Back pain

It started yesterday late afternoon. I had just finished the module I was working on when I began feeling mild discomfort from the bottom part of my left shoulder blade. It felt similar to the pain of having had my back exposed to cold night air for too long.

It progressively worsen during the night. From mild discomfort, it soon became unbearably painful at times. Unlike my previous back aches that stop aching if I lie down, this one actually persists even when lying in bed. There was practically no position or pose I could take that would make the pain go away. I was able to position myself so that the pain would at least be bearable.

I also noticed that inhaling deeply also intensified the pain. It seemed that any movement of my lower left back ribs triggered the stabbing pain. All I can do was wince and really grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming in agony. I had hoped that the pain would be gone the next morning, but no. If anything, it seemed worse. Anything I did made me wince in pain.

It was a difficult day at work today. I was making groaning noises at my desk as I’m coding. Most of my office mates were concerned for my well being, I’m glad to report. They were trying to convince me to just go home and get some rest or go to a doctor to have my back checked out.

I know that it was most likely just a muscle strain from bad posture or something but I decided to go see my doctor anyway. Just to be sure. Might as well go since I was long due for a check-up anyway. I was supposed to go back to my doctor for a follow-up check-up after three months. That was back in February last year. So I was a bit embarrassed to show my face there again but I could not have my back not checked out.

At the doctor’s clinic this afternoon, the doctor confirmed that it was just a form of muscle strain. The medical term for it escapes me right now. He said that I could either see a physiotherapist or just try to weather it out. The other piece of good news I got from going to my doctor was my blood pressure dropped since my last visit last year. And this was despite my being stressed about the pain I’m feeling.

Now, I’m home and the back is still painful. It seems like sitting really straight is the only position that provides the least pain. I’m tired from enduring the pain and I just want to lie down and sleep but I sort of dread lying down. I just hope tomorrow is a better day.

All mixed up

To err is human and this saying has been brought home to us by two incidents in the past few weeks. The first one involved incorrect entries in the group certificates given to us by our employers. There was an entry in one column that was reported as a separate income but was actually already included in our gross income. This meant the amount of tax withheld from our salary each pay period was not nearly enough and that we would have to pay more tax. In fact, hubby and I have almost a grand tax payable when we filed our returns last month.

The good news about this PAYG amendment is that we probably would not have to pay as much tax as originally computed. The bad news is that if we decide to go back to the tax agents for them to take care of the amendments, we would have to pay $45 each for the appointment. This would also mean more documentation and the possibility of mistakes and confusion cropping up in the future. What a hassle! However, there’s really not much we can do except do the extra work ourselves. We decided we’d just print the amendment form from the tax office’s website, fill that out, attach the necessary documents and hope that everything goes well after that.

Another instance when someone else’s mistake created more work for us involved our health care claims history. I consulted with my osteopath a fortnight ago and had my claim for insurance coverage rejected by our health care provider. Both my osteopath and I were puzzled, I’ve only had five consultations with her previously and there’s no way I’ve already reached the claims limit for the year. Aside from that, there doesn’t seem to be any other logical reason why my claim should be declined. I SMSed hubby, who coincidentally also had an osteopathy consultation earlier that day, if his claim had also been declined. He said no, his claim went through without any problems.

First thing I did when I got back from the osteopath’s office was to check our health insurance account online. It was then that I discovered that my previous consultations with my osteopath have been entered into hubby’s name. Looking at our claims record, you’d think that hubby goes to two different osteopaths twice a week, most of them even occuring within a day of each other!

I quickly composed an email requesting an amendment of our claims history and asking for the reason why my claim was declined on that day. After several email exchanges, we found out that my osteopath had been incorrectly entering ‘1’ on the HICAPS system, thinking that I am the primary policy holder. In fact, she should have entered ‘2’ to indicate that the claim should be for me, the secondary policy holder. I had to ask my osteopath for a letter stating that it was me who consulted with her all along with a list of the consultation dates and send it to our provider.

As to the question of why my claim was rejected, it didn’t have anything to do with reaching the yearly maximum claim amount allowable at all. The claim was declined because they only allow one claim per person per day. Since hubby had already claimed for that day with his own osteopathy session and because my osteopath is trying to claim under his name as usual, the request for payment was declined. I was asked by the health care insurer to fill out a claim form, send them the receipt and post it all via snailmail to have my last claim honoured.

