Pain in the back....

I always thought that when i stopped dancing all my aches and pains would go away.

Turns out its not that easy.

For the last year and a half i've had aches and pains all over!

some of it is my body adapting to a new life style,

others are left over problems that i never properly sorted out.

Mainly i've been having re-occuring back pain.

It comes and goes some days i'm bedridden and other days its back to norm.

Coming from my dance background it s very hard for me to teach without getting physically involved myself.

my husband always tries to tell me that i should take it easy when i teach, no demonstrating full out to 2 year olds! i explain to him they are the worst culprits for needing to be taught visually.

after a bout of back pain recently that just frustrates me more than anything

(im used to being in pain)

the physio finally persuaded me to go to the Doctor and have a scan.

So thanks to husbands private work medical insurance,

i very speedily got a MRI done.

Unfortunately it did show up some disk degeneration and bulging,

but fortunately nothing that has affected the nerves or bone as of yet.

So i feel so releaved to have some actual proof that my back pain isnt just me whining like an old lady all the time.

Looking at all these pretty ballet pictures at the moment 

just makes me think of their poor spines!

Our delayed Honeymoon.....

Happy New Year!!!!!

This is an x-ray of two working lungs....

My Two Working Lungs to be exact!!!!

Woohooo!

Our original plan after being here in Oz was to 

spend three weeks travelling round Cambodia

for our belated Honeymoon.

Unfortunately my broken lung

meant we had to cancel our flights until i got the all clear to fly.

Thai Airlines suck by the way,

they gave us no compassionate consideration for my medical condition

and we had to spend a fortune on new flights

(with a different airline)

So now our time in Cambodia is

down to a week...

which i cant really complain about too much!

Sydney......

I managed to get out of the house the other day and finally go into Sydney!

 

We had a lovely day. We sat outside the Opera House

and had some drinks with a great view of both the Opera House and

the Bridge.

 

Still bummed that i havent managed to get tickets to watch the ballet,

but i guess i'll just have to come back here again sometime!

 

 

 

 

The Opera House is just next to the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Its a lovely walk with lots of exotic birds....

well i find them exotic...

i keep taking pictures of parrots and cockatoo's

that just fly around outside the house.

to the aussies its all just normal.

 

The gardens are a lovely walk, you dont feel like your in a big city

at all.

 



We then went to the National Library wherre they have an exhibt

on the Australian National Ballet as it is their

50th anniversary.

 

I enjoyed it, and even Tim didnt find it too painful.

 



 

I was planning on heading back into the city today,

but had to turn back.

I've got an infection at the moment

that i needed to go back to the hospital for yesterday.

 

I've spent most of this trip being ill....

its very depressing, one thing after another.

I've barely got to do or see anything.

 

At the hospital yesterday we did another scan on my lung and its still not

fully functioning.

Which is a huge bummer as now it really means we are going to have to buy

new flights home....

EXPENSIVE!!!

 

I was also  hoping to get some ballet classes in whilst we were here

Sydney looks like it has a bunch of awesome ballet classes,

but instead i've been confined to the bedroom.

 

Fingers crossed i'm going to feel well enough to

go to the Koala Sanctuary tomorrow!!!!!!

Breathless.....

Oz is awesome....

 

Well the little i've seen of it.

 

After a week of being here, staying at a friends house right on a beautiful beach,

i managed to hospitalise myself with a collapsed lung....

 

I woke up one morrning with a pain in my back,

thinking i'd pulled a muscle, but it quickly

sprread to my chest and difficultty breathing.

 

I thought i had had a heart attack!

My husband thought i was being dramatic,

but after about 8 hours of nagging i finally got him to take me to the ER.

 

When the doctor came through to give us the diagnosis

of a pneumothorax both of us started laughing....

as Tim was sure i was just being a big baby!

 

Unfortunately we will have to wait to see

when i will be allowed to get on an airplane again....

my trip could be extended....

 

At any rate

I can give the Australian healthcare system 2 thumbs up!

 

So i've spent the last week in bed recovering,

its not quite healed but i got the all clear to start tourising again.

 

We headed into Sydney yesterday which was lovely.

I'm pretty bummed though that Swan Lake is playing at the Opera House

and the tickets were sold out months in advance.

The guy actually laughed at me when i tried to buy tickets

(i told him he was rude!)

 

Blogging is going to be slow and far between for the next little while,

seeing as i'm computerless.

 

 

(all pictures taken whilst i still had two working lungs)

 

 

 

Ballerina on a boat....

One of the things i've been struggling with whilst on the boat is keeping fit.

Whilst i was dancing i never really thought about it...

well..because i was exercising for hours a day,

i didnt need to thinking about keeping fit,

i was fit!

now i need to pay more attention.

when we are sailing around it is nigh on impossible to

do any exercise.

so when we get off i make it a priority to see what i can do about it.

i like to look for local adult ballet classes,

mainly because ballet is still my chosen form of exercise...

but they are far and few inbetween.

when we were in Liverpool i found a good school

with a young ex-professional dancer trying to start up a 

few adult dance classes.

he was really good at all levels

(i went to his beginner and intermediate classes)

but other than that in most places i havent found anything.

i try and do a little ballet barre work out myself on occasion,

and boy oh boy!

am i unfit,

what would have been easy peasy for me a few months ago

is pretty tiring and dificult.

my body is already stiffening up

and my muscles relaxing.

i guess i've got to find other ways of exercising that entertain me.

I do the occasional pilates excercises,

which i enjoy and work my body in the way that i am used to,

but at the same time does nothing for my cardio.

When we were in Slovenia i jumped on the running machine at the hotel gym.

let me tell you this....

i've never been on a running machine in my life...

and i nearly died.

i lasted about 15mins at a fairly average pace before collapsing on the floor.

(but i always think dancers have crap stamina anyway

we do a lot of short bursts)

and i look for a swimming pool where ever i can to 

go for a swim,

as its a far easier way to keep up my stamina

(but that is also not easy to find when you are travelling around)

oh well...

its definitely interesting feeling how my body is changing.

its been used to being a dancer for the last 25 years or so...

so it is a big adaptation...

i'll keep you posted!!!!!