Week 5 Day 6: A Fantastic Day

Today I woke up on top of the world! I had quite a few things to get done, and I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but I got up and got ready anyways. I took care of the animals, and tried to eat breakfast. I don’t know what to tell you, but it filled me so much I couldn’t finish the thing. This was breakfast:

Huevos Rancheros. So filling.

So it ended up being two meals for me today. This is the first meal I’ve found to be so filling. But hey, at least that means I’m not going hungry!

After taking care of home things, I went out. I first stopped at the registry to provide them with a copy of my husband’s work permit to extend his Health care. I then went to the bank to get a new bank card. I hate the chips they put on the cards. This is my third card since it has begun. I miss the swipe cards. I also took out the cash I needed for a later appointment.

I then went to the strip mall and looked in Wal-Mart for pyjamas for pyjama day but wasn’t really impressed with any of them. I went next door to Mark’s Work Wearhouse to see what they had for pyjamas but they did not carry any women’s sleepwear at all. So I put this task aside for now.

I then went to the DollarStore to pick up a few things for my classroom. I then went to the health food store to get liquid B12 for a morning drink. And after all of these things, I still left the mall at the exact minute I knew I needed to and got to my appointments on time. It was a morning for the books!

My chiropractor appointment went well today. She didn’t even have to use the little kicker thing on me. So I count this as a success. I then went to my acupuncture appointment and my acupuncturist was so impressed she said I should come one more time in two weeks and if things are still this good, I can be released until I feel I need to come back. Yes! Improvements are important!

I then went to the car and ate my second meal that I had brought with me. This was another Simply Whey Protein bar in chocolate mint flavour. This was pretty good and it helped to keep me on track!

After I quickly ate the bar, I drove straight to my physiotherapy appointment. I went to get that popping rib muscle checked out. I had a bit of time before, so I went to that Dollarama to find a couple more things I needed. I then went to the appointment, she assessed me and unfortunately had a hard time diagnosing me due to the area it was located on my ribs. However, she gave me some exercises to do and some stretches and told me to come back at any time that I felt I needed to.

Following this, I came home and did a few things while trying to get in my nutrition for the rest of the day. My meal three was the chicken salad snack (which I’ve had before). Veggies and a scoop of the chicken salad that goes on the chicken spinach salad. Delicious and again, filling.

When my husband came home, we had a bit of dramatic evening where my brother-in-law told us some awful news pertaining to their cousin, and some great news pertaining to himself. Of course this took up way too much time, and Fridays are always time-restrained because the gym closes early. So we went out to Pizza Hut where my husband had the usual amazing things and I had a salad with chicken. I did leave enough room for half of a breadstick, and that was my treat for the night. I fought any and all urges to eat the rest. A small, but important success.

Then we raced home, got ready for the gym, and had a phenomenal workout. It consisted of two circuits again, mainly for back, legs and abs. I pretty much died doing plank-ups and exercise ball planks with circular motion. Oh my. My abs will never be the same! And my legs were in so much pain because the gym was getting close to closing and I had to fit in hack squats, leg presses, and side chops. So my rests were basically non-existent and my legs were crying in pain. You know what they say, no pain no gain!

After the gym, I had two more meals to fit in. I couldn’t do it. I just was not hungry. I’m not sure what’s going on with my body. But I did eat one last meal.

Chicken Stir Fry.

And with that, I went to bed. Hopefully my appetite comes back!

When It All Takes An Interesting Turn…

I wrote last night about all the appointments I’ve been to lately and all the things I’m finding out. But I don’t think I was quite ready for this morning’s appointment. It took an interesting turn.

This morning was my first non-accident related physiotherapy appointment. I simply was going for assistance in my flexibility in the single direction of bending to touch my toes or sitting at a proper 90 degree angle. I can’t do it. I’ve been working on stretching and rolling for the last year or more and have seen no progress. In fact sometimes, I’ve regressed. So I’m doing what I can to get help.

The physiotherapist was very nice. She was actually a stand-in for whom will be my permanent therapist. What she found out is that I pivot around one certain spot on my lower back, that my hamstrings are incredibly tight which is unusual for someone of my age, that my right side is way worse than my left side, that my pelvis was a little twisted, as well as confirmed some of the same things that my chiropractor had already said. But the worse was something I had a problem dealing with, and it was this: Scoliosis.

