Hair Dresses

It is common knowledge by now, because I have written about it many times before, that I am currently unable to wash my own hair (see previous blog posts). So a couple of days ago I was the my friends hair salon so that she could wash my hair for me and....re-do my colour. I am one of those people that are not regular with getting my roots done.

Yeah it looks terrible, but my hair is always tied up, sweaty and dirty anyway. Plus going to get the colour done is a very timely procedure that I have to schedule into my diary almost months in advance just to allow myself the time.

It's a given that I currently have all the time in the world, so time to get the colour done. It would have been a good three months since it was last done. I know, I'm a terrible person! But the colour I get through is not that much lighter then my natural colour...slightly noticeable but nothing crazy!

So my colour was done and my hair was washed. In my current state, very successful day for me! But I just rinsed my hair for the first time since having it done, knowing that I am going back again tomorrow to have it properly washed and it just feels so much better, when its wet. Weird but it does.

So I have decided that I am actively going to commit to getting my hair done more then once every three months to save the people of Perth of my terrible regrowth. I am incredibly thankful to have  a great hairdresser working out of Skatt in Mount Hawthorn.

Lorna Jane

It's safe to say I am a Lorna Jane brand hoar. Self confessed and described as by others. It is my go to workout brand. For multiple reasons. First is that it is an Australian brand. Woooo Aussie!! The second is that the clothes are amazing. Comfortable to wear day to day and to train in, super supportive and they last for so long. I have a top that I would have bought a good five or six years ago...still going strong.

No I am not sponsored by the company (although I wouldn't say no!). I just honestly love the stuff. And the reason I am thankful for it today? I ordered some new stuff and it just arrived. So much excitement. I got a zip up crop top to help me manage better with only having one arm, another pair of long thick tights for when I'm coaching, a long sleeve shirt for the same reason and this qualified me to get her new book for free...winning!!

Like my friend said when I was opening it all...because I needed someone to help me open it...it's like Christmas! Very exciting.

Knowing People

We have heard it many times before... It's not about what you know but who you know. And in my one handed capacity, who I know is crucial.

Example 1: While in hospital over the past few days, I knew my nurse. I know that nurses have seen and heard everything before, wayyyy more then they want to know, but it just helps so much when you are particularly out of sorts and vulnerable when the stranger looking after you is not actually a stranger at all. She would come into my room and have a bit of winger about the patient two rooms down, wouldn't be afraid to crack jokes or crazy comments because she knew my personality and how I would respond to her calls. It also meant I didn't have to try and sign myself out of hospital when my dominant hand was taken out of action.

Example 2: My Occupational Therapist. From hospital I went straight next door to the Hand and Upper Limb Centre to see the OT I have been working with for the past three months to get fitted for my next splint. She also happens to be a girl I use to train with. So coming for therapy is more like catching up with a friend! It also means that our weekly follow ups can occur over social media or via phone call and if there are any problems I can then go in to see her.

Example 3: Getting my hair washed. In the splint I am in at the moment means I can't get my hand anywhere near my head and the stitches mean that I can't get it wet anyway. So washing my hair is not an option currently. Here is where I am thankful to have a friend who is a hair dresser and has volunteered her services and her apprentices to get my hair taken care of for very little. There is nothing worse then greasy unwashed hair!

This is only the beginning of the list of people who have been of unbelievable help to me in my first week of being one handed. I am so lucky to know and have such helpful people in my life.

Multicoloured Roses

Have you ever seen these before? I had never seen them when my friend came to pick me up from hospital with them. A-mazing!!!! The most incredible flowers I have ever seen in my life and made me so happy!!

Mesmerised but so confused, I had to find out how they did this. And where do you go when you want answers? Google. I managed to find a couple of YouTube videos outlining the step by step process to getting rainbow roses.

Using a knife you split the ends of the stem into multiple segments so it looks like you rose stem has roots. You then fill small bowls with different colours of food dye. Leaving the roses in a bunch, place each 'root' in a different colour pot of food dye. Leaving the roses for a good 24-48 hours, they slowly suck the colour up into the petals, causing them to change colour.

How cool is that?! Whoever worked that one out is a very clever and creative individual. Every time I walk into the room these flowers make me smile. How could you not smile at multi-coloured roses? Stay tuned for my attempt!

Waking Up After Surgery

Amongst all the bad things about waking up after surgery such as how crappy you feel, the nausea, pain and the sleepiness, there are two good things. One - you're still alive, always a plus! And two - its over! I always wake up recovery to alarms sounding and the feeling of being tipped on my head. This is because my heart rate and blood pressure are so low they are trying to get the blood to drain back to my heart. Last time it took a really long time to stabilise me and when I was finally ready to be moved most of the anaesthesia had worn off.

I had given them a heads up this time and they remembered me from last time so knew what to expect. So I woke up[ and head was already down and they managed to stabilise my obs much quicker. So much quicker that the anaesthesia was still wearing off when I was taken back to my room.

