My Pacing Plan

Return to My Pain Management Program

I was really concerned about what my pacing plan was going to look like when I left the 4 week program. At that time I didn’t have a job so I was looking at a much more relaxed pace. I could spend most of my days just concentrating on the plan. What concerned me was what was going to happen once I got a job. Would I be able to do 40 hours per week and still keep up the program or was I going to need to just work part time. So far, working 40 hours is working. Longer term though, I think I’m going to try to find something to do part time. Mostly because I want to have more time to do the things that I want to do. So here’s my current schedule.

Weekdays

6:10 am – Stretching exercises start first thing in the morning. The only thing before that is starting the coffee.

Sometimes this is really hard for me. I may be in quite a bit of pain when I get up. On those days it’s about 50/50 whether I’ll feel good or not afterwards. If I don’t stretch I’ll be able to tell it later in the day, regardless of how my day started.

6:40 am – Coffee and get the ice packs out of the freezer

I’m probably not going to give up my coffee!

6:45 am – Icing

This is a nice time for me. I have it set up that I can ice on the love seat in the Man Cave. I catch a little of the news before I go to work. I didn’t do this before. I could hardly get up and get out of the house to make it to work on time before.

8:00 am to noon – Work and Stairs (8 flights)

I do stairs at least once but more than likely 3 or 4 times in the morning. I never take the elevator anymore. Throughout the day, I try to be mindful of my pace. I take breaks at regular periods and try not to stand or sit for more than an hour at a time. Usually, I change every 30 minutes.

12:00 noon – I eat lunch and take a 30 minute walk.

This is my favorite part of the day. I’ve been walking around down town since it has been nice. I’m not sure what I’ll do when the weather turns cold. I’m not much of a cold person.

1:00 – 5:00 pm – More stairs. and more work. Same pace.

After 5:00 pm – In the evening, depending on how I’m feeling, I may ice, take a warm bath or an evening walk.

I tend to only have one or two extracurricular activities throughout the week. Church and men’s group is all I’ll schedule. Occasionally I have an elders meeting or something but that’s it. I look at 9:00 being the time to get my head ready for bed. It’s tough with “The Mentalist” and “Blue Bloods” being on at that time!

Weekends

The weekends I’ll keep up most of the things that I do through the week except for the stairs. I’ll substitute yard chores or fun activities for the work activities I do throughout the week.. I think the key here is I try to keep it as consistent as possible so I don’t have significant changes to the amount or type of activities that I do. It’s hard because I like to get things done on the weekends. I have to keep myself under control.

And that’s pretty much it. I am pretty militant about my schedule. If I don’t get my way it gets ugly.

Leave a Reply