I'm not sure if I just kicked butt

or if it kicked mine, but the first thing I did this morning (when I woke up before my alarm, feeling rested) was open the windows, put on my workout clothes, and then I headed over to the gym. I walked at about 2.0-2.5 mph for fifteen minutes, and while my heart rate went up to where it should be and I had a light sweat, that's where you want to be, so I was doing pretty well, so well, in fact, that I decided to go on the recumbent bike for another 15 minutes, mostly at 15 mph.

That was probably too much at one time. I haven't been active, so I need to start small, either divide them up in 10 minute blocks or do one or the other, because I got to where I could barely talk (which isn't good), I had sweat pouring down my hair, even in my ears (my headphones were slipping a lot), and I felt like I couldn't do it any more. But I did persevere, finished it, and then came back outside, where it was blissfully about 58 degrees, and walked home. I was doing fine until I came down the stairs, and had sudden pain in my ankle, the one that broke a few years ago when I was hit by a car. I carefully made it down the stairs with it hurting, got into the house, tried to take off my shoes, and it was doing the same. I got the shoes off, got some water, gingerly, and now I'm sitting down and taking a bit of a rest. I took the phone and plugged it into a speaker, so the same playlist is going as when I was exercising. I feel sweaty and stinky, and desperately need a shower. But I don't want my ankle going out from under me there, so I'm going to just sit here a bit and just take my meds and eat breakfast. I had felt energised after walking, now I feel drained. But I did reach my goal.

My physical therapist had suggested walking as a way to increase the strength of my core; my podiatrist suggested the bike because there's not as much pressure on the foot bones and muscles. But I think the bike was what did me in, and not because I'd already been on the treadmill--I think the rotation made my ankle hurt, and I had some trouble with my knees, too. I think I'll try each separately and see how I do, and if the bike is still an issue, just stick with walking, which is still fairly low-impact, good for your back, and I know I can do for awhile before I'm in danger of hurting myself.

I'd say the masque was a success, since I woke up early and felt good. My face wasn't as puffy, either. I had to keep the other fairly tight to keep it from become unsealed, and my face would have morning edema as a result, getting all swollen and puffy. This morning I just looked like me when I came in and washed my face.

I just crashed, after an insane day off of doing all sorts of things

We decided to just record 'Grimm' and watch it later, even though this was the 'Taming of the Wu' episode. So I dropped my friend off about 7:30 pm, went home, put the new CPAP masque together, took out the old SD card and replaced it, and put the old card in the package to send back to the medical supply company so they can download all the information on it. (Yeah, that's a bit creepy, I know). Then I tried to lie down for a bit, and the new masque is a little different. There are not separate nasal pillows that fit up your nose, but rather a under-the-nose area area. Here's a comparison. The one on the left is the ResMed Swift FX for Her masque (made by the folks who made my original CPAP machine--which I probably have had for fifteen years and still keep in the car during the winter in case I'm stranded somewhere), the one on the right is the Phillips Respironics Dreamwear masque (by the same folks who make my current CPAP):



Note the nasal pillows on the Swift FX, and that the hose is on the bottom. The Dreamwear has the hose on a rotating thing on the top of the head, so it's a little less likely to tangle as you move around in bed. Now you would think that without something in my nose, I would have fallen to sleep immediately, but actually it is a little louder, more reverberation I guess, and I didn't really feel like I had a masque on, which is good, but disconcerting. So it took a good hour to actually fall asleep, and I really just rested, but finally did doze, and I'd moved around on my back, left side, and right side. Both have their good points. And considering I wore the Swift FX upside down for almost the entire time I wore it, it worked remarkably well, getting 90% of 16.1 pressure over time. [The plastic piece goes on top; the soft cloth piece in the back]. The new one can't be worn in any other way, since the top has the hose, and all writing should be right side up. So I guess you could say it's more idiot-proof. We'll see how the new one goes. I'll definitely keep the other in case the one doesn't work out, and as a backup.

So all told, I was resting or napping for about two-and-a-half hours, just crashing. Now I'm up, and blogging, listening to the OneRepublic station on Pandora. I called my friend once I sat down to this, because I realised that we never got A's bus pass. They're going to use cash to go somewhere tomorrow, which will take them near a Kroger, where they can get one there, so really, the only thing I'm needed for tomorrow is the grocery run later in the day. So...that means I can push certain things to tomorrow, including:

• Exercising
• Bill paying
• Cleaning house

and really put some effort into the house, which is terribly messy at the moment. Not insurmountable, of course, just messy. And the fish tanks need attention and the recyclables need to go out (I took the trash out a couple of days ago). So the idea is to go back to sleep, wake up maybe at 8 am, go exercise, get a shower, start on the house, work on it for awhile, and pay bills as I take breaks. Tomorrow I think it's supposed to rain and be cooler, so it'll be good to do stuff inside, although hopefully it won't be raining so hard that the recyclables will be an issue. That way I'll also get things put together before the end of the month, Beltane (which starts tomorrow night), and my next cycle/dark of the moon. That'll be nice. So, I think I'm going to head back to bed. Good night!

PS I'm not sure how many miles I drove today, but I went through a quarter of a tank of gas, and made several trips around the eastern and middle parts of town, back and forth, back and forth. My step count for the day was only 4,856, so most of my running around was by car. But whew! What a lot of running!