A Whale of a Tale. Or the Tails of Whales?

Stuff

Surprisingly, I slept for four hours right off the bat on Saturday night, but after that it was fitful rest at best as I could not find a comfortable position. When I woke on Sunday morning the damaged shoulder had tightened up considerably; I had very little range or motion with my left arm. Amy Novotny’s advice was to “ice it for 20 minutes all day long with a one hour break in between and keep it moving (without causing pain).” I did my postural exercises with the balloons and applied ice for 20 minutes as instructed. I talked with Amy and then with Cliff. Amy thinks that I may have some type of fracture somewhere. Dr. Oliver thought that the chances of at least a small fracture were greater than 50%. I decided to head into town for an x-ray.

By the time I left for the Emergency Room at Lake Wales Hospital after lunch I was able to move the arm a bit in several planes. I spent four hours on Sunday afternoon in the ER to learn that “no fracture is visible at this time.” That is not as good news as it sounds because in many cases a small fracture can be a lot better than damage to the rotator cuff. Only time will reveal what is actually going on as the body’s normal reaction is to tighten the muscles surrounding the shoulder joint to protect against further damage.

I had more pain sleeping on Sunday night than I had on Saturday night, but when I woke on Sunday morning, range of motion had increased as compared to when I woke on Saturday. If all goes well I hope to be back in the pool (and photographing again) in 10 days to 14 days. Thanks to all who left get-well-soon messages on the blog yesterday. They seem to be working.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Patrick Sparkman saved $350 on a recent purchase!

The Streak

Today makes two hundred twenty-four days in a row with a new educational blog post! This one took about two hours to prepare (with lots of help thank you very much from Amy Novotny and of course, from Muriel McClellan. With all of my upcoming free time (or not…), the plan right now is to try to break the current record streak of 480 … Good health and good internet connections and my continuing insanity willing.

The Used Gear Page

Action on the Used Gear Page recently has been fantastic. You can see all current listings here.

This image was created by friend/client Muriel McClellan on a recent Antarctica photo cruise with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering (probably at about -1/3 stop as framed: 1/2000 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. The EXIF shows Custom WB; I have no idea where that came from … Image #1: Humpback Whale tail with texture from Daily Textures’ wildlife package

A Whale of a Tale

If someone told you that they could eliminate your knee, ankle, hip, shoulder, hand and arm, and back pain by teaching you to blow up a ballon while doing a series of postural exercises, you would likely think them daffy. Try this one on for size:

When Muriel McClellan took up photography six years ago, she signed up for several Instructional Photo Tours that were co-led by Denise Ippolito and yours truly (and a great teaching team we were). With Denise’s help, Muriel became quite good with filters and effects. Muriel was scheduled for knee replacement surgery in August, 2016 to eliminate the bone-on-bone/arthritic pain in her left knee that had been plaguing her for two years and playing havoc with her photographic plans. Like me, Muriel got to bone-on-bone as a result of having arthroscopic knee surgery. I had two, both on my left knee. When Muriel attended an Arizona Highways weekend photo event dinner in March of 2016, she met physio-therapist Amy Novotny. Amy was co-leading the trip. After hearing Muriel’s story, Amy advised Muriel to see a physical therapist. Later that night, Muriel asked Amy what she did for a living; she said, “I am a physical therapist.” Muriel saw Amy early that summer after a trip to Venice with the aforementioned Ms. Ippolito. At her first appointment, Amy told Muriel about postural restoration therapy that involved blowing up balloons. Understandably, Muriel was quite skeptical; in fact, she thought Amy was crazy. But she decided to give it a try. Knee replacements begin with cutting off the top of your femur with a hacksaw …

After the third session Muriel asked Amy, “How soon do some folks see improvement?” Amy answered, “Sometimes in just a few days.” Muriel said to her, “My knee pain is much much better.” After two weeks of sessions Muriel canceled her knee replacement surgery. In a few weeks her pain was gone completely and a year later it is still very gone. Recently, Muriel did an Antarctica photo cruise and had no pain at all despite some long, tough walks. And she was easily able to get in and out of the zodiacs without any ill effects. All that with no anti-inflammatory drugs.

Muriel continues to do her exercises about three times per week while knowing that the should be doing them more often. In addition, she sees Amy once a week when she is not traveling.

Inspired by Muriel’s success, I have made two trips to Phoenix and done 17 sessions with Amy over the past two months. I will share my story along with Amy’s comments with you here soon. On my first visit Amy stated clearly that I was in as bad shape posture- and joint-wise as any patient she had ever encountered …

This image was created by friend/client Muriel McClellan on a recent Antarctica photo cruise with the hand held Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (at 400mm) and the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. ISO 2000. Evaluative metering (probably at about -1/3 stop as framed: 1/2000 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. Image #2:Humpback Whale tail (with friend). With texture from Daily Textures’ wildlife package

The Tails of Whales

Despite having made six Southern Ocean photo cruises, I do not have any humpback tail images that compare at all with Muriel’s. Please leave a comment and let us know which image you like best.Please include your reasons. As is often the case, though I like them both, I have a clear favorite and will let you know which one it is an why in a future blog post.

Links

You can visit Daily Texture by clicking here.

Click here to learn about applying textures and effects in Denise Ippolito’s e-book, A Guide to Creative Filters & Effects II.

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Typos

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