In January I wrote down 10 things that I want to achieve by the end of the year. One of these ambitions was to take my health more seriously. I have lived with MS for 14 years, type I diabetes for 10 years and intersection wrist syndrome for 4 years. So far, so good. But I felt like it was time to make some more time for myself to ensure the ‘so far, so good’ continued. However, this does bring repercussions and I had been waiting until I had time. Now that Bubble has started school I knew I had a little bit more flexibility. But I also knew that I would be committing myself to many more appointments. It does often feel like I am literally living at the hospital. [Important: This is not a sob story, just a reality check for myself and some insight for you to put future blogs into context].
It is difficult to talk about my weekly routine the 
past few weeks without sounding overly dramatic. On Wednesday I had three physiotherapy appointments from 9:30- 12:30 AM: I was busy having my wrist splinter adjusted; standing on one leg; seeing how many laps of the department I can complete in six minutes; and deconstructing my average day to understand what takes the most energy (spoiler: being sleep deprived and a backlog of cleaning – so, pretty much my entire life right now). Today I have 3 other appointments so that is 2.5 hours of the morning gone. And these appointment packed days will continue for the foreseeable future. It is stretching us thin a little with juggling schedules etc but we also know it is important to do this now and not in 10 years.
What is crazy, is that I actually feel quite well. Yes, I can certainly be much fitter, or actually go to the gym (and not just the cafe there), and stop gorging on biscuits. But it is only when I have to face the intensity of the appointments that I am forced to address my situation up-front rather than hiding it slightly out of reach, not forgotten, just not dominating. I have started with the Rehabilitation physiotherapy team to keep myself ticking over and ideally pushing myself further. However, this means I am committing myself to a MINIMUM of 5 physio appointments per week. This does NOT include the usual hand physio, diabetes nurse and consultant appointments, MS nurse and neurosurgeon appointments, blood tests, eye tests, and…you get the picture. Keeping well isn’t as easy as it looks. Plus, to top it off, last week I had a tooth removed at the dentist. I mean, sometimes it feels like it is difficult to name part of me that is really A-OK!
So, following on my previous blog, I’m still in pursuit of that ‘me time’. I can assure you that although I may be practically living at the hospital, it is also a positive step – it is a type of investment in myself; but I’m still not counting this as time off! 
It will take more than an overpriced cappuccino and slightly stale brownie from the cafe to make me feel like I’ve had a break. Meanwhile, I continue to plow my savings into hospital car park fees and try not to dwell on the fact that this is all necessary. And even though it is nothing ‘serious’, it sure is a good excuse to put off all those cleaning chores! Next step is to actually turn up at the gym. It should at least stop them calling me to see where I have got to 🙂
To end – a photo of us ‘seizing the day’ which was another one of my ambitions to achieve by the end of 2016. We live close to the national park and Bubble had an excellent review of his first five weeks of school so we went out for a hot chocolate and a walk as the sun set. Beautiful.
Wow, that is some schedule! I know what it’s like to “spend your life at the hospital”, both for myself and my children, but in my case, it was relatively short-lived. Hope all the exercise helps, but seizing the day is essential. And if that means seizing a stale brownie and an overpriced cappuccino, than grab ’em, I say.