The Road Forward

The combination of the currant bathroom I have and my amazing PT have made grooming/personal hygiene SO much easier.

I now have the strength to often dry my hair - ‘at all’ is an amazing start but I’m talking with a blow dryer - I have to sit on the floor to do it but I can. In the past year the only time it has been done is when Man Friend has done it and even that has wrecked me.

I can shower on my own nearly every day, including washing my own hair - I used to not be able to get *in* to our old shower let alone balance with the standing for that long and the co-ordinating to wash my hair (which included holding my hands above my head for much too long). I still need him sometimes, yesterday for example I needed help because I didn’t think I would be able to hold myself up long enough to shower. 

I still often drop the shampoo container because it is so high up and so heavy (2L) but it is better than having it on the ground.

I can shave sometimes - arms are easier than legs by about a million percent. But even sometimes when I’ve dried my hair and am sitting I’m not hurting too much and I can bare it. I can even bare to cut my toenails which used to be agony and a dislocated hip or two. 

I have energy to think about let alone do a cleans and tone. 

All these things may sound silly, but these were things that defeated me, on a daily basis before. Man Friend would find me crying because I couldn’t bare to shower again, to go through it again. 

I am much stronger in the arms, the bathroom in this house has a walk in shower not an over bath, it actually has a useable bath which helps amazingly and it has heat lamps so my muscles aren’t spasming from the cold. All of these things have really helped. 

And do you know what all of this has helped. My confidence, and having confidence is a whole barrel of spoons I didn’t even know existed. So, YAY!!! And a big thank  you to Man Friend for putting up with me probablly smelly, crying, unable to wash myself, with hairy legs, long toenails and dirty hair. Thank you for buying me a never ending supply of dry shampoo, even when we were broke. And for Always being willing to support me, even if it meant wrangling a hair dryer and brush for the first time in your life. I will be forever grateful.

I don’t know if I need to change it, but I think I need more fitblr stuff…. 

I can’t do a kettlebell session this week, I had a massage yesterday and couldn’t go yesterday and tomorrow I have the show she is in and I’m working on Saturday, so she is giving me a session today and a take home weights session for Sunday, its going to be ACE!!!

I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but GEEZE I LOVE MY PT!!!

If you missed it.. too bad, sucks to be you, it was some pretty awesome news I had. 

Sadly in order to make it work, I have been asked to keep quite about it… SO for those of you in the know.. Aren’t I awesome?!?!?!?!? For those of you who aren’t… there is an awesome Purple Monkey Dishwasher of Awesome… and you missed it!!!

I spend as many Tuesdays as possible at my friends place cleaning for and with them and then we have an Urban Family Dinner. Today was just lovely!

My friend Nicola has OCD and she finds it incredibly difficult to clean. Her husband Dave really *REALLY* dislikes cleaning when other people are around. They have a 3 year old son who has learnt that the proper place for his toys is scattered all over the floor. 

There house has never been a clean one. It has always been quite bad. However, everyone will ALWAYS forgive them this because they are some of the best people you could possibly hope to meet. 

Several weeks ago I spent three days cleaning their house, this was unbelievably difficult for Nic who got twitchy, cried and had an almost panic attack. Throughout all of that, she pitched in a hell of a lot of work. 

Since then I have spent several days there cleaning solidly and we are now getting the house into a manageable place. Today was spent with Dave and I (and Dominic the amazing 3 year old) cleaning hard!!!!. It was such a beautiful day, full of laughs, easy conversation and really hard work. 

I’m very proud to say that my beautiful friends have a spotless bedroom and a made bed to get into tonight, their bathroom and toilet have been scrubbed, their washing has been washed and put away, their kitchen and dinning room have been tidied, swept and mopped and a whole bunch more. It was bloody hard work, but is was so…. joyfully done. There was so little effort put in, it was just a continuation of the conversations that were happening.

I even look on it as a very big workout I did while chatting to a dear friend - and what could be wrong with that?!?!?!

In the evening we hall sat round their stunning dinning room table (no really, it is the door from a monastery, set into cast iron fittings…. its amazing..) and chatted about everything that is going on, we made jokes, talked about the hard stuff that is going on, cried, planned a childs birthday party - its rainbow themed, that makes it automatically fabulous- and the others drank a toast to the new jobs the girls had.

Then I drove home - thats right, I had timed my meds well enough and was not in too much pain, that I managed to drive home!!!! Taking with me my single serve bottle of champagne they insisted I take with me as a thank you for all my hard work and a ‘we love you’ present. 

I am so very blessed with my beautiful friends. I wouldn’t have them any other way!!!

It was SO nice!!!! 

So I came home, had a nap, decided it would be a smart move to get on the bike and spend some time working out there… stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid!!!! 

I’m meant to be going and helping a friend set up for a show she is stage managing this afternoon (like, I’m being picked up in about 20 minutes), but I feel ratshit, I feel horrible, I just want to sleep until the show and then see the show and then go home, but nooooo, me and my stupid mouth and body decided to drive right in to the stupid end and now I’m going to regret it.

Especially seeing as I’m meant to be going to a mates place to spend tomorrow cleaning!!!!!!!! But…. Its okay, I shall endeavour to keep the rest of the week mostly restful. I’m only going to go to one kettlebell class and I’m debating if I should make it a Wednesday or a Friday class. Wednesday would be bad because I’m cleaning the friends house all day tomorrow, Friday would be bad because I’ve got another show I’m going to see (not help, just see), but I have to drive myself to and from that one…

ARGH.. Life, why you so difficult!!!!! Especially after such a lovely and nice pt session this morning!!!

I didn’t realise quite how sore I was this morning, it wasn’t until I was in the middle of the warm up that my body really threw a tantrum. And boy did it throw a tantrum.

But that’s not what I want to talk about, I want to talk about the other pt who co-runs these sessions with my pt. He was really good in the warm up, he saw I was struggling and reminded me that it didn’t matter how fast I was going because my form was spot on. Which was really positive.

After the warm up we do some speed sets, today’s ones involved a power jump, I knew I couldn’t do it, and when I asked my pt, who knows my history and illness, what I should do instead, he told me I would be doing the jumps as required. Feeling like I’d been told off I did one set of them and jared my back, at which point my pt gave me another exercise…

Anyway, during the rest time for the speed sets I commented that I hadn’t been to a pt session while in this much pain before and perhaps 2 kettlebell sessions in a week was too much. This other pt told me off, telling me that my body just had to get used to it, that it would take three weeks and then I would never feel this much pain again. He said ‘I guarantee it’. So I asked him if that included my disease that increased pain, and the *insert rude words here* told me that was an excuse and if I chose not to get my body used to the work out that was my choice, but it was a poor one.

I was literally in tears from the pain, I was shaking the entire session and not from too much exercise but from too much pain, I couldn’t hold a freaking downward dog position because I was shaking so much, and this man, who has no history with me had the audacity to tell me that I was using excuses even though I was there and working and trying so damned hard to do anything I could……

You guys…. I wanted to thump him!!!!!

http://inpawtaste.tumblr.com

Is going to be freaking ace!!!!!!!!