When I checked our online records today, the request for the amendment of the claims had gone through yesterday. All fine and dandy? Well, no, there was still one incorrect entry on the adjustment they made. Now they have charged hubby’s last osteopathy session to me and have totally ignored my separate claim for that same day. Argh, why is this so difficult!?!

All this grief just because someone else wasn’t paying attention. Perhaps I should send these people a bill for lost time and productivity and then maybe they’ll be more careful next time.

Back pain and finding the right one

One day several months ago, I woke up with an intense pain on the right side of my lower back. I usually sleep on my side and swing my feet to the floor first thing then push my upper body off the bed to get up but I couldn’t get out of bed that way that morning. Trying to do so only brings tears to my eyes so I had to literally roll myself out of bed. By the time I was standing up, it’s obvious that there’s something wrong as I couldn’t stand straight at all – my lower body would look like normal (straight and all) but my upper body was conspicuously leaning to the left. Attempting to straighten my upper body would immediately cause pain to my right side. What a sight I might have been – the leaning tower of Raquel. Walking was slow and painful and attempting to run is even worse as there seem to be no support at all at the right side of my lower back. I didn’t immediately go to a doctor and just took it easy for the day, good thing it happened on a weekend.

By the next day, I was still leaning to the left and the pain hasn’t subsided any. I decided to go to a bulk-billing GP near where we live and consult as to what’s wrong with me and what I could do about it. The doctor took one look at me and told me to go see an osteopath. Say what? What the heck is an osteopath? He explained that they are practitioners who specialises with the musculoskeletal system. He said that they’re quite good and should be able to sort me out.

A quick search on the internet later led me to the Australian Osteopathic Association’s website where you could search for a practicing osteopath near you. I picked one about two blocks away from where I work and went in for my first consultation. The first consultation took an hour with half of it spent on a discussion of what my primary complaint was (I’m all crooked!) and other things that might have contributed to my plight (flat feet, sitting all day in front of a computer, almost no exercise). The second part of the consultation, the doctor had me take off my top and dressed on a green hospital gown opened at the back. He (yup, it’s a he) massaged my lower back while applying some warm oil and proceeded to chat me up. In between small talk, he’d explain what he’s doing and let me know what to expect (I’m going to crack your back now, just relax, okay?) Overall, the experience was a pleasant one, I mean, who wouldn’t want to get a massage? I was still crooked by the end of the session but he said it’ll take a day or two to settle. I scheduled another session anyway thinking I could always cancel if I didn’t feel like going back.

Two days later, I was able to walk normally (read:straight). I went back for my second session wondering what else could be done as the pain in my lower back was gone. I talked to the osteopath and we discussed the ache on my knee and the pain at the bottom of my right foot which had been there for a long time now. That time he had to work on my lower body and had me get out of my jeans as well as my top. I was still dressed in the green gown and had a towel draped on my lower body but having to switch from lying on my back to lying face-down was difficult trying to keep the towel and green gown in place. Additionally, I realised that I’ve all but ran out of small talk (he’s into sports and I’m clueless on that topic) and he seem uncomfortable with my silence (he was asking different questions on various topics). Needless to say, I was thinking of looking for another osteopath and didn’t go back after my third session with him.

As with all things that has no real urgency, I promptly forgot about seeing an osteopath again until I had another bout of lower back pain about a fortnight ago. This time, it was worse that the first one and was brought on by a weekend of re-arranging furniture about. I woke up with my upper body leaning to the left and I had to roll out of bed again. I got dressed and was almost out the door to go to work when I felt a spasm on the right side of my back and crumpled on all fours on the floor. Realising there’s no way I could walk a few steps without doubling over, I had to call in sick and rested the whole day. The pain didn’t subside at all the next day but I went to work anyway and had to find an osteopath in the city who could see me that day. The lady osteopath I saw that day was okay but wasn’t as good as the first and she charges more too. She gave me a massage to help with my lower back pain as well and recommended I take some pain killers. She wanted me to come in for a second session but as she was going away on holidays, she recommended that I see her male co-practitioner. With the higher fee and having to get used to another practitioner again, I decided I want to try someone else elsewhere.

