Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Balancing on one foot

To balance on one foot, you have to keep your eyes focused on a spot at eye-level in front of you. If you count slowly to 10 or however long you want to stay, and focus only on the spot, you should be fine. As soon as your mind wanders, you can easily lose your balance. You might wonder if you're doing it correctly, or congratulate yourself on doing a good job, or think about what's for dinner or about the problem of the day. And there goes your balance.

This goes for yoga, as in tree pose, and for dance, as in spotting. I'm thinking about it now because it's part of my physical therapy routine for getting back in shape after I lost my balance and fell several weeks ago.

I used to be able to balance on one foot with no problem. Now it is an issue.

It translates into other areas. When I am walking the dog or driving in the car, the chatter often gets more persistent. Should I this, should I that, what if this, what if that...etc. If you stop yourself and find your "spot," which when you're moving is the area just around you, you can quiet the chatter and regain your mental balance. Of course the whole thing will start all over again, and you need to reset again. I noticed I am doing a slightly better job of remembering to make those adjustments.

I am feeling better and can make it around the lake again without any problems. At my clinic visit Monday, my counts were good – platelets were 106, yay! – but my liver function was still elevated, and I had lost 10 pounds again (in two weeks). Dr. Alyea did not think I was dehydrated, though. He raised the prednisone back to 40 mg. a day, said to keep drinking, and told me that if my stomach problems had not resolved by the end of this week, I would need to have a sigmoidoscopy (up the rear) to confirm Graft Versus Host Disease, which has been suspected.

I have felt better the past couple of days and begun eating without getting sick, so I take that as a good sign.

5 comments:

susiegb said...

You know, it took me years and years to be able to balance on one foot at all in yoga! I guess I never had a great sense of balance. I still practice in the shower, standing on one leg and raising the other to wash it! And ditto to dry off!

And I'm impressed with your platelets - mine were 25 when I was in/at hospital last week! Hopefully they are creeping up again now ... :)

Meryl Fingrutd said...

Ronni: I am glad to hear you are feeling better. I particularly loved your counts. Clearly, you are moving forward!

I find balance very difficult in yoga but recently (after 7 years of doing tree pose which I still find hard) I realized that I had to make sure my core was an active part of the pose- i.e. I tended to focus on my legs for balance instead of making sure my core was active. Maybe that will help? Love, Meryl

PJ said...

Very nice on the platelets. I routinely tip over in my yoga class, but at least there's a mat under me to cushion my fall. We thin chicks have to watch out about falling on hard surfaces. We're even more susceptible to breakage due to our medical histories. Sometimes I feel like my 87-year old mother-in-law mincing around the house.

Diane said...

My yoga teacher today was talking about training your mind to focus on your breath, and that it's like working any other exercise. It takes practice, patience, and being non-judgemental which might be the hardest part of it. You are doing wonderfully in all regards - just keep putting one foot in front the other (or in this case, raise one leg at a time)! Love, Diane

Wendy S. Harpham, MD said...

Nice metaphor, Ronni.

Glad you are feeling and doing better. Whether by baby steps or leaps and bounds, you are making progress if you are moving in a positive direction. With hope, Wendy