Before I begin, I would like to offer special acknowledgment and recognition to two incredibly special health professionals:
- Dr. Lynn Weston — Doc, you saved my life. Thank you.
- Matt Riemann — Matt, you brought quality of life back to me, and opened my eyes to a whole to new take on human health — one through which I plan to continually inspire others. Thank you.
Ok, let’s get right to it…Day 1 Post-Op: get up!
Day 2 Post-Op: Kill the meds
Day 3 Post-Op: Connect body and mind
Day 4 Post-Op: Aim for the finish line.
Obstacles: Infection (sepsis), Wound Infection (2nd surgery), Weight Loss, Dehydration, Mal-nutrition, Skin ulceration, Sleep Disturbance, Recurrence of morning abdominal pain following all surgery (to a lesser extent, but increasing)
Solutions for obstacles:- Infections (sepsis): antibiotics, interventional radiology for CT guided procedure to drain infection, injections to break down fibrin walls from loculation
- Infection (wound): take 2 staples out, drain wound, wound culture, antibiotics, clean and pack wound 2x/day until healed
- Weight loss: increase fat intake through shakes, add cheat days, eat additional carbs, increase frequency of meals
- Dehydration: carry water everywhere with me and drink throughout night, as well
- Mal-nutrition: conscious digestion + watching output on meal-to-meal basis and adjusting
- Skin ulceration: increase frequency of bag change from 3-5 days to 3 days, perform daily skin checks as best as possible & thoroughly during bag changes. ER was unable to be of help, so best managed at home and with preparation from ostomy care nurse.
- Sleep Disturbance: due to high output, unable to sleep more than 1-3 hours at a time before having to change the bag; no solution found. After ileostomy takedown, best solution was meditation.
- Recurrence of Morning Abdominal Pain: although to a lesser extent, this led me to believe the original issue may resurface, after all. I was fortunate to meet an excellent medical professional from Australia — Matt Riemann — who suggested low stomach acid production (sub-clinical), causing an inability to break down proteins; he prescribed 6-8 weeks of no protein, and then gradual re-introduction. My bowel habits were resolved within 3-4 weeks.
Exercises:In the hospital:
- Ankle Pumps
- Diaphragmatic Breathing
- Sit to Stand
- Single Leg Standing (in bathroom while brushing teeth, for example)
- Walking — assisted with walker to IV pole to independent
After discharge (with biofeedback in front of mirror when possible, in order to re-learn how I was moving and build coordination as quickly as possible):
- Walking
- Climbing
After 6 weeks (with biofeedback in front of mirror):
Squat With Kettlebell Pick Up Crossbody Press
Modified Kettlebell Swing
Kettlebell Front Squats
Kettlebell Curls
Kettlebell Crossbody Press
Kettlebell Rows
Kettlebell Cross-Body Rows
Bodyweight Lunges
Bodyweight Reverse Spider Lunges
Bodyweight Reverse Lunges With a Chop/Reverse Chop
Bodyweight Rotational/Pivot Squats
Body Transformation Mini Circuit
After 8 weeks (paying special attention to ‘torque’ and making sure not to push too hard):
- Golf (1/4 swing and 7 iron & up only, to begin)
- Paddle boarding (avoiding full torque and building gradually)
- Beach hikes/walks (creates an unstable surface that challenges balance)
- Long walks carrying my son (any object would work, but to create resistance)
- Stair-climbing in sets of up/down 10x
- Playing with my son (this required me to get on my hands and knees, on/off the floor, etc.)
- Full workout potential, but focusing more on ‘active living’ than pushing with a workout. Resistance training will be more fully transitioned in after 4-6 months, while MED training will be the main focus until then, allowing my body to heal as the single priority, rather than breakdown and build again.
Thoughts/Mind-Body Exercises:In the hospital:
- “Drink It Down” — this is a mantra I repeated to myself, almost in song-format, while making sure to smile. The goal was to create a happy digestive state, ultimately allowing my body to accept what might be perceived as a ‘foreign object,’ since it had undergone so much trauma.
- “Relax” — again, a powerful mantra to direct my body and give it instructions on how to react.
- “Everything is OK” — consciously, this was a scary time. Allowing my body and brain to understand everything will be OK was a necessary step to speed up rehabilitation, as often times we forget to communicate between our brains and bodies.
- “One Step at a Time” — these powerful, simple words were used as guidance to divide a massive goal into smaller parts and feel victory along the way.
- “Jordan, this is for YOU.” — these tear-jerking, chill-inducing words would prepare me for war when I needed to push the hardest.
