Hiya Folks,
Just letting you know that I am back at Arni and letting my hand do the talking for me as usual.
I hope I will not bore you but I find that being back at Arni is wonderful, in terms of motivation and well being. I returned especially to work on myaffected hand/arm but its a different Arni to what I knew before. This timeI am taking advantage of free sessions of exercises which include free acupuncture. Its runs for a period of 8 weeks and I must say its very different indeed to my first stint with Arni. This time I have two very experienced professionals working within me. The first one is a Grand Master in the martial Arts, also proficient in acupuncture, having successfully treated around 40 people afflicted with stroke in Korea, the second one is my nemesis who has returned to haunt my dreams. I speak of none other than Dr Balchin, a task master if there ever was one. Regardless of what I see as his inflexibility, ( I am always in dire pain which he refuses to acknowledge), I have tremendous respect for his professionalism, he is fiercely determined to ensure that others who have suffered a stroke are in the same position as he is, i.e. 99 % recovered or 100% , depending on how you see it. I enter the training room with some trepidation as I know he will be relentless but I acknowledge that his heart is in the right place and that he wants me and everyone else in the class to improve, we have group sessions which are working out well. We are all at different stages of recovery but are working together as one, each learning what is most appropriate and suitable. The second thing I have to contend with is the acupuncture. It is painless and already, after just two sessions, I could see a little improvement in my hand /arm as the high tone was reduced to medium tone after session two.. I wait with anticipation for additional sessions of acupuncture as for the first time, after my second session , I wasable to extend my hand in an upright position, repeatedly., helped no doubt by the hand exercises I had been doing (taught by “Grand Master” Balchin ). I find them fascinating and do them all day at work when I am not engaged in typing or writing or .
Apart from the torturous experience of getting up from the floor, the other exercises are simple and can be done discretely all day long. I will say that despite good intentions, I have forgotten how to get up from the floor and spent an embarrassing session 3 on the floor wishing the ground would open up and swallow me as I couldn’t remember how to do it, but not for long because, this is the beauty of Arni, once there you feel compelled to practice and I will conquer my inability to do this within a week.
My walking is much the same as when I stopped attending with Arni in 2005 but I do lots more walking these days and go outdoors more often, especially to the shopping centre, a nightmare at the best of times. I am hoping to have some great news to report at the end of February as I will, hopefully, have had more sessions of acupuncture..
Margot
Margot was invited to come to the free group sessions, and the combination of free dedicated ARNI training and acupuncture will help her offset the cost of the taxis she keeps taking when she should be braving public transport! (Only kidding Margot)