Where I was happy and surprised to see my friend waiting for me. Awwww!! Still in my extremely hazy state I felt bad that I wasn't able to talk back to her as much as I wanted to. But she got straight down to business for me. She asked who I needed to contact. Took this flattering photo and sent it to my family in France, my god mother and my aunty (who arrived in my room fifteen minutes later) and the friends I had roped in to help me out over the next week or so.

I have some amazing people in my life and the support I have been given since waking up from surgery has just blown me away. I am thankful for each and every one of them.

New Opportunities

So I am officially on a 3 month break from Physio. It was a very strange feeling to walk out of the practice on Tuesday and know that I am not coming back. Three months not working in my chosen 'career'....what am I going to do with myself?

But when I stopped to think about it, I asked myself why did I chose Physio in the first place? I grew up in the sporting world so was exposed to Physio from an early age. That would have been the first reason. The second would have been because I was told I couldn't. I hate being told I can't do something, so I was out to prove everyone wrong. And I did. I was one of four in my graduating class to graduate with a job offer before sitting my final exam. Take that you doubters!

Don't get me wrong Physio is a great job and it helped me to realise who much I love to help people. But your typical Physio job can only let you take that so far. Which was when I decided to do my personal training course. This allowed me to now deal with injuries and help them to achieve their goals. Adding that extra dimension was getting closer to what I loved. 

The opportunity is now arising where I can combine the two and with it there are endless possibilities. And what makes it even better? I will be working with girls that I love to pieces! We are so similar in the things we want and what inspires us, but at the same time so very different that by putting us together covers so many avenues. We compliment each other perfectly. 

I can't help but to be excited about the future and all the possibilities ahead of us, who knows I may not go back to Physio. So what are you waiting for?

My Anaesthetist

So today I was suppose to have the surgery on my wrist. Key word of that sentence - 'suppose to'. Lets run through my day. Alarm goes of at 3am to get up and drive my mum to the airport where she is flying to France to go meet my dad and my brother. Get home and start prepping for the day - washing, dishes, packing, repacking, packing one more time, emptying the bins...doing all the things that I know I'm not going to want to do when I get home from hospital.

At 5am I eat breakfast and then head off to teach my boxing class for the morning. I was to admit to hospital at 11am, so I continued getting stuff done around the house until my God Mother arrive to pick me up and drive me to hospital.

Admission all went to plan, very much uneventful and no complications. I was second on the list, expecting to go in at around 2.30/3pm. So I got some online work done, I read a book, I wrote lists...I was productive. Around 3pm an orderly comes to take me into holding...woooo!! Do the second lot of checks just before the Anaesthetist comes in.

'Bad news' he says. Jeff (my surgeon) has decided he wants to scope your wrist as well (have no idea what that means) and to do that we need a piece of equipment that needs to be sterilised for you. That's happening now, so we are going to move you to last on the list, which will be around 6pm. Awesome.

So I get taken back to my room, they have to go find my bag which had been taken to my ward room and I had another three hours to kill. Pinterest did me well in that time. So did a couple of friends I was chatting to. The nurses came and took me to the bathroom every hour on the hour ... 'you'll be going in soon' they said. 7pm rolled around, still there. All the nurses had finished they shifts and were literally just waiting around for me to go, well and truly the last one to be waiting.

7.20 the Anaesthetist powers into my room, pulls up a chair and says 'more bad news'. An emergency case had just come in - he is on the table now and has a seriously messed up hand from a metal grinding injury - tendons, muscle, bone, arterty...it was going to take them a good 5-6 hours which would be around 11pm. I had a choice. I could wait and they would take me in there, provided they had enough staff and resources, which he thought they had, or I could move it to tomorrow at South Perth Hospital and he promised I would be the first one through.

I don't know if I was tired, stressed, worried, over it or all of the above but burst into tears. The obvious thing to do for me was to go home. I wanted out of there and I didn't want tired staff working on my hand which is going to make or break my career. And I wanted to give this guy on the table the best possible chance of saving his hand without the over pressure of them pushing through to get to me.

You could see it in his face how terribly sorry he was to pushed me around all over the place today and he went and made the calls there and then to get me into South Perth tomorrow. A friend came and picked me up and took me home, where really I probably got as little sleep as I did the night before. But I am up and packed and fasted again - round two!!

Airports

I love airports. I have always loved airports and if you told me that I would be sitting in transit for a couple of hours I would be the happiest person in the room. Some people find airports to be like limbo, holding then up in a big building just waiting for something better that is coming their way. They will just sit on the uncomfortable airports seats and read the paper or stare out the window until it was time for them to board the plane. 

