Bit of an update

The past couple of weeks haven't been that great, mainly due to work-related stuff (and a minor existential crisis - well, sort of). But one thing does seem to be going quite well -the BP. I know I'm at a stage where you don't see big overnight improvements, but I have definitely noticed some minor improvements over the past couple of weeks. Not sure exactly what to attrbute this to - I'd like to think it has something to the hour of massage and exercise I've been doing every day for the past 6 weeks - the massage has definitely helped loosen things up, I was dubious about the exercises, as they just seemed either too effortless or absolutely impossible to do, depending on the muscles that I was supposed to use - but perhaps they are helping, I've also added several movements to the ones that I was prescribed. One thing that is probably giving me a false sense of improvement is the botox, it's got to the stage where the initial 'shocked rabbit effect' of the botox has worn off, but the muscles are still sufficiently paralysed to inhibit abnormal movement. So, as the botox wears off, I know that I mightn't look as good as I do now, but I'm sure that the exercises and massage will have provided some lasting improvement in some areas. All I know, is that my face feels so much better than it did 6 weeks ago. I still feel stiffness in the left cheek, but it's loosened up to the point that I can have a conversation without thinking about it constantly. One thing I've learnt from this rehabilitation experience is that I have a lot more self-discipline than I thought - a year ago, I couldn't have imagined myself knuckling down to do ANYTHING for an hour a day, but surprisingly it hasn't been all that hard - apart from nights when I've got in from night out at 2am and sat down to do the exercises, usually with the help of the Radio 4 food programme (On those occasions I did cheat and do just half an hour). Anyway, I hope to be able to apply this new found motivation to other ares of my life. I'mincredibly pleased and grateful for the treatment I'm receiving in Barcelona, but somehow feel that I could be receiving even better treatment - I've heard of centres in the UK and the States that use bio-feedback treatment and photograph and video your progress - so depending on how things go, I may be exploring these options. I am a woman on a mission.

Well enough about boring facial exercises. Tomorrow I'm off to Turkey and v excited at the prospect as it's somewhere I've always wanted to go, and I am lucky enough to be going with a charming and handsome 'local' guide ;-)