Synergetics, Part 3

I hunted for a cassette tape or compact disc with the Synergetics soundtrack. I like exercising upstairs, but the DVD player is broken. With the soundtrack I'd have a guided program. When I practice Synergetics on my own, without the music or DVD to guide me, I don't stick with it for the full 12 minutes.

I found a CD, but it wasn't what I was looking for. However, on that CD, Taylor Hay, the founder, mentioned that Fantastic Faces can sometimes help with TMJ. 

Wow, I thought. I wonder if they could help with mine. 

I was disappointed that I couldn't find the soundtrack CD. That meant that I'd need to learn how to operate the DVD player downstairs. That is if I wanted a guided practice.

So, what's the big deal about learning how to operate the DVD player downstairs? It was only a "big deal" in my brain. One has to understand fatigue, pain, weakness, sleep deprivation, and being one's own caregiver to have an inkling of why it seemed such a chore.

To function day in and day out takes a lot of effort. And that's just for routine things like getting dressed, brushing my hair, oral hygiene, making the bed, packing my little tote bag to transport stuff up and down the stairs, carefully walking up and down the stairs, and all the detailed tasks involved in caring for someone with chronic illness. Appointments. Charts. Medications, supplements, and herbs taken at specific times throughout the day and night. Keeping these items in stock. Feeding oneself with good nutrition. Movement. Lasering. Braces. Bathing. And a lot of other stuff. 

It's hard work and a fulltime job. Most of it I do solo, so it can get lonely. Outside Hubby and the kids, few folks have a real grasp of what it takes for me to make it through each day. Learning another new thing can feel overwhelming.

But I was successful at learning how to use the DVD player with its several quirks. Now, I can also watch DVD movies and series. No, we do not stream, for a few reasons. 

So, I began Synergetics faithfully, twelve minutes twice a day, on February 18, 2024. 

What happened afterward is remarkable...

~*~*~

In March, I noticed that my jaw felt stronger.

Biting and chewing took less effort.

My upper and lower back teeth were able to touch again.

And the TMJ pain was gone.

Wow! Fantastic Faces have helped my TMJ! 

That relief has continued.

At my dental checkup in April, my dentist said, "Muscle beats bone."

I'm proof of that, at least for mild TMJ.

~*~*~

On April 11 (seven weeks and four days after beginning Synergetics faithfully), I felt my back. 

I was stunned...

Oh my gosh! 

My scoliosis feels like it's moved an inch closer to the middle of my back! 

Hubby took a picture (below) so we could have a photo to compare it to in a year. 

Both Hubby and my chiropractor confirmed that, yes, my spine had moved about an inch. 

I was very motivated at that point to keep going with Synergetics. 

My back still hurt, but not quite as badly.

But the burning pain was still fully burning. 

~*~*~

I've worn various back braces over the years.

Since last fall, I've been wearing a lumbar support brace which helps some.  

In March 2024 my chiropractor had suggested maybe trying a female rib belt (which is placed higher than a lumbar brace) to help with my thoracic area, both the kyphosis and scoliosis.  

I finally got to the medical supply store and bought a female rib belt for a whopping $13.00. 

I began wearing it around April 16th.

After a week, I noticed my back wasn't burning like it did before. 

I felt my back and was shocked... 

Damn! My spine is almost in the exact center!

So, Hubby took another picture (below). 

Compared with the one from almost two weeks before, it is quite remarkable. 

One can see how my spine is straighter, and the red area is no longer red; that was where the pain burned.

Not only is my spine straighter, but the kyphosis appears to have lifted a little bit. 

All my practitioners have been impressed.

~*~*~

Another thing that's happened since starting Synergetics faithfully -- my arms and hands are improving. 

If one compares the photographs below, one can see there is less sag, less muscle atrophy, in my muscles in the second photograph. 

My arms are a wee bit stronger, and I can straighten them a bit more without severe pain.

But they still hurt most all the time, and I am continually reminded how weak my arms and hands still are. 

But maybe in another year? 

Just maybe, I'll smile and breathe, pivot and dip, and push and pull my way out of toddler hands and China doll arms...

Keep it going Carol... 

~*~*~

The pics below...

The first two are the "ugly" ones. Lol.

We tried to get the lighting the same. 

We aren't photographers but did the best we could. 

And I'm posting a third, a pretty one... 

Though my back is looking prettier (haha)...

April 11, 2024

April 23, 2024

The Family
4/20/24

~*~*~

What song? Hmmm...

I'm gonna keep "tearing off the roof"...

In the Room by Matt Maher...

~*~*~

Click here for Part 1

Click here for Part 2

~*~*~

Deaths, Turtle, Steps...

 I was feeling better, until I wasn't. It happens. 

I've told myself that two steps forward and one step back is still one step forward. 

I pushed too much last week. Plus, April was a month full of health appointments; three to four per week. But there was good news at each appointment. So, I need to keep that in mind. And I have two weeks coming up with no appointments! That's not happened since the beginning of 2022. 

And there have been deaths. A good friend died the end of April, and a cousin-in-law died too. I had another good friend die in January. And a friendship died (at least for now) at the end of March. It's proper to grieve. It's normal. It's human. 