Every time I enter an airport there is a massive sense of excitement that comes over me. They are busy and constantly on the go, even at crazy hours in the morning. You can wander through look at planes coming in and taking off, watch people passing by or just walk laps of huge terminal, yep I've been that weirdo! Even if I'm not the one going anyway going to the airport is still just so exciting! I dropped my grandma off to go away and I swear I was more excited then she was. 

This morning however I did the very early morning run to drop my mum at the airport for her trip to France. So 3.45am I was pulling into the airport drive way, and even though I wasn't even getting out of the car this time (I was still in my pyjamas), same sense if excitement occurred! 

I love the fact that airports excite me so vouch, it makes holidays that much more fun and transit times as always entertaining!

Being A Physio

So guess what...I hurt myself again. I seem to just be on a roll at the moment. But really if there was ever a time to through another injury my way, this was it! Following the surgery I am suppose to completely rest for a couple of days and we all know that that is going to be super challenging for me. I'm going to want to run or at least walk. So how do we combat this? We take out a knee!!

It was a very wet and rainy night, so when I got to training last night a little early so managed to squeeze in a twenty minute run on the treadmill before the class I was doing. Lucky!! The main workout was a tabata style workout, finishing each round with a lap of the stairs.

Started heading up the stairs at the end of the first round, and the first flight is a little dark and what I failed to see was the puddle of water. I went down. There was a bit of twisting of the femur on the tibia and I landed on the outside of the knee.

Initial thoughts, F^*& I've done my MCL. But I sat there for a minute, straightened out my knee and tried to work out what I was feeling, and I don't think I actually had too much deep pain, it was more superficial. Was able to get up hobble back down the stairs (yep could partially weight bear) and went straight into Physio mode. Elevated my leg, got some ice and strapped it on for a good twenty minutes.

Got the people there with me to help try and test my ligaments and so far so good. So decided to try weight bearing - yep able to fully weight bear, extend my knee to about minus five degrees and flex it to about ninety. So hobbled my way up to my car and got myself home to get the ice back on again.

Happy, and thankful to say I have been pretty well trained. I was able to quickly piece together how I had fallen, where the weight had landed and the potentially injured structures. I was able to work out the type of pain I was feeling and what needed to be done ASAP.

Waking up the morning, swelling is manageable, range is about the same and again I am able to weight bear. I still don't think I have done anything massive to blow out this knee but I will get it checked by one of the boys at work when I get in today - for my last day!!!!

Teamwork

Tough Mudder training is going strong. And you have to be strong to get through our Tough Mudder training! If you have ever done a Tough Mudder event, or any obstacle race really, you would know that you rely heavily on your team. Everyone has their individual strengths to help out others and weakness needing the help of the rest of the team - me for example - pulling up! Put I could push and run all day long.

Training this weekend, you very much needed your team members to get you through it! Part one - run down the hill (it was a long hill) but you didn't really need the team to get through that one. Part two 100 pull ups - partner assisted when you couldn't pull anymore. While one partner was pull-up'ing the other was doing triceps dips...yay tag team! Partners then moved onto 100 toes to bar and burpees, and finally 100 partner plank push ups.

The third and final part - piggy backing back up that nice long, slowly inclining hill. Taking it bit by bit, getting out what your could before you swapped with your partner. Half way up the hill we stopped for a casual 100 body weight squats before running the final half of the hill.

Very much a team orientated workout, brings out the best in everyone and a great sense of pride and accomplishment. Always love sharing the pain with my team mates!

A Big Flock Of Birds

Bit of a strange one today. I was out running this morning I figured it would probably take me less time to run into Kings Park then it would to drive there with all the traffic lights, 40km speed limit through the city and your Sunday drivers.  

The thing about running in Kings Park for me, I never really know where I'm going, how long I will be running for or how far. I kind of just pick a path and off I go. If I end up back somewhere near the entrance to the park I go through and am not quite done yet, not a problem - pick another path! The risk with that again is that I may run wayyyy further then I really should. But I will deal with that later.

The distance and time today were pretty well controlled it the paths I selected, however the hills were not expected. I had a lot of slow inclines to face. By far the worst hills to be running up. By the time I got back to the park entrance I was ready to start my run home which meant going over the Narrows Bridge. By this point the legs were not loving life.

Half way over the narrows though, somewhere on the city foreshore a massive flock of birds had been disrupted and taken of. First thought - please don't poop on me. But after the fear of something falling from the sky had passed and I watched I would say a good one hundred birds fly off over the river I was pretty in awe. And very much distracted about my unhappy calves.

Thanks to the big flock of black birds who managed to distract and amazing me, even if it was only for a minute.

The Universe

Every day I get a note from The Universe. A little message in my inbox at the end of the day from an organisation called Totally Unique Thoughts. Each day the message is just that...totally unique.

The story behind the organisation is that everything happens for a reason and the universe is in control of everything. They believe that everyone is special and is uniquely individual. You go to work your 9-5 job with the tens to thousands of other 9-5 workers, you go through the same daily routine, working for someone else and not fulfilling your own potential, you are losing your individuality.

