STEVE CAMERON BLOG: Your new world

Still here.

We’re going to do something a little different today.

See, things change in our new universe, this place of isolation and sending out for food deliveries.

I thought I had a pretty good idea after reading stories about scientists spending nine months cooped up at South Pole — or astronauts on the International Space Station who live and work for a year or more in spaces the size of phone booths.

One of the key issues that all of these people touched on was exercise.

After all, you CAN do cardio and even strength work in the tiniest of areas.

Without exercising, the scientists and space explorers said, it’s not just your body that will betray you.

Your mind and emotions are bound to follow.

So...

Here’s a quick personal version of what these people mean.

I have a bad back.

Millions of Americans have problems with their backs, so I don’t make a big deal of it and, five surgeries later (including implantation of a spinal stimulator that’s supposed to fool your nervous system into reducing chronic pain), I don’t consider myself unique.

No big deal.

It hurts some times more than others, but I’ve got a back brace for that, and the single wonderful piece of this condition is that the back doesn’t hurt with side-to-side movement.

In other words, I can play golf – doctor approved, even.

However...

There are times when things get a little worse.

Maybe I twist the wrong way while I’m sleeping, or reach just a little bit too far to pick up Sammie the Cat’s food dish.

When that happens, generally I’m mega-sore for a few days – but returning to a regular regiment of stretching does the trick and, you know, returns me another guy with an achy back who tries to ignore it.

If the serious pain doesn’t relent, well, perhaps it’s back for X-rays, an MRI and a chat with the surgeon.

And that brings me to this week...

On Monday, my back seemed as if the whole thing had gone all to hell.

The pain didn’t go away, or even improve with rest, for four days.

That’s unusual, and things are still a bit dicey.

So for just ONE week, I couldn’t stretch, I couldn’t do much of anything. I lost my appetite (stand and cook something?), and kind of lost my enthusiasm in general.

Among the things I’ve had to put on hold was any exercise, including my enjoyable daily walks.

Now we have NO exercise, not even enough looseness in my back to go down the stairs and get outside, no decent food – and basically nothing to do but read, check phone calls and Facebook, a huge share of which is pretty much research for this blog.

All of it, by the way, has been getting done from a recliner with a PC on my lap, in the only position that takes the pressure off my back.

Then on Wednesday morning, I got out of bed (usual time, nothing apparently remarkable), and nearly collapsed.

I felt woozy, unbalanced and then scared.

This has never been a part of my life...so imagine when it happened again on Thursday morning.

Immediately I thought of blood sugar, so I swilled some orange juice and ate oatmeal.

Things got better.

Midday, I took a nap, prepared to read and work again in a couple of hours. Woke up on schedule, went to the kitchen, made coffee, scooped up the mug and set it down next to the recliner.

Sammie made a noise that she was hungry again, so I decided to take care of that before I’d settled down to start piecing together the blog.

Fed the cat, turned to leave the kitchen, felt odd for a second — and then suddenly fainted (thank heaven) onto the living room carpet.

When I came around, I was REALLY scared.

OK...

After talking to some medical people and answering a thousand questions, the verdict seems to be that I’ve been basically lowering my blood pressure to unacceptable levels.

Then hopping into action as though everything’s just peachy.

It sounds to them – no ER trip, because I came around after a bit and hospitals are busy as hell these days – as though the combination of being stuck in bed or the recliner, plus lack of enough food and hydration, along with no fresh air was enough to do it.

Their advice: Change almost everything, especially if the back comes around to where I can begin walking again.

What happened to me in just a week or so should serve as a cautionary tale for all of us in enforced isolation.

I live alone in a smallish condo, which doesn’t help – but right now about a quarter of all Americans live by themselves (the highest number in history).

Alone or not, though, think through what just happened to a guy – bad back aside – who’s been generally healthy all his life.

Athlete, marathon runner, great cardiovascular system even as I’ve gotten older...

But I’ve been taking it for granted, not drinking enough water (dehydration is a major cause of abnormally low blood pressure), not worrying about good sleep patterns, eating poor food at odd hours, etc.

Hey, it worked when I was 40.

Not now...

And perhaps not for a LOT of us in this crazy situation where we don’t know when we get our lives back – a month, six months, Lord knows.

Let my silly adventure maybe give you some better ideas.

Some of our unhappiness right now is out of our control.

Some, however, is not.

Meanwhile...

Thanks.

Thanks for letting me share this story. I need it to work as a reminder for me, too.

Be well.

You’re welcome to join the blog. Any time, on any subject. Or with any opinion that doesn’t get us sued.

scameron@cdapress.com

Facebook: Steve Cameron