Word for 2014: Wellness

Another blogger, Joys In My Life chooses a word to represent the year that lies ahead.  I love the idea, but have never gotten around to come up with one.  A few days ago, the word "Wellness" just popped into my head as the perfect word for me for 2014.  

Right now I am focusing on just healing and trying to feel good.  My surgical wounds are healing well, although I'm a bit impatient.  I'm almost five weeks out from my surgery, and feel like I SHOULD be healed, but I'm not quite.  I have been really, really good about not picking up the girls and not doing other things I'm not supposed to do.  However, today I did something I should not have.  We visited a park that has an awesome treehouse/slide thing, and it looked a bit too grown up for Miss M, so I went down it with her.  It was one of those all-enclosed tube kind of slides, and it went FAST.  I mean, really, really FAST, and it had corners.  My main incision site is super sore tonight, and there is a lump.  I'm hoping it's just a bit swollen, and I didn't actually tear anything. Stupid, stupid, STUPID of me!    

I also still have the pain in my side that caused me to go to the doctor in the first place.  My surgeon doesn't think it's related to the tumor they discovered; that was just an incidental finding (and thank goodness for that!).  He did exploratory surgery while removing the tumor, and found nothing, and recommended that I give myself two months to see if it resolves, before diving into more tests/treatment.  My primary care doctor is on board with that, because all of my blood tests and my CT scan were also otherwise normal.  But the pain is annoying, and worrying to me.  So, I'm throwing myself into trying to make it better.  I've been using the hot water bottle constantly, which seems to help.  I got a massage yesterday, which was a little weird.  The woman came to my house, and it was certainly affordable (about $27 for over an hour).  But it was very, very thorough--hands, feet, neck, head, face, butt--literally my entire body, and not quite what I was expecting (not much focus on my back/side, which I told her was the problem).  She was nice enough.  Maybe it was just weird because it was in my house, and not in some spa.  But anyway, it didn't really help.

I also got a manicure this week. . .in a truck.  Yes, you read that right.  A friend arranged a surprise for me.  A woman pulled up in a box truck in front of our house, and I got in, and the back was all set up like a spa, and I got a manicure in the back of the truck.  You truly can get ANYTHING delivered in this city.

For super relaxing sleep, I bought myself some freesia yesterday, and put it in a vase next to our bed. My entire bedroom smells heavenly.  Then I went to bed early.  It would have been an amazing, peaceful, restful night, but Miss M woke up with sore feet.  She got a bit of sunburn from sitting in the stroller eating ice cream.  We were only out for maybe 45 minutes or so, but the sun here is SO strong.  She'd been wearing socks and shoes, but got them wet and switched to Croc's. . .just that little bit of foot/leg showing above the shoes and below the pant line got burned.  Poor kid!  It's gone today, thankfully.  I felt so bad.  Of course, I slathered on the sunscreen today, and it turned out cloudy all day.  Such is the weather here. . .so unpredictable!

So, next up for physical WELLNESS improvement are:  restorative yoga and reiki.  And, probiotics (I've also developed some sort of intestinal distress that has me running for the bathroom. . .AWESOME, I tell ya!)  I would love to find an ayurvedic spa here, but so far I've had no luck.  There are some treatments I've wanted to try for years, and now seems like a good time.

Also up ahead?  I'm launching some new projects at work (professional WELLNESS).  My current job has very manageable hours, but I'm not challenging myself at all, so I've submitted some proposals that will push me, if I get approval to do them.  I had some financial wellness projects lurking, as well as some family wellness ideas.  And then, I have some creative projects that I want to work on personally, which ties back into my own wellness.  So yeah, WELLNESS is my word this year.  Stay tuned.