5 things I don't really miss?

It has almost been a year since I started this blog, in fact my first post was made on 14 November so it is under a month until my first birthday. The success of the blog has far exceeded my expectation but perhaps that is something I will talk about in the 1 year post that I'll try to remember to do. But for today I want to look back at a post that I made in my second week of blogging. The post was entitled 5 things I miss and can be found here - 5 things I miss.

I was thinking about this list the other day because I really can't think of anything that I particularly miss from back before this all started and was not sure if that was because it has been going on so long that I had forgotten or because I do not miss these things because they are no longer important or because I can do them again now so here is the list: 

"1) Going for walks with the Mrs (along the beach)

2) Going for a run (on the treadmill)

3) Playing Badminton (I used to play for my local team)

4) Not having to worry in advance whether I am going to have to walk too much. For example I am going to a wedding in December at which I have been told there will be lots of singing but I am not going to be able to stand for that length of time.

5) Not feeling bad about myself, I loved, well I liked to do the work around the house for the Mrs, I still try my best but she is very caring and won't let me do too much now without telling me off, that's right a Mrs who moans at you when you do housework."

The list was compiled whilst I was on quite a low so hence such a bad tone to it and that is the thing that strikes me straight away, how much I was letting it get to me, some of this was understanding and some of it was just not knowing what to do but still onto looking at the list:  

1) I can now go for walks and with the stick these can be for quite a long time, to be honest I didn't miss them that much anyway as I still got to spend good quality time with my wife playing cards and watching TV etc. 

2) I still can't run and this is something that I do still miss but not that much, I can at least now walk on a treadmill and I can cycling probably for longer than I could when all of this started. 

3) Playing badminton is something that I miss greatly but hope to get back into it soon and hopefully I can take some coaching courses and will be able to make up for my lack of being able to play to my best my teaching loads of people how to play, at least that is the hope. Who knows if all goes well I should be able to make a little pocket money, teach the kid(s) and I have a blog and perhaps a website planned to work on this over the next couple of years. I am thinking of calling a badminton blog, Yoda Badminton as when thinking of me returning to the court I thought of me walking up with my stick and then jumping onto the court and beat all my friends (sorry guys but it is true) and this reminded me of Yoda in Star Wars hobbling along with his stick and then jumping around to fight the dark side. 

4) Basically the same as number 1, although I still don't want to walk too far I can walk if I need to with the stick and get quite far. 

5) How things have changed, with my wife suffering from severe morning sickness I am doing almost everything (though I doubt to the stand of my wife)... anyone fancy doing some hoovering or ironing some shirts then please let me know. 

So it is far to say that I am in a much better place physically and also mentally and hopefully when my one year blogversary comes round I can think that actually it may have been a painful year but it was certainly productive and I haven't really lost that much at all, I mean look at what I have gained I am now married with a baby on the way, I couldn't be happier and I think that says it all.

A happy chappy

Again I have not been around for a while, this is partly because there is not so much to update people on and because I have been away training as part of my new job. 

The new job continues to be very interesting and enjoyable and very much off of my feet and this is such a huge relief. Being off of my feet during the day means that I do not come home in pain and just want to flop on the sofa and as a result I am getting out there and doing more exercise. 

Place near work - 1

This exercise is important, I think that since the foot got really bad I have let myself use it as an excuse for continued weight gain and in the last year or so I have probably put on a stone (or two) and now that I am off of my feet during the day and improving the time has come to do something about it. At the moment I am typically getting up before work, 4 days a week, to cycle about 5 miles on an exercise bike and then playing a kind of fitness game on the PlayStation for about an hour in the evening and during my lunch break I am going for a 20 minutes walk as this is something that I can now do (I have nice places to walk to, see pictures). On top of this I am also eating very healthily and I already feel more energetic and so much fitter. I have lost weight in both of the last 2 weeks and probably need this to continue for a couple of years to get down to a good BMI and that is what I am setting out to do (so at least I will have weight loss to keep people updated about if nothing else). 

Place near work - 2

Recently I reported that my foot was really dry and actually this became a bit of a problem as the bottom of my foot became tight however a week of using E45 on it has really cleared that up and it no longer seems to be a problem. 

The forum continues to have one or two people join here and there and share their story, please continue to do this and hopefully we can find people that were in a similar position to you can so can give you a bit of advice and if not I am always checking it to give my opinion on things. I would like some more people to interview on here as well, I already have a few people lined up for once they have finished their treatments but this takes time, so if you have either Dupuytren's or Ledderhose and would like to share your story than let me know. 

I have also been pleasantly surprised by the continued viewings of this blog despite my reduction in numbers of posts and I thank you all for visiting, please do comment, e-mail or post on the forum as the more people we get talking about this the better. Speaking of which I am thinking of e-mailing a paper to see if we can't get a story out about Ledderhose and the availability of Radiotherapy as a good treatment for it in the UK at least. I will of course keep you all updated on how this progresses, certainly there are several out there about Dupuytren's and I think it is time the shoe was on the other foot, it will be great to raise awareness and not just of the disease to the public but to GP's and of course will raise awareness of radiotherapy as a treatment option to patients, which as many people have found out is something you often have to discover for yourself. 

Good luck to everyone and I'll keep you posted, but for now I am happy with the way my foot is progressing although I still need the stick and can't stand for long periods of time (yet?) but I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps I am even out the other end and the exercise makes me feel so positive.  

Stories on Dupuytren's: 

• Claw hand 

• Brighton Music lover and his treatment 

• A quick fix for claw hand