Yes!!  I’m so happy!

Friday at Renew I had my Physical Therapy & chiropractic, then Jonathon gave me an awesome acupuncture session, after I told of my sciatica & on-going insomnia.  (Not only have I been having trouble falling asleep but when I finally do, I sleep very lightly, not deep enough for REM sleep where we do our dreaming.)   Well, not only did I fall sound asleep on the acupuncture table & start dreaming right then, I had the most wonderful night’s sleep that night!    I just got into bed & fell asleep right away, & I dreamt all night, non-stop. It was like an 12 hour movie marathon in there!  (I’m making up for lost time?)  I felt sooo good when I woke up, very happy & rested.

In fact it felt so comfy & good I decided to take a short nap Saturday afternoon just so I could have more, blissful sleep &  then fell right to sleep again Saturday night!  Oh, I thank you for that Jonathon!

Dr. Kevin sure worked me over in PT on Friday though.  My sciatica is slowly getting better but the muscles across my hips, rump, & outer thighs are still very tight (even causing some bones to be pulled out of alignment, especially my SI joint).   So I had another ‘tenderizing’ session–ooch!  But afterwords I really felt better, even though I was pretty stiff until I stretched & worked out Saturday.  I’m sure glad he’s working the cramps & muscle adhesions out as the sciatica is very painful & really limits what I can do.  (I’m limited to about 10 minutes of sitting or standing, & can lie down only on one side.)  So I can actually say I’m so happy that Dr. Kevin really kicked my butt!

In fact I felt soooo much better between Dr. Buchel’s chiro adjustment, the acupuncture, PT, & a good night’s sleep that I was able to do more on the bike Saturday (40 minutes!!) & do almost all of my exercises!  Boy, it’s amazing what you can do when you’re without much pain, & with a good night’s sleep!

Today I was only a little tired, but the heat sure took everything I had.  Our son had his Cub Scout ‘Box-Car’ Derby & picnic today & even under the shade pavilions it was HOT!!  So I’ve rested most of the afternoon & I’m trying to convince myself that I can get up & do some stretches & light exercise.  I think I’ll go make a power smoothie & do my exercises half an hour after I finish it–that usually helps!

I was so excited to be making progress on Friday (previous post) & then (duh-duh-DUH) I really overworked Saturday, Sunday, & Tuesday—what a mistake! My hubby,  mom,  MIL (mother-in-law) & Uncle-in-Law all came up & we worked to finish off the upstairs ‘renovaton,’ cleanup, & do major reorganization of the 4 upstairs bedrooms.  (Talk about an exhausting game of musical furniture!   Whew! )  It does feel good to finish this seemingly never-ending project but man, I’m still whipped!  Even though I tried so hard to pace myself I had folks calling me all day long from all over the house for help, direction, decisions, blah, blah, blah.

Bottom line:  Now I’ve gone back to the extreme exhaustion, dizziness spells, & muscle fatigue.  I’ve barely had enough energy to follow my food plan (it would be soooo much easier to make an organic PB&J instead of cooking &/or slicing & dicing) but I’m being good, even though it’s very tempting to go back to my old stop-gaps.    And I know that I have to fight myself to take it easy when I’m  recovering! How could I have thought I was being careful?  What was I thinking?? (My pattern has been:  I begin to feel good then–bam!  I don’t have the patience to wait for the real recovery to be complete so I plunge forward, then end up back at square one, or worse.)   This time though, I simply felt guilty that everyone else was working so hard & I thought I looked like a slug whenever I put my feet up for a five or ten minutes.  I really try hard not to let what others think of me drive my behavior, but after a while the big sighs & eye-rolling made it hard to be firm with myself & rest.

Anyway, I am feeling better after lots of rest yesterday & today & I’m looking forward to my appointments tomorrow at Renew Health.  I’m seeing everyone tomorrow, except Tina Mears, so it’ll be a long morning but I know I’ll feel better when I’m done–I always do!

