Good morning Joe, First, I want you to know I'm working hard on the "raise a full can of beer in the air" challenge. It's just not happening any time soon. Bummer! I've been doing the "wall slide" with a 1 lbs. weight. I'm going to try a 2 lbs. weight this morning. It was an interesting week... I got home very early Sunday morning from Virginia. After a couple of beers I actually went to bed. Good boy John! That afternoon my son and I went over Jack's garage to watch the NASCAR race. Boy did we get buzzed! Luckily Jack only lives about 15 houses away. I think bad stuff happened on the way home. Monday morning neighbor John comes over and we drink coffee. John is sitting in my porch and he says, "Dang, somebody was dripping blood!" I look around and sure enough there are some blood splatters on the porch floor. I'm rubbing my body thinking, this must have been me. Bingo! I rub my left elbow and find a nice scab. I continue taking a survey of my body and it feels like I broke some ribs in my upper left chest and my left hip is very sore. Wow! Something happened last night. Monday afternoon my son comes over. I asked him if I had a "tumble" last night. He busted out laughing. He tells me, "I drove you home. You couldn't open the car door." (He's got a 68 Skylark. The door panel is off and it doesn't have a door handle on the inside. You have to pull the metal shaft that opens the door lock.) He says he pulled the shaft and told me to push. Out the door I went!!! I asked him if he helped me up? He said, "No, you fell out of the car, hit the driveway, and got right back up and walked towards the house. I figured you were alright." It was all starting to make sense to me. My bloody elbow came from the driveway. My sore ribs probably came from landing on an un-opened beer that was kinda crushed and still sitting on the porch table, and my hip I'm sure hit the ground hard. It was a sore week!!! Even though I was pretty sore Monday I fixed up my porch into a pretty nice "therapy room." I took down the "finger crawl" thing. I had a piece of plexiglass in the backyard. I washed the dirt off of it and mounted it in the porch. It works pretty good for doing the "wall slides." I bought a large packet of bungee cords and hooked them up in various places to do the exercises Brianna printed for me. I'm trying... I've been doing my exercises everyday for the last 2 weeks. Pain? It's more like a dull throb now than "your biggest buddy punching my arm." My arm is doing more and more every day, but it won't go up yet. Sometimes wonder if the doctor didn't hook that muscle back up, but I don't think I'd be able to do wall slides if it wasn't hooked up. Oh well... I'll keep going and eventually hit my goal! Hope you all have a GREAT weekend!!! John Pictures... 1. My plexiglass "wall slide" thing. 2. We had a little bonfire Wednesday night after a cold front came through. Yes Lucas, that is an old BBQ grill. We are rednecks! 3. Took my grandson by the beach to see the big waves crashing into the Boynton inlet jetty.
Dang John You gotta be careful buddy your going to end up busting that shoulder again by falling on it.. relax on those beers. Therapy is going good for me The worst is hand behind my back using a rope and lifting it up with my other arm. Also a big ol rubber band that I step on with my foot and use my arm to lift it up after four pulls my arm starts to shake. He had my doing these things that look like skies and I put them on my side start to shake them and as I'm shaking them lift up my arms hold them out straight and shake for ten seconds......shoot talk about almost tearing up... I'm doing good though staying busy around the house plenty of exercises. Have a good Sunday be safe.
