Anorexia

I went for a swim this afternoon, it was an effort, I was feeling so sluggish and needed to get myself out of it. What with my dodgy knee and my broken toe, I couldn't sit down and get in the water from the side, I had to use the steps and walk down them backwards, as you see a few people do, I have never been able to see the point of it before, that is until today.

It was while I was there just relaxing in the spa that I met a lady, you know me, I'm always up for a chat. The lady was showing me some small tattoos that she had recently got done, I just happened to say, you have ever such tiny wrists, she said that she had once had anorexia, she was better now, but still had anorxic tendancies, she said she didn't mind talking about it, and proceeded to tell her story. It had started when she was in her early teens. Her parents had a very troubled marriage and it affected her and her sister very badly. The lady I was with, the anorexia, and her sister had grown up not being able to show her feelings in relationships. The anorexia had lasted for a period of 15 years, at the lowest point the lady weighed only three and a half stone. It was at this point that she very nearly lost her life, and the point that made her want to fight the anorexia. Up until then she had looked at the anorexia as her friend and the people who were trying to help her were the enemy for trying to take it away from her.The lady described the turning point as "the night she died". She was in hospital for about a year and a half receiving treatment, which she said was a very hard time, it seemed easier to die than to eat. Eventually she won the battle, and by the time she left hospital she weighed seven stone. Which was quite an achievement. The lady told me she is aware that she has ruined her life, the job she had she could no longer do, and also that she no longer has a relationship with her Mother. Although she loves her Mother, because she is her Mother, at the time when she was at her lowest point, all she wanted was her Mother to put her arms around her and tell her that she loved her, and she couldn't do it. The lady is now 40 years old.

I'm so glad that I have the ability to make time to talk to people. I'm not sure if I have helped her at all, but I certainly learned a lot.

These kind of things make you realize how lucky you are ........... and that at the end of the day a broken toe is just pip-squeak. Even if I do still feel like crap. ;o)