I did feel much better on Monday after Dr. Vanessa worked me over (she even used this new cold laser I’d never seen before to help breakup old adhesions in my muscles & reduce pain).  I did have to really take it easy during my workout though as I felt, literally, like I was an empty shell.  (I did finally get to meet Crystal though!  I knew she’s at Renew also but we’d never connected until then.  She’s so nice & she’s really working hard–just watching her workout kicked my be-hind!)  ;-D

After my body work with Dr. Vanessa & workout with Adam in PT, Dr. Buchel gave another awsome chiropractic adjustment, then I was back to see Dr. Vanessa to get more kiniseo-tape to help put me back together.  I did feel much better after I left on Monday, & I did rest when I got home, but I didn’t rest enough & then it was back to work on Tuesday to finish the house.  Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Hmmm, let’s see, what have I learned?  Anything???  (Darn, I sure hope so!)

First:  Don’t let others’ expectations, or my presumption of their expectations, goad me into behaviors that I know are unhealthy for me at the time.  I am strong enough in my resolve to guard my health & if some folks don’t understand my situation then I’ll just have to live with their diminished opinion of me.

Second:  I have to watch myself more closely than I thought as I continue to recover my health. I’ve been advised in the past to look at what I think I should be able to do at each stage of physical recovery (after knee surgery, etc) & cut that expectation in half.  Then, cut it in half again.  I guess I’ll have to go back to this mindset when I’m tempted to ‘break out’ on the days when I’m feeling really good.  Even though boring, I know that slow & steady is my best plan for now.  Rats!  ;-D

I had a great morning at Renew on Thursday! Physical therapy really kicked my butt (ba-a-a-d butt, ba-a-a-d!)   I’m still having a problem doing aerobic exercise, where my breathing & heart rate are elevated, as I get dizzy & feel as though I’m about to pass out before I’ve even gone a minute or two.  So Adam has been putting me through my paces doing balance & strength-training exercises.  He kept me going until he had the ultimate proof of my wimpiness & I actually tipped over onto my butt–thanks Adam.!  ;-P   (Not really; we were done & I tipped over while trying to get up for my session with Dr. Vanessa.  It just sounds better that Adam’s such a slave driver.)  ;-D

Then I had more acupuncture with Jonathon while I took a nap.  (I always seem to take a nap while I’m having a session–it’s very relaxing!)  And Jonathon also made an interesting comment after I updated him on my ongoing dizziness: He wanted to know if I was exercising inside the house, outside, or both.  When I admitted I’m only working out at home he encouraged me to do some outside, as long as I take it easy & watch for dizziness.  Hmmmm . . .

After a chiropractic adjustment with Dr. Hummel, who’s subbing while Dr. Buchel takes a few days off, I felt really good!  I felt very balanced & to my amazement I found myself trotting up & down the short flight of stairs down to PT so Dr. Vanessa could work her ‘magic’ again with the Kinesio-Tape (sp?).  (See previous  ’Mummy’ post.)

She got me all taped up & once again my spine was so darn straight I was amazed.  I felt so good that on the way home I stopped by Buddy Todd Park & took a walk around the park’s walking path.  I only walked about 10 minutes but I can truly say I haven’t felt that good while walking for years!!  Usually my sciatica hurts & makes it extremely painful to hold my pelvis & lower back in a balanced position, which causes more back & knee pain.  But I just kept walking along at a nice pace & felt great!  Yay!!  Progress!

Then after I returned home I took my son & a friend to the pool (small, homeowner’s association pool but hey, it’s wet!).  After stretching & playing with them for a while finding diving rings & such, I decided to try Jonathon’s advice & did some gentle mini-lap swimming.  (I did say the pool is small, right?)  But I swam 10 or 12 laps, resting when I felt any dizziness coming on until I had caught my breath, then continuing.  It felt great to do a variety of strokes so after I did some crawl, underwater across the pool, modified frog, kickboard, etc, my muscles & body felt great.  I think the swimming feels good because I don’t have so much weight, & what weight I have is distributed differently so my joints rest,’ if that makes sense.

