Interesting findings at the gym

Today marked another big hurdle in my race to recovery - my first trip to the gym. Now, I knew going into this workout that it would be incredibly different from all previous workouts. I knew I wouldn't be lifting any weights, or pushing the elliptical machine with my arms. No running, swimming, or push-ups. I was fine with all that. I just went for a little cardio workout, and wanted to get back to "clocking" my workouts for my insurance credit.

As I walked in the door, I quickly scanned the cardio machines to see what would work best. I immediately ruled out the bikes, treadmills and ellipticals. The only other options were the steppers and the AMT machines (Precor's Adaptive Motion Trainer). I've always had a fear of slipping on the stepper and tumbling down the 5 or 6 stairs in front of an entire gym, so today was not the day to give that one a whirl. I walked over to my favorite machine - the AMT - and signed up for half an hour. Figured I didn't want to overdo it on my first day back.

Two things I didn't realize:

1. how difficult it would be to wear earplugs (I like to watch TV while I work out... it kind of keeps me going so I forget about any exhaustion and/or pain my body is experiencing). Awkward is more like it. Not really painful in my ear, but certainly not comfortable. Awkward. 
2. my regular water bottle just won't cut it for the time being. The first time I sipped from it - ouch! This sounds awful to say, but for the surgery they had to cut into the muscles of my cheek to remove the tumor, so it's still painful whenever I use those muscles. Mostly I notice shooting pains when I chew, or try to take a big bite of a sandwich. Today I learned that I also cannot make the water come out of the water bottle without causing pain to myself. The only way around it was to take lots of mini sips to get the water. Not good when working out and one is dehydrated. Also not good when one forgets to take their blood pressure medicine in the morning, and desperately needs fluids to avoid passing out.

All in all I enjoyed a successful first day back in the gym. I did get dizzy, but it was all self-induced. So when I was done with my workout, I just stopped to sit on a bench for a few minutes. It also helped that I ran into one of my girlfriends, so we sat for a while and chatted while I waited for my blood pressure to get back to normal.