Whinin' and Cryin' Like a 4 Year Old

I've said it before and I'm saying it again: I hate exercise. The "E" word.

But today, as I visited my doctor, I found myself whining like a four-year-old when she told me I needed to stop boot camp! Yes, ME, whining and crying and wheeling and dealing with her so I could go back to boot camp tomorrow morning. What's that about?

Yesterday morning during boot camp, Denise had us go out into the parking lot for some cardio work. We were to walk forward and backward as fast as we could for like 3 minutes (it was probably about 40 feet round trip), then, we turned and were side-stepping back and forth over the same spot. Of course, I couldn't keep up with the skinny girls, but I'm okay with going my own pace, which is much slower. When we started side stepping, instead of having the little 'hop' in my step like them, I deliberately place one foot down, then moved the other, taking pretty big steps, but not going very fast.

On the second lap of side-stepping, it hit me: I felt like someone had grabbed me by the throat and was choking me. I couldn't catch my breath and was wheezing like a kazoo. I stopped, bent over and put my hands on my knees and tried to calm down. I'm thinking 'great, now the skinny girls will have something to talk about today.' Denise came to my side to make sure I was ok - but was still drilling everyone else and shouting "keep going, keep going, you're not done yet." She kept asking me if I had asthma, which as far as I know I don't, but it sure sounded like it. By the time the cardio drill was over, I was breathing pretty normally again.

So back in the gym I went, and continued with the workout. Yeah, I'm stubborn that way. I don't give up easily.

At the end of class, Denise and I talked for a while about what happened. I had only experienced that once before - the first day of boot camp, and it was near the end of the workout. I figured that day I was just that out of shape and needed to watch it. She told me that she was about 10 seconds away from calling 9-1-1 . . . Oh, great, I'm thinking, give the skinny girls something really juicy to tell their friends later in the day: "Oh, Susie Sunshine guess what happened in boot camp this morning? They had to call 9-1-1 and the fat girl got taken away in an ambulance!" I wouldn't have died from whatever it was that made me not be able to breathe - I would have died of embarrassment!!!!!

I promised Denise I'd see my doctor today to talk about what happened. And I kept that promise.

Dr. Gonzales is probably the only doctor I've ever seen that I've liked. She's young (at least I'm very sure that she's a lot younger than me), but she's sympathetic and kind while being tough when she needs to be. I've been seeing her for about 2 years now and feel really comfortable when I go in.

I started telling her about what happened and when I told her I had signed up for and was participating in boot camp, I could see she wanted to roll her eyes at me. I just said, yeah, I know, I'm crazy, but I needed to try this for myself. Her diagnosis is exercise induced asthma, and she wants me to go and have a pulmonary function test and see a pulmonologist before going back to boot camp. Well, that's a little tough since the next session is tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. and I'm sure I can't do both between 3:00 and 6:00 tonight.

That's when the whining started. "But Doctor Gonzales, I really want to go to boot camp in the morning." "You can't, you've got a problem and we need to figure out what's going on." "I know, but I've been exercising at least 5 times a week before starting boot camp and this has never happened before. Maybe I'm just trying too hard to keep up with the skinny girls." "You really need to get this test done." "Are you telling me I can't exercise at all?" (making a really sad face and feeling like I'm going to cry) "No, brisk walks are okay. And your water aerobics are okay if you don't over do it." "Oh, so just not boot camp? What if I promise to not over exert myself and stay on the treadmill when the rest of the group does any kind of cardio outside and I'll stop if I feel any discomfort at all and please, please let me finish. There's only 4 sessions left and it's important to me to be able to complete this challenge." There it was. I was whining and pleading for my doctor to let me exercise. I felt like I was having an out of body experience - who is this woman that wants to exercise? Did I fall on my head? For so long, I would have jumped for joy when a doctor told me no exercise. But now, I want to go and be tortured for 45 minutes? What was I thinking?????????

So, with a stern warning from Dr. G to 'take it easy and don't over do it,' I left with a smile on my face and orders for a pulmonary function test.

All I know is that my butt better be a little smaller by next Friday afternoon!!

Until next time,
Kel