thing for me to say and I guess, my resolve on this matter will be tested at some point.

Besides having post vasectomy pain syndrome, I also have cardiomyopathy - or at least I did. My heart seems to have rebounded nicely, according to my cardiologist. But with my extreme inactivity related to my PVPS, I've noticed that I get short of breath with very little activity. This makes me think that I've got to get my heart back in shape. Especially, if we want to be the outdoors family - hiking, camping, fishing, etc.

I spoke to my wife last night about what I've been going through: regarding my pain. I try not to bum her out too much with this kind of update, but it's important for her to know what I'm going through. So we usually have an update session once every month. She was very supportive of my intention to walk and become active again. She feels, as do I, that the nerve pain may be a barrier to my activity for a while, but it may get better over time. The more I walk, perhaps the less pain I'll have. The theory is the pain fibers will be freed up with the walking motion instead of being entrapped from all my sitting around.

The stretching is a key piece for me, because I love to stretch out. Oddly, it is my favorite part of exercise. I may try to perform the stretches that I know don't cause any pain at first. Then slowly add gentle stretches which incorporate my core/abdominal/lower back/groin muscle groups.

As far as my pain goes, I had a lot last night. I woke up a couple of times. This morning has been okay. The occassional nerve like groin pain and slight feeling of discomfort where my scrotum attaches to my body. I pray today will be a good day for me and all others who suffer from this dreaded syndrome.

Waking up at Night

Something weird has been happening the last couple of months. I'm not sure if it's related to my reversal surgery or my cardiomyopathy. I'm waking up at night having to urinate. I've never had to do this before. I remember my heart doctor asking if I would do this, to which I always answered "no".

This has me wondering what the deal is. Something else that has happened since my vasectomy almost 6 years ago is that when I do urinate, it's nothing like when I was in my twenties or early thirties. There is a lot of dribbling involved and I would have difficulty emptying my bladder completely.

My uro gave me some "rapidflo" meds which is supposed to help, if it's uro related. He thinks my anatomy is such that something or other sits lower in my pelvis and is therefore making me have these problems. I took a Rapidflo pill last night and woke up at 2:00 am having to pee like a race horse. I had to go again at 6:50 am.

I'll try these pills for a couple of weeks and see if that helps, but I'm a little concerned about my heart. It's been eight months since I've been able to exercise. I hope this dreaded PVPS hasn't hurt it further. I need to find some kind of consistant aerobic exercise that won't hurt my scrotum. If I walk too fast, my groin and scrotum hurt. But I can't think of anything else to do. I know I'm not supposed to ride a bike. I don't have access to a pool. I'm not sure what that leaves.

As far as pain goes, I had an  "e-jac" (code for you know what) yesterday evening. The sensation on my right side went away, but my left side became very achey afterwards. Not sure what the deal is. This morning though, I have a little twinge sensation in both my right and left inguinal area, but nothing I would consider painful. I hope this is as bad as I will feel today.

Helpful People on the Forum

Yesterday evening was a better day than Sunday. I had a constant ache on the left side of my scrotum. My left teste structure is once again crescent shaped and it seems like when that happens, it is hurting. It could always be crescent shaped, but this is a very exaggerated shape, almost banana-like. Interestingly, my right side didn't really hurt at all.

Well, I took it easy yesterday - or at least I thought I was. We had some rain the night before which makes it very easy to pull weeds. Simply reach down and pull them out with no straining whatsoever. But I found out that the innocent act of stooping and bending causes testicular pain. I promise, I had no idea that would hurt, but it did. Even without straining. So I stopped at the first sign of pain and came back indoors.

Later in the evening, I spoke to one of the support group wives about our insurance challenges. She was very insightful and gave us some great advice regarding how to appeal the denied claim. I can't express to her and her husband how thankful I am for their input and help. She strongly believes that God works in the lives of us humans, as I do. Perhaps I'll blog about that some time soon, because my faith is such a huge part of this and any other part of my life.

After speaking to her, my wife and I had a very nice conversation about this situation. Anyone close to our situation will tell you this has been hard on my wife. Not because she convinced me to get the vasectomy, but rather, she just hates to see me in pain and there's nothing she can do about it. She feels helpless. She's also concerned that this loss in activity is going to kill me. You see, I also have cardiomyopathy which means my heart is weaker than it should be. I've been taking a med for this for a few years now and my cardiac stress tests all look normal. But since I haven't been able to be active since last August, she's concerned that my heart isn't getting the exercise it should and thus might become weak again.

I do get short of breath with just a little bit of activity, but I keep telling myself that it's more of a function of being out of shape, rather than my heart acting up. I do get chest pains, but I'm not sure those are cardiac related.

Anyway, I think I've decided to get expert advice about my situation. There is a PVPS doctor in Houston, which is only about 5 hours away. I think I'll find out more about him and then have him check me out. I'm just not confident that my uro is experienced enough with my type of syndrome to be any more help.

I really think I need another ultra-sound of my scrotum to check out the change in anatomy and to address the crescent shaped testicle. I also want to discuss options to control the nerve pain, so I can get a little more active, for my heart health. I spoke to my wife and she supports me on this next step. But now, we have to get ready for Tennessee - we leave tomorrow and it's a 12 hour drive (yikes!). That's a lot of sitting!

There won't be much journaling in the next several days until we get back. I pray we have a comfortable and productive trip.