The weather continues to be awful, as is the way of February. This was taken a week or so back.
Status:
Had my second session with the occupational therapist from the chronic fatigue centre today. The first one was a bit heavy with lots of questions from me and some big decisions to make. This time the decisions had been made and I didn’t have that many questions, so we could dig into what’s actually going to help.
One of the techniques that we covered in the group sessions last year was keeping an activity diary and coding according to exertion. I’ve found this hard because the same activity can have radically different outcomes depending on context. Sometimes a conversation can be relaxing and restoring, sometimes it can leave me in recovery for a couple of days. The problem, as is so often the case, is I’m overthinking it. So we’re not going to do that.
We’re going to try something called Sensory Ladders which is a toolset used with autistic kids. She’s going to talk me through it in the next session, so I don’t have to worry about it just yet, but it’ll be fun if great-nephew M is also doing them.
It was interesting that she asked if I was OK with the phrase “people with autism” or would prefer something else, which is something I’d not considered. I know people can get quite specific about how they want their autism described but frankly having transitioned from “fuckheaded weirdo” I’m happy with whatever. (They’ve had an increase in autistic people referred to the centre so she’s been on some training sessions.)
Anyway, the main outcome was instructions to “potter around” for the next four weeks. Not to do nothing – that could be counter productive – but to do small things that make me happy. Keep the stress low, keep the energy low, and find that baseline. Medical instructions to potter from a medical professional. Nice.
Overnight listening:
- In Our Time: Henry IV Part 1 - just the right level of hold my attention to send me off to sleep.
Reading:
- Ian Dunt: Starmer’s moment of reckoning - what a week, eh?
- Foundational Texts: Jenny Holzer’s Truisms - I wasn’t as sold as Dan Sinker on Holzer’s work when I saw it the first time, but I think I might appreciate it much more now. I do like how she started just pasting them up on the street.
- Why science fiction can’t predict the future (and why that’s a good thing) - I’m always surprised when people think sci-fi is about the future. It’s set in the future, sure, but it’s totally about the now.
Watching:
- Kermode review The Chronology of Water (5:25) - this looks so good.
- Primitive Technology: Portable pulley blower (14:55)
Telly:
- A Thousand Blows
- The Residence
- The Curling - devastated that Eve Muirhead and her piercing blue eyes have retired.