They believe that thoughts become things, so what you think about the most will happen to you. If you think bad things, bad things will happen, if you think good things....wooooo!!

Some days I get messages and I could take them or leave them. Don't get me wrong the message is powerful and inspirational, but right in that moment not quite the words I need to here.

But when they are the words I need to hear...oh wow! It's like someone has punched you in the stomach and grabbed and squeezed the air out of your lungs. On a day where I was totally overwhelmed by work, injury and training being only weeks out of the showdown and feeling completely unprepared, I got a message made up of three sentences. 'Write is down, Write is down Chloe, Write it down.' Wow did I have a lot to write down.

On the day that I bought an apartment, applied and got a new job and was second guessing every decision I had just made and was questioning every part of my ability, I got one saying "Would it make a difference Chloe if you knew that we understand the battles you have fought, and approved the decisions you have made? Whether or not it makes a difference, YOU have'. Another big punch! But I suddenly felt like I was capable to doing what needed to be done, and that I can make it work.

It doesn't matter what is happening in each persons life because everyone is different. But these messages can be just what you need to remind you of the bigger picture and that you are never in it alone. The Universe is in your corner.

Simple Things Done Well

Some of the best exercises and the really simple ones. Like a squat. Or a push up We get so caught up in trying to get creative  and challenge our balance, strength and coordination and we tend to over complicate things. For example a single arm and leg burpee lateral broad jump...it takes you longer to work out what you have to do then physically doing it!

The ones that are simple are the ones that are most easily remember and the ones that are done properly and effectively. Less variables, less to get wrong, better success rate. Take a look at Zumba - over the top crazy dance routines that require more coordination then a cow walking down stairs (fun fact - a cow cannot walk downstairs!) to be done properly. Over complicated and look where that took it? However Step Classes, still going strong...simply because all you do is step up and then back down again...adding a few things in once you have mastered the basics.

Last night training, the was a couple of things we did that were so simple, yet super effective! The first one, ten sets of ten push ups. Sounds simple. One hundred push ups? Not so simple. Starting off with your basic push ups knees onto toes, into hand release and as the simple became effective we added in a slight variation, but still stuck to the basic push up. Shoulders were shot!

The next one, hamstring curls on a fitball. You lie on your back, lift your butt and roll the ball in and out. Nothing to it. Except the insane burn on your hamstrings while you are trying to defy gravity and the rock solid core you need to keep the ball moving in the same direction. Simple done well, painfully well.

Sometimes it's just good to go back to basics. And not just always when it comes to your training. Life is complicated these days. We communicate on the phone, text message, facebook, email, whatsapp...what ever happened to pen and paper (we went green that's what). You can order a coffee with an extra shot, soy milk, topped up, decaff, extra hot, deconstructed, reconstructed...its insane. Simple is uncomplicated and easily understood. It's good to get simple things done well.  

12 Steps

Not going to lie, I have really been struggling to write these posts over the past couple of days. So I sat down to write this morning and hit that wall that I have been facing for the past few days. So, as I have done every other day, I left it for a while and checked through my emails and flicked through my phone. I came across this photo and it just jumped out at me.

I know that I need to start looking after myself a little more. I need to stop worrying about what others thing and what they are doing and become totally invested in myself, my goals and my dreams. Every single one of these points NEEDS to be applied to my life, because I don't think I truly follow any of them.

If it feels wrong, don't do it. For me this means listen to your body, not your head. My head tells me a lot of things, many of which are very wrong. But I am very strong minded and often do what me heads tells me to do despite the consequence I could be facing. Say exactly what you mean. Another thing I'm not good at...putting things into words and saying them out aloud. And when I do manage to out something into words, I often down play exactly what I am thinking or what I mean. Whether that's because of embarrassment , shame or wanting to please others. Which takes me straight to number three. 

Stop worrying about what others think and trying to please people.if they don't like what I'm doing. Stuff them. I'm doing what is right for me. I am an individual. Trust your instincts. Again only you know what is best for your. Never speak badly of yourself. As the sufferer of an eating disorder, this is a tough one, because this makes up a good part of your day. Practice makes perfect and this is one for me to practice. 

Follow your dreams. Why settle for anything less? Don't be afraid to say no, or yes! Do what is best for you. Be kind to yourself, takes me back to not speaking badly about yourself. And the last one that is really important for me, let go of what you can't control. If it is out of your control there is NOTHING you can do about it. What will be will be so there is no point wasting time and energy worrying about it. You can control your response however, so focus on that! 

I think I need to look at this one as a daily reminder, we all need a bit of self care!

Mid Morning Run

I didn't get to complete my early morning training session this morning. I was running the class that I normal take part in, then followed that up with covering a couple of clients while a friend got some stuff sorted out. I planned to then do my training session after that - some interval running, but I got a call at 8am saying I needed to be at my doctors at 8.45. So no training for me.

