The Fitbit

I can't remember the whole context of the conversation, but someone recently made a comment to me about Fitbits and personal fitness trackers. It was something along the lines of 'and these people who wear these wrist band things and are constantly checking on their fitness all the time...' The person wasn't so impressed with the idea of fitness trackers and disapproved of them. I found my eyes casting down towards my wrist and staring at the Fitbit I was wearing. Should I be embarassed I'm a Fitbit wearer and admiit that I'm actually quite a big fan of the fitness tracker? I'm not totally obsessed with my Fitbit, but my fitness is important to me, however limited I become and I've found my Fitbit a very useful tool to measure what I'm up to. 

I bought my Fitbit at the airport a couple of years after my heart and double lung transplant, we were en route to Rome. We were about to embark on a three week trip around Europe. Rob and I enjoy visiting cities and I'd always been curious about how far we actually walk when we are exploring - I always thought it may be much further than I imagined. That was my main motivation for buying it, together with the fact I'd just returned from taking part in the British Transplant Games and keen to build up my fitness even more, was trying to aim to walk the NHS recommended 10K steps per day to help me. I thought the Fitbit would help me to track this target. 

On the holiday, I found that yes, we did walk far more than I might have guessed, exploring museums, galleries, parks, shops and ambling around streets and I had a great headstart on my new 10K per day target. Way exceeding this target most days, I returned from holiday feeling fit and well and quite pleased with myself and determined to try and keep up my 10K steps using my Fitbit to track my progress. 

Recently there's been research and press reports suggesting that 10K steps per day may be too many steps for some and may be dangerous to their health and fitness. Well that's just common sense surely? If you you've been unwell and recovering from an illness or an operation then it may not be sensible thing - things need to be taken more slowly. Having been chronically and terminally ill before my transplant I know that the 10K steps wouldn't ever have been achievable for me then. It was still important to walk, move around and keep as fit as possible in order to withstand the ongoing challenges of poor physical health though.

After my holiday, wanting to maintain that healthy holiday feel, I continued with my 10K steps target and using my Fitbit tracker to keep a measure of how I was doing. I tried to motivate myself with new ways to achieve it and even decided to have a dog, so I had no excuses to stop me walking every day. Before Ted, my cocker spaniel arrived though, my health took a dip and my 10K step target dwindled away while I was poorly for a few months with CMV virus and then recovering afterwards.  

The Fitbit became really useful in helping me gauge how far I could manage to walk, it helped me readjust targets and aim for more as I recovered and started to get back on my feet again. It helped motivate me in recovery, as I could see a difference in how much I was walking each week and over each month. 

I was lucky to find myself back to full fitness, with Ted my cocker spaniel in tow, smashing the 10K steps together and becoming the strongest I'd been for years. My lung function on my regular clinic visits had always been pretty good, at 90%, but suddenly my tests were showing 100% lung function, which was totally amazing after what had been a big setback and for someone who'd undergone a lung transplant. 

Although I managed to achieve this, there were to be more trials and tribulations with my health unfortunately due to the virus that originally set me back. It reactivated and led to a period of acute rejections with pseudonoma infections. With my new lungs now damaged and working at 75% it was back to the drawing board once again. I used my Fitbit to challenge myself with new adjusted and lowered targets aiming to build myself up slowly but surely. I hadn't managed to improve on this when I caught a bad bout of flu alongside a form of infectious pneumonia.

This time recovery has been a long slow road - there had been too much strain on my lungs this time coming on top of the previous acute rejections and organising pneumonia, which my lungs are still and were at this time being treated for on top of the new problems.  My lungs were completely struggling and the doctors didn't either bother to measure my lung function while I was in hospital, as I couldn't even breathe properly let alone do blows for tests. There were no steps happening, but the Fitbit was actually useful as a watch as time ticked away in the room I'd been isolated in. I was even surprised when I realised how much I'd actually been using it purely as a watch all this time. 

During these periods of illness and dependance on higher doses of steroids, my sleep was poor, often interupted and I was suffering from insomnia. The Fitbit helped me gauge my sleep patterns and see that as I improved, my sleeping although not perfect was improving. Again, this was reassuring and encouraging. 

A few months on and it's felt a slow progress, but using the Fitbit, I can see in black and white how far I've come. After about a month at home, I was managing around 1K steps a day and 7K steps a week, only a fraction of what I'd been used to, but it was something and a good start. I figured the more I could move, the more I could help clear my lungs of infection and help them to work again. Weeks on and I could see this improve more and more - another month and I was managing 2K to 3K steps a day, around 17K steps a week, undertaking small walks and activities over the day. 

This helped me confirm in my mind that things were improving, that I was actually making some progress - sometimes it's hard to see how you are doing because of the frustration of not being able to do what you could once manage. It can feel one step forward and ten steps back on a bad day. A few months on and I'd built my lung function up to 40%, which was still very limiting with breathlessness, but I was walking again and managing to be out and about with family and friends and I was so grateful for that and encouraged and motivated by the fact that there was some improvement. 

Following some further additions and tweaks in medications I was back in clinic this week to see how I'm getting on. Fortunately following a few medication changes I'd been feeling better still and able to do more and using my Fitbit data I was able to say I'd gone from only being able to do a thousand steps or so each day to now being able to do 4K steps on most days and had done 28K over the last week. I was delighted when my lung function results reflected an improvement too and showed my lung function had increased and is at 50% function now. 

