I Bought a Shiatsu Neck and Shoulder Massager

This is not a sponsored post or ad. I bought this myself with my own money.

This has to be one of my most inspired purchases. I did not know what I was missing.

Image from Amazon.ca

I have tense neck and shoulder muscles. When I am sitting, my shoulders start curling up and tensing. When I lie down during the day, it is usually because I am feeling dizzy which makes me more tense. Even if I’m not dizzy, many times I have my phone or tablet in my hands playing games, watching videos, reading or seeing how well we’re treating each other on social media.

I try to relax, sit straight instead of slouching and stretching. But, it’s not enough and I still get and stay tense.

I do have a massager that does work well enough, sometimes. But, it is a handheld percussion massager and when massaging the muscles close to the base of my head, the vibrations affect my ears and make me dizzy.

Image from Amazon.ca

Stretching only helps so much. Especially as a person with a disability, I know I am sitting and lying down more than what people normally do when they are at home.

Then I bought my new massager.

I started smiling within 10 seconds of putting it on my shoulders.

Maybe it was 5 seconds.

Each arm sits in what I can best describe as a sling and is what helps keep the massager in its place or helps you move it around on your back. And it is actually more comfortable than it looks.

There are two sets of nodes that give that kneading feeling. They look like balls that have been cut in half. There are two sets and each set has two larger and two smaller nodes. You can turn on the infra red heating but the heat generated feels more like a person putting their hand on you, not heating pad heat strength.

They also knead clockwise and counter-clockwise knead. It switches back and forth every 90 to 120 seconds. You do have the option to shut it off. The massager does has a timer that automatically shuts it off at 15 minutes.

I have only used this on my back which is where I tend to need it. My friend also used it on his legs and found it really helped.

All in all, I think this is a great purchase. I’ve had it a few days now and have used it every day. This is definitely going to be one of my best ever purchases.

 

St. Patrick’s Day Blessing

Image via IrishSeaweeds.com

May Love and Laughter Light Your Days

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.

May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.

May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.

May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

It’s My Illness Anniversary This Month!

Photo by Trent Szmolnik on Unsplash

This is always a strange time of the year for me. February is when I originally got sick and started this journey. It was a really bad flu season that winter and everyone assumed I would get better.

Surprise!

Little did I know what was in store for me.

So it’s been a reflective few days for me. How do you reconcile almost 20 lost years of your life due to a disability?

I thought about where I was, where I thought I was going, my plans, my dreams.

Then I thought of where I am now. I’m going to be 60 in three years. Just that sentence gives me pause. Because I can’t help but think of what I was doing when I was 36. Where I thought I’d be going, my plans, my dreams.

Even typing my age of when I first got sick caused a bit of tightness in my throat. I was so young then. You don’t think of 36 as being young but when you look back from from the persective of being close to 60, your 30s seem young.

Now, I think of other problems with my health. Heart disease and stroke affected both my parents. I’m now on medication for my blood pressure and to keep my heart from racing. This may very well have happened to me at some point, but when your physical abilities and activities dwindle, I can’t help but wonder how much later these would have happened to me.

To be honest, I’m not sure what I really want to say. I’m just typing thoughts out as they occur. I’m not sad like I’ve been in years gone by. It’s certainly not a happy anniversary. No one thinks this will happen to them, it happens to other people. Bad things always happen to other people. Except they don’t.

There are a lot of other people out there, a lot who are dealing with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

It’s been more of a reflective state of mind this year. Thinking about something that won’t change. Something that can’t be fixed. Something that has affected my day-to-day life for almost two decades.

Maybe, ultimately, what I’m saying is that you are not alone. If you are reading this blog and you are new to the disabled and chronic illness community, know that you are not alone.

And don’t be dismissive of what you are thinking and feeling or let others be dismissive of what you are thinking and feeling. Whether you are very emotional at all the changes in your life or like I am at the moment, more reflective. Or anything and everything in between.

Moments change. That is the constant of life. Change. We just have to learn how to best deal with it. Sometimes we’re being great at it, other times it is overwhelming. Be kind to yourself. Talk to others. Seek help, if necessary. But, always remember.

You are not alone.

Time to Dust Things Off Around Here

(photo by me using Adobe Spark Post)

Hi everyone. Long time, no post. Hope you are all well or as well as possible.

Because I usually scheduled the posts, I haven’t done any since the winter of 2016. I had reached a point where I didn’t feel like I had anything to say. I didn’t post about it but 2015 was an up and down year health-wise. My heart rate decided to be a speed demon with no reason given other than it happens to some and tests didn’t show anything other than I was out of shape.

I was put on medication to put it back to it’s normal rate and I just concentrated on getting my stamina back up to a normal-for-me level. Again, something that is an up and down process when you have a disability. Add to that that I am more disposed to being an introvert so I introverted.

But lately, I’ve been getting the blogging itch. And then I read this post by Jenny Lawson about blogging and starting or restarting your blog if you consider yourself an old-school blogger.

So, here I am, not sure what I’ll say or how often I will say it, but watch this space.