Personal Coaches

Thanks to everyone for your motivational comments and helpful tips. It's been great for me. I feel like I have my own personal set of trainers willing me on and cheering me on from afar. It's just what I needed to keep myself on the exercise track.

As a lot of you wonderful ladies have suffered far worse things than I have, you know how important it is for me to exercise and that isn't always easy to motivate yourself to do things that you know will hurt even if it is for the greater good.

Yesterday I gave myself that stern talking to and started my exercise and massage regime properly. This is helped by my returning to the pain medicine I was on before the operation and not the paracetamol and codeine tablets that the hospital gave me. Everyone in the ward was complaining that there was no strength in them and they didn't work but I took them until the course had finished. Being in less pain and the support of you guys has given me the incentive to really start exercising and not just playing about.

Yesterday I concentrated on massage to disperse some of the swelling on my leg in between the exercises. It seems to have worked as my niece remarked how much smaller my leg looked last night. The swelling was holding me back from the knee bends. Although I still can't get the angle that I am supposed to it has got several centimetres better than it was before.

Today the District Nurse is coming to remove my clips. The hospital nurse said that there was about 40 there so maybe today I can have a count. Gory aren't I?

All of this has meant that I still haven't done much crochet. I am still struggling on with the shrug for a friend which is now acting as a lapghan whilst I am working on it. I find crocheting UK double crochet through the back loops very fiddly and slow although I do like the fabric that it produces.

One of the cat lodgers, Oscar, has already arrived for his snooze on the spare bed. Last night I had the company of the small black cat for most of the evening. She is very affectionate and wants to be stroked all of the time. I really must find out her name. She slept on the sofa most of the evening. The cats have good homes, albeit very noisy homes with kids, so I think that they visit me for a bit of quiet sleep time! I get the pleasures of cats without actually having to own one. I have always been a cat person but my last cat passed away just as all of my spinal and knee problems started so I didn't want to get another one at the time. For the moment I will just continue to enjoy my lodger cats and my visits with Buster when he comes for the weekend. I don't want to take on the responsibility of pet owning just yet. There are several cat and dog sanctuaries near by which I will use when I feel ready. There are enough animals without homes in the world without having to buy a pedigree. Besides I kind of like the mutts of the world. I am resisting taking a look as I will want to take so many of them home it will be hard to choose just one or two.

Oops, time for more exercises. Keep up the good work ladies and if you feel that I am not doing enough please give me the mental push that I seem to need.

Consider yourself to be my cheerleaders. I hope that you are all twirling your Pom Poms!