VELCRO GIRL
25 June 2003
Velcro has taken on a very important role in my life.
I thought about that as I sat on the edge of a seat and tried to get
this contraption back on me again after my shower this morning. It's not that it's that
difficult--awkward, but not difficult. But the frustrating thing is that it's all velcro,
so whatever it touches it sticks to.
There is a large waistband which attaches with velcro, and two loops
which are sewn to the waistband, but which open to insert the arm and close with velcro.
When you're working with only one "fastening hand," all the rough sides of the
velcro stick to everything cloth--not only the softer side of the velcro, but the cloth of
my shirt and anything else around.
I sometimes wish that there were a cameraman around because I'm sure
we'd have a great slapstick movie in this.
Then I went to the office briefly today, only to fill in so that
Mrs. G could get to the bank, the post office, the office supply store, and pick up their
son at day care. While I was there, Dr. G was doing a blood pressure (since I can't take
them any more) and the cuff popped off because he'd forgotten to fasten the velcro tightly
enough.
Later, as he went to close a patient's gown, he had to clean bits of
cloth off of the velcro fasteners. Never in my life have I paid so much attention to
velcro. Even the rice hull pillow that I put behind my neck when I sleep at night attaches
to itself with Velcro and if I put the thing behind me backwards, I have velcro scratching
my neck all night.
Heck, my unused hand is even starting to look like velcro!!
So I suppose you want to know about how WeightWatchers went this
morning, eh? It's funny, but it's taken me year and a half (and probably this accident) to
make me really feel at home there. This morning as I was bemoaning my aches and pains,
another member reported that a biopsy had come back positive for lymphoma. Suddenly my
little dislocated shoulder and "water on the knee" don't seem quite so bad.
As for weigh-in, there must be something in the laxative properties
of those cherries I've been scarfing down all week.
I said that last week I'd taken a "pass" on weigh-in, for
all sorts of reasons, including the increased water in my system. Actually I did
weigh and couldn't bring myself to admit that in the two weeks since I'd weighed in
before, I'd gained EIGHT pounds. That's when my leaders told me about all the reasons why
my weight might be up due to the accident.
This week hasn't been good, as I reported yesterday. And I was
prepared for very bad news. What I wasn't prepared for was having LOST five pounds. Maybe
all this hefting of my weight on one arm, lumbering along dragging the bum leg, and
staggering around the office when I feel terrible qualifies as exercises over and above or
something.
I dunno.
But I'll take my loss happily (though it shows as a gain on my
record below) and once again start from scratch. The meeting today again was full of stuff
I needed to hear, and the comments of my WeightWatchers buddies, those who are doing well
and those who are struggling, were once again a good anchor to keep me going for another
week. |
