Hello there and welcome to my 110 th blog.
Wishing you all a beautiful, blessed and healthy 2024.
On my side, I have had (to put it mildly!) a rather eventful start to the New year.
After a gloriously wonderful family holiday over Christmas and New Year, followed by a fleeting visit to family in the Karoo, I unfortunately succumbed to a massive virus which made me properly sick. I will not bore you with the lengthy and tedious details of this rather taxing time – unlike me I know! However, highly relieved that it is now 6 weeks later, and I am thrilled to say that I have made it to the other side (huge exaggeration here) and am happily on the mend.
Having established that a couple of fairly vital organs, the lungs and liver to be exact, had been hit by this stupid unknown bug, I took it upon myself to embark on a massive cleanse. It was pretty strict and quite labour intensive, I juiced and blended and steamed and chopped, and ate vegetables and, fortunately, loads of fruit, morning, noon and night. I pushed through… it was only nine days, so don’t get overexcited. I also refrained from consuming any alcoholic beverages, which was easy as I felt so lousy. First time in my fifty-eight years on earth, that I have been on such an extensive and strict a cleanse.
During my short but fruitful convalescence, I read, slept, rested, binge-watched TV, did admin (my awesome locum suddenly had a longer locum than she had anticipated) and had quality time with my favourite. I think it was a little alarming for him as he has never seen me this ill before. I do not get sick, apart from a couple of days of sinusitis, or a gastric story or my many sports/unidentified physical injuries. He was perfect, as he always is. The Boys were also awesome, albeit from a distance. I did not see people or go out as I just fell awful.
It would seem that the combination of all this did the trick, as my recent bloods came back with all the elevated markers almost back to normal. Quite remarkable that I managed to achieve this in so short a period.
So, why am I telling you all this?
The reason is that so many positives and learning came from this.
- My brief encounter with feeling pretty poorly made me realize how fortunate I am to enjoy the extraordinarily great health that I have. Perhaps it’s the supplements, although in hindsight (always a beautiful thing) I was probably taking too many. I have now scaled back on them big time. I may just be lucky, but I also endeavour to work on all aspects of my health on an ongoing basis, which was probably quite helpful, too.
- I also feel beyond grateful for the doctors who were super diligent about getting to the bottom of my malady and establishing my diagnosis fairly quickly. Without exception, everyone I came into contact with during this time, was excellent, kind and caring. I maintain that we are still beyond privileged to have some excellent practitioners in our country, in spite of the mass exodus of multitudes of medical folk.
- There are so many people worldwide who do not have access even to basic health care. During the time that I was relying solely on practitioners and their expertise, I feel so very lucky that we have both the wherewithal to be able to afford this, and the access to these great healthcare workers, in spite of the ongoing tumultuous time our country is experiencing.
- When problems arise and I am faced with challenges, I really do need to engage my pause button, spoken of at length in a previous blog. I need to breathe deeply for a moment before launching head on into whatever the problem is. In retrospect, I am certain that my bout of ill health was directly caused by the insane stress that clouded the latter part of our year . The situation and circumstances that we found ourselves in, were beyond our control, and sadly, not due to anything we had done. What was under my control, was how I responded to it. At the time, I thought I was managing it fairly well, however, looking back, I believe I could have dealt with it in a different, and perhaps a more measured manner, and could possibly have prevented myself from falling ill.
- Following on from the point above, I need to be kinder to me. I talk about this frequently, but I need to actually act on the thought more consciously. It is essential that I create better and stronger boundaries, that I say no to things and people who will not serve me and my health, and it is imperative that I take even greater care of my overall health and wellness. I owe this to me and my family. It is likely that the year ahead will remain challenging, and I need to have all the strength to face and manage it.
- Our bodies are the most unbelievably amazing machines. I have repeated this often and consistently but believe it well worth another mention. When it really was not possible for my body to “breakdown”, as was the case when we were travelling, and having the best family holiday abroad, our bodies will give some hints as to its not feeling fab but will press on regardless. It somehow knows when it must get on with it. I will be grateful and thankful for a very long time that I was able to get through the trip and did not end up in some German or Czech hospital. What is also remarkable is our body’s unbelievable healing power, another huge blessing for me.
- My family and my friends are absolutely unbelievable. The outpouring of love, care, concern, and kindness in the form of messages, phone calls, magnificent bouquets, gorgeous orchids and plants from all over the world, were totally unexpected and so comforting, and I believe very instrumental in my getting back on track pretty damn quickly. I feel so very thankful to be surrounded by so much love.
- I just love spending time with my Girls, in our home and garden, the highveld summer, and cooling off in our pool, when I started to really feel better. I just revelled in this time and feel unbelievably grateful to have this all. I could lie on my bed and look out and take solace in the beauty of nature, My Girls could not believe their luck, having me at home 24/7, and once some of my really nasty symptoms started abating, it really was very special. I felt like I was in a protective cocoon.
- I will forever be grateful to Karen for handing her practice over to me back in April 2020. As soon as I felt able, I started treating a few patients. Going back to work after the longest break I have had in a very long time, made me realize how appreciative I am to have this. My patients were thrilled to have me back, in spite of the fact that I had an absolutely awesome locum, and they made me feel just grand. My practice gives me the most amazing purpose to my life and has afforded me so many opportunities on an ongoing basis. My personal growth resulting from this has also been exponential. This has also allowed me to give back in so many areas.
Well, that’s a wrap then folks! Thanks for taking the time to read through this very heartfelt blog which has come straight from the heart.
Take care of yourselves and one another, make the most of every day, and try to sprinkle kindness wherever you go!