Joe, you are right! I do need to slow it down a bit. Dang crazy old man! > On a better note I read your therapy notes carefully and intend on incorporating them into my workout routine. Specifically the "hand behind the back" pulling up with a rope. I think I could use my pulley setup to do that. I also like the "standing on a rubber band" and for me, "trying" to lift my arm up. I can get my arm behind me and make it go up to my waistline. But it is definitely rubbing my body as I pull it up to my waist. Compared to my right arm... Oh yes, there's plenty of room for improvement! Here's what I can do... Raise my arm forward to about 45*, sideways maybe 35+*, and backwards the same as my right arm. As soon as I try to go up it goes towards my body and slides up. Dang lazy arm! I'm up to lifting 2 lbs. on straight forward the wall slides, 1 lbs. on the sideways wall slide, and 2 lbs. on the wand flex. The wand flex is basically taking a walking cane with 2 lbs. attached to it. I grab it with both hands, but let my left arm do all the work. I lay on my back and move it in a big curve from my waste, to straight up, behind my head, and back to my waste 20 times. It hurts real good when it's behind my head. I'm pretty sure having Brianna stretch my arms in all different ways made that exercise much more comfortable! Everything else is bungee cords and isometric exercises. My left arm disappoints me often, and sometimes it cracks me up. Disappointing... When will this stupid arm go up all the way on it's own!!! Sometimes I joke about it and say, "I think the doctor forgot to hook that muscle back up!" Cracks me up... Sometimes my left hand / arm will dart out to beat my right arm at doing something. Kinda like a little kid trying to beat their friend at doing something first. I am left handed so I guess my brain sends a signal and my left hand wants to do it, but he's not quite there yet. I hate to say it this way, but kind of like a retarded arm. It shakes sometimes. "No little buddy. You are not quite there yet." Buick related... I have a Buick friend that lives about 2 miles from me. He is in the process of a frame off restoration with all new Hotchkis suspension parts, 4 wheel Corvette brakes, and a Jim Weiss engine and transmission. Ya, I know... must be nice! Anyhow he has been selling me his old parts at bargain basement prices. I already got his old headers and complete 3 inch exhaust system. Yesterday he sold me the complete disc brake system to put on my 68 GS, along with new stainless steel gas lines and Bilstein shocks that are dam near brand new. Awesome!!! Thank you Milton if you read this thread!!! Today the 3 JC's, (Me, my son, and my grandson), are going in search of alligators. We're going to go boating in the Loxahatchee Wildlife Preserve out west of town. We won't have to search very far. It's mating season so they should be everywhere! Hopefully I'll post some pictures later today or tonight. Have a GREAT day!!! John
Joe, I'm hear to tell you, even though you don't have any yet, don't let your grand children help with therapy exercises. Saturday morning I'm doing the wand thing. Laying on my back, a walking cane with 2 lbs. of weight on it, moving the cane from my belly, to straight up, and back behind my head. My grand daughter, 4 yrs. old, says, "Papa, I will help you." As I'm doing the exercises she grabs the wand on my good right side, lifts it up higher than the left side, and she says, "There, isn't that better!" All she did was move all the weight onto my left side. I was laughing as I struggled with all the weight on one side. Yesterday my grandson was over. He's 3. I first have to tell you, I sure miss Brianna stretching my arm in every position! My shoulder muscles are soooo tight these days. So I'm doing the same exercise on the living room floor. My grandson is watching TV right next to me. As I'm holding the wand above my head for 5 seconds my grandson says, "Papa, this hand isn't touching the ground." Before I could say NO he pushes my arm to the ground! OUCH!!! Those two kids are worse than "James the torture king" back at the therapy place! Adding 2 lbs. to a bunch of my exercises is causing my shoulder to hurt again. I'm starting to hate that phrase, "No pain, no gain." It seems so true. Yesterday I got to work on one of my Buicks. I bought a beautiful, always garaged, 1969 Skylark Custom a few years back only because the guy was selling it so cheap. The car is in beautiful shape, but the engine compartment needs some love. So I got pretty far stripping the grill off, it needs repainting, headlights and bezels off, alternator and bracket off, radiator shroud and fan off, and power steering pump ready to come off. "Good for nothing", my left hand was actually participating instead of hanging out. My left arm can now do a lot of things from about my chest down. One step at a time.... I didn't post any alligator pictures because we didn't go out west. My son forgot the kids were supposed to go to the photographer to get their pictures taken. Hopefully we'll get out to the swamp soon. Now I've got to mow the grass. Question is.... do I mow the grass first and then do my exercises, or the other way around? Y'all have a GREAT day!!!
