I'm so excited! In a couple of hours Robin and I pack the computer, the cold pack, the camera, and other various and sundries that don't begin with a "c" for our first visit to Mom in 2010! She's finally back in her Jersey "summer" home again, and it looks to be a great day for travelling - lovely and temperate and no rain and probably no shore-bound crowds since tomorrow's supposed to be a bit nasty.
I'm also psyched to travel because I'll be feeling less pain than usual. For at least the last few years (it could be longer) I've felt like my body was out of balance, I couldn't stand for long periods of time without teetering between legs, I couldn't fully put my weight on my left (dominant) side, it hurt when I walked, etc. etc. The root of the problem seemed to center around the sciatic nerve, in the general area of the left side of my lower back. I've been told by doctors who've examined me that I have bursitis in the left hip, so I was attributing most of the discomfort to that. But I still felt like my left calf and thigh were always about to cramp, like the leg felt somehow shorter than my right one... just off-balance, as it were. And some instinct kept saying it wasn't just the hip, there was something else amiss.
I'd been contorting and stretching my body in various lying-down positions to try to finally alleviate that feeling. Then, last Saturday, after a second or two of "uh oh, that was painful, maybe I shouldn't have stretched that way" - somehow I did it.
Suddenly I felt like some kind of energy was circulating through my body again, unobstructed. I've been enjoying the heck out of the last week, being careful enough not to reinjure myself (even though I have no idea what caused the problem to begin with) but thoroughly enjoying my regained balance. Everything is so much easier now! It's amazing to me that so much physical discomfort was all because of that one area, and that my body knew it was wrong and that's why I kept trying to ease (or yank) it back into place. My left leg is still twitchy, but that's probably because it needs to get used to working properly again. Walking, standing, showering, etc. are pleasures once more. I hope it lasts.
Speaking of medical matters, a lot of folks have been mocking Senate hopeful Sue Lowden for suggesting people alleviate strained pocketbooks when visiting medical practitioners by restoring a modern form of the barter system. Frankly, I don't see why that idea is so silly (unless she meant it to take the place of real insurance reform rather than supplement the currently horrid situation - always a possibility with modern Republican conservatives). When my friend Jan still did PT we often talked about me helping organize her office in exchange for free sessions. I'd love to have Robin pay for any needed medical care by drawing art for doctors' offices. Lots of places use barter systems very successfully. Money (or credit) itself is just an agreed-upon form of barter, for heaven's sake. So seriously, at its heart there's nothing wrong with Lowden's suggestion as I see it - just the unfortunate example she used. As JoAnn Worley has been known to say, "Was that a chicken joke?" Here's one that made the Rachel Maddow show last night, but I first saw it on Susie's blog.
I'm also psyched to travel because I'll be feeling less pain than usual. For at least the last few years (it could be longer) I've felt like my body was out of balance, I couldn't stand for long periods of time without teetering between legs, I couldn't fully put my weight on my left (dominant) side, it hurt when I walked, etc. etc. The root of the problem seemed to center around the sciatic nerve, in the general area of the left side of my lower back. I've been told by doctors who've examined me that I have bursitis in the left hip, so I was attributing most of the discomfort to that. But I still felt like my left calf and thigh were always about to cramp, like the leg felt somehow shorter than my right one... just off-balance, as it were. And some instinct kept saying it wasn't just the hip, there was something else amiss.
I'd been contorting and stretching my body in various lying-down positions to try to finally alleviate that feeling. Then, last Saturday, after a second or two of "uh oh, that was painful, maybe I shouldn't have stretched that way" - somehow I did it.
Suddenly I felt like some kind of energy was circulating through my body again, unobstructed. I've been enjoying the heck out of the last week, being careful enough not to reinjure myself (even though I have no idea what caused the problem to begin with) but thoroughly enjoying my regained balance. Everything is so much easier now! It's amazing to me that so much physical discomfort was all because of that one area, and that my body knew it was wrong and that's why I kept trying to ease (or yank) it back into place. My left leg is still twitchy, but that's probably because it needs to get used to working properly again. Walking, standing, showering, etc. are pleasures once more. I hope it lasts.
Speaking of medical matters, a lot of folks have been mocking Senate hopeful Sue Lowden for suggesting people alleviate strained pocketbooks when visiting medical practitioners by restoring a modern form of the barter system. Frankly, I don't see why that idea is so silly (unless she meant it to take the place of real insurance reform rather than supplement the currently horrid situation - always a possibility with modern Republican conservatives). When my friend Jan still did PT we often talked about me helping organize her office in exchange for free sessions. I'd love to have Robin pay for any needed medical care by drawing art for doctors' offices. Lots of places use barter systems very successfully. Money (or credit) itself is just an agreed-upon form of barter, for heaven's sake. So seriously, at its heart there's nothing wrong with Lowden's suggestion as I see it - just the unfortunate example she used. As JoAnn Worley has been known to say, "Was that a chicken joke?" Here's one that made the Rachel Maddow show last night, but I first saw it on Susie's blog.
1 comments:
Have a safe trip!
Post a Comment