God's Preparation for Me: Physical

I believe--no--I KNOW that God has been preparing me for 2 years for this fight. Why 2 years? Because it was 2 years ago that I started my personal training with Michael Olivella at Anytime Fitness in Malvern. OH MY STARS!!! The changes I have seen in my body are incredible in the literal sense of the word--hard for me to believe. But let me explain my journey first.

A couple of months after Dave died, I knew I had to make some changes. One of those was to get healthier for me and for Jadyn. I was on my own, now, and I needed to be better able to take care of myself. So, back to Anytime Fitness I went.

I met with Michael to hear what they offered in terms of personal training and small group training. I really was not intending to sign up for that; just a gym membership that I would use for a couple of months then promptly ignore, thank you very much. But Michael was different. His knowledge was astounding. I talked to him about my left shoulder which had been surgically repaired one year prior (I had completely torn my rotator cuff). While physical therapy had done its job, my shoulder still had very limited range of motion and I had lost a LOT of strength. So, I signed up for 3 days per week. Monday is shoulder day; Wednesday is leg day; and Friday is upper body day. I knew having skin in the game would keep me going, and it certainly has! I even go on days that I don't work with Michael. I'm a regular little gym rat!

I remember when Michael got out the small yellow 10-pound resistance band. It was so hard for my shoulder to pull that. Now, I bought my own resistance bands to take because I can routinely pull more than 100 pounds. The stretching that we do every week has been a game changer! My legs are strong, pushing a personal best 826 pounds (374.7 kg) on leg press. That will remain my record for quite a while as I heal up from surgery and whatever else I'll be facing. My upper body is getting much stronger. On the cable machine, I do face pulls and scapular pulls of 120 pounds. Overall, I am much stronger than I have been in a long time.

Another change that has happened to my body is that with the working out, I was able to stop taking insulin for diabetes! That helped me start losing weight. I have lost 40+ pounds, and that is NOT due to cancer. That was intentional and came off rather slowly. I want to lose more, but I did not have the "cancer plan" in mind, thank you very much. I've had to buy all new clothes. I take only 2 medications for diabetes and had to cut my blood pressure meds in half. (I will stay on those as long as I am on any meds for diabetes, but my blood pressure is really good. It was 117/72 when I went for my colonoscopy.)

I am more active than I used to be. I love to hike and had planned on doing some backpacking, but all of that has been postponed due to this tumor. Something else to look forward to when all of this is finally over. See? Making plans for my future. Satan is NOT defeating or depressing me, in the Name of Jesus!

So, you see, all of this work the past 2 years has made me stronger and in better physical shape than I have been in a long time. It has given me more confidence, all of which has gone into my preparation for this fight. I certainly never wanted it, but it's been brought to me, and I will fight with everything I have! Too bad I can't literally kick the cancer out of my colon. LOL!