Business As Usual

After a 3 week break, I made my return to the office today and in doing so mentally switched back onto watching what I eat. Five days of couch potato inactivity following my back injury meant this was a welcome change, despite the size of my inbox and emails from management requesting to do more with less. Dosed up on painkillers and anti-inflammatory meds, this was a chance to cleanse the systems of crisps, chocolate and all those naughty things I've become accustomed to in the last month.

It is only day 1 but things have gone well. There has been no snacking between meals. No slices of bread to supplement my dinner. In fact, substitute my cornflakes for porridge and sandwich for measly salad and I would have been having a typical day at the height of my dieting powers. But it is only one day. Doing this consistently is the challenge and tomorrow will bring the hunger pains that always make life more difficult.

My back is starting to feel a whole lot better. I took three days off work last week when I did little more than sit and watch snooker while the kids were at school/nursery. The painkillers helped to manage the discomfort as did getting up to walk around every so often. This morning was the first time since Tuesday when my back didn't resemble some tricky Rubik's puzzle, taking a variety of moves to straighten out. I didn't much enjoy suffering from impairment, but I'm very fortunate that it was a temporary annoyance rather than long term ailment.

Any hint of self pity was washed away on Saturday afternoon when I took the boys to a Shine Charity family afternoon. Regular readers of this blog will know that I recently ran a half marathon for Shine, as my youngest has both spina bifida and hydrocephalus. This event was a chance for families in the region affected by the conditions to get together and socialise. For me it was a very positive and humbling experience. I got the opportunity to talk with other mums and dads whose children are that little bit older, providing an insight to what we may come to expect in the future. It allowed my eldest to enjoy the company of children in wheelchairs, familiarising him with something that may become the norm in our household in the years to come. I had the pleasure of meeting a 20 month old with hydrocephalus who had a very difficult start to life, making me realise that despite the trauma we had with our pregnancy and those early days in hospital, our little one has had a relatively 'easy' time of it thus far. A very happy 4 year came over to play with my little boy, before asking me to play pool with him after he got back into his wheelchair. I saw kids getting on with their lives, overcoming daily challenges, and left the event feeling reassured about the future. It all rather put my back discomfort into perspective.

Day 2 of the diet tomorrow then, followed by a weigh in on Wednesday. I'm not expecting that to be pretty, as 5 days slumped in a chair eating junk is not conducive for weightloss. But with my back hopefully on the mend, back into regular daily activity and with any luck not far from dusting off the running shoes, there are plenty of reasons to be positive.