Last week, I booked an initial consultation with another lady practitioner whose clinic is closer to where I work. She charges less than the other lady practitioner ($80 for the first consultation and $60 for the subsequent ones) and she’s quite good with her hands as well (although still not as good as the first osteopath). However, unlike the first two practitioners, she recommended strengthening and stretching exercises and trying to correct my posture. She mentioned that a lot of my problems could be caused by my slumping when I sit, leaning my head forward when working in front of the computer and not getting enough exercise. Last week, she asked me to do neck stretches, a lunge and had me sit on an exercise ball whenever I use my computer at home. I have to say that it’s quite difficult to slump or lean forward when using my laptop at home while balancing myself on an exercise ball. This week, she told me to do neck strengthening exercises and advised me to sit straighter at work with my back resting against the back of the chair. She also mentioned pilates and although I’m not considering going to classes yet, she got me curious enough to rent out a pilates DVD.

Getting into a professional/medical relationship with a practitioner isn’t exactly the same as finding someone to date but it does have some similarities. Since it’s most likely going to be a long-term relationship, I want someone who is good at what they do, preferably close to where I work and someone I’m comfortable with. So is my current osteopath the right one? I’m not sure yet but one thing’s for sure, I’m quite comfortable with her and she’s easier to talk to but I would readily go back to my first osteopath in a pinch.

Went to an Osteopath

Around four years ago, I was slouching on my computer chair working hard at coding software. I slouched so much that I was almost lying on my back on my chair. After a long continuous stretch of typing, I decided to stretch a little and straighten up my sitting position. And then it hit me.

A warm stabbing pain shot up through the back of my neck and my shoulders. The pain was worse than all the stiff necks I’ve ever had in my life combined. After a few minutes, the pain subsided a little but it lingered.

At first, I thought that the pain would eventually go away just like stiff necks did. A week later and I still had the awful pain in my neck and shoulders. Raquel massaged the area a few times already during the first week but it didn’t lessen the pain. Maybe I would have better results if I had the massaging done by someone trained at it.

I went to a chiropractor to have my neck and shoulder looked at. I regretted ever going there. After my consultation with the chiropractor, I think the pain was actually worse. During the session, I felt like I was being tortured by some sadistic maniac who used his pointy elbows as his primary implements of torture. I never went back.

The pain eventually lessened to a degree where I don’t really feel it anymore. The pain actually remained but I just got used to it that I was able to ignore it for most of the time.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, Raquel had been having problems with her back so she went to see a doctor who specialised in Osteopathy. It was only then that I discovered that there is an actual branch of medicine that deals with these kinds of problems. I figured I should go to an osteopath and see if he or she can relieve the minor pain on my neck and shoulders.

During my first session, the doctor asked where it basically hurts the most. I pointed out that I had more pain in my left shoulder than I do anywhere else. She concentrated in that area and when she finished, the pain was gone! I couldn’t believe it! It felt so good to not feel any pain after having to endure it for so long.

I returned for my second session just this week and she had essentially removed the pain I have felt on my right shoulder and my lower back. Amazing!

I’ll be back there next week for my third visit but it’ll probably be the last as it seems like I have no more pain I can complain about. That and I start work at my new job after that week. The new job may not be as lax with lunch hour breaks as with my current employer.

I just wish I had known about osteopaths a whole lot earlier.

Medical Costs?

A reader wrote:

Geejay,

Can you add more details for us newbies in Oz — how much do these checkups cost? Is that a public or private hospital?

How much did the checkup cost? How do people normally pay for such things? Is it from personal finances, through work medical insurance, etc?

Vince

Good questions, Vince. For the costs of a medical checkup, here is a rough guideline based off the consultation fees list for the GP I go to here in Melbourne:
Standard (30 mins) = $154.00

Of course, different doctors charge different rates. Some even allow for Bulk Billing (they have a sign outside their clinic if that’s the case). That means, if you have a Medicare card (all migrants and citizens do), the service is essentially free. The GPs that offer Bulk Billing seem competent enough so you shouldn’t be worried to seek their medical advice.

The list I have isn’t even entirely accurate. When I went to see my GP recently, it was roughly a 15-minute session and I only paid $50 for it. So, I guess the fee gradually increases relative to the length of the consultation.

You can then take the receipt afterwards to the nearest Medicare office to get a rebate. I’m not sure exactly how much money you’d get back but you can maybe check the Medicare website for more information. If you are new to Australia and need more information about Medicare, here is their Information Kit page.

