I was a bit tired when I headed to Barwis. My right hand had gone numb toward the end of work so Mr. Curl helped me gather my things and he got me into my car. I had to battle construction on my way so I ended up being a little late once I arrived to Barwis. Phil helped me get out of my car and he stretched my legs a bit at the chairs. My legs felt SUPER tight and stretching me was difficult for both of us I think. It didn’t feel so good on my part and my body was REALLY resisting the stretch for him.
He told me to go to the table after I did a few manual leg curls. I knew it. I wasn’t walking or standing today. The stretch was difficult enough! Once on the table, I laid on my back and my legs felt gnarled up. Phil stretched and stretched me but my legs weren’t feeling any more relaxed. He left my legs alone for a minute and asked me how I felt. I told him that it hurt. He replied, “Hurts so good.” I told him that my Dad used to say that and that, “No, it hurts SO bad(ly) – (I hold an English degree so I SHOULD use adverbs correctly but I said “bad” instead of “badly” because it was opposed to “good” and not “goodly” but I digress…)
Phil started stretching me some more and eventually, my legs started to feel a little bit better. It was only a little bit better but I have learned that a little bit is better than nothing. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot” is SO true!!! Waiting stinks so badly, but what else am I going to do?! It seems that the longer I have MS, the more I am faced with being effected by outside forces. I CAN’T handle being stressed out as well as I used to (not like I EVER handled it very well but…) I think it interesting that I can’t (it’s now CAN’T and not DON’T) handle when I run late, or am faced with construction, or properly function in the heat. And by “interesting” I mean “stinks!” It’s frustrating but this is how it is now.
Phil took me out to my car and when I extended my fist, he just grabbed it, shook it, and yelled, “Joystick!” He told me that I did a good job as he closed my door. I thought about that as I drove away. My legs DID feel a little bit better even though the stretch hurt SO badly. Maybe I can sum up yesterday at Barwis as “It hurt so good” after all because the end result was better than it was: so it was “good.” Hmmm?