back to the hot bar
Hi friends! How’s your day going so far?
It’s been a busy one over here, and I had my last hand therapy appointment this morning.
After Thumbgate, I had a lot of nerve sensitivity, numbness and weakness. I would pick things up and drop them, and anytime something touched the spot where I cut the nerve, it felt like an electric shock going through my body. It is now remarkably better, and I am so thankful to my awesome occupational therapist. She did a lot of interesting techniques to help my hand: I had to turn knobs with resistance (opening jars used to be nearly impossible), moved my hand around in bowls of rice and beads, squished clay, squeezed a sponge under water, had tiny warm corn husk particles blown at my hand (which hurt so much at first and now feels like nothing), plus ultrasound therapy and massage to break up the scar tissue. In the picture above, I was holding a toy with tiny objects hidden inside and had to shake it around to find the objects. Apparently there’s a candy cane in there but no one has been able to find it. I’m convinced it doesn’t exist. (Also, I kind of liked that toy. Thinking of ordering one for Liv… so I can play with it haha.)
The numbness is still there, and could improve or stay the same, but my strength has improved dramatically. I highly recommend physical or occupational therapy if you’re dealing with an acute or chronic injury. It took a few appointments with other doctors for me to get a referral, but was so, so worth it.
I was really stoked when I could hold a giant heavy smoothie in my left hand yesterday. It will be a happy day when I can hold weights again without having to cup my thumb underneath.
(Haven’t been in the sun much, but that’s a little intense, phone.)
After my appointment, I needed to grab a couple supplies for dinner, so I stopped by Whole Foods.
(We switched the dogs’ food to The Honest Kitchen a couple of months ago, and alternate between that and the I and Love and You brand. They LOVE it, and I’ve noticed a huge difference in their coats. As far as the protein powder goes, I’m trying to get most of my protein from food, but I’m not drinking Shakeology right now. I’ll do a post about it on the Family page, but in a nutshell, I didn’t feel comfortable drinking megadoses of the herbs and superfoods right now. Instead, I’m occasionally using Vega and Daily Burn Fuel-6.)
Since we don’t live very close to one anymore, I don’t make it to WF nearly as often.
My wallet is thankful, but man, I missed that hot bar!
Made up for lost time:
(Where else can you get eggs, breakfast potatoes, salad, hummus, dolmas and plantains?!)
This was in the ladies’ room, and while destroying property with a Sharpie is never the answer, the “shapeshift!” part was kind of funny.
Tonight I have BODYPUMP practice for the 93 launch this weekend and then teaching right after. It will be nice to have a yoga/active recovery day tomorrow.
Hope you have a great night! Don’t forget to check in with your workout here.
xoxo
Gina
Something to do: this plank burner! It’s only 5 minutes. Let me know how it goes!
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I have that toy in my cool down kit for students at my after school program, it’s a fun one!!
I’m so glad physical therapy went well for you! I love those I spy games!
Thanks for the OT shoutout, we don’t usually get a whole lotta lovin
I was going to comment the exact same thing!! yay OT !
i’m seriously so grateful for all of her help. it was amazing
We had body pump 93 launch this week at my gym and I am loving this release. My instructor said this one has 1000 reps!
I’m glad to hear there’s progress with the numb thumb! xo
I use a similar toy in my preschool class. You could easily make it yourself (probably save some $$…though I’m really not sure how expensive they’d be)! I usually fill them with dry rice or beans, and I’ll often switch out whats inside (letters, numbers, various themed objects) – the kids love it! Great tool for building vocab 🙂
I also stopped drinking Shakeology when I became pregnant. Read that a lot of the ingredients haven’t been studied as far as their effects on the fetus. I’ve been loving Vega and Premier Protein for my breakfast shake.
I hurt my thumb several years ago, and I wish I had paid better attention in my OT sessions. I was young and negligent, and now my left thumb alternates between feeling numb, and having weird tingly sensations.
I prefer smaller, co-op whole foods stores, but sometimes Whole Foods is just fun to walk through! They seem to have everything, and it’s nice and clean. Hope your week is going well, we’re over the hump, whoo hoo!
WF Hot food bar is one of my greatest pleasures, even though I know economical choice I think of it as a special treat… once a week.
I remember having one of those eye spy toys at the store I use to work at. (it was a video rental and toy store- weird combo I know!) We kept it by the register and almost everyone would try and find the candy cane while we would ring them up. I can’t remember if anyone found the candy cane, but I remember teenage boys almost always declaring they found it, then it would be something completely different. XD
proof that it DOESN’T EXIST Haha.
hope you’re having a great week 🙂
You’re so right about the occupational therapists. I’ve been having a chronic elbow problem for months after slamming it into the door as I entered the house. I finally saw an occupational therapist. It’s helped tremendously. She hasn’t had me do the corn husk thing. That machine looks so scary!
it looks scary but it feels nice 🙂 so glad it’s helping you, too!!
Glad your thumb is doing better! The two places I could spend hours in without a care are Sephora and Whole Foods. I love their hot bar but it definitely takes a toll on your wallet!
same. shopping buddies!
Yes!! 🙂
oh the lunge track on 93! brutal!!
the song is so nice and happy, too!
Glad to hear your thumb is doing better. You are going to need all fingers ready for the new little one.
Which WF are you going to??? The Hillcrest one isn’t too far from OB. I do loveee their hot bar. the one here in south Carolina is tiny compared to the SD and ATL ones.
amen to that haha.
hillcrest is like 10 minutes away, and i think that’s “far” now when i have people’s and TJs so close
Thank you for being honest about not wanting to drink Shakeology while pregnant. I briefly was a Beach Body coach but quit after it was apparent how much you are supposed to push Shakeology on people. I was nursing at the time and didn’t feel comfortable drinking it but whenever I asked other coaches about it they had me watch a video by the creators and their answer was basically that you should question everything you put in your body and that was that. I think it is full of great things but maybe too much when you are pregnant and nursing especially because some of the herbs and superfoods have effects on hormones such as maca. I see coaches give that stuff to their children too and I just cringe inside!
There is nothing like that hot foods bar at whole foods 🙂 Love it all! Glad to hear that your thumb is better!! I can’t imagine losing my grip like that. Hope you have a great start to the week!