After moping to you yesterday about not getting better at bending my knee, I went to physical therapy and moped to the physical therapist about not getting better at bending my knee, and then she measured my bend and I HAD gotten better. She said mopey days are part of the process, and that this is why even when we feel mopey and discouraged and as if we’re making no progress with our exercises, we still keep doing our exercises. As Nicole (HI NICOLE) mentioned on a previous post about physical therapy, it feels as if there is room for metaphor here.
Do any of you have recommendations for compression socks, particularly thigh-high ones, but also knee-high? I ordered some from Amazon, and they are “thigh-high” only in that they just barely reach the very bottom half-inch of my thigh. And these are socks made to fit men and women, and I am a woman, and I have short legs, and I ordered the largest size, and I could barely get them on at all. I normally wear the largest size before plus sizes begin, but I think with compression socks I may need to size up.
I hope you all realize I am prattling on about bending and compression socks and sizes to keep from leaping into the abyss. The political situation is like a firehose of polluted water. No, it is worse than that, but it is too hard right now to think of a better comparison. I know I should get back in the habit of contacting my representatives, but it feels like holding up a ziploc baggie to the firehose. (That is not the comparison I want, either, but I have come back to this several times over the last hour and I’m not coming up with anything better.) And it feels like I would spend my entire day doing nothing else but writing to them, and still not be able to keep up with all the things I needed to contact them about. Still, I will do it, because I know it helps them to be able to say their constituents are pissed about something, and that they are acting on behalf of those constituents.
I am so glad to hear you are making progress, even when (especially when!) it doesn’t feel like you are. You are doing great. Keep up the hard work!
I appreciate hearing from you so often, as it helps me keep my mind off the disaster that is our federal government. I called my Democratic house rep’s office yesterday, and it was a vent/therapy session for sure. I believe I used the phrase “firehose of bad” so I am right there with you. It was nice to talk to someone who understood, and I just pleaded them to do something (anything) to stop what was going on. Then I called my two Republican senators and left a voicemail at each office. They weren’t answering the phone, hopefully because they were inundated with calls to stop what they were doing. I have had to try and limit my news consumption to save my sanity, as I cannot be in a constant state of anxiety for the next 4 years. I have started doing puzzles while listening to audiobooks to tune it all out.
I have been thinking it is like we are stuck on an island with a continuously erupting volcano shooting chunks of garbage into the air while we are trying to go about our daily lives, and we don’t know what it is going to do next or where exactly any of the stuff is going to come down, and on the one hand if we watch it continually/maximally for *years* then we will be incapacitated [at least some of us; I have a stress-responsive chronic illness] and not get done the small beneficial things we could otherwise get done, but on the other hand, if we ignore it, we never know when we’d need to have been keeping an eye out to avoid being hit on the head with a large airborne rock or avoid being cut off by lava, or when we’d need to warn the person next to us that something is incoming. So I am unclear on what the best course of action is, but calling congressional representatives is good!!!
Re: compression: If you remember the shiny kind of pantyhose/nylons from the late 90s/early 00s, the Allegro “sheer support” kind at brightlifedirect .com is
1. exactly that texture/feel/appearance [which, for me, is not itchy; also it is less insulative which more valuable in July than in January, but eh, still worth noting] but
2. waaaay more durable [esp the 20-30mmHg – that stuff *really* resists snagging] and
3. currently on their annual buy 3 get one free sale. Their thigh-highs were thigh-high on my beanpole legs and had reasonably good silicone grippy band thingies, but also they have a phone number you can call for sizing help.
In addition, I’d note that you can layer lower-compression-level compression stockings (as long as you don’t go to excess and cut off blood supply!) – it is a *lot* easier for me to pull on two layers [esp. since the second layer slides over the first with less friction than skin] than to pull on one heavier layer. (have I accidentally punched myself in the face while pulling on compression stockings because my fingers slipped? … yes. Dozens of times.)
Congratulations on making PT progress!!!! Hooray!!! That is an excellent thing. And yes, we keep doing what we know we need to do, when we’re able, even if we can’t yet see results…
I second the volcano of garbage imagery. Very apt!