When you hear just that word, it hits hard. Never in my life would I have ever thought I had a condition such as scoliosis. But what I really had to let sink in was that she said it was a SLIGHT scoliosis that may be fixable. Her assumption is that I have developed it and have not always had it, thus making it much less serious and much easier to fix.

The Physio did a lot of manual work, twist, popping, pressing, etc… It wasn’t the most comfortable thing I’ve ever had done, in fact it was quite painful at times. But it was then followed up with heat and shock therapy and I left with an exercise to practice to try and balance out my left and right side. I also have a request for x-rays of my entire back for her to examine.

Of course, by the time I went to my chiropractor appointment later on, my neck was a mess, my jaw area was a mess from the dental work the day before, but my lower back looked awesome; physio worked hard!

Sometimes we pass off little things as NOTHING. For my entire life, my mother and grandmother have been telling me to fix my posture, and I always hated gym class or much physical activity. I never started looking into health and fitness until university and only serious into fitness since my final year of university. That means I have years of bad posture and avoiding doctors and any problems I thought I may have and let them build on themselves to the point I am now.

Guys, get everything checked out. I mean, you can tell the difference between something that’s actually not right and something that probably isn’t that bad, but seriously, watch your body and judge appropriately. If something doesn’t seem right, go get it looked at. You never know what your ignorance may cause. My hope right now is that I really don’t have scoliosis or that if I do have it, that it can be reversed and maybe someday I’ll have the privilege to at least bend over and touch my toes or sit at a 90 degree angle. Yes, it’s something simple, but it’s something I’ve watched all of my family and so many other people do easily. I just want my body to move freely and I want to see progress. It’s so frustrating to go through so much discomfort, pushing yourself to just reach a little further and somedays being able to reach far less than you could the day before. It’s time to be fixed, and whether it’s scoliosis or not, I refuse to let that determine my reflection of myself. I’m determined to beat this, whatever it may be and I’m determined to do it the best I can with the help I need. No more avoiding doctors, no more avoiding things because of fear or pain. I’m going to get it done before it gets worse.

Do what you can people! Keep your body in the best shape you can because you only get one body, and you’re going to need it your entire life! And if you’ve got some time, send a little prayer that the doctors and I will figure out what’s really going on and be able to fix it.

Thanks guys. Hope you have a great weekend!

Catching Up With Life

Hello everyone,

Since summer break has begun, I’ve done little but try and catch up on life! For me, that means house cleaning, and appointments, with no shortage of either.

I’m not going to bore you with house cleaning. I’m pretty sure everyone knows the drudgeries and all of house cleaning. What I’m going to focus on is the appointments I’ve been going to.

I wish I could train my dogs to do the housecleaning… just like kids doing chores?

It started on a Friday when I went to the Eye Doctor for an eye exam. I haven’t had an eye exam in YEARS. I figured it was time for a check-up, and also had a concern with my eyes going part-time blurry. It really is a curious thing where sometimes, generally when I’m tired, one eye will go blurry; never both at the same time. From being someone who has always had excellent vision, this highly concerned me. And so I went.

What I found out is that my eyesight is fine, but I have some “irregular cells” on the fronts of my eyes. What the doctor is assuming is that when my eyes are tired, they are not capable of adjusting the cells. Stress could also play a factor in this. But in leaving, he gave me a “minor optional prescription” for use only when my eyes get tired. Not necessary, but there if I need it. Oh boy. This was a little unsettling, but if the doctor himself has no real concerns, then I’ll consider myself fortunate once again and maybe look into the purchase of glasses when school starts because of course, that’s when my sleeplessness and stress come in.

Seriously though, they have some serious eye equipment!

The following week, on Monday, Tuesday and Friday I had my first ever chiropractor appointments. I honestly didn’t really have any concerns for this, but since I work out with heavy weights 6 days per week, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get checked out. What I ended up learning (already have gone Tuesday this week and going back tomorrow) is that I have a spot where my ribs are tight to my spine thus causing this rib popping thing I experience every so often. I also learned that the reason my feet cramp is NOT what the physio told me (vitamin D and Calcium deficiency), but rather that my arches are falling. I was so happy to hear she knew EXACTLY what I was talking about before I even finished. She is the first doctor out of 3 to understand.

Ok so this is not me, but look at the way the chiropractor is handling her neck. It may look scary, but this is honestly my FAVOURITE part. I look forward to getting my neck adjusted every time!

