The Walking Queen

*****NOTE: My most recent story about my walking – Traveling the World Without Leaving My Basement – details my current walking status while I am temporarily living in Frozen Chicago with my sister. This is the story of how it all started, a blog I wrote for my talktimewithjoan.com website – how after bariatric surgery, excruciating back pain, and life-threatening illnesses, I went from being unable to walk from the kitchen to the bedroom to walking 5 miles at once! I hope it inspires you.

Step. Puff. Step. Puff. Step. Puff. This is how my walking started. Having survived life-threatening blood clots in my lungs, multiple hospital stays, complications and infections, as well as the ongoing issue of collapsing spinal discs that left me in excruciating pain in the 7 months prior to this, I was lucky that I was alive, never mind walking. The pulmonologist said that it was imperative that I WALK in order to prevent a re-occurrence of the blood clots that almost killed me. Well, if that dire warning wasn’t enough to get me out the door walking, I suppose nothing would.

Problem #1 was that I HATED walking. HATED it. Boring. Too hot. Too cold. Too much time. And there was the back pain…. That vise-like, twisting, squeezing, brutal spinal nerve pain that brought me to my knees, and was alleviated only by a cocktail of high potency medication. But there was also that dying thing looming over my head if I DIDN’T get off my tush and walk.

I was also bored senseless from being cooped up in the house due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. How many closets could I clean, especially with my severe back pain issues limiting my movement? I had no human contact other than the home health nurse who visited twice weekly.

So, in the interest of both my mental and physical health, at the end of March 2020, pain medication keeping me on my feet, and my blue-flowered cane keeping me from toppling over, I took my first tentative steps outside. Despite my 75 lb. weight loss (At that time it was 75 lbs. I eventually lost 120 lbs.), it did not go well. Step. Puff. Step. Puff. Another step. Another puff until I had walked ½ a block, then realized I had to turn around and walk another ½ block to get back to my house. That first day I collapsed into a chair when I returned home. From walking A BLOCK.

The next day, I tried it again. Step step, puff. Step step, puff. Oh, this was going better. I took two steps before I was out of breath. I returned home after about 3 blocks of walking. I was a little more encouraged.

I went out at least every other day on these little excursions. Within a couple of weeks, I was walking to our community pool and back, which my Smartwatch recorded as ¼ mile round trip. From one block to ¼ mile was pretty darn good in my estimation.

At about the one-month mark, something strange happened. I noticed that the more I walked, the more my depression lifted. My mood improved. I thought that was odd. I had not yet read up on the positive effect walking has on alleviating depression. My thinking became so much clearer that on those walks I began using a phone app to record many of the ideas for blogs and other website content.

And wait a minute. Something else. Where was the pain? I noticed that the longer I walked, the less pain I was feeling. For the remainder of the day, I was able to take less pain medication and still retain 75% pain relief. Wow. I didn’t expect that.

But there was more. One morning I was putting on my socks, and I noticed that my calf was rock hard. I looked in the mirror and these old calves were shapely and muscular without a bit of saggy skin from the massive weight loss (unlike the rest of my body, but you can’t have everything). Another pleasant, unexpected benefit.

By the middle of June, I was walking 3 miles. An hour and a half walk. 3 whole miles! ME. I could not believe it. My back pain had improved so much that I was able to come off all the heavy-duty medication and was taking only one minimal strength pain pill. I was walking those 3 miles without any tiredness or shortness of breath. I was ECSTATIC.

However, now July was approaching in Southern Florida. Summer was descending upon us, which meant laser beam strength sun that seared my skin and steam bath humidity that had sweat pouring down my face like rain. The only solution to this problem was to get up at 5:30 AM and be out the door before the sun came up. Although still soaked to the skin with sweat, if I made it home by 8:30, I beat the worst of the heat. So, this lifelong lover of late morning sleep actually got up at 5:30 in the morning to walk.

By the end of August, I was walking for FIVE MILES. 2 ½ hours. 5 miles. Me???? Yes, me. I had settled into a routine of walking 3 or 4 days a week for 4-5 miles at a time.

This monumental feat was not accomplished without preparation. One does not walk for 2 ½ hours without proper equipment. The picture at the top of this story is actually me all suited up and ready to go.

My skin is sprayed with insect repellent. I am wearing a neon yellow shirt with reflective stripes, so I won’t get run over in the early morning darkness, thus rendering all this work useless. Baseball cap with an extra-long visor to keep the early rising sun off my face; extra reflective bands around my ankles and hanging from my cane strap; a shoulder bag containing a bottle of iced water; a sweat rag; an umbrella, my house keys, and extra pain pills. Cell phone and earphones, so I can either listen to music, talk to a friend, or dictate website content. Blue flowered cane. How much more prepared could I be?

As November, cooler (relatively speaking) weather, and lighter mornings replaced the brutal summer heat and dark mornings, I was no longer forced to rise with the birds. But you know what? I kind of got used to it. I liked the quiet before the roar of the trucks, lawnmowers, and leaf blowers sullied the peacefulness of the day. I enjoyed watching the little bunnies hop across the lawns. Okay, this is Florida, and I did have to watch out for snakes and poisonous Bofu frogs, but all in all, this walking thing didn’t turn out to be so bad after all.

***IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER*** - Do NOT attempt any exercise or walking program without clearing it with your own doctor first. I am NOT advocating that anyone do what I did without medical supervision. I am only noting that if you are cleared by your doctor, you can do whatever you set your mind to do.