There is still a way to go yet back to fitness yet, my consultant has explained that it's unlikely I will be able to reach the high lung function I once had, but we are all encouraged there's a significant improvement and I'm going to carry on using my Fitbit to help me increase my walking further if I can and hopefully in turn push my lungs further and squeeze that extra bit more from them. For me, I've found that using a Fitbit has been a very positive thing. 

What are your thoughts on Fitbits? 

It's What You Can Do, Not What You Can't

Do you ever collect things? I have a few things I like to collect and as you can see from the pictures of my fridge and freezer, fridge magnets are one of them. They have over the years become much more than a few tacky fridge magnets stuck on a fridge door though. 

A few of them are left over from when the girls were tiny and growing up - we would always have something stuck on the fridge during those times from drawings to ABCs to exam timetables and revision notes... The few remaining ones are always happy reminders of these times. A few years prior to my falling ill with Pulmonary Hypertension we began to travel more and more together as a family and I began to pick up fridge magnets wherever we went as little momentoes of our travels. Again the fridge magnets remain happy reminders of these lovely and precious times. 

Then out of the blue came the illness with a very poor prognosis and a long wait for a heart and double lung transplant. Life changed dramatically. It became a fight to survive and a fight to enjoy and make the most of out every moment. During this time, as a family we tried hard to go out and about as much as we could - afternoons out, days out, holidays in the UK - whatever we could manage with my ever changing needs and hospital visits. Everything we managed felt like a big achievement and I avidly began collecting more and more fridge magnets as momemtoes that I was able to still go out and do things in these difficult circumstances. We endeavered to live life to its fullest while I could and the fridge magnets became a reminder of this, especially on down days when I was too poorly to go out.

A glimpse of the colourful fridge and all the magnets that represented so many wonderful memories we'd made together would inspire me on to keep wanting more of life, and to keep on making more precious memories. The fronts of the fridge and freezer filled up with more and more magnets, more happy memories of precious times together when time was running out. Focusing on all those things I could do, rather than all those things that I couldn't became a real priority. So much had been so cruelly taken away, but the ever growing magnets on the fridge always showed how much I could still do and how much there must still be out there to enjoy. 

Life changed again with my heart and double lung transplant and the generosity of my donor and their family. I was given my second chance and suddenly free to travel the world again. We carried on making the most of those precious moments and making the most of my better health. We were constantly physically pinching ourselves every time we visited somewhere new and I didn't have to struggle any more. There were more fridge magnets added to the big collection; more memories; more reminders of how special life is. 

Now I've hit problems with my transplanted lungs, as they've been hit with one thing after another recently, which has significantly reduced how they can function. They've been hit with recurrent CMV infection, acute rejection episodes, pseudomonas infections, double pneumonia, parainfluenza and silent damage by stomach acid. Their deterioration means I'm very breathless and feel weak when I try and move and walk.

I've just been back to clinic and the positive news is they have remained stable over the last four weeks since I was last checked so that is good news for now at least. I'm in the middle of more tests and trying new medications to help keep things in balance and under control. It's also highly likely I will be having some stomach surgery soon after I have met with the gastro surgeon in early July. There are a few mountains to climb yet, but it's all in the aim of keeping me stable and preventing more damage to my lungs and even giving the opportunity for things to improve if I'm really lucky. 

With all this happening at the moment, we recently had to cancel a holiday we'd planned. We were supposed to be going on a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords visiting many new places and yes probably collecting more than a few more fridge magnets too. At the time of cancelling it, I was practically bedridden and so poorly that it really didn't matter and I didn't really care. I recall thinking I would be so grateful if I could just walk down the garden again. I'm managing that now and I'm so pleased and relieved I can do that and even get out and about now with help. There are times when it's not all about doing 'big' things and it's brought home to you starkly yet again, that the simplest of pleasures are the most important ones. 

The fridge magnets are always a bright and optimistic reminder each day that life can still be lived to the full, whatever the circumstances - even in those of feeling unwell and with limited mobility. I just need to adapt again like I've done before. As I glimpse them each day they shout out, 'You can still go out and do things, discover new places and enjoy yourselves.' We have to do it differently though and consider what is manageable such as whether a place is wheelchair friendly and asccessible; whether it is flat to manage a short walk or has benches or seating to sit and rest on; whether there's refreshments and loos or not, whether there's higher infection risks. We have to think of timings so I can enjoy outings when I feel my best during the day, allow for tiredness and rest periods and be ready to change plans and ideas at the last minute if my health so dictates. 

Under our own steam and pace I know we can still do so much and enjoy life. Since I've been well enough to go out and about again, that's what we've been trying hard to keep on doing. It is about focusing on what I can still do and not fretting and dwelling on what I can't. There's not much point on wasting any time and energy dwelling on the 'can't dos' - there really isn't time or energy for it anymore. I've already drawn up a list of places I want to visit locally, we've already enjoyed a quiet and relaxed break in the Lake District and proved to ourselves that we can get out and about now and we're making more plans to escape somewhere nice soon in between all the next round of tests and clinic visits.

I expect our fridge magnet collection to continue to grow and grow this summer. Hopefully we won't run out of space, but if we do that will be a good thing.