Body & Garden 29 Apr 2007 08:09 pm
Combat gardening at home; released from PT
If we were going to take wood to the dump anyway, we might as well take a full load, we figured. So today Josh and I took out the too-large frames for the raised beds at our place. I’m going to configure the beds in a whole new way, and then this time we’ll live with them for a year or two to make sure they’re really what we want before we build frames for them. So there was the digging and the prying and the hauling.
It’s been a very heavy load of work for me, this hardcore gardening, and I’m psyched that I’m able to do it. I’ve made a lot of gains these last several months; last week I was released from physical therapy on grounds of kicking ass. As I was leaving, I overheard Dan the PT saying, “Yeah, this was her last day. It’s great to see. I’m really happy for her. She’s been working really really really hard.” It’s kind of bittersweet: I’ll miss PT, because it was fun and I was very good at it. I’ve surprised everybody. Dan gave me a big hug and made me promise to keep in touch.
I’ve still got plenty to do, but I’m at a whole new level of physical competence now. For instance, I can walk up hills now. About ten days ago I powered my way up Virginia from the Pike Place Market to First. Not too many years ago I had a regular appointment about a third of a way down that block, and I’d have to pause a few times on my way up. Now, vroom. (Okay, maybe more like puttputtputt, but it was steady and, for me, powerful.) I hadn’t felt my lungs work like that in more than ten years; they seem hugely expansive now! It was fascinating to feel the ribcage expanding and contracting side-to-side. This whole medical-fitness thing has been mentally absorbing. The kinetic chain from the hips to the feet continues to interest me. I turn on a hip muscle so and abracadabra, my weight shifts back on my heels. Super.
In other news, today I noticed my first gray hair. I’m 35, so I’m well overdue. It’s a pretty nice gray, I have to say — shiny and light — but it also makes me recognize even more strongly that getting off my ass is exactly what I ought to be doing right now. I got squashed by chronic illness for the better part of a decade. For somebody who had severe CFS for a lot of that time (I’m talking Bell 10 to 30, possibly less), and moderate CFS for a great deal more, I did pretty damn well for myself. But I missed out on a whole lot of moving around, is what I’m saying. I feel that I’m entering a sweet spot between illness-related decrepitude and age-related decrepitude, and I want to make the most of it while I can.
on 29 Apr 2007 at 8:57 pm 1.Devon said …
My first gray hair was pointed out to me on my 36th birthday. Kind of a birthday card from nature.
on 29 Apr 2007 at 8:59 pm 2.Devon said …
Oh by the way, thanks again for the book recommendation. My ma commented that it’s the kind of cookbook that you can read from cover to cover.
on 29 Apr 2007 at 9:11 pm 3.Cam Sculpin said …
Hey, cool. I’m glad she liked it.
(The book, for anybody out there who might be curious, is Cookwise.)
I reckon the gray hair would be more festive if I weren’t also getting cataracts. Bah, age.
on 29 Apr 2007 at 9:48 pm 4.Devon said …
Cataracts?! Oh no! How come?
on 29 Apr 2007 at 10:21 pm 5.Cam Sculpin said …
Just bad luck, as far as I know. Cataracts are kind of mysterious. There may be some fancy-pants explanation about CFS and oxidative stress that adds up to my having a predisposition, but that pretty much comes down to “bad luck” too. I haven’t taken steroids, I don’t know of any family history of cataracts (though there’s a lot I don’t know), I don’t have diabetes, and I haven’t had a great deal of unprotected exposure to sunlight. It’s just one of those what-the-hell things. I do have fairly light-colored eyes, which is not great, iirc.
From what I’ve read, cataract progress is unpredictable, especially in young people, but I don’t have any reason to think I’ll be needing eye surgery soon. At the moment, it’s more an irritation than anything else; it’s just a matter of glare sensitivity right now. But it’s something for me to take seriously. I’ve been going around in UV-blocking sunglasses a lot, and I’ve been taking some bilberry extract just on the off chance it works. And it’s another good reason for me to eat my vegetables.