Home for a Week (Almost)

So I am going to vent but just a little bit in this blog.

I just got home on Tuesday and I now am leaving again on Sunday morning. It is supposed to be for 4 or 5 days only but this last 2 months has been a lot. I have been only home for just over a week in that span over 3 separate times. Yes, it is my fault as I keep saying yes but when your work is project based, its not really an option to say no as the work will disappear. I was really hoping to be home for at least a couple of weeks but no such luck.

On a positive note, I was able to get on to the Physical therapist and now have a program for my shoulder and hips and they are something I can work on while I am travelling. It seems like a lot of my posts have been pretty negative lately (at least in my mind), I have to say, I actually feel pretty good where I am in my training. Could it be better? Of course it could. I have actually spent a lot of time on forms this year and have actually had some great one on ones about them.

Even though it would be great to be home all the time and be able to be at every class, that is not a realistic option for me. And, I think I may actually be in a worse place as being around all the time may lead to procrastination on my part. The thought being I will have time later. So, although I hoped to be home longer, I will continue on training wherever I happen to be.

Update on Things

I am starting to get ready for my upcoming seminar. I have a pretty good plan for what I am going to do but have been refining and making slight adjustments to the plan. I also know that sometimes the plan has to change to fit the needs of the participants just like when teaching a class. I am preparing for getting through what I want but will see how it goes.

I am also working on my shoulder exercises and have a follow up on the 1st. Are they working? I can’t honestly tell as its only been a week so hopefully I will get some feedback when I get my next assessment. I also want to see what things I can start doing in regards to my training.

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I am also looking forward to hopefully being home a lot more coming up as I have a lot of things I need to work on. I have projects at home that have been pushed off and I have some things I want to start focusing on with regards to my training. It is difficult to accomplish this with limited space to actually train or with someone to train with. Anyway, big plans that will be my focus next week.

Start of Physiotherapy

I was finally able to get in to see a physiotherapist on September 15th for my shoulder. The frustrating thing is they can only do one assessment at a time so I had to book a separate appointment for the hips and that is not until October 1st. Although it was good to get started on my shoulder it was not so good for the other part. They also want to follow up once per week for the first while to see how the treatment is working and what they need to add or change. With my work schedule, that is not going to be possible but I will try and do the best I can.

It does not surprise me that I have limited mobility and strength in my shoulder but the physical therapist will monitor my progress and see where it goes from there. There is talk of injections further down the road possibly but surgery doesn’t look like it will be necessary unless it somehow tears more so that was a bit of good news.

I am hoping by the time I get in that the shoulder is getting stronger so I can then continue that progress while starting to work on the hips both strengthening and increasing the mobility while reducing the pain. It is a big ask but I am committed to doing what is necessary to get past this (or at least make it more manageable).

Seminar 2.0

Well if all goes well with weather, I should hopefully make it back home tomorrow. I say this because we had some snow up here today and this is the time of year where you can get heavy fog and/or low clouds which will not allow planes to land. I am hoping for the best but am prepared to be here for a bit longer as well. The longest I was delayed for weather was 3 days but that was due to a blizzard so not there yet.

On a different note, I am excited about my next Sanda seminar coming up. I had a lot of fun with the last one and am hoping that some of the same people are able to attend this one. I am also hoping that more new people show up to this one as it will really help not only with your sparring but your movements. I feel I am in a better place this year as well because of the work I have been putting in on my forms. Even though, I have some injuries, I do feel that I am moving better myself and I feel my flow is better now. This may only be true to me but it still has me in a better mindset this year.

I just realized as I was writing this, that is has been 6 weeks since I have been at the Kwoon. I made it back for the Saturday of the parade in Edmonton and one other weekend (home for 5 days total). That is such a long length of time when you look at it over the course of a year (over 11%). Training is not what it should be because I find being around the Kwoon inspires me to do more. The nice thing about the Seminar is I will be around for those 6 Saturdays in a row and even if I am gone during the week, I will still be back for them. Hopefully I will see some of you reading this there.

Travelling The North

I am writing from remote site in Nunavut just south of Bathurst Inlet. It is called the Marine Landing Area for a gold mine that is about 200 Km south of us. They bring in cargo and fuel on ships and then transport to land. Once on land they wait until January and then build an ice road to the mine. During a 10-week period they will move about 45,000,000 million Liters of fuel and 3,500 sea containers. It is an impressive operation especially seeing approximately 100 semi trucks just parked waiting for a short window of work.

My task here is to help them reorganize and label the waste that was sent from the process plant at the Mill that is unidentified. Once this is completed, they can then send this waste for backhaul on the ships where it can be disposed of properly and safely.

This will be my 5th different location I have been at since I left just over a week ago. In that week, I have been to the Yukon, The Northwest territories and now Nunavut. To say, I have seen a lot of the North is definitely an accurate statement.

Training is not ideal and not where I would like it to be, but it still happens. I was also able to get a couple of One-on-0nes in which helps and I am hoping to get some stable internet to book some later this week. I am scheduled to be home on the 11th so hopefully be at Kao Shi on Saturday. Hopefully there are no issues as the weather is very unpredictable up here and the flight last Friday was cancelled due to fog and snow. Fingers crossed I make it out.

One Foot In Front Of The Other.

I am a day behind in posting this week as I ended up in an area with no service for the last couple of days and just got back tonight.

Things have been going a lot sideways for me these past 3 or 4 weeks just due to me be going so much and having some really long work days with no chance to get to the Kwoon at all. It will be about 6 weeks in between by the time I am back which is a crazy long time.

I have now had a bone scan on my hips and my full skeletal system. I have a follow up with my doctor on September 16th (closet I could get to when I am back) and I have a consult with a physiotherapist on the 15th. It has been an extremely long process but I feel progress is being made and at least I have some answers as to what is going on with me. Until then, I just continue doing what I can and keep moving forward.

The Struggle

I am currently in the middle of the Yukon at an exploration camp. It is interesting as there is no service, no washrooms and the lunch room is a shack basically. There is Wi-Fi but it does cut out intermittently so I am pretty much disconnected from the world right now.

I seem to have aggravated my shoulder again this time and it is likely from trying to do too much. I am hopeful it isn’t anything too serious. Training has become a lot more difficult these last couple of weeks due to travel and limited space but I continue to do what I can, when I can because even a little is still progress.

As for work, I will be home on Friday but will be leaving either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and will then be gone until September 11th. Once again, this will see me travelling to 4 different sites in the Yukon and then a fly in camp in Nunavut. With all the travel I do, you would think I would be used to training away from home but it is never easy and sometimes it feels almost impossible. This year, started out well but it is seeming more and more difficult as the year goes on. It might be the injuries or the inconsistent travel but I need to reset myself and try to refocus on doing what I can. Easier said than done sometimes.