I finally got out the doctors about an hour and a half later (an half hour wait for an 8.45am appointment? I feel sorry for those at the end of the day) and it was raining. Didn't stop me. My delayed run needed to happen and I wasn't going to let some rain stop me. I was sick of being on the treadmill.

Running mid morning in some winter rain was surprising refreshing. While most people are already cooped up in the office, or making the last minute morning commute, I was running the streets, and getting wet. I got some funny looks but I'm use to them. I love running in the early morning don't get me wrong, by far best time of the day. But running mid morning? There is something invigorating about the freedom of running when you know there are some people that can't.

So today I am thankful for having the opportunity to run in the middle of the day. Shift work wins again!

Curly Hair

I definitely have a love hate relationship with my hair. It's curly. Very curly. At times frizzy curly, at times ringlet curly and then sometimes it is controlled curly. I would say it is frizzy curly 60% of the time, ringlet curly 10% of the time, straight (because I am over the curls) 10% of the time and controlled curls 20%.

I love those days where you don't really have to do anything to you hair, but it just works. For me my hair has to be of a certain length to happen. This is because I have quite thin hair, although I've got a lot of it, it needs the weight to hold it down. 

I am now at that length or weight, so I'm happy to say, recently I have been having days of controlled curls. Meaning I have to do less with my hair and it still looks somewhat presentable, and, I am happy to keep it untied for more then 20 minutes at a time. 

Yay for good hair days!

Believing It Will Work

I have had another opportunity presented to me. By someone that I trust 100%. It is kind of a business, self development, helping others, project kind of thing. Super helpful in clarifying your understanding I know!

I've had it explained to me twice now and I am still trying to get my head around it. In terms of business and work, it kind of goes against everything I know and have been taught. But my business knowledge is less then limited. I have had no experience at running a business, managing a business or really promoting a business...so I am kind of swinging in the dark on that one. 

I am very much a person that tends to stick with what I know, I don't like to venture into the unknown, because to me the outcome is uncertain and unpredictable. I like stability and predictability. But this new opportunity is very much uncertain to me as I, and really all my immediate family have never really been exposed to or involved in this way of business that I know of. So I don't really have a well known role model for me to assess the situation. 

But life has been throwing curve balls my way recently and seeing how well I can catch...not always a brilliant player in ball sports but I'm a fast learner. Which is why I think, despite knowing pretty much nothing, I am just going to give it a shot. With the time off I have coming up, what do I really have to lose? Time? So although it goes against everything I have known to be true for as long as I can remember I need to stop over-thinking, second guessing and coming up with reasons it or I will fail. If you want and believe something to work, it will. Same applies here. 

Productive Weekends

I swear I've been everywhere and done everything this weekend. As of about Thursday last week, it was a quiet one ahead of me, and I was excited! It has been a while since I didn't have much planned for the weekend and with the surgery coming up, there is a lot I need to get done.

That all changed as of around Thursday. All of a sudden I was running an extra fitness class, treating some one from home, meeting a friend who has come back to Perth for the weekend, a potential business meeting and coaching some swimming. I was also thrown a quiz night invite, and invite out on Saturday night...but there was only so much I could fit in.

So I managed to plan my Saturday and got a some of what needed to be prepped done. I did food prep, business propositions, trained, handstand photo'ed but I managed to space it out nicely over the whole day. So nothing felt rushed and I got to take my time doing what I needed to do. So although I got a lot done and was highly productive, it still felt like a very easy day. And I slept like a log....so happy with that!!

Sunday. Wow. Ever 2 hours I had a different appointment with a different person. My car was packed for the day with many outfit changes and equipment for so many different activities that needed to be done. I've done everything from talking to training, driving to digging my elbows into someone.

This weekend I've taken on more roles then an actor in a one man show. Though it was not the quiet weekend I thought it was going to be, have gotten so much done, caught up with and met so many people and been in so many different places. I often ask my patients at work how their weekend was, and they ask it in return. So this week I can say BUSY!!! But good!

Deep Tissue

I have a reputation as a strong Physio, I show no mercy. One of my regulars is this lovely lady - my old open water training partner. And she is one that I can seriously unleash on. Because she needs it. I get a lot of athletes come to me because of this and these are the people I love to treat. Those who like to push their body as hard as they can - these are the people I want to help get further and achieve their goals because their are not afraid to push their limits.

I see this chick pretty regularly and often do things a little differently each time I see her, depending on what she's feeling and what her training has been focused on. This can also change her response to treatment. I have had everything from screaming and crying, swearing and Hail Mary's, kicking, pulling and rolling off the table. I have been known to physically pin her down - in the nicest way possible. But then we can have other sessions where by her standards, she is relatively quiet.

