half agony, half hope

My chronic pain doctor suggested I exercise more

I asked him “how?”

He looked confused. Said I should try a bit every day

I said “not when, how?” I asked what exercises I should do

He suggested half a dozen options that had all been explicitly banned by other doctors. I’m not allowed to run. I’m not allowed to bike. I’m not allowed to use my rowing machine or my punching bag.

I walk my dog whenever I have the energy and when it doesn’t hurt too much

What else can I do?

He told me I should exercise more

And then he changed the subject.

doctors: you need to exercise more

disabled patients: can you give me an example of exercises someone with my condition can/should do?

doctors:

I've found it helpful to look up guides for elderly patients, since doctors are more likely to acknowledge needing an approach with them that assumes there may be unexpected difficulties with their standard advice

There's a fairly wide range of elderly focused tips on how to exercise if in pain, if deconditioned, if your balance is compromised, etc.

Plus it focuses more on keeping and increasing ability rather than say, weight loss.

Update: found one of those guides specifically for any issue that might make it hard to be standing vs sitting: https://www.verywellfit.com/chair-exercises-for-seniors-4161267

I don't want to derail this because this is a HUGE issue I continue to run into with doctors. I was entirely on my own having to find types of exercise I could do. Turns out the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs actually has made HUGE playlists of various kinds of adaptable exercise videos. The tag to search for is #LiveWholeHealth . The videos have a huge range of focus and duration so you can get just what you need.

pls reblog this to boop the person you reblogged from

I'm appalled. they crushed that fucking baby appalled im now realizing this is more gorey than I anticipated. tw

hey i made a baby outta that

This would be a beautiful donation to a children hospital

So I can’t make a poll for this, as the point is that I’m asking for obscure random shit

But all the assorted “gateway fantasy” and “formative dragons!” etc. etc. in the tumblr poll memery is making me want to know

What’s your favorite formative book/comic/movie/tv show etc. that no one else ever seems to have heard of?

Because the two sci-fi things I thought up when that fantasy author poll passed my dash were

Black Coats from Outer Space Trilogy by Gene DeWeese

There’s an alien cat named Dandelion in them, I remember them as being SO FUN. Just look at this nonsense:

AND (as remembered by my mother as I spaced the name and had to ask her) The Time Keeper Trilogy by Barbara Bartholomew

With equally ridiculous covers, though in a completely different style of dated!

SHARE THE RANDOM MEMORIES, PRETTY PLEASE, MY DEARS & DARLINGS!

It’s fun, and sometimes I find neat things to read or watch… or the counter is that it’s kind of hilarious when someone mentions the thing no one else ever knows and then half their mutuals on tumblr have heard of the thing.

Most simultaneously formative and obscure:

This imprint insta-folded and the rest of the series was never written, so there’s a reason no one’s ever heard of it. But this BLEW MY MIND as a little girl. Mostly for being a fantasy book with a female protagonist that actually talked about sex. And not in the “my sexuality is my power” sort of thing where a heroine seduces her way to victory. It’s not a sex book. It’s just a book with a female protagonist who isn’t a virgin (and in fact lost her virginity in a very ‘meh’ way), thinks sex is supposed to involve communication and be pleasurable for both parties, and doesn’t feel the need to wait for her one eternal true love. Also, being a healer, makes her own contraceptives.

Again, none of this is what the book is supposedly ABOUT, it’s about her quest for a lost form of magic and to find/escape her destiny. 

But to a kid whose concept of romance at that point was an unholy mix of unicorns, fairytales, and Piers Anthony, I cannot overstate the impact.

(I can’t really recommend you try to find this, it’s out of print, there are some content warnings I’m not mentioning, and since the series didn’t continue the ending’s unsatisfying. But it will always be dear to my heart.)

Ok, while I have never read that one, that combination of refreshingly pragmatic approach to sex but maybe not recommendable as a book sounded familiar, and I have actually read one of the author’s other books. (Bright & Shining Tiger, to be specific.)

We live in a very strange small world apparently! 🤣🤣🤣

The Unlikely Ones by Mary Brown

@fancytrinkets: I HAVE READ THAT!!!!!!!!!

I REMEMBER NOTHING ABOUT IT BUT I HAD AN IMMEDIATE & VISCERAL (POSITIVE) EMOTIONAL REACTION TO THIS REMINDER SO NOW I HAVE TO FIND IT

(thanks, maybe?)

@angstmongertina

ok, that one did stump me

It looks delightful in a Very Specific To Its Time Period sort of way, though? 😘😁

(TBF to that comment, my "formative influence TV show from when I was seven" is legit Scarecrow & Mrs King and the movie is probably "Bringing Up Baby" which just... explains so much about me tbqh. Oh, and maybe the really melodramatic Zorro tv show that came out about then, too? My mother has a lot to answer for, letting me watch ridiculous romantic hijinks as an impressionable elementary school child. 🤣)