The Wu Move & Groove Movement has commenced.
My brand and spanking new and polished left Clark's shoe has been given a masterpiece makeover by my beloved and newly found Shoe Repair Man Tony. He was Prince Charming when he presented the left shoe with its curved height by a removable lift. I was the swooning and starlet Cinderella when I slipped my left foot into the shoe for the first time. I grew at least an inch right then and there. Not even that familiar jolt of pain in my left hip or lower back could stop me from feeling this moment of height and normalcy. I closed my eyes and saw myself with long, steady, and pain-free strides in these Clark's shoes meant for work and Puma shoes meant for fun. The internal cheerleader in me that is high on life whipped out its gold and red pom poms with the mantra: Adjustment, Patience, Perseverance. I grinned with the images that ran through my mind. I was giddy with the Wu Move & Groove Movement beginning.
But, there was a catch. Tony had went from my Shoe Repair Man Prince Charming to my Wizardy Godfather when he explained: "Mary, the only one who can remove lift. You come to me when you need."
My crestfallen facial expression said it all. All this time, I thought that I was the power and controller that could remove the lift whenever I need to in order to make adjustment to the heightened shoe happen. I could feel complaints and protestations tickling on my tongue, but I stopped. I had nothing to complain about. I could not spend my days and efforts complaining when I had work that I had to do, which was truly adjusting to my modified new shoes.
And, let me tell you, it really WAS work. Correction. It really IS work. But, who said that this Wu Move & Groove movement was ever going to be easy? I continue to spend my evenings outside of work walking in the comfort of Mother Nature in my Puma shoes to try to train my body to like this new height that will more or less be the height after my impending hip replacement surgery. The sunshine bathes me in warmth and confidence that every painful jolt only means that adjustment is happening. I am often thankful for pain that is my reminder of the balancing act I live with every day to "move and groove without overdo." I've now been walking in increments up to thirty minutes in my Clarks and Pumas, and though the tension of adjustment is still there, it is lessening day by day and step by step.
Another vital part of the Wu Move & Groove Movement has been implemented, and that is I officially have a general practitioner doctor. I've been seeing my new nephrologist (kidney doctor) for at least a year. In this last year, the number of health episodes of viral illnesses (aka: colds) and allergies most fortunately unrelated to my kidneys increased. I continued to go to my nephrologist who agreed to see me out of sympathy and a liking for me, but then always ended our visits with: "You know, Mary, you need to find a general physician. I'm just mainly seeing you for your kidney maintenance and care."
With the surgery in the horizon that requires medical clearance from my nephrologist and general physician, I took the plunge last week to meet with a possible general practitioner. She is a relatively new physician who started her practice about a year ago. I chose her because of her background in nephrology. With shoulder-length dark hair and eyes and her careful attention and genuine appreciation to my heavy black binder containing all my health documents of medications, surgical procedures, emergency room visitations, doctor office notes, and more, I immediately liked her. It was a full-blown physical examination and every lab test known to man was drawn along with an EKG. She promised that she would call me to let me know the results, and her keeping her word with a phone call from her and NOT her nurse practitioner, nurse, or secretary solidified me deciding to stick to her at my general physician.
With the shoes and physician implemented, I was able to focus on a new adventure: Meeting my penpal from Spain for the first time AND letting her stay with me for a week. This was the first time I played host to someone for an entire week. I've had my adventures of meeting and staying with penpals and even penpals staying with me, but it was when I still lived at home with my parents. Nervous, excited, and anxious were just a few emotional adjectives that wafted in me, but there was a blanket of calmness on top of all those emotions from the knowledge that her and I had known each other since 2005 and had a connection from the words and stories shared in letters that we exchanged.
It was a whirlwind week for me when my penfriend from Spain arrived. I was trying to recover from a strange allergic cold of constant coughing whilst playing chef and tour guide. My meals were ABC (American-Born Chinese) and Internationale Americana, including sauteed chopped up eggplant, ground turkey, and tofu with Korean purple whole-grain rice and Trader Joe's vegetarian pizza and a ready-made Dole Caeser salad. My tour guide consisted of driving up to Orange County to browse at the odds and ends of eclectic stores to apple picking and shopping at farmer markets.
For an entire week, I went without my swimming. I held my breath in dreaded anticipation for the muscle spasm that would attack or flare up that would occur at any given moment. However, I was shocked at only the typical and usual arthritis aches and pains that crept in the mornings, causing me to be a knotted pretzel and nights and left me as stiff and unmoved as a stone unturned. My response to these usual pins and needles pain sensations was to ignore and enjoy every moment I had with my foreign friend that I had the great fortune to bond with face-to-face on our American escapades or when we just sat quietly as we played with paper with our Origami skills and watched re-runs of my favorite TV show "Monk."
At some point over sipping from straws that were lost in a super-sized rootbeer float or walking up and down the sidewalks with squirrels munching on acorns and the red, white, and blue American flag swaying in front of large Victorian-style American homes, my penfriend shared in her lilting accent: "I would never guess that you were sick. You stay so active and energetic. It is so good."
Her words echoed in my head. My body seemed to take her words even more seriously because it reacted with the sharp aches and pains that were all too familiar of an onset of a muscle spasm. My mental and emotional reaction was crankiness and cravings for chlorine, swim caps, goggles, and the ultimate comfort and sort of solace and remedy to my body: The Swimming Pool. After dropping off my friend and bidding farewell until we would meet again in her home city Barcelona, I practically road raged to the gym to get my swimming in. The scent of salted chlorine and the feel of water on the tips of my toes to the rest of body immediately soothed me. My cravings were fulfilled. I stretched, stroked, swam, and streamlined as though I had not even seen a swimming pool in a month.
My body relaxed and tension was lifted. My body was home in the water. This is when it sunk in for me that my greatest #1 Weapon against arthritis in my movement aside from the shoe lifting and doctor finding is literally moving and grooving while still carefully considering my body. Every stroke I take in the swimming pool or every step I take when I walk in my new shoes, I am fighting against arthritis AND preparing for the surgery that lies ahead in the future. I am the juggler and balancer of my own life of always staying active and busy and achieving that fine line of never overdoing to the point that I may hurt myself. There is a constant middleground that I strive to stay at, and I am trying to overcome the extremist that I tend to be at the very core of me.
People often tell me to take it easy and relax. I will take it easy and rest in peace when I am dead, and so for now and in the moment, I am living and enjoying my life with the people I love most and making my Wu Move & Groove Movement happen while I am alive. May the movement forge forward with every positive force ion in me!
Keep smilin' until we meet again,
Mary :-)
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