For medical checkups, you go set up and appointment with a GP (general practitioner), what we would maybe call a family doctor back in the Philippines. They would have their own clinics and sometimes two or more of them come together and work from a private medical centre. Just to be clear, this medical centre is not a hospital.

Unlike in the Philippines, you will unlikely be able to just drop by a doctor at the hospital for a checkup unless its to see a specialist. Even then, you would probably be referred to the specialist by a GP first.

With private hospitals, you pay out of your own pocket whenever you wanted to be treated in one. Public hospital services are free so you may want to go there instead. The good news is that the public hospitals here are very reliable so you wouldn’t feel the need to go to a private hospital unlike in the Philippines. The advantage of going private probably is that you’ll get the attention you want because there’ll be less people going there.

I know that in the Philippines, it is common that the employer provide some form of medical benefits scheme. Here, it is not so common (if at all). When you get hospitalised in a public hospital, you don’t have to worry much because Medicare should cover it anyway.

Lastly, in case you are wondering, the abdominal ultrasound service I had on Thursday cost $190 and I had to pay it out of my pocket. I’ll probably get some rebate from Medicare later this week when I find the time to drop by their office in the city. So, yeah, pathology tests are usually expensive and you will have to pay for it yourself.

Of course, I’m only speaking from experience here so I could be mistaken in some of the things I’ve written. Still, this should give you a vague idea of what to expect.

Ultrasound Got Nothing

This time around, I remembered to fast before my scheduled ultrasound appointment at a hospital in East Melbourne. The appointed time was 11.30 am early today. Since I woke up at around 7.30 am, that’s four hours of not being able to eat and not having breakfast. I actually went on without food for about five hours plus because I only had lunch at around 12.30 pm.

On the way to the hospital, I started to get a little nervous. What if they found something in the ultrasound scan? What if there are indeed gall bladder stones? What if it’s something worse? Yeah, I tend to worry easy and I tend worry a lot. I found a bit of comfort when I prayed for my problem to be nothing more than some weird muscle spasm.

I got off the tram at the tram stop along Victoria Parade in East Melbourne and saw a hospital across the street. I still had 20 minutes before my appointment. At the hospital, the receptionist pointed me to where their radiology department was. When I got there, I waited in line to be served at the department’s reception area. After maybe five minutes, it was my turn. It was only then that I found out that this wasn’t the hospital I should have gone to. The hospital I wanted had the same name but was a block away from Victoria Parade. Why have two hospitals near each other with the same name?

Anyway, I rushed out of there and jogged to the other hospital as I didn’t want to be late for my appointment. I still got there with ten minutes to spare so it was all good. The receptionist asked for my medicare card and she punched me into their system. I was asked to wait at the reception area for my name to be called. Meanwhile, I preoccupied myself by watching the news on the TV there. I didn’t want to get all nervous again, after all.

A little past 11.30, a radiology personnel called out my name and led me to the ultrasound lab area. She asked me to take of my shirt and trousers and to wear the white gown at the dressing room. I thought incredulously to myself: I need to remove my pants to get my upper abdomen scanned? Well, she must know what she’s saying so I didn’t argue. I stripped to my underpants and wore the white gown with the opening and the tie strings behind me like I see it worn in TV medical dramas (and that PC & Mac Ad when PC was about to upgrade to Vista).

When the lady who would actually do the ultrasound finally came to fetch me, she asked that I wear the gown the other way around and wear the opening in front so that she can scan my upper abdomen easily. I did that and proceeded to the ultrasound room. She told me that I didn’t needed to take my pants off. Great. I told her that’s what I was thinking but the other lady told me to remove my trousers. Ah well. I don’t mind being half-naked in front of medical personnel as much any more specially when my mind is worried about more important things like the outcome of the ultrasound procedure.

I laid on the bed and she got out that gel they put on the skin surface where the ultrasound probe thingy would be used. I was fully expecting the gel to be cold but I was pleasantly surprised when it actually felt warm. Hot, actually. It seems like the gel containers were being stored in a heated place.

