In a earlier put up about my neck surgical procedure in early March of this yr, There and Again Once more, My Journey by way of Neck Surgical procedure, I expressed some concern about my potential to show the Alexander Approach whereas my left arm was nonetheless weak and I wanted to put on a neck brace which restricted head and neck motion.
The surgical procedure – a laminectomy and spinal fusion – was necessitated by exteme, partially congenital, stenosis in my higher neck that was severely constricting my spinal wire. As I wrote within the earlier put up:
“I knew from speaking with one other instructor who had an identical operation years in the past that there is likely to be some unfavorable judgement from different academics, and maybe even from my college students. What good is the Approach – or me! – if this could occur to somebody who has been instructing for nearly 40 years?”
Because it turned out, I needn’t have nervous about my instructing potential, or unfavorable judgements.
Due to the Covid19 pandemic, in particular person instructing was not potential and, like many different academics now, my college students are all on Zoom. I used to be lucky in that I’ve been utilizing Zoom (and earlier than that Skype) for a decade or so and was very comfy working in that surroundings.
Certainly, I used to be instructing most of my college students on-line even earlier than my operation. All of them know I’d had the surgical procedure as a result of I’d needed to cancel their early March appointments. However I used to be nervous about how new college students would react to my brace, which as you may see within the photograph under, was exhausting to overlook!
My technique was to warn them forward of time. To my amazement, not one requested about it. And when, a couple of weeks in the past, I ended sporting it whereas instructing, not one commented on it’s absence!
The one instructing drawback I had once I initially returned to instructing, was that my general vitality degree was nonetheless low and I wanted to watch out to not schedule too many lessens a day. On the similar time, demand for distance classes elevated dramatically and so I needed to create a ready record.
As I write this in early June, I not want to make use of a neck brace in any respect, and my left arm has regained a lot of it’s earlier vary of motion, though it’s nonetheless weaker than my proper arm. My most urgent concern at this level is: “When will I have the ability to get a haircut?” We’re nonetheless in lock down mode and so my look is taking a backseat to my security.
And as for potential unfavorable judgements from others, the response to my first weblog was overwhelmingly constructive and supportive.
I’m, after all, nonetheless adjusting to the brand new actuality that my vertebrae from C3 to T2 are fused and that does restrict head motion, significantly sideways rotation. So I’m engaged on methods to incorporate my complete torso when acceptable.
I’ve been utilizing my Alexander Approach information from the beginning. And now that the brace is gone, I really feel the usefulness of the Approach will develop into much more necessary. I plan to jot down a observe up weblog describing that course of.
Within the meantime, I’m grateful the operation was successful, and {that a} main a part of my restoration is over.