10 Weeks Post Transplant - Getting Stronger

The Christmas holidays were wonderful! My children were home over Christmas which was all that I wanted for Christmas. We had a great time full of laughter and we all helped make the Christmas dinner. We played cards and snacked on Christmas goodies. My digestive system continues to get stronger and better every week. My strength and stamina is also improving.

Now that we've made it into the new year of 2018, I have been out trying to get my exercise by shovelling the driveway. I recognize that I'm still very weak compared to how I used to be able to shovel the driveway. It used to be a cardio and aerobic workout as I would shovel the whole driveway quickly. Yesterday, I was only able to do a quarter of the driveway before I had to go indoors to catch my breath and rest. So I have to accept that the current new normal is shovelling the driveway in quarter increments. I'll continue to work and improve to third increments and then half of the driveway. We'll see how long that takes me to improve to those goals. Hubby and I are also walking at the mall every night. I do notice that I'm able to walk faster than I was before the Christmas holidays. This is how I keep my positive attitude. I look for the tiny moments of improvement.

I am enjoying going to the local OHL hockey games on a regular basis. I still struggle to climb the steps at the arena but again, I'm hoping that this will improve and I will get to the top without being exhausted and breathless.

This past Saturday (Jan. 6) Hubby and I went to a large motorcycle show. We walked through the show for 3 hours. I was exhausted at the end of it. Exhaustion affects me with tiredness, light-headedness and eventually nausea. At the end of our afternoon, I was light-headed and very tired. Thank goodness I didn't have any nausea. However, I did fall asleep in the car on the way home.  I must still build in rest days after busy days. If I don't, then I begin to feel ill again. Having said that, I am beginning to string together two days of activity before needing to have a rest day or two.

In my effort to get stronger in these early days of 2018, I have uncovered our old Wii system and my Wii Fit program. Again, I don't have a lot of stamina yet but I have started working on this using the program and also the Wii Sports program. Here's hoping that all this will help me recover faster.

Now that I've brought you all up to date, I must go back to putting away my Christmas ornaments and taking down the Christmas tree. I normally would have all this down by now but this is the new normal and I have to work at a slower pace. Happy New Year!!