First day back after the weekend and up bright and early this morning. Everyone loves a 5:30am start right? …

Our first session of the day was a review of our weekends. We took it in turn to discuss the progress we’d made with our goals and what we got up to at the weekend. Everyone did really well with their goals so thats good!

My first goal was to ask for help while on a shopping trip. I asked Addz to reach things too low down and we shared pushing the trolley so I could pace myself.

My second goal was to do 20% of my laptop work sat upright, again I did this. So far so good..

My third goal was to download and customise ”WorkRave” which I did, and in 16 mins I’ll be reminded to take a micro break 😉

My fourth goal was to do my physio exercises twice a day, which I did 🙂 I’m making lots of progress with my shoulder and my bum muscles are much quicker to activate now, before I started work with my current physio I had to make a conscious effort to actually use my glutes.

My fifth goal was to go swimming, which I did and I focussed on engaging my core muscles and my glutes as supposed to swimming the lazy way I usually do!

My sixth and final goal was to try and identify my triggers for negative emotions and thoughts and to take myself away and calm down before I end up in tears! Saturday worked really well especially at swimming when Addz helped me get dressed, Sunday wasn’t as successful but I did manage to stop myself from crying when I got stressed dealing with uni stuff. (Sorry mum & Addz)

So all in all I think I did pretty well! I’m already starting to think about some of my goals for next week. The lady leading the session said I did well 😀

Our second session was on ‘Anatomy and Healing’ and it focussed on understanding the way the body worked and the functions of different body systems. I was pleasantly surprised with how much anatomy and physiology I remembered from uni and the physio taking the session seemed impressed too 😀 I think having an x-ray machine for a mother helps too haha

After our talks I headed back to my little ‘bedroom’ (cubicle) and did my physio exercises. I’m even more motivated to keep going with my exercises now that I’m making so much progress with my shoulder stability and flexibility. My glutes also seem to activate with a bit less effort now, I don’t have to concentrate quite as hard.

After a very late lunch of chicken, baked potato and boiled carrots I made my way over to the next session, Goal Setting. This session was with one of the psychologists, we talked about why goals were important and how to set them, we also looked at SMART goals.

S – Specific, goals should be detailed and precise. how?, when?, what? etc

M – Measurable, how will you know when you’ve achieved your goal if its not measurable?

A – Agreed, does your goal involve other people? have the other people involved agreed to their part in your goals?

R – Realistic, are you physically and psychologically able to do the activity, or will you be ready soon.

T – Timed, when are you planning on achieving your goal? set yourself a deadline.

I’d done smart goals before but it was a new concept to the others in the group. The psychologist lady explained it really well. I didn’t mind the refresher course at all.

I started thinking about how I could write SMARTer goals for next work.

After a short break and some stretching out I was ready for physio. I’d brought my power assist wheels this week with the intentions of getting myself to sessions, since the hills were so steep in the hallways I asked one of the porters to come with me incase I got stuck in double doors or started rolling down the hill! As it turns out my fears were unfounded and I made it there with no help at all, we just chatted the whole way. I arrived with a little time to spare so I made plans with one of the OT techs to do some cooking tomorrow. GF Carrot & Cinnamon Cake. After a quick chat with one of the other ladies up there for physio it was time to get going.

I started the session with a review of my weekend and my physio seemed pretty pleased with my fitness and my exercise levels. After a quick chat we got started on my shoulder exercises, my physio seemed pretty pleased with my progress and I’m really happy with my improvements. I’m much better at isolating the right muscle groups and activating my lazy muscle groups. After proving I was doing my shoulder exercises well enough my physio started torturing me with combination exercises that worked my scapula muscles and my core or my core and my glutes. I now need to buy a gym ball so I can hold the bridge position with my legs resting on the ball, (pilates bridge not gymnastics bridge). My core definitely got a workout, I was very shaky in some of the positions I had to hold.

After my physio was done torturing me I headed back to the ward… All down hill … Wheeeeeeeeeeee

The final session of the day was ‘Foiling a Flare Up’ as it turned out my physio was taking the session since the original speaker was losing her voice. The session focussed on dealing with flare-up’s, the main message was that everyone has them and if you do flare its not because you’ve ‘failed’ to manage your health, sometimes they just happen.

We talked about passive and active ways of managing flare up’s and looked at starting a flare up plan to help deal with flares and to help friends and family understand too 🙂  I managed to slip a facet joint half way through the session then end up tangled in my TENS leads (luckily the topic at that moment was TENS machines so I could pretend I was demonstrating how to use one)  haha

I’m planning on speaking to my physio and OT tomorrow about my flare up plan since pain flares aren’t my biggest problem, its more my PoTS or Migraines or joint instability or a combination of the above…

We also looked at picking up the signs that a flare is on its way, for me a lot of my flares start with being hungry all the time! fatigue is also a big clue and the inability to string a sentence together is also a big hint!

My evening meal was a big surprise! Steak and chips!! The steak was a little tough but not half bad especially for hospital food!

After eating all that was left was catching up with my blog and washing my hair, an early night would be a good thing, the rest of the week is jam packed!

Ciao for now folks.