After discharge:
- Meditation
- 5-sense Affirmations
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Mind Coaching
I had the pleasure of meeting Angie Johnsey, who has served as a wonderful resource for me in “mind training.” Angie is a special and extremely talented woman, who originally was trained as a nurse, now specializes in Reiki and other forms of healing, and has an uncanny ability to detect when the “mind is playing games on you and causing stress.”
Angie describes the mind as a character of its own, so any perspective you might be carrying that leads you to believe you are unloved, uncared for, insecure (financially or otherwise,) is only based upon a set of beliefs you’ve acquired over time. These beliefs help guide great decision making for you on a daily basis, but the mind’s statements and beliefs can also be misguiding.
As you might imagine, recovering from any surgery, dealing with large medical bills, and various family strains of being a new father at the same time can be stressful. But, each of these stressors is also a blessing; learning how to shift my perspective, use the way my body feels as an indicator of what my mind is telling me, and learning to ‘observe’ instead of ‘react’ has been paramount in the way I feel and my recovery.
Spirituality:- Gratitude
- Prayer
- MLD
- Myofascial Release
- Cross-friction massage
Ileostomy Care:- Change bag every 3 days (every day if there is ulcerated skin)
- Take bag off while in shower on days the bag gets changed and massage area (myofascial release & MLD)
- Press seal back on once per day
- Manage hydration with tons of water + electrolytes (4-5L per day since high output)
- Conscious digestion after meals to decrease output
- Watch and learn from output from every meal and emotion
- Get extra supplies
- Watch for shrinking stoma
- Shave every time bag is changed
- Sleep face up, somewhat reclined as needed
- If sleeping on the side, have bag supported by pillow for when it fills up
Food/Diet:With Ileostomy:
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Shake:
- Coconut milk
- Coconut water
- Whey
- MCT oil
- 2-3 frozen strawberries
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Observation of Key Foods for Better Output:
- Olive Oil
- Avocado
- Grassfed beef
- Chicken
- Potatoes
- Yogurt (plain)
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Veggies in small quantities:
- Spinach
- Peas (somewhat dangerous, must chew thoroughly)
- Bell peppers
- Mushrooms
- Carrots – cooked
- Sparing amounts of fruit, outside of banana.
After Ileostomy Take-down (no longer had fiber restriction in place):
- Reduce/Eliminate (as much as possible) protein for 8 weeks.
- Transition protein back in slowly over 2-3 weeks.
- Focus on ‘inclusion’-based diet, rather than ‘exclusion’ — most diets focus on what you’re not allowed to eat; instead, we might want to consider eating fewer foods, but foods that are safe and healthy for us. It stands to argue that we are only intended to eat a certain # of foods. As we look around at every other animal species on Earth, each one has a select, or “inclusion-based diet,” rather than exclusion. By focusing on whole foods that were natural to my ancestors in their living environments, I feel my best. Thank you, Matt Riemann, for you have given me my health back.
Sleep/Rest Schedule:Minimum of eight hours per night, even if interrupted. Meditation also became a huge part of my life, and I meditate 2x/day, for 20 minutes each. My finding is that I feel as rested as an hour and a half nap, but even more tolerance for my day.
I hope this rehab program serves as more than a specific program for intestinal rehabilitation only. Should you ever go through a life-threatening surgery or health event, please consider using aspects of this as a template and going over it with your doctor to be sure it’s safe and effective for you.
Also, please consider the amount of motivation I put into finding answers, rebuilding myself, and finding a higher purpose to inspire me. Consider the number of people I involved for collective thought and prayer to help me recover from a very low spot. This world works in a funny way, and collective consciousness is part of it.
I believe you saved my life. Thank you. I appreciate you beyond words.
I am so grateful.
22 Comments
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I don’t have a gym but am doing these exercises at home. Is there a substitute for the pull or can I just leave it out of the sequence?
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Get a door mounted multi angle pull-up bar……….even good selection at Walmart
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Hey NIM,
Definitely not a good choice to leave the pulls out of you workout. You want to keep your program balanced front to back and upper to lower body to ensure that you are supporting proper posture as well as reducing your risk for injury.
There are a ton of exercises that you can substitute in here that require just a single dumbbell, if you have one, or can be done as bodyweight only.
If you check out the middle trap and lower trap exercises in the “pull” section, these are great examples of bodyweight only exercises that you can do at home to fill the pull category for you.
Also, you can always do an “air” rep of any of the exercises that are described above. The major think to focus on with an air rep is concentrating on the muscles that you are supposed to be using so that you can get maximal contraction and you are not just going through the motions.