Today it was lower limb. She has increased her running and sprinting recently and is starting to feel the onset of shin splints from over use. Over use = great deals of muscle tightness = sooooo much noise! Today would have been the loudest by far that she has ever been in a treatment session. There was NO holding back. Swearing, screaming, kicking, trying to roll and pull away from me wherever possible. It was highly entertaining.

People and treatment sessions like this one remind me why I love my job. Not just because I am paid to hurt people, but because I get to help people recover and go on performing well in their chosen discipline. No pain no gain.

Postcards

You normally get post cards from foreign places, from friends and family that are travelling and having an amazing time while you are holding down the fort and continuing day to day life back at home. You get a quick snap shot of where they are, what their doing and the fun they are having, and a short 200 words explaining their most recent adventures. Well that's what I normally associate with postcards anyway!

I got one of a different kind in the mail yesterday though. One from only a few suburbs over, but probably the best one I have received in a very long time. Before I was taken out with injury, I became a member at the Crossfit Box we had been training at for the Showdown back in May. I had probably been a member all of two weeks when I had to call up and ask for my membership to be put on hold as I had been told not to anything through my right arm for the next few months.

So I came home to find this really nice postcard from the box. Similarly to how a postcard from someone else's holiday destination makes you wish that you were there, this one made me wish I was able to go back to training. But just the act put a massive smile on my face and made me some much more determined to get better and be able to return injury free, to see what I am really capable of with this kind of training.

These small rectangles of card are really the best kind of mail. You have been thought of by someone else and they have taken a moment out of their day and wanted to share something with you. Feeling special

Washing My Hair

This is something I completely took for granted up until recently. Washing my hair use to seem like a chore, particularly when I was swimming - the hair washing would often happen daily to try and remove some of the chlorine smell, even just for a few hours.

Following my first surgery last week though, hair washing became an almost impossible task. For the first 4 days after coming out of hospital, I put this mission off. My wrist was too sore and not moving properly to even think about trying to scrub shampoo through my hair. Not to mention the fact that my arm had to be covered in glad wrap, plastic bags and strapping tape to keep it dry. By Saturday I was allowed to get the wounds wet, if I hair dried them straight after. The hair washing had to be done!

Wrist was still pretty sore and I probably still had only about half the normal movement, but I was determined to have clean hair again. The whole situation took a good hour. I wasn't in the shower for that whole hour, but it took a flippin long time. I underestimated how much each hand contributes to the scrubbing. I didn't have the comfortable wrist movement in my right hand to do this just yet and it was too sore to try. So in the end the right hand just tried to hold the hair up while my left hand did most of the work.

Then came conditioning. I normally comb through with my right hand....not anymore. There was no way I was going to be able to take the resistance on my knotty hair with my right hand...the little that there was. So again, left hand picked up the slack and took on the very uncoordinated combing.

It's small things like this that we don't realise how much we take for granted until out ability to do them is removed. I have many more of these moments to come over the coming few months, such as turning the key to start my car for example. Plenty of challenges ahead of my which will make me appreciate my physical abilities a whole lot more.

Starting

Starting is always the hardest part. Always. Sometimes it is even the decision to start which is hard. It doesn't matter what you are starting, it is something new, something changed and it's most likely unknown. Often scary. But another one I have seen, and is actually pinned to my wall.

'If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try'.

 Yesterday I started something new. Well, I tried something I have done before but under different circumstances. I started over. I am getting better at admitting that I have battled with my share of demons. I have tried getting help before, but I think the last time I tried, I was just doing what I was told to do, I wasn't actually willing to admit I had problems and wasn't ready to let go of what I see as my safety net.

With my surgery coming up, meaning I am going to be out of action for months I, and so it appears a few people around me are worried about how I am going to cope. The fear, stress and anxiety not so much of the surgery and how my arm with respond over the period of time off, but more about how the rest of my body and more importantly, my mind is going to react I have realised, is well beyond what is a normal reaction.And these fears have become apparent everyday have started taking toll on my health. So it's time to face them.

I've always said I hated change. And I still do. But I know that change is what is required to help us grow as a person, live a better happier and more successful life. Change is often the unknown and the uncomfortable. Which is why starting the change can be so daunting. 

You can be scared and nervous and uncomfortable but you can't give up. You have to remember the reasons behind you starting and where it is going to take you whether that be tomorrow, or next week or for me...probably in a few years.  

Starting is the hardest part, and this is one thing I know I'm going to be glad I started. 

Answers

For those of you who have been following the wrist senario, answers have finally been given. I had explorative surgery last week to see if the cause of the aching could be intentified.

Well it has. There is a tear in the cartilage wedge in my wrist that needs surgical repair with or without and tendon graft. That decision will be made when I'm in there. 

So along with the answers about what is going on, I also get the answers about what lies ahead of me for the next 4 months or so. Following the next surgery which is scheduled for 2 weeks time, I have 3 months of no hands on work. Yes months not weeks. I will be splinted for 6 of those weeks and be limited in my day to day function and physical activity. Not ideal.

