hedda62: James Hathaway on the phone while reading Titus Andronicus (titus andronicus)
hedda62 ([personal profile] hedda62) wrote2014-09-26 03:12 pm

Ten books meme, physical torture, and Italy

I finally did the ten books meme, and it is here. With eleven books, because oops. One of the things I found amusing (and forgot to note in the post) was how many of the authors I identified by initials while I was scribbling them down.

In other news, I have been going to physical therapy for the pinched nerve since before my trip, and it is making some difference; the funny thing is that my knee has been a much more painful and present problem, but I know how to deal with that (strengthen the muscles, wear a brace when necessary, try not to twist it or overextend it, take naproxen) and I made it through Jazzercise yesterday without making it worse, so I think it can handle whatever life and travel throw at it. The somewhat-numb fingers feel like less of an immediate issue, but they should be dealt with, and I'm finding out just how much of my upper body is out of alignment as my therapist tries to yank it back where it should be (she didn't actually leave bruises yesterday, but definitely some tender spots). I need to figure out how to work standing up, because that stops me from slouching and keeps me moving and burning calories. This will entail more library tidying, but that's a thing we need to do anyway.

When we get back from Italy, where I am having difficulty believing we will be a week from Tuesday, mostly because I've only been peripherally involved in the planning (having had another trip to plan in the interim). General itinerary is Venice, Rome, Sorrento, Florence, over two weeks, with some stops along the way. I'll read a guidebook on the plane, and learn some useful phrases. Duolingo has been fun, but my ability to say "The shark eats your white cats" or "You are mine until I die" is not going to help me find the bathroom. Though the emphasis on buying shoes and declaring vegetarianism might be useful if I needed to do either of those things.
mmegaera: (Default)

[personal profile] mmegaera 2014-09-26 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I went through six months of PT after my shoulder surgery a few years ago, and I am firmly convinced that all good physical therapists are 95% nice, gentle people, and 5% utter sadist. But we'd never get fixed if it wasn't for that sadism, alas.
mmegaera: (Default)

[personal profile] mmegaera 2014-09-27 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
ROFL Reminds me of the day about three months into my shoulder PT when the therapist did the usual "lie down on your back and let's see how far you can raise your arm" thing, and it got just about as far as it had been, then something popped loose in a *really* good way (it felt *wonderful*, as I recall), and all of a sudden I could raise my arm a good six inches higher. She stared at me, I stared at her, and she said, "well, *that* was unexpected!" Not that either of us were complaining...