One of the highlights of 2014 our May wedding!
Facebook, Twitter, The ABC News- everybody has a review of the past year. So I thought, on New Years Eve, I too, would review 2014.
It’s been a very busy year both professionally and personally for our family. My practice is busy which is sometimes sad for the patients who climb their mountain and say “Yep! I’ll get up the courage and see a physiotherapist about my urgency/frequency/leakage/prolapse/pelvic pain/sexual dysfunction”….. only to be told by one of my secretaries that there is a considerable wait for that first appointment. Still once that first step has been taken- literally that is the hardest step to take and is the first day of hopefully a resolution to some of those distressing issues.
About that wait – there are plenty of things to read while waiting for your first appointment, including my blog – yes this will be Blog number 150– pretty significant if you ask me; because if you’d said 3 years after commencing writing the blog it would be up to 150 blogs, I wouldn’t have believed you/me. The blogs are a bit unwieldy now- so many, that it’s hard to read back to some of the oldies but (I think) goodies. But if you hit the category boxes up the top (such as prolapse/ pelvic floor safe exercising etc), all the related blogs in that category will come up. Another good idea is to check out one of my books from my pelvic floor recovery website. The number of ladies who have purchased their book and by the time they get to their appointment they have already made significant improvements with their problems, just simply by implementing some of the suggestions in the books, is quite amazing. Remember the things you can do to improve urinary incontinence, manage your prolapse or solve your long-term constipation issues are not rocket science!
The biggest achievement this year has been the revision of both my books with new editions of both being published in August. There is an expanded chapter on prolapse and generally new tidbits all through both books. Also I made some minor changes to the names of both books. Book 1 is now called Pelvic Floor Recovery: Physiotherapy for Gynaecological Repair Surgery and Book 2 is called Pelvic Floor Essentials. Dr Hannah Krause has written the foreword for the new edition of Book 1 – and I thank her for that. I felt it important to use it as another opportunity to highlight the wonderful work that Hannah and Professor Judith Goh do in Africa for patients requiring fistula repair. The details of how to donate to this amazing cause are listed within that foreword.
I have done quite a few public and professional lectures for the Continence Foundation of Australia and attended the National Conference in Cairns which was stimulating and informative. Next year looks like it will be just as busy with talks, with quite a few scheduled already. I have also continued to be very active on Facebook and Twitter with lots of information about pelvic floor dysfunction and duly apologize to all my friends about the constant feed of ‘pelvic floor related’ articles- but hec! “That’s what I do“. You may all thank me when you’re in the nursing home in years to come, dry and confident.
On a personal note- it has been a very happy and busy year for our family. Our eldest daughter got married in May (who will forget the drama of selecting the right dress) and it was such a happy occasion. The lead-up was hectic but the effort put in by everyone (especially Karen and Sophie) made it a truly memorable event. My son also graduated this year with his Masters of Architecture and this signaled the last of my kids completing university- a truly significant event. I am hoping that continued sales of the books will assist in the future, in ensuring all my grandkids will also get that privilege.
We had a brilliant trip to Italy to visit the Venice Architectural Biennale and to celebrate Bob’s 60th birthday-visiting 3 countries, eating some magnificent food and whilst having a fantastic holiday, travel always allows us to remember how nice it is to come home.
On a final note – this New Years Eve will be the first one in (I’m not sure exactly how many- but maybe as many as) 29 years that we haven’t celebrated it with our dear friends Anne and Mike, Von and Ed. Circumstances have meant that we will all be in different parts of the world this year on New Year’s Eve. But I am promising them now that come 10 pm tonight I will definitely be putting pen to paper and coming up with 15 or so resolutions to live my life by for the next 12 months. The usual one will head the list- (I must NOT put on any more weight and it would be excellent if I could get back to that May wedding day weight that I promised would definitely not go back on again) and there will be others to challenge me (finish that next book) but most importantly to cherish every moment with family and friends because the last few weeks of this year have reinforced for some the fragility of life itself.
Happy New Year everyone and here’s to a safe, healthy and joyous 2015.
2014 in Review