What a great day!!! First I gotta tell you all Brianna called me on my cell phone this afternoon! More on that later... I got up my usual 6:15 AM. I'm watching the news and drinking coffee on the back porch thinking, Get off your lazy butt and start your exercises. So I start with what I think are the easy exercises. Pulling on the bungee cords. So I'm standing in front of my screen door pulling on bungee cords. Out of the corner of my eye I see an illegal duck flying east bound down Rex Ct. Right at the same time a SUV comes southbound down Henthorne Dr. BAM!!! I watched this illegal duck SMASH right into the side of this SUV. What a cool noise! The SUV kept driving and the duck landed in the neighbor's yard. That duck hung out for awhile trying to "shake it off!" Hilarious!!! My brother, showed up this morning, visiting from Virginia, just before I was finished with my exercises. I love my brother, but boy is he a PITA!!! His cheap AZZ actually says, "When your finished your exercises, I'll buy breakfast." Holy sheet!!! So we go to breakfast and I pigged out. After breakfast we went back to my house and he took a nap for 3 hours. So far today is going GREAT!!! Around 1:30 my son and grandson showed up. We were hanging out and my phone rang. My first thought before I looked at my phone... My student loan is past due. The IRS wants to arrest me. My Apple computer has a virus. None of the above. My phone says Doctor's Office. What???!!! So I answer the phone and hear this sweet little voice say, "Is this John Carroll?" The cloudy day turned bright. The coolness in the air felt warm and snugly. It was the sweet voice of a little blonde hair, blue eyed girl calling to see how I was doing. I will admit I sent a Thank You card to Brianna and all the other PT's in the therapy office. Brianna called to tell me thank you for the card. I also wrote her a special note. Oh yes, a really sexy note. NOT!!! I told her I was doing ALL the exercises she printed for me and I was slowly getting better. "I will come back in when I'm really good at all the exercises." Brianna wanted to know if I had been to the doctor's office. No, I didn't think my insurance would pay for another visit? She said, "Yes it will, and go see the doctor." Then she told me, now I'm paraphrasing, I know your insurance sucks. Call me. If I can't come to the phone I'll call you back. I'll try to get you in at the end of the day. I'll evaluate you, and print you out the next exercises. If the office manager isn't there you might be able to pay nothing. WHAT!!! Is that the coolest thing you ever heard of??? I was astonished!!! That call from Brianna had me floating in the clouds! My brother is in town so I invited his son, wife and kids over for a BBQ. We had a good family get together! My oldest was already over with my grandson, then his wife came over with my grand daughter. Then my youngest son came over. He did a nice 200 ft. burnout as he approached the house. My wife was all excited as I came around the corner of the house. She said, "Did you get that on video?" I said, "No, I was peeing on the side of the house." LMAO!!! I had a real good time today!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe this cute little therapist is trying to get me in for free to evaluate me! Life is GREAT!!!!! My brother is in town till Sunday night. Hopefully we'll go as a BIG family with lots of kids to the drag strip tomorrow night, unless it rains. Saturday we are all going boating up by Jupiter Inlet. Sunday is going to be a very BIG Cars and Coffee with Barrett Jackson Co-hosting the event. And then Monday will be another Saturday. Life is very good!!!! Y'all have a great day!!!! John
PS... Tomorrow I'm trying 3 lbs. of weights on all my exercises. Yes, my shoulder will hurt, but they're making new beer in the factory right now just for me. > Joe, Do you know how much your arm weighs? I looked it up one day when I was procrastinating doing my exercises. The average man's arm weighs 6% of your body weight. My arm weighs almost 10 lbs. I was just wondering, "When will it "start" to try to push itself up? 5 lbs. of weight doing wall slides, or much more? My arm is getting better and better, but it does NOT want to go up. Bummer..................................
No idea John on arm weight. They had my lifting 2lbs the other day after awhile man forget about it. That stuff hurts. I can lift my arm up by itself. I can lift a beer too. I gotta post a pic of me doing it. Do they have you shaking those arm blade things that look like skies??? I've been doing a bunch of stuff around the house to keep me busy and moving around. The doctor said this past Tuesday that I'm doing so good in motion it's crazy and she has never seen this fast of movement. I told I can move it around yeah but it hurts still at different positions. Ok off to drop off my son at school physical therapy then come home and finish detailing my daughter's car left handed mostly. Have a great weekend. Be careful on beer drinking
Sounds like a fantastic day and you've got a great weekend ahead of you, John. It's always a good feeling when you know there's good people out there and you get to meet one, like Brianna. Enjoy your family time, my friend.
