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The Importance of Being Ordinary
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- Written by MattLopez
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Well, before you start wondering where I have been all this time, I was back to work and the last few weeks were extremely busy even with my capacity as per diem PT. Summer is usually the season of vacations for many Therapists and as per diem, I was assigned to cover for them. As I found out, I am still attracted and highly confident in areas of Acute care especially in Trauma, so, I was all over the place taking care of anything trauma-related: MVA, MCA, GSW, Assaults and add to that are some Limb Lengthening procedures and lots of back surgeries. So there, what I thought would be a light duty became the same old same old, until this week when all them Therapists returned to work and I got canceled. That's ok, I am preparing to return to the university anyway to resume my quest for my second Bachelor's degree in IT. And by the last week of August I might need as much free time as I could. This goes without saying that I might be slower in updating my blogs again (depending on the severity of the courses and assignments) so right now, I am trying to finish what I promised myself to finish before school resumes.
I was able to complete my Healthysport Questionnaire and will try to finish the food types and servings table. I also need to populate my sister's Knitstore and by the end of August I should have all done what I wanted to do as far as this website is concerned. Obviously I won't be 'disappearing' but I may from time to time blog the things I want to share with people. The good thing about this blogging and web designing as far as PT is concerned is, it gives me an impetus to study my profession. There was a time I treated my profession as a simple job necessary to pay my bills. Now with my current interests, I keep on studying about this field because I find a reason to do so.
I am in love with sharing information, this much I know. And though my information can be inadequate and raw at times, it is still information. I am not about to lie about my qualifications and would not pretend to be an expert. I know I have taken care of PT patients, mostly in hospitals for the last twenty years and my experience might complement my lack of specialty. This I also wish to tell you: I have used my body constantly in learning about health. I can easily get you out of the bed via hoyer or sliding board; I can easily pick you up in between parallel bars and make you shift weight in preparation for walking; oh yes, I can even clean your wounds in the whirlpool or lavage depending on the need, and I can even tell and show you all your back precautions, knee precautions, hip precautions after surgery - but I won't be able to teach you how to become above the ordinary. My role in life had always been to return anyone as close as possible to their level prior to getting sick. Now to teach you how to become an athlete for the Olympics or how to acquire a sexy body to land you on the cover of GQ magazine is something I'd rather refer to the athletic/sports specialists or personal trainers. That is not my job.
Everyday I deal with patients who lost something, mainly a function. Everyday, I deal with patients afraid to lose their abilities to work, be involved, be productive. Everyday, I deal with old men and women whose lives are constantly reminded of deterioration, weakness and perhaps departures from this earth. Do they come to me asking how to be an athlete? No. Do they ask me how to look good? No. All they ask is to be normal and ordinary.
Believe it or not, becoming normal and ordinary is such a big challenge after you are visited by an accident or a disease. Ask a person who recently had a stroke or a heart attack or has been paralyzed by spinal injury. That single step, that single standing, that single getting out of bed or even a single small twitch in a leg muscle is so much of a big deal they start screaming in celebration and joy once it is accomplished. dealing with these patients has been my world for the last twenty years.
I too am going through what my patients have gone through. As I approach the mid-century mark I am beginning to understand many of my patients complaints: The mornings are such a hassle when you deal with pain. We can no longer rekindle the sexual fire we used to possess. We are slowly getting isolated from old friends who are moving farther and farther away. The kids we thought belonged to us are now gone belonging to their own independence. The speed we used to brag about is gone. We could no longer keep up with the sports team mates who are much younger. Our taste for fun is radically changed and deviated from what used to be. Suddenly we ask people to repeat themselves because we missed a phrase or two while talking to us. Some of us pause a while to recall where we placed our keys or did we turn off the stove before we left the house? Some of us look a little closer at objects or people or places because our eyes fail us at times.
At age forty I changed my lifestyle because I was one of those young people who thought they knew everything. I thought, being in health care rendered me free and immune from the ailments attacking my patients. Until the painful truth struck me: My cholesterol was high. My triglycerides were critical. My BP was high. My sugar was high. And I was stupid that I smoked. I was only 39 years old. Frightened by this truth I embarked on a journey that I still pursue even today. I started training for half marathons, I rekindled my love for swimming and when given extra time I went on cycling. Later on my MD proclaimed I was diabetic. So I changed my eating habits that I lost 25 pounds and kept it. And now, I am a 49 year old fit man, but I am no extra-ordinary.
