Gratitude

 

Waiting

Days TWENTY SEVEN & TWENTY EIGHT

5:30pm with Corinne on Thursday, day #27.  I think Corinne is my favorite teacher and I've missed her since she hasn't taught at my studio since the new year.  Today she was back and awesome as usual.  Class was super juicy and I was sweating by pranayama and drenched by half moon.  It was also the first day of my period (sorry guys if this is TMI) and by the floor series, I got my usual back pain associated with the first day.  During the poses, I was fine because I was active.  It was in the savasanas where I was could feel the pain getting worse.  By the end of class, I had to run to my locker and take two Advil.  Since practicing bikram 11 months ago, my pain has decreased.  The pain in my lower back used to be so overwhelming that I would be paralyzed.  I would have hot flashes and then cold sweats within minutes, and the pain would radiate down my the front of my legs.  It would take 12 Advil, yes 12 Advil, over the course of 8 hours to make the pain go away.  With bikram, I am down to 2 Advil or 4 at most during the course of 8 hours...it is a vast improvement.  And all the PMS symptoms I used to feel are now gone.  Without a doubt, this bikram has been healing.

Class was good overall.  Nice and juicy and Corinne was her usual energetic self.  She told me that I was going too low in triangle and that I shouldn't be bending my knee as much as I am.  She encouraged me to go deeper in my halfmoon backbend and complimented me on half tortoise.

I got home at 9pm and within an hour, I got a call from my mother.  She had a 102 degree fever and the left side of her face was so swollen, she said she looked like she had the mumps.  She started to panic and she desperately wanted to go the emergency room to find out why her face was getting swollen.  She also compained of chest pain.  I know my mother...her chest pain is a symptom of her anxiety and her panic attack not her heart.  Nevertheless, I also know when she has a panic attack nothing but the advice of a doctor will ease her mind.  So at 11:30, I picked her up and drove her to the emergency room.  Mind you, I had to rent a ZipCar because I know a trip to the ER would take hours and I wasn't taking the subway at 11pm or going home in the wee hours of the morning via public transport.

After tons of tests, the doctors told me to go home at 4:30am and to come back tomorrow.  I got home at 5am, slept for a few hours and then got back to the hospital at 12noon.  It was determined that her heart was fine and the swelling was due to a saliva duct getting blocked and infected.  The doctor told her she needed to drink at least 2 liters of water daily to flush things out.  She's on antibiotics and at 6pm, she was finally discharged after she was given a clean bill of health especially by the cardiologist.  By the time we got home and I went to the pharmacy to pick up her medication, it was 7:30pm and there was no way I was getting bikram in today, day #28.  So I'll just have to do a double.

Spending a night in the hospital is no fun.  As I looked around at all the sick people, I suddenly became grateful for my bikram practice.  This practice is insurance for a healthy body today and tomorrow.  I have so many issues about the way our country views health and addresses healing, which gets reflected in our current health care system.  Even though I missed bikram on day #28, I am grateful for so many things:  my mom's issue was not serious and she is currently resting at home.  I am also very grateful for my practice that has provided me incredible healing of mind, body, and spirit.  I want to live to a ripe old age doing the things that I love with a healthy body that has been cared for and maintained.