Plugging along when not feeling the best:
Been dealing with a number of health issues over the past 2-3 months and haven't felt a lot like posting. Between doctors and visits to hospitals for appointments, checkups and a procedure it would be fair to say I was not in the right frame of mind to add to this blog.
To date I have had 21 medical related appointments so far this year including attending specialist clinics at both of our hospitals for different conditions, a procedure, xrays and ultrasounds, blood tests and other various appointments. In addition to these I have five more appointments scheduled including two pre-admissions next week for another procedure early in June and I am waiting for a date for another procedure later in the year subject to being cleared by the anaethetist to being able to be 'put under'. And this does not include 25 medical appointments my wife has had this year for her issues including follow-up clinics re: breast cancer surgery and other issues.
Having said this, like many who deal with multiple health issues on a day to day basis, I have kept on (as has my wife) doing what I would normally do and most importantly keeping as busy as possible and when I felt tired due to my sugar levels being out of kilter (I am a T2 diabetic) I would simply take a nap - learnt a long time ago not to fight the urge to take a nap.
Keeping on keeping on through the health issues included volunteering at the Institute for Ultrasound where I am a volunteer patient for doctors, nurses and others learning the techniques involved to doing an ultrasound. Sometimes it is a session where people are simply updating their skills or learning another area of ultrasound that they may not be proficient in.
The other thing that I have kept up with is my six weekly talk to our local cardiac rehab group and I guess it was following yesterday's talk that I got the push, the motivation to post again on this blog.
Whilst giving my talk the question of MOTIVATION came up and the need to KEEP ON GOING even when things seem to be difficult or 'not going your way'. Actually, whilst talking about this I sort of got the motivation to post again and here I am.
The discussion about motivation came up when I was going through my experiences of finding things, positive things, that helped me deal with my recovery after my heart attack and bypass surgery, things like helping my wife look after injured wildlife which I never had time to do before my heart attack and my rediscovering photography, an old high school hobby.
Discussion on motivation covered different topics including giving up smoking, adjusting diet and developing an exercise routine as well as dealing with things like stress, depression and anxiety.
The word MODERATION came up when talking about changing to a healthier lifestyle such as reducing alcohol intake or the number of visits to fast food outlets.
Some talk took place yesterday as it has in previous talks about how sometimes we MASK how we are feeling to give the appearance that we are feeling well and dealing with life without any problems.
Maybe having a fourth grandchild last month was the motivation I needed or maybe it was just the self-realization that high blood sugars would sooner rather than later impact on my heart that shook me up and got me back to my daily exercise routine and eating better.
Whatever the case, with my sugars now back under control and my feeling better I knew it was time to start posting again, especially after those present yesterday gave me a round of applause after my talk - maybe that was the motivation I needed!
Here is a link to a previous talk I have presented to our cardiac rehab unit.
http://my29lives.blogspot.com.au/p/my-cardiac-rehab-talk-september-2011.html
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