FINCH THERAPY, Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT)

I found the above adds after my consultation for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I had a Carpal Tunnel Release operation in November 2013. A few weeks later I made an appointment at the above clinic. I was given treatments every two weeks and had to do some of the MAT exercises at home. After several weeks of this my body was well aligned. This week I went there for a follow up examination. This turned out to be okay. I was advised to have another follow up examination in three months time.

Thankfully my carpal tunnel syndrome has improved a real lot. My right hand is close to normal again! Also I seem to have a much better balance in my body. I would say the FINCH THERAPY really made quite a difference in my well being. Peter underwent the same therapy and is quite happy with it. This therapy helps with muscle activation. However arthritic pain is a different matter. The therapy cannot help with this. Both Peter and I suffer more or less from arthritic pain. This can be very painful at times. We are told, keeping as mobile as possible, is what we should aim for. Both, Peter and I, try to move about as much as possible.

I told one of the therapists that we were being kept very busy over Easter since we did have a few visitors staying with us and going on a lot of outings with us. The therapist asked me then if we went out for coffee. I said we did not go out for coffee so much. I should have told him then about all our different outings. But there was no time for this.

So were did we go? Just to recollect: There was one outing to Port Kembla Pool and Beach early on Easter Saturday morning. The same day we went to the Nan Tien Temple for a delicious vegetarian lunch. And of course we had a good look at some of the temple interiors and surrounding beautiful grounds.

Easter Sunday, very early in the morning, we went for a walk in the Minnamurra Rainforest. Later on we had a Buffet Lunch at the Novotel in Wollongong. When I said we had 15 people at our place on Good Friday, the therapist asked me whether I had to cook for all of them. I said I cooked lunch only for seven of us. The others came later.

I could have mentioned that our son cooked a lovely meal for us on Saturday night after we got home from the temple. He cooked Ravioli and there was a sumptuous salad to go with it.

As far as my diary goes, I could mention that Peter went already twice this week to get new top dentures fitted. Yesterday he had to see his eye specialist in Figtree. We went to Figtree together on the bus. While Peter saw his doctor, I ‘amused’ myself in the nearby shopping centre. Shopping centres make me feel very tired. And I had been up since 5 am already. We arrived home for a quick lunch. Then Peter drove me to my heart move class at Dapto Ribbonwood Centre. Well, that was only yesterday. I remember I felt extremely tired during the class. I like to go to these classes when I feel more rested. These heart move exercises are actually great fun. There is always such invigorating Latin American music to go with it, as well as Vienna waltzes.

Last Week of January 2014

On Monday, which was part of the Australia Day Weekend, we had ice-cream in Enmore, an inner suburb of Sydney. We went to the Cow and the Moon. They make terrific ice-cream. For $ 6,50 you can have three different flavours. And they give you a very generous helping of each flavour in a little plastic cup.

The yeast cake that daughter Caroline had baked for our visit, was very good. She had put fresh plums and crumbles on top and served it with beautiful fresh whipped cream. She baked such a big tray full. Lots was left over and so she packed up a few pieces for us to take home, which we did eat pretty quickly. It was so good! Yummy, yummy. Not so good for our intentions of not putting on extra weight, though! Matthew made us lovely cups of coffee to go with the cake.

Today is the middle of the week, Wednesday. For this afternoon I have an appointment with Scott again. He is the guy who’s helping me to have a pain free New Year! He is a FINCH THERAPY therapist. He makes me do a lot of exercises at home. I think my mobility is getting better. I don’t get puffed out so easily anymore. And this FINCH THERAPY is supposed to help when you have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. So I thought I give it a try. My right hand is much better now after the operation. However I feel that my wrist needs strengthening a bit more. I am very happy that I can do with my right hand so many more things now that I could not do before the operation. (I can pour hot water into cups as long as the water jug is not filled up too much to make it too heavy for me! I can tie my shoe-laces, I can even fasten the hooks at the back of my bra and I can cut my toe-nails!)

I love to wear my toe shoes for a walk on the grass in Lakelands Park. The grass gets cut regularly by the council workers. Last week it was pretty short. In the meantime it has grown again a lot. At seven o’clock in the morning Peter and I went there for a walk. We both had put our toe shoes on. Peter had warned me that the grass might still be wet this early in the morning. But I pointed out that the sun had already been up for a while, that it hadn’t rained for several days and that the sun would soon get very hot. But Peter was right: There was a real lot of morning dew! We felt like walking through a wetland and our shoes became very, very wet. Peter did not enjoy this at all. After a while he became very grumpy. He blamed me for making us leave this early in the morning to walk over the grass. He said that never, never again was he going to do this. He felt just terrible. On top of it his knee started aching, and he couldn’t walk properly anymore. Poor Peter!

Coming back home, we noticed our shoes were full of grass bits. We brushed these off and left our shoes outside to dry. Peter rushed to the toilet and I made some coffee and toast for us. Peter soon felt happy again. I think next time when I see the grass being this wet I won’t go out on it but wait till it dries off a bit. Sorry, Peter, for making you walk on it today.

This picture was taken about a month ago. The grass was much shorter then.

Tuesday Outing

Yesterday Peter and I went with Caroline and Matthew for an outing to the ocean. It was a warm sunny day after many days of rain. The coastal bush landscape was still rather wet. Nonetheless we ventured for a walk along a path that was in some places rather muddy.

Early yesterday morning I received a phone-call from the hospital. I was asked, would I like to come in for my medical procedure on Wednesday, 20th November, which actually had been the original date I had been given and which had been postponed to the 4th of December. Now I had all of a sudden the chance to have my original date back and have everything behind me somewhat earlier. I gratefully accepted the renewed change in dates.

They want me to be at the hospital by 12,30. I was told that today I had to fast from 6 am on. This is why I made sure I was up early. I had already my cup of tea with honey and I ate a banana. I did not feel like eating any toast as had been suggested. I hope they don’t mind I ate a banana instead. I also had my two painkilling tablets. I was allowed to have them before 6 am. Now I have plenty of time to get ready for the drive to the hospital.