Well, treadmill here I come!

It's not a New Year's resolution, it's a prescription from one of my doctors. I have been having a constant pain on my left ankle on the inside bone. My M.D. sent me to a vascular surgeon and he did an ultrasound on my leg and said that the valves in both my legs are bad.

Bad news, there is no fix or cure for this. The blood that travels up and down my legs is not all coming back up and it is starting to gather around my shin area. Right now it is more noticeable on my left leg and barely on my right leg. If it goes untreated eventually I could develop ulcers on my leg that will begin to bleed out because the blood has no where to go.

Good news, we can keep any more blood from gathering there by:
1. Exercising
2. Losing weight
3. Burning out one of the veins in my leg ( out-patient laser surgery)

So, I have retrieved the treadmill I had given to my cousin Chonita, of course I aske if I could have it back and the reason that I needed it. My doctor has prescribed that I walk 30 minutes each day and begin a diet.

I have to admit when he first told me about my bad valves I began to cry and he asked my why I was crying and I told him about my dad having had 6 stints in his arteries because of blockage and was this happening to me. He assured me that this was in no way related to what dad had. He said this is something not even close to it. By exercising I will build up my leg muscles and the strong muscles will help pump that blood back to where it needs to go. He told me to not even think about blocked arteries. These valves are located in the lower part of my body and even though they can't go in and fix them we can help the blood flow better by taking the pressure of my legs.

I now have to wear compression hose on a daily basis to help ease the pressure from my legs and at the end of my day I have to take at least 30 minutes each day to elevate my legs higher than my heart to help the blood flow back up my leg.

Cito and I got the treadmill last night and I got on it to try it out. It still works. I need to buy some silicone spray for the ramp but it works just fine. I walked for 15 minutes this morning and plan to walk another 15 tonight. Cito recommended that I start at 15 minutes each time until Monday and then I can go 30 minutes non-stop.

My co-workers are really something else. When I told them about this they offered to walk with me during the first 30 minutes of our 1 hour lunch break. We are going to walk around the top floor of our Religious Education building for 30 minutes each day and then have our lunch the last 30 minutes. They didn't want me to walk alone and they said they needed to walk, too.

Please pray that God give me the strength to continue on this journey.