Settling in and a good look at my tripple chin

I’ve been doing physio 5 days a week for almost 2 weeks now and it’s amazing what a difference it’s starting to make! I needed to build up slowly because the injury was left untreated for so long but they are really making me work hard now! Not only am I going more often and for longer periods of time – sometimes up to 4 hours at a time – I’m also doing more exercises, more difficult ones, more weight, more muscle groups and so on.

The goal of the gym exercises (see pictures below) is not so much to train my arm, core or legs muscles - nice side effect though - but to learn to keep my neck muscles under control while doing other stuff. I’m now actually able to control muscles in my neck that I didn’t even know I had!

The reason I need to train those neck muscles is because the accident caused some ligaments in my neck to be stretched. Without those ligaments it is much more difficult to keep my head in position. On top of that it also causes pressure on my spinal cord, which then causes all kinds of stuff like headaches, dizziness, vertigo, eye coordination problems. It’s actually amazing how much better I feel now that I pay attention to keeping my head in the right position to prevent that pressure on my spinal cord. Also quite amazing that no one figured this out back home!

With the increased training of the muscles I’m obviously experiencing a lot of muscle soreness. I’m often surprised where it hurts; it’s a new surprise every morning. Luckily with the all the extra activity, there are now also regular massages, muscle relaxation exercises, and acupuncture to release tension.

In the meantime all the regular treatment is also continuing; manipulation and loosening of my spine, jaw manipulation, nerve stretching (my least favourite, it doesn’t really hurt but feels horrible), exercises with laser pen on my head, pulling of my head in all kinds of ways, moving of skull parts. Some pictures below, all taken by Colin last week.

I’m also starting to settle into the Moraira life. Half the shops and restaurants are now closed until February / March but it’s still almost warm enough to swim in the sea, certainly nice enough to hike and bike. I bike to the clinica every day but still have to be very careful with biking because of my neck. Hiking is much better and I did a nice hike to the old watchtower that overlooks the harbour.

The apartment is now almost ready to live in. It was gross to the max when I first moved in. The gas stove was so full of gunk that no gas came out when it was turned on. The shower hose exploded after just over a week of use, I installed a new one. The so-called water cooker turns out to be a milk warmer (a regular household item here, who knew…) so does not warm water, or milk, over 80 degrees. I also bought a roll of cheapish fabric from the market and covered all sofas and chairs because they were too gross to sit on - can be recycled in my Dad’s house when I leave. Good enough for a month and a bit!

Following the line with a laser pen on my head

Training neck muscles in the neck machine

Rowing exercise

Testing the strength and coordination of my neck muscles

Head lifting exercise

Acupuncture to release muscle tension

Jaw manipulation

Arm exercises - the trick is to do them without moving my head

Back on track

Eight weeks in and I’m finally getting to the point where I feel I’m actually working on recovering from my whiplash! I moved into my own furnished apartment in Moraira. It’s a dump but who cares, it’s mine! No more being chased out of the house by Dad’s scary girlfriend (now ex), no more depending on Dad to drive me around, no more fitting in with other people’s schedules.

Yesterday I started a new schedule at the clinic - one hour of physio and one hour of exercises in the gym every day instead of only and hour and half every other day. Now that I live close by I can cycle to the clinic quite easily. The medication to reduce the inflammation in my neck and head is working well (downside is that it’s making me swell up like an overinflated zeppelin) and there is major improvement already visible from the physio and exercises so far.

I can feel the increased intensity of the treatment in my neck, head and shoulders, which was expected. But overall I'm already feeling so much better than when I first came here, it's incredible. The vertigo and headaches are almost gone. I don't feel hungover in the mornings anymore (not related to cheap and cheerful Spanish wine, the hangover feeling is there all the time and clearly not related in any way to alcohol intake!) and there is major improvement in my eye coordination, reading and looking at screens!

I also finally had a blood test done. Mainly to confirm that I’m not menopausal as some doctor back home suggested. He said the insomnia, problems controlling body temperature, irritability and other symptoms were clearly “age related”. Good to know that clearly they aren’t. They are all part of the whiplash and inflammation of the brain membranes and all have improved a lot since I started the treatment here. Well, except for the insomnia. The only thing that the test indicated was a typical vegetarian vitamin B12 deficiency but that will soon be solved after another trip to the pharmacy.

Last week Colin came to visit. Unfortunately by the time he arrived I had not moved into the apartment yet. He had to endure a couple of days of chaos; we had to stay with my Dad’s friend  for a few days while I waited for the apartment to be ready and there was still lots to do to get my Dad and his house sorted out. The good thing was that having an extra pair of hands in the house - and those hands actually being male hands - has helped my Dad get past the idea that women are cleaning the house while he sits there reading his book and smoking cigars. He finally started participating in the cleaning and tidying. The house is all ready now and he’s finally moved in!

In the end there was time for some fun stuff and Colin and I climbed the Piñon d’Ilfach, a landmark rock and nature park in Calpe, went swimming and snorkeling a couple of times, kayaked under the cave of Les Rates Penadas (where a famous bat colony lives), visited the wine co-op in Jalon, went to some markets, ate too many churros, tapas and other food and drove through the mountains to the castle of Guadelest. No time for more hiking, sailing, stand-up paddling and visiting Valencia. Oh well, there might be a next time.

Dad is recovering quite well from the break-up and starting to enjoy his new life in his own house. He’s catching up with lots of friends that he didn’t see for a long time and he’s slowly starting to work on his neglected laboratory and library again. He’s back at work after a weeklong break and overall seems quite a bit happier than when I first arrived here. There is even talk about a weekend trip to Madrid to celebrate some time soon! 

The view after an evening swim at Albir beach

Celebratory drinks and tapas on my Dad's patio after almost finishing cleaning the house

Tasty pre-dinner snacks on the beach in Moraira - sangria, deep fried crispy fishes, octopus salad and fish croquettes

Kayaking in El Portet bay (cave of Les Rates Penadas on right hand side of big rock in the background)

This year's Halloween outfits

Testing the flavours of cheap and cheerful at the Jalon wine co-op

The view from my apartment