The good news about the chiropractor is that she’s simply amazing and explains everything to you. She is so skilled and understanding, and gave me the great news that I’m really not as bad as she would have thought I would been having never been to a chiropractor before and working out like I do. This was great news! The unfortunate part is I can no longer wear sandals in the summer unless I can find pairs with high arches, and I’m looking to getting custom orthotics to do what is best for my feet. Another new thing to get used to.

This was basically sad news for me. I look forward to wearing mine all year and it’s causing some problems for my feet. 😦

On Wednesday of last week, I finally went and got my hair done. It had been a year and my hair was REALLY needing an upgrade. So I got more blonde, got a big trim and side bangs back. A nice treat during the week.

On Thursday of last week, I had my first ever massage! Now this experience was two-fold. Yes, there were parts like you’ve seen where the people seem relaxed, but let me tell you, there are parts where she finds even the smallest of knots in your body and then it gets painful and she works them out. I felt amazing afterwards and I know it’s probably essential for your body, especially for someone who needs their mobility for working out, but I can guarantee my massage therapist will find anything and everything that’s wrong. The other good part of this is that she’s working on my flexibility with me as well. Love my new massage therapist!

Working out the tightness I had in my legs hurt at first but felt good afterwards.

This past Sunday, I finally got over myself and went to the dentist. It has been 3 years since my last dental visit, and I knew I had to go. I hate cleanings. I always have. My family genetically do not have the greatest teeth to begin with. My mother has to take pills 2 days before and up to her dental appointments, and my dad’s family is notorious for breaking teeth, so I spent quite a bit of time at the dentist office as a child. Aside from the pain of parts of the cleaning, it wasn’t horrible. But I did find out that I had 2 small cavities, will be recommended for Invisalign (only for my bottom teeth) and also for whitening (which I’ve wanted for awhile). I ended up going back today (Thursday) for my cavities and will be going back in a couple weeks for my Invisalign consultation. But the dentist I had work on me today was simply AMAZING. Loved her to death! In fact, probably either the best or tied for the best dentist I’ve ever had.

Haha. Nah, my dentist was much nicer than this.

Monday was finally a break. No appointments, got to stay home and sleep, clean, and stay with my pups.

Tuesday was back to the chiropractor, and I will be going again tomorrow. I also had a meeting with a woman about Organo Gold coffee which lead me to look through the mall I had met her at, and ended up getting my toenails and fingernails done at the nail salon. 🙂

Wednesday was an odd day for me. Our car needed new tires DESPERATELY and I had a customer waiting on their Organo Gold order, and this was the only day I could deliver, which meant the tires had to go on THAT DAY. So we quickly made arrangements for new tires (I had forgotten how much they cost!!!), and wouldn’t you know the tires were late transferring from the warehouse to the garage, which meant I ended up leaving town late, had horrible traffic, and thought I would be late to pick up my husband, but instead he ended up working extremely late so even though it was a rush of a day, it all ended up just fine.

Today I returned to the dentist and the freezing kind of took me out of the rest of my day. Lots of rest and recovery.

Tomorrow morning, I will be going to my first non-accident related physiotherapy session to work hard on my flexibility issues. I’m hoping one day I’m actually be able to touch my toes with my legs straight, and sit properly at a 90 degree angle; something that is so simple for many people, but something I’ve never been able to do. I really hate being this inflexible, and it seems that no matter how much stretching I do, it doesn’t help. So I’m hoping we can figure out what’s going on and she’ll be able to tell me what to do to fix it.

Now, even though I’ve had appointments everyday for the past 2+ weeks, I have to take a 2-week break as I fly on Sunday to visit my family for a couple weeks.

When I return, I will be back into the swing of things. I already have booked a massage, a doctor’s appointment (family doctor), my Invisalign consultation probably with a quick follow-up appointment for installation, and of course customer deliveries with OG products. Before I leave, I will also have book chiropractor appointments, physio appointments, looking to order my glasses, and probably look at Facial Laser Surgery (to get rid of some of this scarring from acne throughout my teen years).

What an EXPENSIVE summer! I am SO THANKFUL for health benefits as they have already covered huge amounts of my dental bills and will be refunding quite a bit of the others. I don’t think I would have even been able to do this without that help. I am so thankful to my job for that aspect for sure.

If I have any advice to give you, it’s this. If you have something wrong, don’t wait. Don’t let things go because you’ll learn a lot about yourself, a lot about how to help yourself be your best.