Hey Guys, Just finished reading Joe's part. So I lost the bet? A picture says a thousand words, but I believe you! Bummer for me. I'm still going for it Joe. Today was 3 lbs. doing the forward wall slide, and 2 lbs. doing the sideways wall slide. I did it pretty easily. Maybe I'm not working hard enough at it? I will continue!!! I'd rather be a 2nd place loser than a quitter. Time to go inside and do the wand thing, and more mean stretches. Have a GREAT weekend!!! PS... Joe, I sure know what you mean about 1 handed detailing!!! Lucas, you are right! Family is the BEST!!!!
Congrats on the progress, buddy. Maybe they need to start sending other patients over to your house to work on cars and the garage as a new fast-a$$ therapy program
It's called being able to work on stuff you like slowly and being able to listen to music you like and being able to have a cold beer of your choice..
Joe... CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! From the east coast of the USA, to the west coast of the USA, I pronounce you the WINNER!!!! I can't wait till I get to that point.
Yes sir John Have a great weekend bud I'm off to go check out this college my daughter wants to go to.
Dear Joe, Oh crap, another Dear Joe letter. I need to complain, but I will add little bits of humor throughout. First, a little trip with some of "Briz's 1980 stuff." Whoa! I feel a bit better already. Grand daughter story... So I'm adding weights to my stupid "wand" thing to help me strengthen up. (Ya right) The wand thing is in the living room. I don't know how Holley, yes her name is spelled like a 4 barrel, got the weight off of the wand, but she dropped a 2lbs. weight on her finger. Ouch!!! Her finger is black and blue today. Don't mess with Papa's toys. > Lucas... I will shout you out first. I am soooooo sorry that spring came and went, and now winter is back again. That sucks!!! I heard you all are supposed to get some serious snow. More suck! So some complaints..... Joe, you make me so jealous. I have stepped it up a lot doing my exercises. Each day I increase the weight by a pound on some exercises. NOTHING!!! I see no improvement. Today I did 3 sets of 20 times each doing "wall slides with a 5 lbs. weight." I do space it out throughout the day. Are you crazy! My arm is shaking towards the end!!! The last set this afternoon and I'm huffing and puffing when I finished. Out of curiosity I gave the weight to my right hand. Effortlessly up and down. My left arm sucks. I forgot to say my arm hurts after exercising! Time for something funny.... I get to watch my Grandson often. > Alex works the midnight shift and his wife works regular hours. They live 10 houses away. We are all John Carrolls, but we all have different middle names. JC1, JC2, and JC3. Anyhow, my Grandson is dam near an exact replica of my son. And believe me, we have FUN!!! When I see his face I smile!!!!!!!!! Joe, before I forget, where does your daughter want to go to school? What does she want to major in? What a very exciting time for your family!!! Hopefully she won't be to far away. Here's my thoughts. I've been busting my butt doing these exercises. There are a lot of things I can do now, below my waste. I can pull and push really well. Makes me happy. I actually think I could do push ups again. Above my waste??? It's starting to mess with my head. Except for sliding on the DA piece of plexiglass with a weight in my hand, my arm does not want to go up. I made a doctor's appointment for 4/18. I'll go to Brianna after the doctor. I'm going to bust azz the best I can for another week and a half and see what happens. Anyone else hit a slow down in improvement for hopefully a short time?
My daughter is going to school locally about hour and a half away she wants to be a music and vocal major of some sort still young and confused I guess. She is in a high school of music and performing arts. Looks like I'll be back to work next week doing light duty crap around the warehouse I'm going to go crazy I've been trucking for ever I can be in a warehouse all day.. Here is one of her old videos
Dang Joe, I think she looks a lot like you, only prettier. > What a beautiful voice!!! While she was singing I was looking at all of the background around her. Trees etc. It still cracks me up how much Southern California looks like South Florida. Sorry about you going back to work. Especially having to be stuck inside when you're used to cruising around. Hopefully it won't last to long. I'm about a 1/3 of the way through this morning's exercises. Sure makes my arm feel good. Sarcasm! Today is my oldest son's 30th birthday. That sure was a fast 30 years!!! Hopefully some delicious ice cream cake this evening!!! TTYL................. John
Just got out of physical therapy Headed home to do some yard work it was really windy out here yesterday and made a mess. So I'll get more excersises at home at least I can have a beer later too Corona king of therapy beers
