2021-09-21
The situation is quite stable, with predictable fluctuations depending on my activities or lack thereof. I keep up the regime of Acupuncture treatments every three weeks and take the prescribed TCM remedies.
During the last months we were busy moving out of the Studio after Joan retired from tutoring. We sold the rental house with the studio and bought a little house in Switzerland for our younger son to live in. I built a shed for all the books and stuff we are keeping from the studio, I made several dump runs, and sold things to an antique store and on Facebook Marketplace. The days when I did a lot of physical work took a lot of energy away. This reduced the activities that keep me healthy, such as playing the music I love and rowing on the lake. The latter was also reduced because of the smoke from the forest fires during the Summer. So I had more days of being a bit shaky and having issues with balance.
I often took brakes from building and moving to recover with music and managed to keep the symptoms from increasing. New is that I can play more piano (initially pushing down the keys was too strenuous), including Brahms and Schubert without struggling with the physical challenge this music presents. However, pieces like the Rhapsody op. 119 no. 4 are physically (not technically) beyond my available energy for the time being. In contrast to half a year ago I can now even consider that I might be able to play this music again if my condition keeps on improving.
The area where I don’t see improvement is in the general energy levels. Walking up 5-6 blocks from downtown to our house (about 80 m elevation gain) is exhausting and requires a nap. What a difference to the times I ran up mountains to fetch the goats. On the other hand it is quite comfortable to know that I feel no obligation anymore to go for strenuous (but beautiful) mountain hikes. Rowing still works, but I can’t push much beyond one hour at a time, and it is better to not go two days in a row. So I pace myself accordingly. Less (manic) frenzie is actually quite peaceful.
Reflections 