CYNTHIA'S STORY

I’d put some weight on after my first hip replacement surgery. Talk about rubbing salt into a fresh wound, huh? 

Hip replacement surgery, while becoming more and more common, is not a little thing. It’s a last resort, when all else has failed to alleviate debilitating pain. I am talking about excruciating pain from walking. Just from walking. Not from running a marathon, or climbing a mountain. Just from walking. 

Walking is a simple pleasure. I took it for granted, until I could barely do it anymore. So, I was looking forward to walking again, after my surgery. Then I put on weight while recovering, which made it hard to walk. Clearly, I needed a Plan B. “Come with me to paradise,” a friend said. That became Plan B. It should have been Plan A.

My friend had been taking water cardio classes at Paradise three times a week, when she urged me to join her. She’d lost weight. I’ve always loved being around water, so I was not hesitant to join her when she pointed out the obvious to me. You are buoyant in the water, so exercising is not tantamount to taking a literal physical pounding. In fact, exercising in water is so easy on your joints that it doesn’t hurt. You hardly know you are working out, until the results become obvious. I had just never thought of exercising in water until she brought it up. 
I lost 20 pounds pretty quickly. All the weight I’d put on after surgery melted off in the Paradise pool. I wonder how much body fat has melted off in that pool? A lot! 

Did I mention that working out at Paradise is actually fun? It is! So much fun that it’s addictive. It’s a good thing that it’s addictive, because I had to have a second hip replacement surgery. 
Shotgun, both barrels. Bang, Bang! But I’m not dead! “Missed me, missed me, Mr. Reaper, you ain’t gonna kiss me!” 
Recovering from the second surgery was much easier than the first, and I credit Starr and the rest of the Paradise staff for that. If not for them, I’d have been in poor physical condition going into the operating room. 
But three-a-week sessions following my first hip replacement made it possible for me to skip a lot of pain and suffering after my second. And for that, I am eternally grateful, to Starr and the Paradise people, and my friend who introduced me to Paradise. 

I’ve been going to Paradise for a year and a half. The term ROI springs to mind when I think about Paradise. ROI stands for Return On Investment. 
I’m no Warren Buffet. I don’t have much money invest. But I have time to invest. Time to invest in myself. And after my first hip replacement, I realized it was time to invest in myself. In my health. 
What have I gotten in return for my investment? Better health, obviously. Physical and mental. Just ask my husband. 
Three times a week. Are you seriously going to tell me you can’t afford that? Are you going to tell me that your time is so precious that you can’t afford to invest some of it in your health? Seriously?