Week Ending 21 October 2018
This week I concentrated all my effort over 3 days. This creates trouble because I only have a few spoons to use in a day and if I steal one from the next day, I causes problems. I had three trips into Galway. On Tuesday it was for physiotherapy, on Wednesday to see a doctor and on Thursday physiotherapy again. Exhausting and challenging.
Diet
I was great this week at sticking to my diet. In fact, I did not stray at all. It was a week of new tastes as my partner made yoghurt from almond milk. I tried it for the first time on Sunday and the taste was creamy and with just the right amount of tartness. Much better than the hemp yoghurt and coconut yoghurt (this was awful, the aroma was dire). The benefit of making it ourselves is we know what goes into each pot. It is frightening when you look at the ingredients of shop-bought almond milk and you see they make it from rice. The autoimmune protocol diet restrict me from having any grain in my diet and this means that this milk is not suitable. It is strange that the main ingredient is rice yet they call it almond milk, confusing.
I also had my second experiment with the slow cooker and it was a failure. The vegetables didn’t cook. I am wondering if I didn’t leave it on long enough or at correct setting. This week I will try again, hopefully with better results.
We also made a new batch of granola with nuts and I will link to a recipe once I write it up.
Exercise
My exercise this week included swimming and physiotherapy. I only swam on Sunday as I knew I had 3 busy days and needed to build up energy for them. This is the reality of having a chronic illness like multiple sclerosis, planning is important. I knew I would use more spoons than I had available on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and I hoped to save some from Monday. This doesn’t always work, and it is like having a credit card if you don’t replace the spoons the interest on the negative spoons accumulates.
On Tuesday afternoon I had my next appointment with the physiotherapist. This time instead of walking inside with the FES device, we took advantage of the dry sunny day. By doing this I could complete 3 laps around the building and this took me 22 minutes. I did more steps than expected but I think this was because of not having to stop and turn around as I did the previous week. On Thursday I returned to do my second physiotherapy session and the number of steps I took reduced but I was concentrating on walking with correct form instead of speed. I had been swinging from my hip to move my right leg instead of using only the hamstring to walk. This made the muscle more painful on Friday and Saturday but I think it is worth the pain to strengthen it.
Work/Activity
No surveys this week and I concentrated on working on my blog. I had to do paperwork that requires filling out a long form with information over 10 years old. Remembering two weeks ago is a challenge, let alone 10 years ago. It will be a big test of my filing to see if I can recover the information.
Medical
I had an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon on Wednesday. This was an assessment visit, and I expected nothing from it. It took an hour, and it required me waking at 7 so I could be there at 11. Early rising does not suit me and it feels like I am using spoons I don’t have.
Mental Health
Because I am travelling into Galway for physiotherapy I am losing 2 days of meditation and journalling. This is too much and so I am creating a new routine so I don’t miss them. Looking after my mental health is extremely important. If I don’t focus on this every day, it is so easy to spiral into negativity. I spend all my days doing activities that will benefit my health. Mental health is the area that slips first as sitting down looking out the window appears to be a waste of time, however when I don’t do this, I despair. Looking back over the week I meditated 5 days out of the seven. This brings a smile.
The upcoming week
I have little planned for this coming week other than my regular visits to the physiotherapist. I am trying a new online job and I will see if I can complete the work without suffering too much.
Other posts in the series
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