Tuesday, May 03, 2011

A Very Big Deal

Ever since I got out of rehab, my goal has been to walk 10000 steps a day. 10000 was an arbitrary number set by a clinic system who gave free pedometers to their patients. However, I seemed to get stuck at 8000.

Last Thursday I decided to walk partway home from the hospital where I go for carpal tunnel therapy. I was disrupted by a nasty low so took the bus the rest of the way. When I opened the pedometer, this is what it said:



I was dancing around the kitchen in delight.

The next day at dialysis I told the tech that I had to start taking the bus - that I took cabs because it was such a tough winter. She said, "oh, dialysis patients don't have enough energy to take the bus". Pfft.

Fortunately my kidney doc stopped by an hour later and I told him what she said. He replied, "well, I've got only one thing to say - YOU GO GIRL!"

Today I did a lot of window shopping and sitting on park benchs and came home to this:



Then I decided to walk up to the grocery store. While in the checkout line, I looked at it again and this tan, lean woman wearing running shorts and a sports bra said sneeringly "oh, how far did you go?" I proudly said I'd done over 11000 steps. She then asked how long it took and I replied that it was a total throughout the day. She said "don't you know that it doesn't count if you don't do it all at once?" No. I did not. Sigh.

I wish I had the emails of the two docs who said I'd never get out of a wheelchair.

Build on the victories....

6 comments:

Auntly H said...

running shorts and sports bra in grocery store? Don't pay her any attention. Every step counts and you are rocking that pedometer! Way to go!!!

meanderings said...

Pay NO attention to that woman! You're doing great and I'm tickled with your progress.
So, there!

Carol said...

Tell wonder bra girl and nurse naysayer to get a clue! Maybe you should keep a spare pedometer to fling against their pointy heads. They both couldn't be more wrong. I'm in awe of your restraint as well as your pedometer numbers. But you did scare me...when I first saw the pic of the pedometer, I thought it was a BG reading :)!

Zazzy said...

It does so count! While it would be inappropriate to bitch-slap that woman in real life, nothing to say we can't imagine slapping her. I am so totally impressed with your progress!

Molly said...

I'm totally impressed with your count! And I love that you titled your post "A very big deal." Working hard to get those steps is a very big deal. You go, girl!

Katie I. said...

AWESOME JOB!! You should be so proud of yourself, no matter what anyone says! ;)