Being fit is what Nature intended man to be. Ordinary people are not designed to run 26 miles, swim 2 miles, or bike 120 miles but some are gifted to do those. Ordinary people like me do not belong to that elite athletic crowd. Many of us dream to be but we can't. Many of us assume we can but really, that's why people collapse and die while in a race or while training. To be active doesn't have to mean we can beat every Tom, Dick and Harry that cross our path. Being fit alone should be enough to cause us to celebrate. There is nothing more triumphant than acquiring a normal BP, normal pulse, normal sugar, healthy readings of blood tests, having a normal healthy weight after being diagnosed abnormal with them. After so many years of constant work-out and dieting and discipline, all my readings have finally normalized. I did it all without medications. And that is what I want to share with anyone that cross my way. Will I be ordinary for the rest of my life? I doubt it. But right now, I celebrate about my fitness and regaining of my ordinary self.
Reminders about my recent work-outs:
08/04 - swim for 1 hour
08/02- interval training x 5 miles total
08/01 - swim for 1 hour
Journey of a Diabetic 4
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- Written by MattLopez
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In the real world, however, Person A and Person B will most likely differ in responding to any exercise routine. For obvious reasons.
1. Age differences will require exercise modification. I certainly would not provide the same exercise for a twenty year old person and a sixty year old person.
2. Medical conditions will require modification. A person with a heart condition will have a different exercise routine from a healthy-no-diagnosis person.
3. Fitness status will require modification. A person who has been playing all types of sports and winning all games will have a different exercise plan from someone who has been a couch potato all his life.
4. Mental attitude will require modification. A person who is lukewarm to exercise will require a different approach from one who is gearing to exercise.
These are just 4 of the reasons that would make me design a program uniquely for an individual. These are mainly my logic in raising the point of ‘individualized’ exercise programs. In the ideal world, there are certain activities everyone can do. Certain light activities like walking, doing light range of motion exercises, light regimens like tai-chi, anything light are usually ‘safe’ for some one 16 to 100 years old. Unfortunately, not everybody is into ‘light’ activities. A health care worker like me will draw a different plan for each person depending on the 4 reasons mentioned above. A person with joint replacement, recent heart bypass, recently diagnosed cancer, certain type of neurological compromise, diabetes, pain, injuries and thousands more conditions will need a self tailored routine.
Though a Physical Therapist or a Personal Trainer will be able to provide these exercise regimens unique to your health status, that PT supervision will eventually end and, you, as the client, will be left on your own.
And that is usually where the underlying problem lies in our dysfunctional health care system. There is a missing self-driven consistency and follow-up which remains as the culprit in America’s fight versus an unhealthy population. Combine that with widespread unhealthy food and a lifestyle promoting less activity, we end up with a costly, skewed, impractical and overwhelming monster called Health Care Debacle.
No matter how we look at it - the current system is intervention-driven rather than prevention-driven. It puts the total control on the health care provider instead of on the patient. It appears that many patients have given up the management of their health to the Doctors, Nurses, PTs, pharmacists, politicians, lawyers, businessmen, insurance companies etcetera instead of ‘owning’ it themselves.
But the blame can not just be limited to the patients. It’s the whole concept of consumerism and these ‘for-profit’ health providers that took away the responsibility from the patient. Though it is ideal to wake up one day and have a butler assist you in your out of bed showering and dressing, followed by a healthy breakfast cooked and prepared by a personal cook, followed by a personal trainer who will guide you to your morning exercise, well, I assume only a few of us could afford all that.
Majority of us need to drag ourselves out of bed to work, prepare our own meals and push our bodies to exercise if we have energy at all. That is the reality of our lives. And though I may be able to pontificate ‘that this is what we should do’ until the end of time, the truth is, it is hard to accomplish that.
1. We have to work to pay bills. And that depletes us of energy.
2. We’d rather spend our limited time to something more important, like family-time, instead of exercising.
3. We don’t always get excited by healthy foods.
4. We do not possess consistent days that will bring us to exercise mode.
5. There are always unexpected events that change even our best laid out plans. Bad weather, accidents, family incidentals.
6. Not all of us agree on proper nutrition, exercise and rest.
7. We may be physically active, but some of us can be very stressed.
This are very many barriers that we need to hurdle everyday to achieve good health. And these barriers differ from one person to another. What is difficult fro Person A maybe to easy for person B or the other way around. So - the main target here is -
Which approach do you think works best for you? What will keep you compliant? What can possibly motivate you? What can make you happy while achieving good health at the same time?
