Wednesday to Friday

Had a cuppa & a chat with The In-Laws - very pleasant 2 hours. Ironed 5 shirts. Walked dog once for 20 minutes. Visited Dad & sister for a total of 5 hours. Did food shopping, that was tiring and I had to stop once and hold on and breathe. Stretching exercises every day. Hung washing out a couple of times. Made a few phone calls which I find tiring. Paid deposit on new bathroom. Bit more shopping. Bit more Maths work.

Gosh doesn't sound much when I write it down but it's all pretty tiring.

Not yet though

Writing this at 7:45pm so I haven't started writing my blog after my mindful stretching exercises yet. I was in a bit of a rush this morning - I still did one load of washing and hung it out. And I still did my mindful stretching exercises for 25 minutes. I really have trouble getting going without them, they help so much. I drove to work and worked all day sorting through papers and things, finding a new home for everything. When I left my classroom all the surfaces were absolutely clear so that the cleaners can have a good old clean. It was a good feeling as I closed the door knowing how tidy it is. That's a big achievement. My son was a super star - he lifted , moved, shredded, binned... all to my command. He also helped other teachers with their boxes and furniture. We threw out 6 black bags full and a collection of boxes. I bought him a takeaway and said thank you a million times.
We're both tired now..
But I did quite a long day and worked quite hard and I feel so much better now. I need to write my flare-up plan.
Oh yes... I also opened the cards and gifts the children left for me. I'm always overwhelmed by the generosity of the gifts and the beautiful words written in the cards. I'll set a time to write each single one of them a Thank You note and deliver them by hand. No flowers or wine which is perfect for me and a little bit of chocolate which is also perfect.
Oh yes...and we celebrated my son's 21st birthday yesterday. Perfect.
Did I mention we celebrated my sister's 50th birthday too? It's her birthday today and she is in The Grand in Brighton with a sea view and afternoon tea. Lovely. She loves the Spoon theory and has shared it with others.
Just phoned my Dad, he seems in better spirits today partly because he's finished the antibiotics and can drink Guinness again.

Drove to work and back today.
Washed the car - well it looks a bit cleaner.
Ironed 2 shirts.
Spoke to lots of people at work.
Walked the dog before it got too hot. 20 minutes
Hung the washing out.
Did my mindful exercises and I 've just realised that doing them with the DVD serves another purpose - I'm watching the lady demonstrate the stretches as if I'm looking in a mirror and it's working a bit like mirror therapy (graded motor imagery). I can definitely feel something happening while I'm mirroring the lady.

PS Don't mention risk assessments to me...

One of those days

Yesterday was one of those days. I try not to call them good days and bad days because that implies positivity and negativity. So yesterday, I did my mindful stretching exercises as soon as I was up and dressed. I then drove to the Medical Centre. I want to go to school in the Summer holiday to move classroom and set up my new classroom. My employer says they need something in writing from the doctor saying I'm fit to do this even though I intend to sit on a chair and direct my helpers! The receptionist said I probably need a fit for work certificate and I need to see the GP. The first appointment she could offer me is for Monday 22nd July at 5pm. This means I will already have lost a day and school is only open until Friday 26th July. But it is open again Tuesday 27th August so I suppose I could go in then if I run out of time at the beginning. The thing is, I want to limit the time I spend there otherwise I will get too tired which sometimes means more pain.

I'll 'phone the Medical Centre and see if I can pick up a cancellation any earlier than the 22nd. I've an exciting opportunity to work on the new Maths Curriculum on Friday 26th July so I won't be available that day. So after I'd finished speaking to the receptionist I picked up my prescription from the chemist. I dropped everything on the floor in the chemist and I wasn't flustered or embarrassed so that is another achievement for me. I calmly picked up everything and slowly walked back to the car.

When I got home I did  a mindful full body scan and some mindful breathing. I relaxed in the chair in the sunshine. I spent most of the day resting or mindfully exercising and breathing. In the evening I accompanied my son to a presentation event where he was awarded Players' Player which we are both very proud of. It means his peers voted for him which is a great compliment and they said some really nice things about him and why they had voted for him. I drove there and back and then was really pleased to be in bed asleep.

I'm awake early but feel ok. Today I am travelling to Hastings with my sister on the trains. We are spending some quality time together. I'm sure we will talk and not stop talking for the whole weekend! And it should be sunny weather too - bonus! I won't write anymore this weekend because we are travelling very light and I'm not taking any means to blog. I might write some things on paper so I'll transfer that on Monday. I am taking my Springboard book so that we can compare notes and talk about some of the ideas and activities. So I'll be back on Monday with all the news from the weekend...
PS I've started writing an information sheet aimed at children to explain my syndrome, how it affects me and how they can help. I'll be working on that at the weekend too with the input from my sister. We will also compile a list of worse case scenarios for work ready for my meeting with my Head regarding a risk assessment of me at work.