Mom was next to youngest of thirteen siblings. One sibling died as an infant. And one died as a child; Mom, who was a youngster, found him. He died in his sleep. So, there were eleven that made it to adulthood; all but one with kids. I am the youngest of my two siblings. So, on Mom's side (Dad's too, except he had only two siblings), I'm near the bottom of the age-rung. I have a passel of cousins, most of them older than I. The oldest are in their late 80s. So, unless I go first, there will be family (and friends) who will pass on before me, simply from age. 

Everyone goes through this season, if they draw breath long enough. And that's as it should be. Death is a part of everything that lives. And, like others, I am at the age where the physical deaths of friends and loved ones will start happening more frequently. Though it actually started for me in 2022.

I feel death by war or violence is not natural. But sadly, human history is filled with wars and violence. Thus, one might argue that in one sense it is "natural" for humans to kill each other. But that causes my heart to sink, to drop. 

Today someone and I were sharing snippets of our life stories. I learned that they tried to commit suicide three times; they were only 8 years old. They and I are thankful for those who intervened. I've been through the news of four suicides in 2022 and 2023. I knew only one personally, an adult in his early 40s. Two were teenagers, ages 13 and 17, grandkids of two different friends. One teen was a 12-year-old grandchild of someone I don't know personally, but friends know the grandparents. In the mid-90s Mom tried to commit suicide; I found her lying on her kitchen floor.

I don't have a fixed belief about what happens after we draw our last breath. Do we enter another plane? Do we reincarnate? Do we continue in a sleep-type state until Jesus Christ returns? Do we go directly to an afterlife where all shall be known and reconciled? (I do not believe in a hell that is a place or state of torment, torture, retribution.) Or is this all there is? We live, we breathe, we draw our last breath and then decay without our soul/spirit being transported into another place or state. That said, I feel there must be more to life than our one pass through this earthly sojourn. 

Back in 2019 when Hubby and I were in Florida, a turtle was on a boardwalk. It had a long way to go to get the ocean. But it was acting disoriented, going from one side of the boardwalk to the other, looking over the edges like it wanted to get to the sand but the two-foot drop was too far. 

We watched it for a few minutes. I made a clicking sound, like I used to do with horses and still do with animals. The turtle stopped to listen. Hubby joined in and began patting his thigh encouraging the turtle to turn around, which it did. It then followed Hubby and the pat-pat and clicking sounds back to where it could get in the sand. Turtle was booking it as it followed Hubby. It seemed happy once back in the sand, though it still had a far piece to trek, if it was actually going to the ocean. 

I thought of that turtle this week when telling my self that two steps forward and one step back is still one step forward...

And then I thought of the 'rescue' Hubby provided for Turtle...

A human, larger than Turtle, with abilities to observe and help...

And Turtle responded...

And I thought of the many times Spirit has come along to help me...

~*~*~

Probably...
(penned 9/06/23)

 I've heard the whispers

And I've followed through

I don't want pride to get in the way

But....

Is it you?

Spirit? Son? Father?

I will keep this close to my heart

May I remember as the days go along without any whispers

Do I still believe? 

Probably...

      

~*~*~

I found comfort in this song today. 

I played it probably 10 times.

I recall the first time I heard it, 

Driving up the mountain to Sparta, NC...

Everything is Sound by Jason Mraz

Synergetics, Part 2

Sometime in late January, early February 2024, I felt my back and was a little alarmed. I felt it because the burning pain was getting worse. As my fingers felt my spine, I discovered the scoliosis had moved farther to the right.  

Damn. Is my back going to land me in a wheelchair? 

I've had scoliosis my whole life, but it was never an issue until I developed kyphosis, which is a rounding of the spine. (Think Quasimodo.) Typically, kyphosis happens in the upper spine; mine is in my thoracic area which is also where the scoliosis curves. Together the two are called kyphoscoliosis. 

Kyphoscoliosis first showed up in a lung x-ray around 2018ish(?), and then in a couple subsequent lung x-rays in following years. At first, I ignored it. I had so much else I was dealing with, and the doctors didn't seem concerned. So, I focused on managing the polyradiculitis and all its repercussions, including the side effects of high-dose, long-term steroids. 

"Steroids?!" you say. "Those are terrible for you. I'd never go on so many steroids!" 

Good for you. I certainly didn't want to be on steroids (again). But neither did I want to be bedridden. And all the natural means to help with the inflammation wasn't enough. Like with the asthma days, the polyradiculitis has been relentless. In 2016, after six years of living with Polly Rad, we discovered that my 2008 hip implant had been leaching chromium and cobalt into my body. Like with the mercury toxicity (most likely from my amalgam fillings) in my asthma days, it's hard (if not impossible) for the body to heal when its slowly being poisoned from within. 

The kyphosis is the cause of my height shrinkage. We all shrink as we age, but I was in my latter 50s and shrank 3 inches within 4 years. That's not normal. The likely cause? Steroids. I bought an inversion table around 2018 which I use almost daily. Since then, I've not lost any more height; I'm holding steady at 4'11". 

On February 12, 2024, I received an email newsletter that highlighted an article about a study: Tai Chi Surpasses Aerobic Exercise For Lowering Blood Pressure. It caught my attention. I had had blood pressure problems for about a year but had gotten it down to normal levels. I chose meditation, breathwork, and herbs instead of medication. It worked and still does, though under certain stressors my blood pressure will sometimes get a little high. 

But the article prompted me to again pick up Synergetics which I'd heard the Synergetics founder describe as a type of westernized tai-chi...

~*~

Click here for Part 3

Click here for Part 1

~*~