The only problem I had was my K-tape started to come off! EEK!  Dr. Vanessa said it should last 3-5 days & it was OK to swim & shower as long as I don’t rub it when drying off.  The only thing I can think of is the first time she applied it, she reinforced it with some spray adhesive.  But when I came back in Thursday it was solidly in place so I guess she thought it wasn’t necessary.  I guess I’ll have to make sure she uses some heavy-duty super-glue–I’m going to be doing lots of swimming until it cools down this Fall!

Fridays I don’t have much time to blog (teaching workshops, then napping) or on the weekend (napping, doing chores, napping) but I felt more rested.  And, instead of sleeping 12 to 14 hours a night & taking 2-4 hour naps, I’ve been sleeping between 9-11 hours at night with only an hour or so for a nap!!  Again, more progress!!  Huzzah!!

Now it’s time for shower & beddie-bye ’cause I’ve got to be up early tomorrow (Monday) for my 9:00 with Dr. Vanessa, & so Adam can once again kick my butt!

I’ve had so many changes going on with my body over the past week it’s been hard to take time to post an update!!  (Or to sit for very long–my lower back has had me in knots at times.  Fortunately I feel much better now!)  So, where to begin?  I’ve had a very busy six days at Renew Integrative Health Center . . .

First, I had recommendations last week from Jonathon Dodds, L.Ac on eating lots of red foods to boost my intake of fresh antioxidants and other natural nutritional factors, along with changing my iron supplement.  I immediately did both that afternoon and this week I’ve already felt some difference in my energy level and was able to reduce both the allergy and antacid medications I’m taking. Yay!!  Thanks Jonathan!

I also had a meeting last Saturday with Tina Mears, MFT on the obstacles standing in my way of meeting my goals & how to overcome them.  She helped me strengthen my resolve to put time for myself at the top of my daily to-do list. As a wife, mother, educator, and back-up for my husband’s business I end up at the bottom of my list unless I hold my ground and insist on time to do my exercises & prepare healthy meals (sometimes two–one for me & one for them), as well as time for my various treatments at Renew.  I had already begun to carve time for myself but Tina really reinforced how necessary this is for my health–and the health of my family.

Then on Monday and Tuesday I attended two seminars at Renew: One given by Dr. Kamyar M. Hedayat, M.D. on the biological (endocrine) interactions between my mood, the foods I eat, and how these profoundly effect my overall health; The other, given by  Dr. Robert Buchel, D.C. was on the importance of ridding my body of accumulated toxins from my years of over-the-counter pain medications (which I take in high doses), various prescription drugs, and (like Dr. Hedayat’s lecture) the constant cravings for sugar and simple carbs (read: pastry, cakes, bread, chocolate).

These seminars really helped me understand the chains of  biological reactions that are happening within my body and gave me tremendous encouragement! Now I understand why I’ve been feeling such profound exhaustion, light-headedness, fuzzy thinking, and muscle/joint pain.  But even more importantly, this knowledge has expanded my understanding of the interactions between my liver, pancreas, gall bladder, digestive system, brain/mood, hormonal/chemical reactions that drive and serve these structures & their individual processes, & much more.   And this knowledge is extremely helpful in my understanding the approach of the doctors here at Renew.   (I guess I need to understand the scientific basis for everything–even treatments like acupuncture have scientific language that can be accurately applied.)

So, I began my physical therapy Wednesday with Dr. Vanessa Jackson, D.P.T and Adam in the PT suite & boy, did they get my body moving!  Not to say I was running & sweating–they were working hard to unlock my stiff muscles & joints, work on my posture, & go through a stretching & limbering routine for me to do daily at home.  I’m sure glad they have this awesome whirlpool table (trough-shaped table filled with a warm ‘waterbed’ that has whirlpool jets pulsing underneath)–aahh!  Pure heaven for the stiff body!  All this helped me tremendously.