I’m usually too chicken-shit to actually talk to the congressmen’s office. BUT I finally made some phone calls this week to protest the latest shit-shows. Thankfully my grant funding/paycheck seems secure again after todays announcement. (I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop).
It helps me to know that others are also contacting federal officials. I plan to call all three of mine once a day, and I’ll just pick a topic of the day. One of my senators voice mail box was full today so I had to send a message through his website.
I’m a Federal employee and the Fork in the Road email yesterday was freaking bonkers.
I know a lot of people don’t love AI, but this is one of the better uses for it – just spend 10 minutes with Resistbot each day, and maybe you can work up to a few calls a week and maybe a specific issue will become your pet (instead of all of them)… small steps. Or bends.
I also called all my federal representatives as well as my state legislator (on a different, but equally bad reason). I’m keeping them and their Washington AND local offices on speed dial. If I do nothing else but annoy someone for years, it is better than nothing. They can be awful, but they can’t do it and pretend that no one notices.
One of my friends saw an interview with a Congressional staffer who said that if their boss gets 25-30 calls or emails a day, they “start to panic.” That’s a low number, it seems to me, and an easy one for us to reach. I use ResistBot, which is very simple to use; text RESIST to 50409 and the automated system will guide you through the process of emailing, writing, or faxing your representatives for you using a message you write. They also have pre-written messages that you can re-use; it will put your name on it and send it to whomever you choose so that takes out the pressure of coming up with the One Perfect Message That Will Change Minds And Thus Change The World.
I don’t have time to make phone calls or sit on hold, but I DO have time to fire off one text a day, so that is my current tactic/outlet for my rage. As Alara said above: they can’t do it and pretend that no one notices.
Swistle, so often I will say to others “it may just be a drop in the bucket, but that drop is IN THAT BUCKET” which you said a while back. And I also emailed my senators today about one of the confirmations. If we’re all doing it, it doesn’t feel like much individually but I think it has an effect.
And hey, maybe it’s like PT — you’re exercising the political resistance muscle.
It feels discouraging, like my actions are not part of a huge resistance movement, because there haven’t been any marches, at least not where I am or not on the news, but I have faith that others feel how I feel. And the more often I do something the easier it feels.
HI SWISTLE!!!
Okay I do have input on the compression socks as I have had to wear them for many years now. I buy online because it’s cheaper to do that and in Canada you need a prescription to get anything above a low-grade compression. Which, I guess I could get one, but really? REALLY??? Who is buying compression socks if they don’t need compression socks? Why will a prescription help? Anyway I have bought from compression stockings dot com, I think, but now they won’t even ship to the US (DO NOT GET ME STARTED) but recently I bought from compressionsockshop dot ca. Here’s my advice: the brand matters. It really matters. Jobst is the best IMO. Look also at the level of compression because super-high compression can be really hard to just get on, and that will make you think you bought them too small. I buy the mid-grade. The super high grade (like 30-40) are just so hard to even get over my heels, let alone up my legs. And I would buy the “stockings” rather than the socks. The socks are just too short. I am 5’7″ and I have fairly long legs, and anything that is “knee high” is generally mid-calf, and very uncomfortable. So I’d go a) thigh high or, if you can stand it, full length pantyhose style, b) stockings, not socks, YES it’s weird having your grandma-like beige stockings but they have other colours now too, c) Jobst, d) mid-range at most. I don’t think 15-20 does much but the 20-30 is great. AM I A COMPRESSION STOCKING EXPERT YES I AM. But the super high ones are just so hard to wear, and it takes me at least ten solid sweaty minutes to get them on, and I haven’t had knee surgery.
Having just had major surgery, I know my compression socks! Key thing is to measure around your ankle and calf and buy the right size, and desired compression strength. Wishing us both strength for recovery! Your posts are very welcome at this time!
I have crappy ankles, and a friend (who is a doctor and has had back surgery) recommended bombas. I’m tall (5 10 with long legs), and they come to the top of my calf. They really are nice, I find them worth the price, and I like their mission.