An unexpected surprise

I was fully prepared to wake up this morning and find a repeat of last week's stiffness and muscle spasms, especially since I don't seem to be able to take the easy path (staying on flat instead of demi-pointe) even when offered.

I can walk again!

The week in bullets, with no exaggerations:

• Tuesday, finally going back to class was thrilling!
  
• Tuesday night I slept only fitfully because of muscle spasms in my legs.
• Wednesday morning I could barely walk from my bedroom to my home office. Stairs worked only if I stepped up with my left leg. 
• Thursday I couldn't raise my right leg high enough to get into the car, and had to use my hands to lift it in.
• Friday I could sort-of waddle up the stairs using both legs, but had to hike my right hip to do it 
• Saturday (today) I could finally walk without pain.

Anyone taking bets on my post-class condition next week?

 

I remember this... and I wish I didn't!

I've sometimes said that ballet is like a narcotic: as long as you keep doing it you're fine, but if you stop then go back it'll hurt you.

I'm kinda prone to leg cramps, which is a side-effect of an asthma medication I take. Last night, as I was falling asleep, I started getting cramps in my calf muscles. Not terribly surprising, given what I do to them in class, but very unwelcome. Through trial and error I've found that keeping my legs cool helps prevent them, so I spent the night sleeping with the A/C cranked and a comforter over the upper half of my body. It's not terribly comfortable, but it's better than screaming in pain.

This morning I felt reasonably rested, but I could barely walk. It's now after 6pm and walking is still difficult; stairs would be impossible without using the handrail for support.

The really sad thing is I knew this would happen.

Back in class!

 It took a bit longer than I expected, but tonight I attended my first in-person ballet class in 16 months. That's the longest I've been out of class since I started taking classes again ten years ago. Even heart surgery only kept me out of class for 10 weeks.

A journey of a thousand miles

If all goes well, next week I get my second shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. Thus the beginning of May will mark the greatest effectiveness. To celebrate I want to do one of the things I've missed most: take a real, in-person, ballet class.

 It will have been roughly 15 months since I last stood in a ballet studio, and 10 months since I took a virtual class. As much as I'm looking forward to it, I know that I've gotten really out of shape. Rather than jumping back into even a virtual class I thought I'd start with one of the prerecorded classes my regular studio posted online. I cleared away the debris from around my home barre, set up my laptop to play the video, and tried to remember how this works.