There was the initial panic which always sets in, but I coped with this news suprisingly better the I thought I would. Still yet to determine what I am going to do work wise and sport wise over the coming three month, I have options. And more importantly I finally have the answer I have been waiting for.

Challenge Accepted

There have been plenty of fitness challenges going around at the moment. The Squat Challenge, Plank Challenge, Sit Up Challenge, Push Up Challenge, Bikini Body Challenge. I did even see a Nap Challenge. I have done a couple, but as with anything, I get bored quickly, so two 30 day challenges was enough for me.

Until this one came along. A friend pointed out to me the July 31 Day Handstand Challenge which was organised by Niche Crossfit. The idea was to post a photo of your handstand every day for 31 days showing your improvement and your creativity, the winner at the end of the month then selecting a charity to donate all the entry money to. Keen!

Though with my current wrist situation handstands are out. Elbow stands however, are in! After getting the approval from the organisers for my modification, we signed up. We are seven days in and seven hand stands (elbow stands in my case) down.

Personally, I haven't seen too much improvement with my ability to balance yet, but I feel that having to do it on my elbows is putting me at a little bit of a disadvantage because the wall is further away from where my centre of gravity should be ideally. I need to stop being so reliant on the wall and try and hold my position on my own. But for me it is more about being involved due to my current limitation.

It has been a great initiative set up by Niche Crossfit and has brought people world over together to handstand and raise money for charity. I am thankful for a good challenge!

Growing Up

My little brother turned 21 the other day. What?! Where has time gone. I still remember when I was five and he was three, begging me to play cricket with him, and when I said no, he proceeded to chase me around the garden with the cricket bat and managed to land it solidly on top of my head. There was blood.

I also remember a day where he decided not to chase me, but instead a boy probably twice the size of him who had just pushed me over on the roller skating rink cause me to come off crying. Apparently the only boy who was allowed to push me around was him, so he went to show this dude who's boss!

8 years later, cricket bats were replaced with scissors...thankfully I was faster by this stage. Roller skating had been replaced with football and he was doing his fair share of pushing around there. Being seen out in public with your sister or your mum was so not cool and we had a limit of 10 questions we could ask him at the end of the day, all being answered with one word, so choose your questions wisely 

And 10 years from there, he has finally stopped chasing me, another girl has caught his attention these days. He can hold down a conversation using more then one word answers and sometimes even initiate the conversation! He has grown up and achieved some pretty amazing things in these past 21 years and holds his own in our family of high achievers.  

So I and the crown of my head are thankful that my baby brother has grown up, but he will always be my little brother no matter how old he gets.

Winter Sun

Hard to believe we took this photo in the middle of winter (reason for the handstands will come later). But when we took this photo is was a balmy 8 degree's Celsius and the time is 11.30am. It was freezing but the sun was helping.

I got home from the morning expeditions and walked into my house. My house is one of those ones that is amazing during summer, but a nightmare in winter - constantly cold and any heat that is inserted is quickly also turned into cold.

I had some computer work to do throughout the afternoon and decided that the sun was far more appealing then the icy office. So I ventured into my backyard with a towel and sat in the sun. For three hours.

The was a lot of time wasting and procrasting but it was so much better to do it outside in the warm fresh air them to be stuck inside.

Who I Am

I remember my first English class in Year 12. Our theme was character and identity. My teacher said that she hated the question 'what do you do?' She said that nothing about her day job defines her as a person. So when she is asked that question, instead of revealing her occupation as an English Teacher, she would instead talk about the things that she enjoys in her life...one of these was being an avid Sex And The City fan. 

At the time, although I understood what she was saying, I didn't really get it. For me at the point in time, I was a swimmer. That's what I did, that's what I knew and that was my life.  A really hard time for me then came when it was time for me to walk away from swimming. 5 years out of school, and swimming was still defining my life. But it had gotten to a point where I was physically and mentally burnt out from what I had put my body and my mind through day in day out for the past 8 or so years and the thought of getting in the water one more time made me break down and cry. So I walked up to my coach one day before training, told him I'm done and went home. He was as shocked as I was. 

But where to go from here? Swimming was my whole life. I planned my social time, my Uni timetable, even when I was going to wash my hair and shave my legs around swimming. So if I was no longer Chloe the swimmer who was I? To be honest I don't think I had actually worked that out yet. I had just found a new label for myself. Chloe the fitness fanatic, or Terminator as I am known to some. 

That was up until yesterday. Yesterday it seem like everything 'I do' was taken away from me, well for the next 2 months anyway. After having explorative surgery on my wrist early this week, I went back to my surgeon and my OT for the results. I need a surgical repair, possibly with a tendon graft to my triangular fibro-cartilage complex (cartilage wedge in your wrist). Following surgery I will be immobilised in a full arm cast for 3 weeks giving me no elbow or wrist movement, then into a half arm cast for a further 3 weeks giving me back my elbow movement. 

