Physio this morning. I got a heat pack on my back left until it got hot enough for me to say so and then Rush worked on it until it loosened up a bit, then the heat pack went back on and I did five back arches successfully without pain after that. Then he cleaned off the surface of my back ready for taping. I'm not sure what he used to lubricate the back massage but it left me with a weird hot cold feeling for a while.
We discussed the possibility of acupuncture and for once, I got what I considered to be a couple of reasonable scientific hypotheses for why it seems to be effective. The first was that the body sees the introduction of the needle as a foreign body and it thus stimulates and immuno reponse. The removal of the needle negates the foreign body but the healing effects of the immuno response remain and are effective on the area. The second was that the needle, when poked into a tight cluster of muscles kind of irritates the muscle into a 'shiver' and thus loosens the cluster. I preferred the first explanation but Rush was very well prepared to deal with my curiosity and skepticism.
For now though, my back is taped up once more and I'm not to go getting so sweaty that it falls off again before our next appointment on Monday afternoon. For the days until then, I'm to try to do five sets of five back arches as long as they don't cause me any pain and I am to take Nurofen each day to manage the pain. Rush explained that if I try to tolerate pain too much then the surrounding muscles become part of the problem and impede the healing process.
From physio I headed off to The Glen and parked the car, grabbed a quick breakfast and headed straight the the train station. I really quite like taking the train, especially on a nice sunny day outside of rush hour. The Glen Waverley line is the one I'm most familiar with and it's nice to see the family spots. I think the land surrounding train tracks is often quite picturesque in it's own way. Tumbling overgrown vines, weeds and grasses. Huge piles of disused wood, signs of the recent sleeper replacement works. And of course, some of the most interesting, colourful and artistic graffiti available.
The other fun thing about train travel is witnessing snippets of other peoples' lives. There was a couple of young men in Year 12 on the train, chatting about their plans for the future and the impending exams. Of course it made me think of Mr Smart so I texted to see how he was going. Turns out he was doing well and we agreed that I would continue my train adventuring after lunch to pop in and visit him.
I got to Flinders Street and found that my train was not continuing along the City Loop so instead of finding another train, I decided to walk up to QV (near the State Library). That's not much of a walk, less than a kilometre, but if I can't get sweaty on the cross trainer at least I can walk when I can and keep my back upright and moving.
I arrived early for my lunch date but given that the place we were going, Pappa Rich, is extremely popular for lunch we headed down at 11:30am. It was just as well! My colleague and I chatted before ordering so in the end we didn't receive our lunches until just after noon and the place was definitely filling up by then. It was very enjoyable.
After lunch a quick walk to Melbourne Central station and I hopped on to a South Morang train, bound for Mr Smart. It was a much quicker train ride for which I was grateful. One stop before I was destined to alight an elderly man seated himself opposite me and begged for spare change. I am more than willing to help my fellow man. I donate to charity, I will purchase a copy of The Big Issue from those doing something to help themselves, but I object to being accosted while going about my day. So "No" was said, twice, and I continued with my day.
I was greeted affectionately and we watched some TV then discussed what was on for the weekend. As it turned out, Mr Smart had kept tonight free to watch the soccer, Melbourne Victory vs. Newcastle Jets, so we decided to retreat to my place for the game where I could make us a nice meal. On Fridays, Mr Smart eats pescatarian so I had to improvise, but I am pleased to say I did rather well.
Today's food and exercise were:
- Breakfast was a warmed gluten free spinach and feta muffin from Muffin Break.
- Lunch was three vegetarian shui kau (dumpling) with sweet chilli sauce followed by dry curry egg noodles and Chinese broccoli with steamed chicken.
- Exercise was practically non-existant, three sets of five back arches and a little walking.
- Dinner was a light salad with olives dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegrette, five chicken nuggets and a portobello mushroom stuffed with a mixture of fresh breadcrumbs, panko breadcrumbs, marinated feta, sundried tomatoes, continental parsley, light tasty cheese and anchovy fillets.
- Dessert was a 170g tub of Dairy Farmers Thick & Creamy 98% Fat Free Vine Passionfruit Yoghurt topped with a few slivered almonds, pumpkin seeds and half a diced dried peach.
After dinner and the game, Mr Smart and I studied and blogged respectively, from our laptops on the couch under the comfort of our fleecy blankets. Blog writing slowed rather a lot after Mr Smart decided to put on Spartacus. He had previously shown me episodes of Season 2 and I'd been somewhat uninspired by it. Tonight he flicked on Series 1 and now I get it. There will be more Spartacus to come!
Tomorrow promises to be a fun and busy day. Cake-making and a dinner out for Bertie's Birthday! But for now, sleepy time! Goodnight all, have a wonderful weekend.
Jess
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