No News Was Good News!

I've been feeling too overwhelmed to post to this journal and have that recurring problem where I get further behind which makes the catching up job bigger which ... yeah.

And now a close friend of mine posted about how she's finding it difficult to post because so much is happening and I thought "Yes, that's what is happening to me!"

So yes. I can't post about what's happening because SO MUCH is happening. I hate leaving stuff out, since this is sort of a life record it seems incomplete to leave stuff out. But leaving everything out is worse, I figure.

So here's a very very partial list of things going on in my life:

1. I have a new flatmate! She moved in last Sunday and her name's Poppy and she's an international student and she's very very nice. Her English isn't great but it's the type of "not great" that in my experience improves very quickly once the person has an English speaker to talk to regularly, so I am thinking that our chatting will help quickly. She's interesting and funny and very nice to me and generous and I like having her around. All signs point to it being good.



2. I have finally got a stand for the new monitor I bought in January and it is so so so so so so very very wonderful that I can't describe it. A 26 inch monitor makes so much difference with my bad eyesight - it's just amazing! I am in heaven! It's not perfect of course, there are still things which are small and therefore difficult to see/use but it's 100x better than the old monitor.



3. So, does anybody want to buy a perfectly good 20" Apple Cinema Display? Three years old and has a single stuck pixel but otherwise in great nick. I'll probably end up selling it on eBay I guess, but that's too much like hard work.



4. The new med - Midodrine - has continued to be more and more miraculous. My health is better than it's been for a very very very long time. I actually bought an exercise mat off eBay the other day so I can do my exercises on the floor with some padding! I own and use an exercise mat!!!!! Current unbelievably amazing feats include:
   
   • I am sitting up an average of 90 minutes per day in the recliner (back and neck support). Whenever I sit up (recliner, sofa, wheelchair, etc.) I still need my legs crossed or otherwise up at hip level rather than dangling down because of my blood pressure issues.
   
   
   • Sitting up 30 minutes without back/neck support, eg sitting on the floor or similar.
   
   
   • Able to go out once a week or so in my wheelchair and spend time somewhere that is not this house for an hour or more! Spent 4 hours at my parents' house this past weekend, which was glorious.
   
   
   • My recovery time when I overdo it is very very very much shorter. After spending 4 hours at my parents house I could barely move or put together a sentence, I ate then slept for about 16 hours almost in a row and then the next morning I was 90% fine! Compared to a several-weeks recovery this level of overdoing it would usually cause, it's unbelievable.
   
   
   • I'm doing core muscle exercises, some stretches, and some lying down aerobic exercise every day. My specialist says I have to keep doing the exercises while lying down on account of the blood pressure problems, and it's getting hard to invent more aerobic stuff I can do without standing up! I'm planning to hire a rehab-savvy physiotherapist soon.
   
   
   • I am doing embroidery and drawing and reading actual print-on-paper books and other things that really do require sitting up at least most of the way due to angles. This greatly increases the number of non-computer things I can do!
   
   
   • My thinking is clearer, probably because my brain has a better blood flow.
   
   
   Probably more, can't remember. It's surreal ... I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, or for it all to turn out to be a dream, or ... something. I've been given this unimaginable gift, and I'm still increasing and getting better and I'm working really hard at being present now in the moment and enjoying this and not worrying about whether it'll go away or stall or whatever because even if it goes away it'll still have been a miraculous gift. But OMG *touch wood* *cross fingers* *warding signs* I hope it doesn't go away!!!



5. I have been designing and planning an embroidery to give to my Nana. I have several small pieces she embroidered on my shelves, and I'd like to give her something she can enjoy. I'm having glorious fun doing it, even though I haven't done a stitch yet!



6. My cat, Anekin, is 10 years old now and he's on meds for arthritis (metacam). I've started him on a liquid form of glucosamin/chondroitin too in the hopes of being able to reduce the metacam without leaving him in pain, we'll see in a few weeks how it goes. When he's on the meds he doesn't have many bad pain days, but I think he's in a bit of pain all the time now. I hate that he's getting old and that's something I definitely can't do anything about. On the plus side Melbourne is in a cold patch now so he's being very cuddly!



7. I have some clothes!! Having lived in tracksuits, t-shirts, and homemade elastic-waisted shorts made of t-shirt material for so many years it's a novel experience. I'm also experimenting with the idea of pajamas for night time because (a) it's normal, and (b) it helps my brain go "OK, it's night time now". Having enough spoons (energy) to DO this is ... yeah, see above about unbelievably and indescribable.



8. I've hired me a counsellor to support me in learning tools to deal with all these changes. We get on really well and I feel like she's helping me a lot. This is a Very Good Thing.



9. I'm going to start learning guitar again ASAP. I've got C to restring my guitar with the softest strings available and I'm doing some basic strumming. I'm working on the "guitar teacher" part - thought I had somebody but now I haven't heard from him for a few weeks so I need to follow that up. If I have to find another one I'll do that though, it wouldn't be the end of the world!



10. My darling friend afuna is coming to stay with me in a week, she'll be staying about a week and has to work via telecommuting while she's here (she works for Dreamwidth! How cool!) so we'll just be hanging around in a low key way which - as you probably know - is my favourite kind of visiting. Very excited about this!



I'll try to post more often and not feel like I have to make epic posts like this!

But yes, I've sort of been swallowed by non computer stuff because OMG I CAN DO THEM NOW and I am drinking it all in gratefully and with glee and awe and I feel a bit like the toddler who stops to watch the ants cross the footpath at the moment - every little thing that most adults take for granted is new to me! It's like being miraculously being granted the Buddhist "beginner's mind" because I have not done these things for so long that I don't remember and/or they've changed. So it really is the first (second, third...) time I've done simple things like check my own mailbox and they are awe-inspiring and glorious!

So how are you all? Tell me something that's been glorious for you recently!

Love,
Ricky