I hope this helps 🙂
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I really enjoyed your presentation. However, the sound to the pull up exercise died less than half way through the explanation. Other than that, I loved your explanations. Thank you. = )
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Thanks Manny. It worked fine on my side, but I’m having our tech team look into it. I appreciate you.
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Two questions: For the Pull Up, is it just as effective to do a pull-down using your body weight to pull down?
And, for the Plank, I have also been doing a plank in the push-up position, arms extended, toes on floor, for 60+ seconds. What is your opinion for this position of the “plank”?-
hey Robert,
1) Pull-ups are particularly effective. It’s a reverse action of your lat to pull up vs down, and this particular action is very functional, as it simulates climbing. I’ve consistently found pull ups to be an effective exercise, and part of my rationale for that is:
a) In order to do a pull up, you pretty much ‘need’ to be in a healthy shoulder posture. This means less pressure on your rotator cuff, biceps tendon, and first rib than many shoulder and back exercises end up placing on your body.
b) You are working against impingement syndrome, which many people develop in their shoulder joint. During the day, many of our activities are overhead, meaning that we reach over and above our body to grab a glass from a cabinet, or that type of thing. As a result, our shoulders are constantly being raised, and our shoulder joint is supposed to glide downward. Well, similar to why you might need WD-40 on a door sometimes, you might need some shoulder-specific exercises to keep that glide going. Pull-ups work on that glide, automatically.
c) Thoracic extension. It’s easy to arch your low back in a pull down, but a pull up will tire very quickly if you don’t keep your core locked in. This will force the ‘extension’ part of the exercise — for your spine — to come from your mid-back, or thoracic spine. That’s an area that easily becomes rounded from sitting-positions at work, and it leads to a multitude of issues in the mid-back, shoulder, neck, and low back.
2) Just make sure your hands are under your shoulders (or from your perspective, it should look like your hands are in line with nipple line, and your fingers straight ahead or slightly outward; also, watch your wrists, but otherwise works for me.)
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Dr. K, thanks for the response. I will return to doing more pull-ups, along with my pull downs. I will just share, I get a kick out of the “take this supplement and just eat right and you will get six-pack abs”. In my experience you not only have to eat right, but you have to build muscle to get ab definition! Therefore, it takes time either at home or in the gym with weights to build a toned body and to show your six-pack! I enjoy your site. Thanks again!
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I am in my 70s and have worked out for the past 60 years. I have arthritis in my shoulders and am finding it more and more difficult to do certain exercises. One of these is pullups. I have a modified pullup machine in my gym which I use or have used reclining pullups on a Smith Machine or freestanding rack (with a barbell.) What do you suggest I do to ease the stress on my shoulders. When I put my hands out to my sides you can hear my bones scraping together.
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What happend to the five videos beginning with the bent leg deadlifts? I try to open them up and it goes directly to exc 1 – 5 above!!
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Even limited motion squats (with back up against an inflated gym ball) caused severe patellofemeral pain. My right knee now requires physical therapy. My orthopedist says no squats.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patellofemoral_pain_syndrome
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I cannot get any videos beyond the posture series. No matter which excercise I select it takes me to the posture set
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I don’t have the strength to do a pull up. What is your recommendation for how to build up to a pull up?
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Do the others first, when you get some strength do the pull ups.
Love & sex!
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I’ve got the Anti-Aging workout. Is there any particular sequence to do the workiouts, i.e., do all the workouts on one disc before going to the next one, or alternate discs for every workout?
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I can’t even do one pushup. How do you expect me to do it for 50 sec
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Yo stop grumblin Julius and start workin out it’ll come in time.
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I can’t even do one push up how can i do 50 sec ?
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Hello, I’m 52 and recovering from mild adrenal problems. Are these exercises ok for me to do if I take my time? I don’t need to lose weight, I need to build muscle. Thank you.
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Creat
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Is it safe to do squats with knees that are clicking or slightly swollen on the side, (runner’s knee is what it’s called)?
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Hi Kristy! That’s a great question!
It is Ok to to do squats with knees that are clicking, as long as you are not experiencing pain. Your focus should be on proper form and keeping your weight back and in your heels throughout the motion to ensure that you are keeping your knees in proper alignment.
If needed, your can limit you range of motion and start with partial squats, or keep something in front of you, to hold on to, for stability and to help control your momentum.
I would also recommend that you ice your knee after the squats to help with the inflammation that you’re experiencing.
Hope this helps!
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