Float Like An Elephant, Sting Like A Letharic Butterfly

Last March a new boxing gym opened nearby. Boxing is apparently one of the great exercises for Parkinson’s, so I decided to join up right away.

I decided right away.

I actually joined about two months later.

I hadn’t really exercised properly since Ada was born. Before then I used to swim regularly. Since Ada arrived my exercise was running to stop her doing something stupid, or carrying her away from whatever stupid thing I couldn’t get to her in time to stop happening. Kids.

But I decided to try my fist at boxing, and fell completely in love with it. By the end of the first week I owned two pairs of my own wraps, and by the end of the first month I had my own gloves!

I joined Raincity Boxing around the start of May and after the first class I knew this was something special. The gym has an incredibly friendly and supportive athmosphere, lead by owner and head coach Sean Sung, who is just one of the nicest people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. His classes are always fun and funny. This makes for a really inviting class, regardless of fitness level. All the other members are chatty and supportive, encouraging each other to throw just one more punch, or reach for one last push up. I heard another member describe it as a family, and couldn’t agree more.

My goal when I joined Raincity Boxing was just to get fit, but I quickly had to amend that to “get fitter”. My cardio improved almost over night. I started to notice that I was getting stronger, and Claire pointed out that I was developing a rather nice set of abs. All this, and I was having fun!

I’ve never been one for exercise. I was always slim and never really worried about my weight. When I swam, it was a chore, something I had to get up early to do on my way to work. I did it, but mostly because they already had my money, so I might as well use it. Even then, I only did the bare minimum, two dozen lengths and out. I never pushed myself to do better. I was onctent to just swim for 30 minutes and get out.

But this was different. My plan of just going once a week to start lasted less than the first week, and I was going at least twice a week right away. It wasn’t long until I managed to squeeze in a third class, and I was thrilled the first time I made it to four classes in one week! It had been a long time since I was this excited about something that didn’t involve pixels or tiny cardboard components. Even on the days I didn’t feel up to it, going anyway always felt great. As soon as I walked in that door, everyone was happy to see me and I was happy to see everyone.

I’m never going to be a boxer. My Parkinson’s means that my muscles don’t react as fast as I’d like them too, and with limited force. My coordination is poor, and I struggle to put together combos of four or five moves. I find it diffficult to perform the explosive, burst moves that boxing is known for. And I hate wearing contact lenses, so my experience in a ring with a sparing partner would be something along the lines of watching a fuzzy black blur hit me in the face over and over again.

But I don’t care. I’m having so much fun. I love every class. I love meeting new members and welcoming them in. I love getting just a little better every class, one more pull up, just a little faster than yesterday.

That’s all I need. Not a straight 100% improvement, just a whole bunch of 10% steps.

Still Shakin'

Long time readers know that I was diagnosed with Early Onset Parkinson's Disease in late 2012. When I first bogged about it in October 2013, my intent was to post about it at least once a year, on October 1st, the anniversary of my diagnosis. Clearly, that has not happened.

In fact, if I'm being honest, my PD is one of the reasons I haven't beeen blogging more. Or, more accurately, I'm using it as one of the reasons. I've regularly told myself that my tremor makes typing with my left hand too awkward, and while it is partially true; the tremor does make it more awkward than before I had it; it is, on the whole, bullshit.

The persistant tremor does not stop me from typing, and never has. Sure, I sometimes double type letters, miss a letter here or there, or transpose two adjacent letters in a word, usually from the left side of the keyboard, but I was never the fastest typist anyway, so it really hasn't affected my overall productivity. Using my PD as an excuse to not write more often is just that, an excuse, and a lame one at that.

Since my diagnosis, my condition has continued to progress very slowly indeed. I'm still not on medication, nor do I or my neurologist feel that I need to start any time soon. My left arm still has the noticable tremor, but without lose of strength, and my right arm doesn't show any signs of developing one as of yet. My left leg gets jittery when I get excited, but my walking and running isn't affected at all.

My neurologist has increased the frequency of our visits from 12 to 9 months apart, because, in his own words, it's going to get worse eventually, so we should watch out for it. Despite this, my last two visits lasted less than ten minutes each, and he was very happy with my progress. Or lack of progress, I guess.

So, all is good in the world of Denis and his stupid brain. Yay me.

We're Like The Postal Service In That Way

Hail, rain or shine, we always take the children in the daycare outside every day, either for a walk around the community, or at the very least, to the program playground.

On the sunny or dry days, that just means wrapping them up against the seasonal temperatures, either layering on sunscreen, or sweaters and jackets.

