Day 23

Soreness tells my tale today.  I've really put in some effort these last few days, and I may have over done it a bit.  That would explain the strained shoulder. I have my first sports injury!!  I feel like I've arrived. I still have full range of motion and all, but it's sore at the core, and it was recommended that I cut back on the strength stuff, which is fine at this point because I really just need the cardio and aerobic stuff anyhow.  I've been trying to fill my days because my rubber legs can only carry me so far, there is still a lot to move around, but I am so far ahead of where I would have been trying to get this ball rolling on my own.

Today was also a looonnnnggg day.  I had to fast last night for some blood work being done this morning. (This is an "after" work-up that follows the "before" version after I arrived. They send us home with a comparison in labs to show how your numbers drop while here.) I laugh because basically, they feed us at night and again in the morning.....you can't help but fast. But I guess it is necessary to remind us that we are unfed for 10-12 hours.  So I arrived at the DFC, seeming at the same time the birds were thinking about waking up, I have a hard time telling, as I'm sure my eyes were still closed. I had to get that blood draw nice and early so I wouldn't contaminate the data.  I just don't like early.  I think I've proved it this trip. My day is skewed, up late in the morning and up late at night.  I can do the occasional early, but this chronic stuff is, well, for the birds!  After seeing vampira, (she's actually a great 'stick') I was on my way out of the medical office when I was called back....She extended towards me a Ziploc bag with a plastic jar in it.  Yup, they wanted that too.  Well, I was not told about this ahead of time, and, well, I was un-prepared at that particular moment.  Thankfully, they told me it could wait until later.  I stuffed it in my gym bag and left for the pool.  

There were still a couple of un-tapped classes that I had not attended in the pool and today, they were back to back on the schedule.  The first was a water bourne cardio circuit, which I actually handled really well.  I came out of it really energized, so I kept doing light laps until the next class started.  I was actually very thankful at the end of my laps that the next class was a Flex and Stretch class, with the very energetic woman who is too nice.  This girl is just a smile.   The title of the class says what it does, and it is utilized by a lot of the folks who have limited mobility, or just don't have the range of motion that they need to acquire.  It was fun for me too, though, and not for the reason above.  I'm leaning about myself, and my body.  For a long time, from the neck down really was just "down there" to me.  So any new info I can squeeze out of these folks while here, is mostly news to me, and I've learned a lot.  I was able to feel parts of me that I have not tended to for quite some time, and other parts have recently seen a lot of activity, well it was great to stretch those areas properly in a more concentrated way.  I still love some of the moves they ask me to make in the deep end of the pool that are, I think, physically impossible, but they describe them to us as if everyone should be able to do them.  The ruse is further played out by them saying things like "that's it" or "yeah, you got it" into their microphoned headset.  Apparently, on some of these, we all just assume everyone else is actually doing it correctly, when in reality, we're all messing it up, and the Sweet yet evil smiling lady is just laughing.  I swear this is the case....

That water class ended finally, I guess as much as I did learn stuff, it didn't really grab my attention as Water Volleyball was due to start.  And this is where it gets funny.  After two hours in the pool, and the thought of that bottle in my locker....I had the urge.  I knew I wouldn't make it through volley ball.  As I may have explained prior, a big man has a certain luxury of being 12 times less affected by the pull of gravity while in the pool.  It is like you are in space; the weight is carried by the water.  When you get out, however, that pull of gravity re-asserts itself on your body and it takes a minute for your structure to realize it has to carry itself again.  So you move slowly in the beginning...you really don't have a choice.  So I decide that this would be a good time to fill the container, as I'm very often camel like, who knows when the next opportunity may present itself.  I slop over to my locker and retrieve my gym bag only to camouflage my real purpose and headed to the small room with a door.  At this point, pressure has built and I'm feeling anxious.  I am hurriedly pulling at the drawstrings...to no avail.  Okay, the beginning of panic shows itself.  The dance with no music begins.  My structure reacts well to my demand for dance as the adrenaline injected into my blood stream seems epic.  My panic builds as I realize I'm trapped in my suit and I begin talking out loud to god and whoever is within earshot.  I could care less in this moment, I focus and go for the strings again, finally, I feel the relief around my middle...part two....have you ever tried to get a big man out of a soaking wet bathing suit?  Let's just say the surface tension of water, fabric and skin is tremendous, not to mention trying to wield said container in an appropriate manner.  I am so very thankful that my new found fitness allowed me to be the contortionist that I was required to be in that moment.  Success, but barely, my god, I didn't see that coming at all.  Part three was just pure inconvenience.  After volleyball, I headed to Medical to drop off my 'prize', oh yeah, they're closed.  At this point it's Noon and they are closed till 2pm.  So I was forced to put my zip locked biohazard bag back in the gym bag and haul it around with me...I've never treated my gym bag with such reverence before, guarding it from any possible infraction. 

Now, I did have a second and apparently final massage here as the staff will vanish because of the long weekend.  My masseuse was even better than the last. She really worked on my shoulder a ton, but she did things to my feet that just released stress from my whole body. I literally yelped at one point. (Yes, I yelped...it is the only way I can describe it)  It was electric.  I can't help but wonder what they think about when they've got their hands on places I usually ignore, but there they are 'digging in'.  I found myself laughing more this time.  Not from ticklishness, but more from a good place while they were doing their work and I was just amazed at the way I was feeling.  This massage involved some reflexology too, which was interactive, but hands went in places that are normally not on the tour, (nothing weird) but just not usually public spaces.  Just wow.  How I have avoided this for all these years...I could become addicted.  She, of course, was lauding all the health benefits of massage...circulation, yada yada yada...I could care less...truly it just feels great. 

Wow, I'm long winded today.  Lastly on today's docket was a cooking demonstration that was called modifying your recipes to be lower fat, lower sodium and lower calorie.  It was interesting.  I think the biggest thing I learned here was that modifying recipes is hard.  Really hard.  The result is mostly trial and error, and very rarely will you end up with something that tastes like the original version.  The chef suggested the biggest tip. "If you are trying to re-create grandma's brownies, you will never do that.  Rename the recipe so that you don't have the expectation that these modified versions will be just like grandma used to make." I thought it sounded like a good psychological distraction from reality.

There you have it, cheers!