FEELING FRUSTRATED

I just can't seem to get this exercise thing right. A few weeks back my physiotherapist said I had to push myself. I thought that's what I had been doing so I decided to challenge myself by getting 10 flights of stairs a day. Spread out throughout the day. 16 steps per flight. It was hard in the beginning, really hard. Going down was even harder than going up. I began to get calluses on the palms of my hands from relying on the railings. Some days were easier than others. One day I surprised myself by getting a total of 23 flights. The following day was very swollen and painful. It also happened to be a PT day. She noticed that I was struggling. Bottom line: I was to cut back on the flights of stairs, no more than 10 in total, spread out through the day. I was disappointed since this had been an easy way to track my progress. But then again there was the pain and swelling.

Yesterday I took it easy. Just got the steps I managed in my day to day walking . . . almost 1,500 plus 2 flights of stairs that must have been a fluke because I didn't do stairs. It was a much easier walking day. I even awoke a couple of times through the night without feeling pain. That's a rare feeling for me, at least since the accident almost 5 months ago. Then my last awakening I realized I was once again feeling pain and was quite swollen.

How can this be if all I was doing was sleeping? Too much exercise or not enough? What is the right formula? At this point, I just don't know.