The lady started to really press the probe hard against my upper abdomen (probably to get through the layers of fat I have stored there) to get a good picture of what’s going on in there. It was then that I realised that the area where I had felt pain when pressed against was now only barely noticable. I looked at the monitor as the lady swept the probe back and forth across my upper abdomen and taking snap shots of my internal organs. It was facinating to see. I even asked her how she could make heads or tails out of what’s being shown in the monitor. It looked all like noise to me. “Eighteen years of doing this, that’s how,” she joked in response. All through the procedure, I was really tempted to ask the lady, “so, is it a boy or a girl?” but thought better of it.

In the end, she told me she couldn’t find anything that could be stones or obstructions. If I had gall stones, I could’ve already passed it and it wasn’t there anymore. In short, she said it’s all clear. If I still have problems, it would definitely be something else and not gall stones or kidney stones. I’m glad she said I also have no kidney stones because I was always thinking that there might be stones in my kidney and one of these days it will break off, proceed to my bladder and cause a painful attack.

It was great news, for sure. My prayers were answered and I was very happy to be out of there. It’s certainly a lucky day for me.

Speaking of luck, when I got out of the hospital, the sky outside was so dark. I hoped then that it wouldn’t rain just yet as I didn’t have an umbrella with me. When I finally got to the shaded tram stop, the rain suddenly began to pour. And pour hard it did! That was close. In about three minutes, my tram arrived and I got on board. I was to meet Raquel along Collins Street near where the tram stops. Just when the tram got to my stop, the rain stopped, too. Very nice. I didn’t need an umbrella after all.

Fasting Required

Today was my scheduled appointment at the radiology lab to get an ultrasound of my upper abdomen. According to my doctor, it might take 48 hours after the test to get the result. Since I wanted to know what’s wrong with me before the long weekend, I booked the ultrasound at the earliest possible date. That is, this morning at around 10.30 am. That meant that I would know the result of the test by Thursday, a day before Good Friday.

The ultrasound procedure itself should only take 30 minutes, according to the radiology lab person I talked to over the phone. She also told me to be in 15 minutes before the appointment so that I would have the time to fill out the paper work. Since it should take about 20 minutes to get there from my office by tram, I should leave the office at about 9.50 am, just to be safe.

One last thing she said that I should fast for eight hours before the procedure. Probably to ensure that the test wouldn’t get any false positives due to the food I may ingest prior to the ultrasound scan. No problem, I thought. I only really need to fast for about three hours rather than eight because I’d still be asleep for the first five hours of the required eight.

I’ve set the alarms on my mobile and on my PDA to ensure that I wouldn’t forget about the appointment. So, this morning, I was fully aware of the appointment and I have already planned how to get to the lab in the most efficient way possible.

I did forget one thing though. I forgot about the fasting part. I ate breakfast without thinking. I only remembered about the fasting when I got to our office. I blew it. I couldn’t get my ultrasound done today because I forgot to fast.

I had to reschedule the appointment to 11.30 am Thursday morning. I was offered to come in tomorrow at 1.45 pm but that meant I would be fasting for more than half a day. That would just be too difficult as I have a lot of programming work to do and I get headaches when I’m hungry.

So now, I’ll only get to find out what’s going on in my upper abdomen next week at the earliest. The only good news right now is that the pain and tightening on my upper right abdomen seem to be lessening. Hopefully, it’ll completely be gone in a day or two.

Either way, I’d still go through with the ultrasound. Better safe than sorry. I just have to remember not to eat anything on Thursday morning.

Galling Pain

I wasn’t able to get a good night’s sleep last Saturday night due to a very uncomfortable pain radiating from my upper right abdomen. It was past midnight and yet I still felt quite full and bloated. After lying down in bed, the feeling changed to mild discomfort in my upper abdomen while I began to feel stiffness in my back.

At first, I thought I could just ignore the growing pain. After a few more minutes, I was beginning to get the chills on top of the pain. I suspected that I was having a bad case of indigestion, heartburn or food poisoning. Either way, I believed it was all just going to pass. That belief wasn’t any comfort at the time though.

I tried various ways of alleviating the pain. Since it seemed like burping helped reduce the pain, I tried sipping a fizzy drink but that only made worse. I even tried forcing myself to vomit to get rid of possible excess food in my stomach that may be causing the problem. But I just couldn’t get myself to vomit. Finally, Raquel rubbed Tiger Balm on my tummy and I took a tablet of De-Gas and one or the other seemed to have helped. The pain subsided enough so that I was able to get some sleep.