Wednesday I also had my second chiropractic adjustment with Dr. Buchel and he really worked, adjusting my joints from the base of my skull all the way down to my feet!  My spine, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, pelvis, hips, knees, & ankles were checked & adjusted if needed.  Now I was walking much better, although my body wasn’t quite sure what to do!  I actually had to be conscious of my movements as my normal pattern of walking had changed & if I wasn’t careful I felt I might stagger sideways.  Fortunately, my body acclimated quickly & the awkwardness passed in a few minutes.

Finally on Wednesday, I had a full history & examination with Dr. Hedayat. When finished I was so gratified & relieved when he explained that many of the destructive cycles he had spoken of (in his seminar on Monday) were ongoing in my body & causing much of my ill-health.  After being told my HMO they couldn’t find what was wrong with me & I would ‘just have to live with it’, I was excited to have an actual diagnosis & to start a course of action to begin healing!  The most important thing Dr. Hedayat told me was I need to rest my liver, gall bladder, & pancreas right now.

So for the next month or so I will avoid all starchy carbs like pastry, bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, & sugar.  (Waa!  Bye-bye chocolate!)  Along with the dietary changes recommended by Jonathan & a few detoxifying supplements, I will eat animal protein with each meal, have lots of vegetables, & before I eat any fruit I will eat 3-4 almonds or walnuts to aid the digestive process.  I will also snack on whole eggs (I like hard-boiled) & of course, drink plenty of water.  I will miss my bread & rice especially but I can do this for a month, or even two if needed.  I understand why I need to do this so I’m not seriously tempted cheat. (But I’ll be glad when I can have some Arroz con Pollo or fresh, whole-grain bread again!)

Then on Thursday I was able to get up in the morning and actually stand up straight & walk without shuffling about!  I look in the mirrior–GASP! My shoulders are back, my pelvis tilted correctly–I look like I just lost 10 pounds overnight!  Thanks Dr. Vanessa, Adam, & Dr. B!!

I’m so grateful–and motivated!!  I’ve never before had all these issues brought together by one person, or group of people working together. Now, having concrete knowledge and a plan for action is the key to my new-found determination.  Before, I was always aware that each practitioner was separate and many times their individual recommendations were incompatible in varying degrees.  The lack of coordination between each modality left me with many doubts.  I would have difficulty trying to pick and choose what parts of which programs to do, and my guesswork was never very useful or satisfying.  Now I have a terrific group of people who are extremely well-trained, have a wealth of experience in their fields, and truly want me to succeed.  Their good humor & grace has already shone through & I know they will be of tremendous help when I hit those stumbling blocks, as surely I will.

Unfortunately, on Thursday I was exhausted all day after my action-packed Wednesday (including 1-1/2 hour traffic each way!).  Then, as I was feeling better, I  had some sort of stomach/digestive crisis that night.  Whether it was food poisoning, a 6 hour flu, or the grocery store rotisserie chicken was too greasy, I don’t know.  But I ended up on the floor for 3-4 hours with pains in my right side like I’ve never felt before.  After ridding myself of that which offended my body, the pain slowly subsided & I was finally able to go to bed about 3 am.

Friday I had to cancel teaching workshops after being up all night but I finally felt well enough to head down to Renew again where Jonathan gave me acupuncture which really helped soothe & calm the last feelings of pain & nausea.  Then Dr. Buchel gave me another comprehensive chiropractic adjustment after a soothing heat treatment.  Then, some gentle stretching on the traction table & I felt pretty good!  (I did cancel my Physical Therapy session though.)  But I headed over to The Broken Yolk & had a terrific 4-egg omelet with tons of veggies & herbal tea (no honey!).  I did look wistfully at the yummy blueberry muffin, but I was good & took it home for my son.  Then I came home & slept like the proverbial log all afternoon, night,  & late this morning (Saturday, I’m just up really late–yikes! It’s 12:59 am on Sunday morning!)

