Back to Mysore class

This week I turned a corner in my journey back to health after the brain surgery last October. I'd been to see a neurologist in Brisbane last week. He cut back the anti-seizure medication I've been on - thinking that this might help with the lack of energy I'd been experiencing for months. And it seems to have worked - I have been feeling a lot more energised since then!

And on the yoga front - ashtanga people will understand the lure of Mysore-style classes. Back in February when I had to give up going to Mysore classes in Suffolk Park (double whammy of a 40 minutes drive away coupled with a 6.30 start!), I at least knew there was someone giving ashtanga classes much closer to home, which included one Mysore-style class a week. So when my energy levels recovered a bit I knew I'd be able to go there. Which I did, but unfortunately that didn't last. The class location had to move and although still very local, it went down to 2 led ashtanga classes a week only.

So anyway, I suddenly realised I probably now had the energy for one or two early morning long drives a week, and on Monday I finally got back to Christian's class! Felt so great ... and hopefully my energy and determination will continue! 

(Note: did have the alarm set for this morning but didn't make it this time ... sigh! Will have to be next week but I do feel I'm on the road back!!)

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Lovely weekend in Sydney and ...

Had a really lovely weekend in Sydney a few days ago ... invited by John and Gina - on the pretext of it being my birthday, plus the lure of visiting some open gardens up in the Southern Highlands, where I grew up. A lot of eating of wonderful food ensued!! Gina cooked a wonderful dinner in Friday night - including a delicious roasted cauliflower with amazing porcini and I can't remember what else dressing!

Then on Saturday we went for lunch at my nephew Peter's house (barbecued swordfish, roast potatoes and salad!) and spent time with his young daughter Chloe (just over a year old) and of course Tammy, who produced a spectacular birthday cake!!

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Out for dinner to a nice Japanese place that night .... it was all starting to remind me of the amazing gourmet food and wine-filled weekends that Angela and I used to have at my parents' place, after which we'd feel like swearing off eating for days!!

And on Sunday we drove up to the Southern Highlands to visit some of the open gardens. Which included one that had been my parents' home in the 70s! I never actually lived there but I remember that my sister and John had their wedding 'reception' there - marquee on the back lawn and everything! Not to mention I seem to remember both of us wearing Laura Ashley dresses!! (Gawd!!) 



Anyway, I talked to the current owner who was very interested to hear some of the history of the place. The actual house was about three times the size it had been when my parents had it, but it was still nice to see it all again! (And we don't need to mention lunch at the wonderful Burrawang Pub!)



Back home on Monday to singing, choir rehearsals and piano practice ... have I mentioned that I've started learning piano again? Had to buy a new piano keyboard with weighted keys etc ... I'm really loving it, even though the last time I touched a piano keyboard was when I was about 13!

And (last bit, promise!) today I finally went to a yoga class again! Led ashtanga not Mysore, but still so good to finally get back to the intensity of a class as opposed to my somewhat desultory home practice, which I can far too easily put off till tomorrow!!

Recovery from the big op!

Today I finally did something I should have done ages ago. I went to the interwebs looking for information on how long it takes to recover from a meningioma operation. (See previous posts if you don't know what I'm talking about!!) I'd been told to expect to be tired for ages, and that this was normal for any brain operation. But - I'd been given a period of 3 months before I could drive again, and somehow I thought that once that 3-month period was over, I would be 100% recovered.

So I couldn't understand why I still feel tired a lot of the time over 4 months after the op. And, spilling over from that, when I've had a tiring day, if I'm not careful it can carry on into the next day. It's been an incredibly hot summer here, and I was wondering if that was the cause of the tiredness, but it didn't seem likely.

Just this week I've had to stop going to a 6.30am yoga class because it was a 40 minute drive away and I realised I just couldn't handle the early start + long drive. At least there is another Mysore class held locally once a week, although still a 6.30am start. And then yesterday in my singing class, (the day after a very tiring day in Brisbane) I once again came over all faint and had to sit down on the floor with a glass of water, feeling rather foolish! (And this is not the first time this has happened since the op!!)

So anyway, today I went to Doctor Google, and there discovered that it can easily take a year before one is completely recovered. One person quoted a doctor as saying 'the mean recovery time was 2 years'. Which means that 50% would take less than 2 years, but 50% would take more!!!

Rather than freaking me out, this was actually a great relief for me! At least this explains what's been happening to me, and I can feel fairly confident that 'this too will pass', if not for a few more months! I can live with that, and can make changes to what I'm doing re yoga classes and singing, to accommodate this. And even hope that eventually I will be able to go back to Christian's yoga class! 

NYE resolutions and all that!

Some January's I'm full of great sounding New Year's resolutions. Usually they fall by the wayside, but occasionally some do resonate through the year. I saw a blog post by the wonderful opera singer Joyce DiDonato about her suggested resolutions for 2017, and they did speak to me ... particularly the one about Practicing (singing, music) with Purpose. So I think I'm going to appropriate a couple of hers and see how they pan out! (Of course that one would fit it well with other parts of my life too!)

I also saw a videoclip on Facebook - an interview with the amazing English pianist James Rhodes, about his new book 'How to Play the Piano'. From what I understand, this book is about learning (or re-learning) to play the piano, and to play one Bach piece in 6 weeks! (It does involve serious commitment to daily practice etc!!) And he quoted an email he'd got from someone who'd recently retired, saying that doing this - immersing himself in music, learning to play an instrument etc, had made it the best time of his life. I could say the same for my life (brain surgery notwithstanding!), but of course I do know there are other reasons besides music for this!

