Monday, January 17, 2022

 Monday, January 17, 2022

 

       My ankle felt good when I got up. I took a short walk with Elsa before it started bothering me.  

     I needed to shower early this morning. I had to leave the house by 7:30 to make my 8 am chiropractic appointment. 

   Showering this morning was a challenge. When the bathroom was built, the contractor put in a heating element. He said we would need it in the winter. It was below 60 last night. When I walked at 6:30, the Weather Channel said the temperature was 64 degrees. That was at the airport. The temperature there is a good five degrees warmer than where we are.  

   I had once turned the heating element on in all the years I've lived here. I could see the dust accumulated on the vent. Periodically, I promised myself I would clean the element; it was a fire hazard. Today I finally did it. I had to haul the Rainbow vacuum cleaner from the lanai into the bathroom. I used the hard surface dusting attachment. It didn't do much good, but it did something. I turned on the fan. That would blow some of the dirt out. I turned the water on long before I got in the shower to fill the area with warm steam. During the day, it's warm enough outside for me to get in before the water is even hot. Not today. Today I wanted it steaming hot before I stepped in.  

      I brought the MELT balls in from the lanai dining room table to use in the bathroom, so I didn't have to leave the built-up warmth provided by the heating element and the hot water.

    I made it to the chiropractor's just in mine. I pulled into a parking space precisely at 8 am. Kim worked on my ankle and foot again. She's wonderful. She thinks I'm funny and appreciates my feedback. She values my body awareness and follows my lead. I felt something was happening in the foot that contributed to the problem. When she felt the bottom of my foot, she discovered that the bones related to the two smaller toes were tight. There was an area of tight fascia she hadn't anticipated.  

    I was in my car, leaving the chiropractor's by 8:50. I thought my PT appointment with Katie was at 10. I had time to go to the Roasted Toasted Café for a morning treat. I checked my calendar to make sure. It wasn't clear what time the appointment was. I called. Good thing I did. The appointment was for 9 am. I was right around the corner and made it there in plenty of time. 

     Katie, the PT, found swelling on the bottom of my foot. She did some stretching and strengthening exercises for the foot and the muscles running up the legs. The only part of my body that is loose is the muscles of my left foot. My leg and back muscles are tight. They have always been tight. I have always been a mess. Katie gave me a series of exercises to release the fascia, which connects the feet, the abdomen, and the neck. After all that work, the muscles inside my left thigh are bothering me again. Sometimes, I feel like just giving up. THR may not even solve my problems because they are different. 

    I went to the Roasted Toasted Café after my PT appointment. I didn't order my loved Greek salad sandwich; I ordered one with egg and avocado. I shared an outdoor table with a man and a woman. It was clear the man was much older than she was. At first, I thought they might be husband and wife. After listening to their conversation, I decided they were father and daughter or even an elderly man with his caretaker. They were in Hawaii for a week, visiting from Alaska. They had been to Hilo and some parts of the island's southeastern corner, but they had missed the volcano. The woman asked me if there was one here in Kona. Thank God, no. Love the way our volcano is viewed as a Disney attraction. When it's just rumbling along, it is. However, all our mountains carry the threat of taking us out. 

   When my egg and avocado sandwich arrived, it was covered with bacon crumbles. Yuck! I hate bacon. The Alaskan woman helped by scraping it off my sandwich onto hers. So Hawaii! Thank God I live here. 

    As I walked to the car, I missed Mike in a way I hadn't before. I could picture him walking slightly behind me and heading to the car's passenger side. I miss having someone to walk to the car with. 

   When I got home, I had bad leg and back pain. Today, Katie, my PT, recommended a series of exercises. First, she showed me pictures of skeletons with fascia lines. One showed how neck fascia related to my left ankle, and another showed how it related to tension around my diaphragm. What the heck. What did I have to lose? Wow! I got immediate relief. One of the exercises was a spinal twist, the one I do in the yoga class twice a week. One I had never seen before. I pressed down on my collarbone and then did standard neck stretches. Wow! on that one. Pushing down on the collarbone causes the shoulders to drop. I have never heard of that relationship before. I just heard instructions to drop my shoulders. Pushing down on my collarbone makes a big difference.

   I met with the M & W sisters. M wouldn't read anything unfamiliar. She wrote a new story. I hope she will read that next time, allowing me to use it to work on her decoding skills. W wrote another story with me. She did better on her dictation speed, taking my need to get it down into consideration before she dictated the next sentence.