The next day, I felt much better. However, I could still feel a bit of tightness in my upper right abdomen. This sensation lasted the whole day but it wasn’t too bad to keep me at home. I hoped that the problem would pass by the end of the day but it lingered. Last night, I tried to press on the area of my abdomen where I was feeling the tightness and discovered that the pain, though still mild, increased. That couldn’t be good.

Today, I could still feel the mild pain on my upper right abdomen if I press on it or if I inhale deeply enough. It’s the third day and I’m a little worried now. After doing some research on the Internet, I discovered that I could possibly have gall bladder stones! Yep. First, kidney stones, now gall bladder stones! Lucky me.

Hopefully, that’s not the case at all. Just to be safe, I quickly made an appointment with my GP to have my problem checked. After answering a few of the doctor’s questions and some quick tests, he believed that I may, in fact, have gall bladder stones. If that be the case, I would have to have my gall bladder removed! I have a friend here who had recently had her gall bladder removed and she said it wasn’t such a big deal. Also, it’s supposedly a non-essential organ but still!

However, there were some symptoms that didn’t quite fit. According to him, a very 10/10 (a ten out of ten) pain and nausea are usually associated with a gall bladder stone attack. My pain is about 3/10 at worst and I actually don’t feel nauseous at all. He said that it could still just be some weird inflammation that could go away. To be sure, I’ll be having an ultrasound performed on my upper abdomen tomorrow morning.

If the test is positive for gall bladder stones, I may lose my gall bladder. If it is negative, then something else is causing the mild pain in the upper abdomen. But what could it be? How do I get it cured? Well, if it isn’t gall bladder stones, I hope the ultrasound would still be able to help in getting a proper diagnosis of my problem. In the end, I’m just hoping for the results to turn out negative and for the pain to go away by itself. One can always hope.

Let’s Play Some Badminton!

From the emails and comments I got on this blog, I know that there are many Pinoys reading this who have just recently migrated to Melbourne or will be moving here real soon. And the most common thing I’ve noticed on the emails I got was that they don’t have any friends or family here in Melbourne and that they are looking to make new friends.

If you happen to be in this situation, I can at least recommend that you join us every weekend in a friendly game of badminton at the MSAC in Albert Park. You don’t have to be great at it to join. It’s okay even if you are a complete beginner. There are a lot of us who aren’t that good at badminton, too. Although, I have to warn you that there are a few (me not included) who are quite skilled already. Anyway, the important thing is to have fun and to make new friends with other Filipinos there who are just as eager to meet you.

So, are you the least bit interested? Just let me know by leaving a comment here and let’s play some badminton!

Shooting Some Hoops

My family had a basketball half-court in our backyard when I was growing up. Having one helped kept me slim during my high school years. It also helped me make some new friends at school as a lot of them would come home with me on Fridays so that we could shoot some hoops in our court. When the old house got extended, the court had to go to make room. I stopped playing basketball regularly after that.

These days, I only get to enjoy shooting hoops when Raquel and I are at the local gaming arcade where we can play those timed basketball hoop games. The higher the score you get, the more tickets you win that you can exchange for gift items.

I realised that whenever we play a dozen rounds of that game, I get a workout. I thought it was great because shooting hoops never felt like working out to me. The only downside was that each game costs $2. A dozen games between Raquel and me set us back $24 each time. I figured, there must be a cheaper way to shoot some hoops.

Yeah, maybe I can just go to the nearby local basketball courts and pay for an hourly fee meanwhile sharing it with others. That’s okay, I guess. Except, being all rusty for not having played for many years now, I don’t want to make a complete fool of myself. Besides, I couldn’t do that on a daily basis. It would be great if I could play a bit of ball everyday to help me lose some pounds.

In the end, we just bought a basketball ring with stand at Rebel Sport yesterday. We weren’t after a professional standard basketball ring. All we wanted was a hoop we can shoot at. So, we picked one of the cheapest rings around. It isn’t that big but it’s just as well because we want it to fit under our pergola’s roof. The only problem I noticed was that the pergola roof wasn’t high enough and I kept hitting the roof beams whenever I tried to shoot high.

Anyway, today, we were able to spend half an hour shooting some hoops and running around after the ball afterwards. It was a cool workout and I didn’t even notice the time pass. At last, a form of exercise I can enjoy.