Walking the Walk

It has been thrilling feeling my body become more used to walking. With each adventure I can feel myself become stronger. I want to go further and off on dirt trails to see places I couldn't see before. The whole world is a shiny new toy that I yearn to explore.

BUT...

All these new movements also came with a side gift. A bladder infection. ACK! When I was first using my wheelchair a lot I had a bladder infection. My body wasn't used to sitting so much. Well, now she's not used to moving so much. I am a complex compound of beneficial bacteria working in harmony. But it doesn't take much for my body to be completely thrown off.

I'm guessing my 2 mile walk yesterday wasn't the best idea. But remember what I said about yearning to explore? Yeah... that happened. Today I'm sitting next to Max getting some non-physical work done.

Bright Side

I was thinking the other day about all the things I do now that I wouldn't be able to do if I were working full time. I came up with quite a comprehensive list. I found it incredibly helpful for my mental health to do this. I still miss working and all that came with it. The identity, the respect, contributing financially to my family, helping my community in a meaningful way...

It's one thing to have my family tell me how helpful and useful I am even though I can't work right now. But it's completely different to work through those feelings on my own.

Now I have time to:

• Fight for my medical supplies (my wheelchair, CPAP machine, etc.) This always takes a ton of time and was incredibly hard to do while working full time.
• Attend needed medical appointments and therapies.
• Spend more time in nature. 
  
  
  
• Create things and express my creative side. 
  
• Process the loss of my partial mobility. Mentally and emotionally.
• Be there to help my son. 
• Spend time getting to know my mother and who she is right now.
• Investing time and spoons into our home and garden. 
  
• Spend more time with my puppy and enjoy her last days with her. 
  
• Be available 100% for my husband. Hearing about his work and being more a part of his day.
• Being able to invest more time on my body and health. 
  
  
  

Post Brain Tumor Henna

I used to color my hair at home all of the time. Black, red, blonde, chestnut, burgundy and every color in between. But I have never tried henna. The reason for this is you can't use henna on hair that has been chemically processed, and my hair has ALWAYS been chemically processed. That is till I had my brain tumor. I've been natural ever since.

Recently we went to a party and I saw all the women with their fun hair colors. Even women older than me with pink, red, two tone fun hair. I looked at my pictures and thought "I WANT FUN HAIR TOO!" Now my natural color may be nice, but no one would ever say that it's fun. I'm a fun woman and I want fun hair.

I was also going through some old pictures and I saw a few with my hair red. I always loved the magic and myth around a flaming head of hair and Maureen O'Hara is one of my heroes. I thought coloring my hair again was out for me because I want to keep away from chemicals. But then I remembered henna. 

People have been using henna to color their hair for thousands of years. It's a safe, all natural, chemical free process. The one I picked is even organic!

The directions said for an even brighter red to steep some hibiscus tea (which I just happened to have on hand!) and use a little bit of lemon juice or vinegar. I used 2oz white vinegar and 12oz tea mixed together and steeped overnight.

Ok... it looks EXACTLY like poop. Luckily it doesn't smell bad. 

First I painted Vaseline all over the parts of my skin that I didn't want stained. Then I liberally applied the henna mixture all over my hair starting at the crown. Next I wrapped it in plastic wrap (about 3 layers.) Then I topped that off with a warm towel. I did henna my brows too. Very carefully with a fine paint brush and lots of Vaseline around them. I then blasted them with a hair dryer for a few minutes as henna likes heat to activate. 

Four and a half hours and three pairs of gloves later...

I really love the results! Unlike chemical dye it also didn't burn or hurt my scalp. Next time I will use even more Vaseline as I still got some staining, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. The color keeps curing for the next two days and will darken a little bit. 

The process was also a fun History/Science/Cultural Anthropology experiment for me. I could picture a community of women taking the day off and all doing henna for each other. I'm sure they would have group grooming days like that. I also thought of the Egyptians who were documented to use henna liberally. It's amazing that it could do as good a job as chemicals without all that damage and toxicity. 

I think it looks really natural. I will definitely do it again.

And here's a gratuitous puppy picture just because.

Nature Cure

Where my husband and I live is packed with beautiful nature and accessible trails. The weather has been so beautiful that the other day we packed my wheelchair "Ariel" into the car and headed out to our favorite spot. It's a beautiful garden area nestled next to an Oak Tree forest full of every kind of oak you can imagine.

Being at the ocean and in the forest touching nature is completely detoxing for me. It brings me back to center and eases my mind like little else can. On our walk I even managed to hoist myself up a little bit so I could fully sit in my favorite leafy Oak. It was wonderful.