But it's the wet days that are the most fun. Every child has boots in their cubby, but more importantly, they also have rainproof covering, affectionately called muddy buddies. These are, as seen at the link, one piece waterproofs, with elasticated wrists and ankles. They can be a bit of a pain to put on, especially if you have a group of eight children all asking for help, some having mastered putting on their boots, while others struggle valiantly to put their leg through their sleeve, a task that is as hilarious to watch as you can imagine. But once they are on and zipped up, once the ankle elastics are pulled over the boots to stop rainwater flooding their feet, they are awesome!

On my second day at work way back in May it rained the proverbial cats and dogs. My group were playing in the yard, all safely zipped up, splashing in puddles, riding trikes in the rain. They were also sitting in a pool of water about a foot deep. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but the other staff assured me they were fine. "The worst that can happen is that we change their clothes when we go back in. They all have spares. This is good for them." I was stunned, and impressed.

I've already seen some of the snowsuits that parents are starting to stock their little darlings cubby with. They look like the muddy buddies, but with a much thicker lining. I'm looking forward to seeing the toddlers struggling to play in the snow, their arms stuck straight out from their sides by multiple layers of insulating clothing, beads of sweat building on their little faces, as they slowly heat up from the inside. I've been assured that this too is just as funny as it sounds.

All this post was inspired because of something else we did today that I just could never imagine being let do back home in Ireland. As it was a beautiful, cool, dry autumn afternoon, we took the toddlers outside after snack time, and stayed out there as the evening light faded. In fact, by the time we came back in, it was after 5pm and it was as dark as it was going to get outside. The toddlers had been outside, enjoying fresh air in a playground lit by soft lighting long after sunset. They loved it, and so did I.

Explain to me why this is seemingly not possible under supposed health and safety regulations in Ireland. It makes no sense! You are making us worse, not better, HSE!

I Get Excited When I Wii

Last Friday I picked up Wii Fit and dragged it home to try it out. I understand that Nintendo are encouraging an increase in exercising and all that through this game, but just getting it home was tiring enough! The thing weighs quite a bit!

Once home, I unpacked it carefully, synced it up with my machine, and started my all-new fitness regime. After some minor hiccups (I'm slightly over my ideal BMI), I was throwing myself around, avoiding panda bears and zooming off ski slopes! I even went jogging in my living room with Noel!

While the minigames are a lot of fun, it is the yoga exercises that I've enjoyed most. The balance board tracks your center of gravity, so it can tell you when you are going wrong, and help you achieve a good pose. As I know I have a bad posture, I've been focusing my efforts on the exercises that help that area, but I try to get a well-rounded workout. My shoulders are killing me from the push-ups, and my legs were shaking after a few stretching exercises a few minutes ago. My thighs burn, and my blood is pumping.

And I can do all this in my own home, with no beefcakes surrounding me, or no-one to see when I can't do that last push-up. But I still push myself. I'm doing more than I usually do, and I'm going to try to stay at it.

I've set myself a target to lose 1.5kg in two weeks. I thought I'd be ok, but this morning the game told me I've put on weight!! I didn't even have dinner yesterday!

Mutant Healing Factor Or Medication?

Honestly, I don't care which, though having a mutant healing factor would be far cooler! Either way, I feel much better this fine Sunday morning! I woke up with only a very mild discomfort, was able to get out of bed without sounding like a 90 year old, and managed to put on both my socks straight away!! Yesterday, I managed to get on my right sock after a struggle and substantial discomfort, but I spent the next two hours wandering the house with only one sock before eventually getting the left one on.

Also, thanks to a wonderful suggestion from Yvonne, that sage among mortals, I was able to have a shower without getting the dressing on my wound wet! Yay! I feel clean, and I think the hot shower helped make me feel a bit better as well.

Edit: Well shit. This hadn't even been posted ten minutes when I suddenly got very dizzy and violently nauseous. My head began to burn, sweat was pouring off my forehead, and I went as white as the background here. I made it to the toilet, but thankfully didn't get sick. That is not an experience I really want while I'm recovering from surgery. Claire says that it might have been a reaction to the medication, but after sitting on the cold bathroom floor a few minutes I feel better now. Hopefully it was just a once off thing.

Guess that rules out any mutant powers then...

Things Denis Can't Do

Since my little operation, cough and laugh are high on the list! Both require movement of the diaphragm and stomach, and both cause me considerable discomfort!