And joy oh joy, I'm allowed to drive again from the 13th January. Which means I'll be able to go back to my yoga class in Byron (or Suffolk Park as it is now, even further away!) However ...

I know I posted somewhere about re-starting my yoga practice a week or two after I got home from hospital.  But then I got hit by all these totally unexpected bouts of total exhaustion ... yes, 'unexpected' despite the many warnings I'd had about this, especially if I tried to do too much! Like spend weeks driving (being driven) to and from Lismore for rehearsals etc etc!! I thought I was fine at the time but I think I was just running on adrenaline!!

Anyway, my yoga practice disappeared down a black hole, and I've really only started again a week ago. The first day I practiced again I couldn't even touch my fingertips to the floor! And I still haven't got to the end of the standing poses even though I'm leaving a few poses out. I can at least touch my knuckles to the floor now so I guess that's some kind of progress!!

I really should have learnt this lesson from previous times! Not a good idea to stop practicing for more than a few days, specially when your body isn't that young any more!! Ah well, another life lesson in not being attached to wherever my yoga practice may have been ...


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Wonderful weekend of music-making

Well, this weekend (the Handel's Messiah extravaganza in Lismore) has been both exhausting and uplifting/energising at the same time! I was a bit concerned about how I was going to cope with 2 long days (9.45am to 5.00pm + 1 hour's drive each way each day !) of singing and waiting around. But - it was wonderful! Probably a combination of the wonderful energising effect of singing, and the fact that I am definitely getting better! I did collapse into bed pretty early on both evenings but felt wonderful again the following morning .....



And our guest conductor, the wonderful Richard Gill ... what can one say about someone like him?! So completely full of energy and love for the music ... But not in any rarified way! He had us in stitches with comments/stories about how it was NOT a democracy! What the conductor (him!) wanted was the way it was going to happen! But also, how people like us (choirs and orchestra) choosing to come together to perform music was what made communities happen / come together. Feel like I learnt so much over those 2 days ... hopefully I'll retain some of that!


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Another update (No 3)

Another week, another update on my health! I think this past week has been a case of one step backwards, two steps forward ... at the end of last week I had a couple of days when I was really really tired. Collapsed on the sofa all day, no thought of doing any yoga, finding myself falling asleep around 7pm (!!) in front of the tv...

But things started to get better over the weekend, and I haven't actually felt anything like as tired since then. Of course, when I re-started yoga earlier this week I did have to start from the beginning again ... Surya Namaskar B is still hard (energy-wise) - and I think I'm just now back at the stage I'd got to ... in other words, 3 x Surya Namaskar As and 2 x Surya Namaskar Bs ... Its going to be very interesting to see what happens when I get to some of the poses that I used to find challenging - eg UHP (balancing!!), and Marichyasana C - will I still be able to bind that I wonder?! Well, hopefully I'll find that out in the next couple of weeks!!

Next week is my last 2 rehab sessions in Tweed Heads - I definitely think they have helped me a lot. And then the following Saturday afternoon I'm having an Alexander Technique treatment which should be really interesting.

And the singing, the choir practice (of The Messiah) goes on, filling a lot of my day, happily. Today a friend is coming round in the morning bringing coffee and cake (!), and we may do some singing too ...


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US election, and Recovery update no. 2

Well, against all expectations, it's happened again!! To be honest I do remember thinking that if I'd got it so wrong after the Brexit vote then who was to say I wouldn't get it wrong again about the US presidency!! And although it did feel it was (way past) time there was a woman in the White House, I really did not like Hillary Clinton. Far too close to the 'establishment' and big end of town. Far too much of a sense of entitlement ...

And I have to say - my sense of dismay is much much less than after the UK Brexit vote! Maybe I'm a bit numb about it all, but ... No doubt many many horrors to come but we'll just have to wait and see!

Went off to rehab again this morning - I'm halfway through the program now. I am still pretty (very!) tired after I've been, and indeed also after I've been out doing a bit of shopping etc. but yesterday I remembered something an osteopath friend said to me. That after having a brain operation it would take at least a month before I stopped being very tired ... apparently a fairly common side-effect of such operations. But that this would definitely come to an end! So I was very pleased when I remembered that conversation!

The other great thing that has happened is that I've finally 'tapered off' the steroids I was on, and last night I slept for 8 hours!! Woohoo!!

My Thursday chauffeur, Beth and I went out for a nice Thai lunch in Tweed Heads after the rehab was finished. Then I came home and really collapsed on the sofa again - totally exhausted! Another friend (my other main chauffeur, Victor) had been going to come round to watch something from timelesstoday.com this evening but I had to put it off for a day or two!!

My wonderful singing teacher Ian, came round early this morning for a singing lesson. My voice is getting stronger again - hopefully it will soon be back to where it was before the operation. I've just started learning a new song by Gluck - O Del Mio Dolce Ardor ...

And I have also started my yoga practice again! I'm managing to do it every other day at the moment ..The first day I did 3 sun salute As. The next time I added in 1 sun salute B which nearly wiped me out! And yesterday I did 3 x sun salute As and 2 x sun salute Bs! Slowly slowly I will build it back up ...