This is what I am focused on right now:

Obviously, I’m not able to move or exercise at all. But any movement is better than none. Since I haven’t been able to, I sit still. Muscles atrophy, fluid is stagnant, blood doesn’t circulate, joints lock up,etc. If this house is going to be well, I have to move.

These are my handicapped exercises: (I list them here so that I remember to do them throughout the day.)

• squeeze adductor (inner thigh) muscles – reps then squeeze and hold (I squeeze the muscle in my mind and I can visualize it and feel it contract. The leg doesn’t move yet.)
• bend over at waist and bob back-and-forth while moving head up and down (to pump the cerebral spinal fluid)
• Lift one arm at a time over my head and lean to the side (I have to use my right hand to pull my left hand over since it can’t go there on its own.)
• Shoulder rolls (two at a time, one at a time, hold down, forward and backward)

Treatment Numero DOS is 10/28.

“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain a bit, no less than in the excitement and gladness. Touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis of all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

• Frederick Buechner

“Your body is amazing. It has incredible powers of resilience and healing, but it is the mind that is the master of it all. When the mind truly connects with the body, it is like a light going on in every cell. The body, becomes vibrant and connected and able to dance with universal rhythms. When this happens, with each passing day it heads steadily closer to balance and harmony.”

— Cellular Awakening: How Your Body Holds and Creates Light by Barbara Wren

“ You do not have a right to the cards you feel you should have been dealt. You are obligated to play the hell out of the cards you are holding.“

-Tiny, Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed