Keys Life on Stage
Long before I was ever ill, my best friend at the time got me started speed walking. Then when I moved to an island I would get up every morning and walk my 3 miles on the beach.
At 7 o’clock possibly, I would be out there on the beach walking the length of it and back which was my 3 mile walk. Then home to shower, eat breakfast, finishing touches on any new songs for my gig at 1:30pm til 5:30pm, 5 days a week. You simply must love living in Florida where you can play music in the afternoon, and get even more done in the evening. Maybe sometimes go out and play another gig at night.
I was younger then. Remember when you could go all day and all night and recuperate the next day. That does not happen to me anymore but I do not have to do it very often these days.
Florida Foliage on Stage
I live on a sailboat, so as a speedwalker I walk my three miles daily early morning on the stationary dock now. Well, I used to. Now I walk on the cement in the parking lot because it is physiologically safer for me.
I would walk my speedy walk on the dock and occasionally I would catch my toe on a board that was not level with the rest. I was traveling at such a brisk pace I would go flying through the air and usually land on the palms of my hands and either my knees or my chest which also included a breast.
Keys Gigs
My hands would be just lightly skinned like my knees but my breast would be shades of purple, green, black and blue for some time to come. Not a pretty sight.
This has happened to me now more than once. It does not happen too often, but that it happened at all meant I had to change my ways.
I woke up one morning unsuspecting anything as to why my right arm would not move correctly. I could not put my arm up in the air or behind me. This was unacceptable to me because I did have to carry my musical equipment to set it up and tear it down before and after a gig. I obviously also had to play the piano in between hauling the equipment for a few hours.
Somehow I managed to get my equipment in and out of my truck and the playing was not so bad except for the general use of my arm. My fingers seem to be fine.
Irish Gigs
I decided to find someone who could help me and I asked my doctor if acupuncture could fix this nonfunctioning arm. My doctor was an internist and was trained in acupuncture but he said, to do what I wanted, I needed to find a Chinese man for acupuncture.
I searched my area and found a Chinese acupuncturist Dr. who said he could fix my arm. It seemed so odd to me that during the treatments for 3 months he kept asking me if my other arm was okay and I kept telling him that it was fine the entire time.
This Chinese doctor put herbs in a patch and placed it on my upper arm. This was very cool to the touch when he put it on my arm. He placed it at the top where he said the chakra was that was blocked. We did, however, have to change from a paper tape kind of patch to a Band-aid brand because I am so allergic to paper tape. He also gave me teas to drink that were full of some kind of Chinese herbs.
However he did it, he did fix my arm. I had to do exercises to regain my movement. They were stretching exercises and yes they hurt, but trust me you do whatever you must to get your arms to work like they have all your life.
On An Island
After my arm was sufficiently well I woke up one morning to find that my left arm was now with the same problem I had just gone through with my right arm. I was very disheartened to find out that I had to go through all of that again.
But now that I knew what to do with the exercises, I was going to fix this one myself. I could take the pain once again to get my other arm back.
I had already told my internist doctor that I would not do surgery for the impaired rotor cuff the first time. Now that I was in this condition again I did my exercises and moaned with the pain until they both got well. It was so worth it.
It is truly something one takes for granted when you have two working limbs called arms and all your fingers work. Then when it is taken away from you, and regained, there is a state of gratitude for the once unappreciated appendages.
Healthy Kaite 