What’s up Doc?
I had Strep again, in this past week. I knew what it was, when it was first coming on, but I had forgotten just how bad it feels, and how great it is, when I can finally swallow food again, without sobbing in pain. Luckily, my son is a bit more independent, now, and tho he doesn’t really like it when I don’t read and sing to him, as usual, at night, he’s learned that he really likes being given the leeway to magna-doodle on his bed to Bach or Beethovan, until he’s sleepy.
I just check him around 9, to make sure that he’s under the covers, on cold evenings.
I also learned, again, just how sweet my hubby can be, when I’m really out of commission. He was really a single parent, for almost a week, and every time I tried to tell him that I was sorry that everything was falling on him, he told me not to apologize for being sick.
I rediscovered my essential oils, and how truely essential they are. I used some of them to kill the germies in my poor throat that felt absolutely shredded, and some to numb the pain. I was finally able to alternate bites of soft food, with milk laced with some of my oils, on the third day after I’d started the anti-biotics.
Funny how my being at my worst, can sometimes bring out the best in my hubby and son. Both my guys had to do much more on their own, and while I’ve seen them do it, before, I’ve never had to give up so much control, for so long.
Now, I know that I can be a bit more laconic, in my response to my son, and I can be authoritative, without being harsh, and he’ll listen. Normally, I move toward him, and speak sharply, if I even suspect that he’s going to do anything that could be remotely dangerous. I just didn’t have the energy, to go to him, if I didn’t have to, on the day he picked up the door jamb dowel, and wanted to use it for a sword, but the thing is long and heavy, so I spoke to him from over the railing, and told him something like the usual: That’s not a toy. He argued for a second, and I told him to put it down, and was happily surprised when he did, then went back out to play. There’d been no need for a big to-do, with a time out, and crying, etc.
It was almost worth getting sick, to learn that I don’t have to jump all over my son, to make him listen, and that he can do a lot more for himself than I realized. He’s growing up, and when I’m well, I tend to have too much nervous energy to let him do things for himself. When I was sick, I had to stay out of the way of his evolution, a bit more, and that pleased everyone.
Oh, by the way, while I was sick I also learned that massage can help us lose weight. It works like this: Cortisol is a chemical that our body produces in great quantity, when we’re stressed out. It tells us to hold on to fat, especially in our abdomens. It also makes us crave sugary and high fat foods, so it’s sort of a double whammy.
When you get a massage, you’re de-stressing. The cortisol production is lessened, and it becomes easier, for a few hours or a day or two to lose weight. Also, your muscles will be soft and warm, and will be easier to stretch, and will tend to stay stretched, better, and longer, if you’ve warmed them up first, with a massage and a warm up period, and or a warm bath, (preferably with 1tsp-1TBs epsom salts) and even more so, if you do all these things before and after your work out. Hot yoga practitioners have know and benefitted from this fact for quite a while. Now you can too, and then some.
Good massages to you then, and good work-outs too, Dear Readers.
Sue Hirsch, CMT of Suzanne’s Hands: