Maybe this will motivate YOU

Today I walked for 11 minutes....in a row! I couldn't do that 13 days ago or for the last 3 years.

I'm 48, single and worked 2 jobs. 8 hours in the morning cooking and 4 to 6 hours a night waitressing. I went to work one morning, slipped on a ladder that was left laying flat on the floor and my life changed. My low back hurt and my hip would freeze mid step, just lock up and leave me unable to move it for a few seconds. I was hurting and still working both jobs and barely sleeping from the pain and eating to soothe myself. I went to physical therapy on my lunch hour. Eight months later I had open back surgery to repair 3 ruptured discs in the lumbar region, just above the tailbone. While this made the sciatic pain that shot down my leg sharply into my foot with every step go away, it did not help my back pain and as a bonus it messed up my IT bands, which are muscles that run from the hip to the knee, way down deep inside, and made it almost impossible to walk. It also left me unable to work and earn a living.

Since I am being treated through Labor and Industries, they said I was all better and able to return to work. My surgeon suggested I hire a lawyer to get the help I deserved. For the next year my only treatment was physical therapy. L&I only paid them for 12 visits since it was not making my condition better. Shout-out to Burlington Physical Therapy and especially the owner Vorey Smith who continued to see me twice a week, for a year, without being paid a penny. Amazingly generous.

17 months after my first surgery I had the lumbar region of my spine fused. That was Halloween 2012 and by then I weighed 240 pounds. This was supposed to solve all of my leg pain, although my surgeon said it may not help with the back pain. My spine did feel a bit better, and I no longer had the numbness in my feet and legs when I tried to walk but once again I could not walk without a lot of pain. I promised myself I would not gain more weight after this surgery, as I had gained 40 more pounds after the first surgery.

Since I had moved 30 miles I had to start with a new Physical Therapist. Turns out he is the same guy that helped my neck recover after a horrible 4 car pile up on the freeway in 1983. I instantly knew he was going to make things better. I had hope! I worked out as hard as possible, they said no one worked as hard to rebuild strength like me. I was on a mission to not only become well, but to continue to lose weight since I had stepped on the scale and saw I was down 10 pounds. He checked the range of motion of my limbs. My left hip was frozen in place. He was furious that L&I had been denying treatment of my hip all this time by saying that it was a pre-existing condition. I may in fact have osteoarthritis in my hip but hey, until the fall I could walk! He said if they had fixed my hip I may not have had to go through the fusion of my spine which partially disables me forever. This was not happy news but I decided then and there to let it go because you cannot undo a fusion and I would not would not let it bring me down. He also said my back would not heal until the hip was fixed. Long story short, between my surgeon, physical therapist and lawyer in December L&I approved treatment of the hip, after over 5 denials. Doc immediately sent me in for an MRI.

On June 10 I had my third surgery in 2 1/2 years. A total hip replacement. In the 7 months between surgeries I lost 40 pounds, and I was in major pain and it was not easy to move. But I watched what I ate and moved as much as I could tolerate, which wasn't much. I can't bend, twist, kneel...you get the picture. Yesterday I walked for 11 minutes...in a row. Twice. Just me, my walker and my cat. It was raining and I loved it .Both legs are striding for the first time in a long time. Yes it is very painful, and I am moving pretty slow, but hey, after 3 major surgeries that left me weaker and weaker I feel like an Olympian about to cross the finish line for the gold medal. I feel empowered and grateful.

Later this morning, 14 days after surgery, I start physical therapy...again. I am going to do everything they tell me to do and work as hard as I possibly can and every day I am going to walk just a little bit further. Nothing can stop me. I now know the deeper meaning of precious gift that is the simple act of stepping. Freedom.

The next time you are thinking you should get up and move but really don't want to think of me and my 11 amazing minutes of walking in the rain. Get up and move, any way you want to. You can do it.