Getting a general anesthetic is an odd sensation. I went in around 3pm, Thursday. I remember talking to the nice nurse and anesthesiologist, and joking about various bits and pieces. I was told that they were first giving me medicine to just make me feel "good", and I might feel a prickly sensation on the back of my arm where the drip was. I felt the sensation, but pointed out that I didn't feel any different. The anesthesiologist told me that one of the doctors had a theory that the medicine takes longer to affect people who can hold their drink better, but I pointed out I don't drink. He said something about throwing that theory out the window. The nurse explained that it can come on quiet fast, and she had seen lots of people saying "This isn't wooooooooooorkinnnnnnng........" and they were gone!

And that's it! That's all I remember. I was fine. I was looking up at the big lights, trying to see if things would start to change, or swim, or blur, listening to the staff chatting around me and suddenly I was waking up in recovery! Someone asked me if I was alright, and I tried to ask for the time, but my mouth was all dry and scratchy. It was 7:30! One second it was somewhere around 3pm, and the very next second it was 7:30! My groggy mind swam trying to understand what had just happened, then I remembered why I was there and felt the surgical dressing. After spending an indeterminate time in recovery, I was wheeled back down to my bed, where Claire had been waiting all that time.

Unfortunately, I wasn't exactly in the mood for talking, so I told her everything was alright, and sent her home. Then I lay on my back, and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Schrödinger's Patient

I might be going into hospital today for a minor operation, but thanks to the wonderous Irish Health System, I don't know for sure yet. I'm currently awaiting a call to let me know whether or not there is a bed available.

Thus, at this moment, as far as I am concerened, there is both a bed available, and not. The quatum wave form for the availablity of a bed will not be broken until my mobile phone rings and I answer.

Suddenly, my life seems very... binary...

Edit: Well, the results are in! I'm going in, but not until 7pm, instead of 2pm, and they're putting me in a different ward! Sucess, but only barely.

College, Children, Colds and Customs

It's been an unusually long time since my last update, and so much has happened since then that I know I can't squeeze it all into one post. So instead, lets just grab the highlights, and I'll expand on other matters over the next few days.

College wrapped up on the 30th of May with my final exam. All in all, they went well, though that last one has left me puzzled. With three hours and only three questions to answer, I felt I was finished with some time to spare. I wrote enough on each, and there were a lot of the class that left before the end, so I guess I wrote more than them! I stayed for the full three hours, though by the end I had to resort to doodling on my question sheet to pass the last ten minutes. I'd have to say that only about half of the 98 strong class were left at the final bell, and some were still writing. It unnerved me to see so many getting extra answer books to write more, but a few I spoke to only wrote on one side of the page, or skipped every second line, or whatever, so I'm not too worried now. Still, out of all the exams, I'm very happy with what I did write, so all that's left now is to wait for the results.

As soon as I was out of my exam, I was in to work! I started in the preschool that I've been in and out of on the very next day! And I couldn't be happier! I love working in the setting and get on well with both the adults, the children, and their parents. The parents were just as happy to see me as the children, which is always a confidence boost! I missed seeing the kids while I was studying, and being back there is just great. There is nothing I dislike about my time there, and it is the only job I've ever had that I look forward to on a Sunday evening, and dread the arrival of Friday afternoon. Worse, tomorrow is the final day of term, and one I am not looking forward to. For some, it will be their final day in preschool, as many of the current group will be moving on to Primary school next year. Thankfully there are more than enough returning to guarantee that I'll be popping up now and then when I get the chance in the 2007-2008 school year.

On the other hand, being around young children does have some minor drawbacks. In the last few days I have developed a killer head-cold, complete with pounding head-aches, a nose that thinks it should be flowing like the Nile as a standard, a sanding drum lining my throat, a cough that threatens to eject that previous issue from my neck at high velocity and eyes puffed up like I've just finished up a Bette Midler movie marathon! I've gone through a 24 pack of Uniflu Plus, a packet of extra strength Halls lozenges, a packet of blackcurrant Halls Soothers, and now I'm working through pharmacist recommended Merocets lozenges for "dry, tickly sore throats". And I'm only feeling marginally better. The honey in my tea is yummy, though.

Finally, my freedom from college and the short days in the preschool (I'm home by one o'clock every day) has given me time to catch up with some customs I've been thinking about, as well as make progress on ones I stalled on. Over the coming weeks, I should have more and more done, so keep an eye on my Custom Action Figure set to see how things go!

So that's just the highlights. I'll post some of my doodles from that last exam I mentioned, a review or two and some more stories of illness and hallucinations!

Until then, enjoy your Friday! Remember, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is out this weekend across the world! Expect a review if I feel healthy enough to type out my utter love of Marvels newest cinematic release! Yes, I am preempting my feeling toward this movie, but I'm like that... easily pleased!