What does this mean for 'what I do'? Crossfit is out, gym work is out, swimming is out, Physio work is out, for the first two weeks running is out. I won't be able to write, cut vegetables, tie up my hair and maybe even drive while I'm in the full arm splint. Pretty much everything that fills my days is a no go for at least 3 weeks. I was pretty cut up about it. Even though it is only three, maybe six weeks, it felt like it was going to be a lifetime. 

A friend asked me what can you do? Thinking about this one a little more I have come up with a few things. Firstly I can to have to learn to write with my left hand (I apologize to anyone that is going to have to read my writing over the next coming months). I can use the time to hone my movement analysis skills and pick up on athlete mobility faults, identifying where the fault is and how to fix it, so if I'm lurking in the corner while you're squatting, I'm probably picking you to pieces in my mind. I can coach - boxing, mobility, PT. Just because I can't hurt myself at the moment does mean I can't hurt others...in the nicest possible way. And my list is slowly growing.

So who am I? Well I am still figuring that one out for myself. But what I do know is that I am a 23 year old female with a passion for health and fitness and helping others achieve their best. Even though I can't do much to better my own performance at the moment I am a personal that likes to push others to see what they can do. The next two months are not going to be easy for me, but focusing on more on who I am then what I do will probably be the best thing I can do to get myself through it.

Nurses

Having worked in hospitals as a Physio in the past, I have always respected and been thankful for Nurses, the role they play and how they make life for all other medical health professionals easier. They had my patients ready when I needed them for Physio, they could answer all my questions about the patients care, home and social situations. They are the most caring and helpful people out there.

But yesterday I experienced nursing from the other side, as a patient. I was in for my arthroscopy of my wrist, to try and get to the bottom of what is going on in there and come up with some management plan.

I arrived at hospital at 11.30am and finally went in for surgery at 4.30pm. So there was a lot of waiting around, twiddling my thumbs, killing time. It was a long time to wait around, so I sent my mum home to go plough on with everything she wanted to get done today. I don't know if the nurses felt sorry for my sitting there on my lonesome, or they were bored, but they kept popping in to chat with me and find out more about me and what I do.

I must have looked nervous while in holding once I was finally taken down to theatre, because the nurse who had followed me down ask the anaesthetist if he could give me *some drug name* to relax me a little. And that was all it took to knock me out. I don't even remember the surgeon coming into the operating room.

The next thing I remember is waking up in recovery, with the same nurse who had ask to have me drugged out (in the nicest possible way) taking my obs. Apparently they had been taking them frequently because I had a really low BP and heart rate. First thing I was asked was did I do a lot of sport? Because my obs were too healthy and I needed to go eat a burger. I was coming in and out of sleep for a good hour there and answered her when I was conscious enough to come up with an answer, but this nurse who was a younger girl just sat there and talked all about her boyfriends new car, the song that was playing on the radio at the time, sport - after she got out of me what I was into. It was comforting just to know there was someone there.

Back on the ward and my first nurse who keeping coming in to chat earlier was onto my BP like a baby turtle searches for water. I was going home, then I wasn't going home, then if I could get it up to 100/60 when I stood up I could go home, if I was still light headed I wasn't going home. I was pumped with fluids, pretty much turned upside down to get the blood draining back to my heart, force fed to get my blood sugar back up again. And finally after around 2 hours of various positions and drinking a couple of litres, it was up to 99/66 and they let me go home. They wanted me to be able to go as much as I did.

These amazing people are a special kind. They genuinely care about the well being, health and safety of their patients and go above and beyond to do whatever is needed to help. Having experienced nursing on both a professional and patient side, I don't know what the health care system would do without them.

Inspiration

I'm no entrepreneur, but after this morning I feel like I could become one. 

A good friend has just taken on the role of the Perth crusader, for the League of Extrodinary Women. An organisation that works to inspire and empower women in the world of small business and to become successful business women. This morning was the first of the Breakfast events that she has been in charge of, so I went along to support her. 

Not really sure what I had signed up to, all I knew was that there would be other women who were trying to or already running small businesses of their own (something I'm not actually doing) and that the founder of The Jungle Body was being interviewed today, both about forming and the ups and downs she has faced will developing her world wide business. 

Like I said I am not a business person at all, and have no big plans to become one anytime soon. But after listening to Tara talk about her business path up until now, definitely inspired! Like everything that's worth anything, it didn't happen over night and Shen worked bloody hard to get to where she is today. There were plenty of mistakes, but without these mistakes you wouldn't learn. 

She was just your average Perth girl, who found a hole in the market and came up with a way to fill it. Now her business is all over the world and embraced by possibly millions of people. Still no big business plans for me, but it got me thinking. If a Perth girl can conquer the world, I can do anything that I want to do. You just have to backs yourself, work bloody hard and never give up. Simple!