But I do feel much better today.  My muscles are a bit sore but nothing major.  My right side is still tender inside, but I’m fine with eating from my approved list.  I’m standing straighter & I did some stretches; tomorrow I’ll do my full PT routine of assigned stretches & limbering exercises.   Boy, it feels great to start feeling good again!!  Thanks everyone at Renew!

It’s been a few days since I posted but I wanted to wait until I’d seen (almost) all the practitioners at Renew Integrative Health Center. I’ve felt so down after the whole beach trip thing, I’ve been hoping even more than before that the folks at Renew will have some real help to offer me.

I have familiarity with chiropractors, physical therapists, accupuncturists, massage therapists, & such & I know how each of these has helped me in the past.  But I also know that like in any profession there are quality practitioners & there are those who are much less so.  I’ve also found that M.D.s are usually very dismissive of other healing modalities, & many times the other folks can be equally dismissive of western medicine & be equally closed-minded.  I knew they said they were all working together at Renew but I’ve heard that before; I didn’t know what I might find when I got there.

After several visits this week I can honestly say I’m extremely excited to find friendly,well-trained practitioners working together in a comfortable, well-outfitted, upscale environment. Now that I’ve met all the folks I’ll be working with & gone through their evaluations I’m so energized I can’t wait to get started!  (Actually I’ve already started by making some changes in my diet on the recommendation of the accupuncturist, Jonathan.)

So I’m signed up for two wellness seminars on Monday & Tuesday nights, & start my actual program on Wednesday!  I know I’ll be making some big changes in my life(style) but I’m ready, more than willing, & able to do everything I can to make a healthier life for myself!

Boy, it’s sure hard for me to stick with a plan some days!   Yesterday I’d planned on a yoga class with my 8 year old son but now he was the one with the bad cold so I ended up staying home and catching up on the piles of housework and chores that were neglected while I was sick over the weekend.   Between tending a sick kid, laundry, and urgent phone calls/emails it was almost 8:00 pm before I even realized it!!

But I was stopped in my tracks by a good call–Lauren from Renew Integrative Health Center.  She’s been assigned as my patient advocate & will be working with me to coordinate Renew’s services & practitioners.  Whew!   I have appointments scheduled next week to see the Physical Therapist, Chiropractor, Accupuncturist, & MFT (Marriage & Family Therapist), and will have an appointment in the next week or so with the MD to do blood tests and other lab work.   Together we’ll map out a treatment plan to address all my medical issues, from strengthening and mobilizing my spine to stress-reducing excercise & meditation.  (And numerous other modalities, I’m sure!)  ;-D

So on one hand, I’m bummed that all I got in was a quick stretch yesterday & I’m very stiff this morning, but then I did reduce my stress by knocking off a lot of things on my must-do list.   ( rationalize, rationalize )   And of course I was excited to be able to get things rolling with the folks at Renew!!  Now I really feel there’s a plan taking shape, & that’s a great stress-reducer too!   (Can you tell I crave order?   <grin>    Probably because our life has been very fluid for years while we’ve done the research & development for our start-up, & then worked to get it off the ground.)

So, instead of being down on myself, I’ll decide to learn from yesterday:

-  Get that timer for the office to make myself get up & stretch !!!!  (Didn’t I say that before?  Oops, I’ve got to get to the store so add that to my list . . . )

-  Completing tasks is good–it reduces stress–but it’s bad when that’s all I’m      doing.  ( . . . must . . . take . . . breaks . . . )

-  I can’t make time for myself if I don’t notice time is passing until I’m too tired to do anything so,  I guess I’ll have to get into a new routine of self-care early in the morning before everyone is up.

(Hmmm, now I wonder how I’ll do that last one??   Hubby’s up early, works a 10+ hour day & comes home late every night,  so we all stay up to see each other.    Well, this is definitely something we’ll have to work out . . . )