THE WELL WITCH - Health and Well-Being Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Hello my friends! I'm going to get all close-up and personal, and honest. I need to lose weight. It's not for appearences, so don't get defensive, it's a lifestyle need. I have had EDS, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, since I was born. It basically means I have extremely stretchable tendons and ligaments, among other things, which cause loose joints and I get everything from daily minor joint slips and locks when doing things like brushing my teeth, to periodic major dislocations. My first major luxation was when I was three years old...

As you can see my cousin covered up my brace with a pillow and a stuffed animal for the photograph. She was babysitting while my parents went out to a New Year's Eve party. It's funny, but I don't have any recollection of the dislocation, or the brace, but I do remember having pants someone opened up on the side seam and sewed shoe strings on to tie it closed, so the pant leg would fit over the brace. Memories can be strange. I also wore ankle high ortho shoes because with the EDS I had very weak ankles. And about the clothes... I was basically raised gender free-range. If my parents dressed me I usually had boys type clothing on, which was not typical in the early 1960s, but that's another story to be told.

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So from that point on I will only bore you with the information that up until last year, I'd had only about 20 major dislocations in my entire life. However, over the last year and a half I have had nine: four hip and five shoulder dislocations. I had to take an early retirement because I am not allowed to leave the house unaccompanied any longer. I also have to shower when my son is home in case something happens. There is a blanket in a drawer in the bathroom in case I dislocate and he has to help me. He can throw the blanket over me to alleviate any nakedness embarrassment. Heh heh.

My mother was told I would probably be permanently in a wheelchair by the time I was thirty, but that didn't happen. In fact I didn't land in a wheelchair until I was thirty-seven and then I was damned if I was going to raise my son from a chair, so I fought and fought hard and got myself back on my feet in about six months. Now I am determined I'm not going to end up back there, and this means I have to be easily picked up and carried to a safe place if I'm not at home, and I dislocate a hip. At 5' 8" that basically means being underweight. Yeah, tell me about it.

I had lost 35 pounds trying to get back into shape to play in a band again, but lack of exercise from not being able to be out and about on my own, plus pampering myself with sweets while I was ill at the beginning of the year, have added up to me gaining all that back, plus ten pounds. Yikes!

SO IT'S TIME TO GET SUPER SERIOUS!

I will be posting about what I'm doing, and how I'm doing it, once or twice a month. I'll also be adding information about healthy foods, gentle exercise, and well-being strategies. If you want to join me in having a way to be accountable for your habits and weight loss, please join me! I will add the links to your health update posts to every next the Well Witch post I publish. Also, if you have any tips on what has helped you, spill it, I want to hear all the healthy, fat busting trickery you have. Ha ha.

I also want to do this... THE VANISHING HALF MARATHON. It's a virtual race and you can walk it if you want and there is no time limit, so it will be highly motivating. Just look at that medal; I have a thing about the Vanishing Cabinet! Plus, the donation is to WILDLIFE PROTECTION SOLUTIONS for helping to protect endangered species from poachers. Protecting wildlife is near and dear to my heart. Maybe this will also motivate my son into accompanying me for an evening stroll a couple of times a week. It's amazing how many people will volunteer to drive you somewhere, but if you want them to walk with you they run the other way! I've been offering to give my sister gas money to go to the mall once a week and walk. It hasn't happened yet.
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UPDATE - I registered!

I need to get a pedometer.

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Along with losing weight I want to build up my stamina, so my once in a lifetime trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, in a couple of years, doesn't destroy me. Ha ha!

Do you have any tips for me, or encouraging stories?