You know what? i had typed out how it came to this, the lovely exercise session with Liz and John yesterday. and how John said we wont do the standing exercises anymore. and then me at 4:20am having the same feeling as when i felt like resigning from uniting agewell, and needing to send this text to john right then and there, because it just seemed like the time. But then i deleted it all, because that moment when i decided to send that text, is not what this post should be about.
This post should be about... this wonderful.... long line... a thread that has gone through my life. That ended today. but has been with me since i was in my thirties. While i was still at uniting agewell. and which led me on many many core beautiful memories, i will cherish forever.
I remember vividly it all started when i was at a dinner. I think Van was there? but there were a lot of poeple. But i was seated next to John, Liz's husband. And we got to talking and then we discovered we both loved movies and he loved Sci fi! and we got on like wildfire!
He mentioned how Liz had this rare condition that had her in a wheelchair. And i decided to offer to come do some exercises with her to see if we could get her walking.
This was me in my heydey of offering to fix everyone and believing i could. really gung ho.
what a beautiful time it was
i honestly remember it. We did WELL!! I started massaging her legs, and then we did exercsies for the legs. and gradually we got to standing. Also i think we did dumbbell exercises for her hands too
And i was also getting her to focus on getting better, not thinking of the pain etc. And i know for a fact we got her up and walking! I remember there was one exercise where John and Liz would waltz as a balance exercise.
Also one classic was a standing balance exercise we dubbed the Elizabeth. We would step forward and backwards etc and i think side to side. I cant remember it exactly but it was one that Liz came up with. i even did it with some of my clients too.
I remember we did so well! Liz was walking around, i think with elbow crutches? her family was amazed and that was the period where i somehow ended up treating their entire family. Liz's son Tim (who led me to finding about dunlop volleys. cos at the time i was learning about barefoot minimalist shoes). Liz's sister in law, and also her brother in law Fred! i fixed his shoulders! he was amazed.
Wonderful wondeful
so many wonderful times. I remember in those days, i was still doing 3 days a week at uniting agewell. with 2 days off a week. I think it was wed and fri off?? Because i was working just to have money and stubbornly refusing full time work. Holding onto my dream of having those days off to write my novel hehe
i remember i would arrive at Liz's house maybe 11am? do the treatment, and then they'd give me the snacks and then id drive to the oval next to pinewood shopping centre if i needed to throw some of the food away. In those days i was thinking if i bring home all these snacks, i cant finish them before the week ends and also will be tempted just to eat all of it if they are at home. so id eat a few biscuits or whatever from each thing, and throw the rest in the bin. Not because i didn't like or appreciate them, but in those days i was super keen on being slim and exercising a lot.
I think my fondest memories possibly are of the movie nights! Initially John put them on to thank me for treating Liz. I still remember the very first one. It was Forbidden Planet. Because there was a poster of it on the door to John's room where he puts on the reels. and i wanted to see it. it was an old sci fi.
I am not 100% sure, but i think i might have invited Lisa to come with me? or maybe i was alone for the first one. i cant quite remember. i actually think lisa was there for it. i had the most wonderful time. as always, John makes for a magnificent night. I love that the Forbidden Planet was on a reel as well, so i could hear the sound of the film going through the projector.
wow i just quickly stopped to look at the video i took of john showing us film going through a projector, on youtube (just search 'thuan nguyen john projector film' and it comes up). and omg, it was from 11 years ago. thats 2014? and i could hear Sun's voice, so i must have invited Sun along with Lisa to one of the film nights! and that wasn't the first one surely, so ive probably been treating liz for 13 or more years? every single week practically.
No wonder it feels so emotional for me today when i realise its over.
honestly, when i sent the text last night, it felt like i was sending a text to break up in a relationship. it felt like that, sending it off.
and yes the film nights were so wonderful! always! every movie we watched was a good one. i remember The Third Man. Ill cheat now and look at my facebook movie posts. Witness for the Prosecution. Easter Parade! Oh Calamity Jane, i remember that one off the top of my head. The Optimists. I think that might have been the last one we watched with Lisa Jeff and I think my friend Michael was there too. I feel like we also watched Chicago once as well, Liz chose it, its her fav musical.
John would always put a cartoon short on before the movie! so good <3 and sometimes a musical number. and usually an ad at the start to tell ppl to turn off their phones hehe. And there would be an intermission at half time. where the lights would come on, and we'd have snacks and a drink and discuss the first half of the movie!
oh and we'd usually have pizza for dinner beforehand. i remember during the warm months it would be around a table in the backyard. and my sis and jeff and whoever else id invited would all chat with liz and john. it was lovely! one time i even invited Amanda and Ben! they loved it too! we watched Song of the South, cos they'd never seen that disney movie before.
Yes i have wonderful memories!
Oh there was a phase when Liz was attending the exercise class at uniting agewell noble park. and i think i would do the exercises with her while she was there? i remember id get her to walk up and down the rails and she'd count the laps hehe
and john would push her in on the wheelchair.
Even when i resigned from uniting agewell, and had my ENTIRE week free, i still kept seeing them! that sure was a time. when i had nothing on. and just had a session with them on a tuesday morning haha! what a time
I remember Liz saying i could stop if i wanted, but i felt like continuing the exercises with them. why not! at the time, it actually was sit to stands at the bench in the kitchen, walking around to the sink (sideways walking). she'd walk around and john would be standing near the sink and she'd give him a kiss hehe.
oh and he'd always make a coffee for me too i think. he had a new coffee machine at the time.
those were great days.
This treating of Liz and John there.. it really has been this extremely long thread that goes back through my life, through many of my eras.
many many many good times. many good chats. i remembering buying a copy of the Song of the Sea, this little known animated movie that i quite liked . i think Justin or Cam got me onto it. And many many other movies shared between us. Oh and he is a tigers supporter so we got to experience the golden era of all the trophies together.
oh there was even the covid phase for 2 years towards the end. I couldn't see them when lockdown was on. i started up again once it was over.
Oh i remember there was a time, after id resigned, when i think they were getting physiotherapy through their package. and so i thought that i didn't need to come anymore. But after some time, i found out the physio had stopped and liz had had a fall or something? and so they needed help with exercise and so i came to do it with them again. i didn't mind.
And so that kind of covers it. So you can see how special this whole time was for me. To think, it all started with John and i hitting it off at the dinner at the restaurant, many years ago. and it enriched my life SO much. like you wouldn't believe.
But i feel like, now was the perfect time to stop. Like when you're visiting your friends house and there's a point when you have to say goodbye.
i really would always want to keep progressing the exercises to get liz walking, or at least keeping her legs strong to make transfers easier. but due to medication or her rare condition, she gets tired very easily, so we couldn't do that many reps. in the end john decided we should just do the arm and leg movements in the chair and also the stationary pedals. His heart really is in a good place. And he definitely was happy to keep the exercises going and i know he really enjoyed our movie and footy debrief before each session.
But at the last exercise session, when i realised the exercises we were doing were just chair exercises that Liz could do on her own, and also pedals that she could do on her own. I felt that.. it wasn't truly necessary for me to be there. I felt like if i was to sacrifice a part of my week, every week... there had at least be some reason for it. Something that made me being there essential. Maintaining her leg strength to make it easier for john to transfer, was something i was happy to do, and thats what we'd been doing for the past year or two. i never even considered stopping. But when i realised that what John wanted liz to do, was something that didn't really require me to be there... i felt.. i cant continue.
And so that is how it ended. I feel like, it really is a big thing for me that its over. I really am sad and will miss it so much. I will treasure all the memories forever. That long thread is a huge part of my life. It would be like seeing the great wall of china from the moon <3
