Simply Adult Ballet: the progress of one adult dancer who took up ballet later in life

[Michelle_Richer]

We are almost there, only 2 weeks practice classes left before my summer showcase, this year has just whizzed by. At the same time its not been easy. At least we have a whole sequence now that we can dance for our Pas de Deux enpointe with Adrian my partner. Only one stumbling block to go now, its the first promenade in Pas d Esclave from Le Corsaire. Whilst he can just about promenade me from a static start (with no momentum). What he cant do, is work with the inertia when I step right foot over left to whip the left foot up into attitude derriere and commence the promenade turn with that inertia. We are dedicating this Sundays session in cracking it.

 

Adrian bless him recently had committed to doing 4 hours with me each Sunday so we can get on top of things. However he has a reoccurring problem with pain in his side since he had a colonoscopy, he has had varous scans since then but nothing found, in practice he is ok up to about 3 hours, so we now limit the sessions accordingly.

 

I missed a session one week with my coach at Lincoln as she tested positive with COVID, she was pleasantly surprised with my progress during our pointe session this week that I hadn't fallen behind.

Even so my pinkie toe on the right foot was starting to get angry again, a recurring problem with a soft corn between the pinkie toe and the toe next to it.

Like an idiot I tried to treat the soft corn myself with corn plasters impregnated with Salicyclic Acid, as the corn-plaster wouldn't stay on between the toes, I scraped out the red centre of two plaster (the Salicyclic Acid) with a nail file and carefully spread it in the hollow between the two toes. Bad move they are for normal corns not soft corns, so consequently at my Podiatrist this morning, she told me that will make them worse, oh poo got that wrong. She took time to clear it out and remove the affected skin and fit a dressing to take the place of the toe protector for my pinky toe. She is aware that I will be up on pointe tomorrow for quite along period , however I have to go back next Thursday evening to check its healing properly. Fortunately last week was my last evening of on-line pointe classes until after my showcase week, so Thursday evening are now free for a bit.

 

One useful observation, I normally knock out a pair of pointe shoes in a couple of months. Now with my sued tips fitted, they are still going strong after the first couple of months other than having to re-stick the edge of one of the tips.

 

Whilst repertoire is my first love of ballet, once this showcase is over, I will not be starting on our showcase for 2023 until January and even then I think it likely I will leave dancing enpointe to a single pas de deux. However I do need to build on what I have already learnt from a pointe work perspective, and to that end my pointe work teacher is keen to coach me through the Cecchetti Advanced 2 pointe work part of the syllabus from September, and yes it going to be sole destroyingly difficult, but I cant stop now.

[Angela Essex]

Great to hear how you’re doing @Michelle_Richerits impressive that you’re doing Advanced 2 pointe. How long have you been dancing and had you danced before you started ballet? So nice to hear the progress of other adult ballet students. I’m currently doing RAD intermediate foundation (I’m 46) but just been working on the barre exercises en pointe - not done any centre yet. Best of luck with your showcase! Do let us all know how it goes x

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Angela

 

Firstly I haven't started on the pointe part of the Advanced 2 syllabus as yet, I do have the material for it including the videos which are not worlds away from what I have been doing. Normally I would be starting on my rep for next year after the summer break in September. I have shown my teacher the material for the Advanced 2 pointe and she is happy to coach me on it, although she is not specifically Cecchetti trained. So we will be starting the Cecchetti Advanced 2 pointe in September.

 

Sadly my Cecchetti teacher retired about a year ago, although I do see her from time to time.

 

I guess I've been dancing ballet now for just over 10 years, as I first joined this forum in 2012. As for did I dance before, yes it was Salsa and related dances. I used to help with teaching in one group I used to belong too, and I also used to teach salsa at work two lunchtimes a week, for a couple of years, and the money we raised from it went to the companies charity.

 

It was through Salsa that I first met my Adrian, now of course I have converted him to my ballet PDD partner.

 

My on-line pointe class is still all barre work, mostly facing the barre, however my one to one coaching at Lincoln is somewhat different. Once I’m comfortable with a routine facing the barre, we change to being right-angles to the barre with one hand on it, as you would have with a regular ballet barre class. Then you really do have to work through the feet and I have found it's a really useful precursor to coming off the barre.

 

In any case my motivation for pointe work always was to dance PDD’s en pointe, I am not driven in the same way for solo’s . The only way I could see myself migrating to solos en pointe would be to maintain pointe fitness, if I couldn’t do it through PDDs, as I really don’t want to loose that fitness now, as its been along time coming and a big hill to climb .

Edited July 10, 2022 by Michelle_Richer

[Michelle_Richer]

Just over a week ago I went to see my podiatrist, so she could check my soft corn was healing properly, unfortunately I had to remove the dressing halfway through as it was impossible to use with my pointe shoes and associated protectors.

 

Just to give her an accurate picture of what I was subjecting my feet too, I took my pointe shoes along as well as the protectors, to be fair I was expecting a bit of a telling off. However she was a bit surprised by the harness of the block and asking if I used lambs wool in there, which I replied no, as I needed to feel the floor. After that she seamed quite comfortable and interested in what I was doing, so much so she photographed my pointe shoes.

Then came the shocker when she made the comment about what I had done by using the salicylic acid out of corn pads to treat the soft corns myself, if I didn’t have good circulation in my toes, I may have lost my pinky toe. As she was able to clean the toe up with a weeks worth of recovery she was able to see there was a second soft corn on the side of the pinky toe, she was able to treat that too. Essentially I was to try and keep the toes dry by wearing sandles where I can with no socks, every other day I wash my feet in water with a sea salt solution. When I’m working en-pointe she has recommended I use Vaseline between my two affected toes, I was expecting to have sticky feet and getting Vaseline seeping through my protector and tights into my pointe shoes, but strangely it doesn't. It almost looks as if the toes absorb the Vaseline. According to my Podiatrist its to keep the moisture out and stop friction by lubricating the toes. As it doesn't have any undesirable effects I'm sticking with her recommendation.

 

The following Sunday I did my usual rehearsal with Adrian and as we were running out of time we decided to drop the first promenade, due to the momentum I created in sort of whipping into an attitude turn. Instead we tried utilizing the same poses but replaced the promenade with a jete enturnant, which is repeated three times and worked well with the music, it was fine when I first tried it in ballet flats, however when I popped my pointes on it was a completely different story. It meant I would be landing on my poorly foot with the soft corns, which are far more susceptible to coming down through demi off point, than going en pointe. That was a real painful shock, that set progress back a bit, however I immediately substituted the jete enturnant to a saute jete, so I'm swishing up on the right foot, but landing on the left which is absolutely fine.

 

This weeks session of pointe and rep was especially challenging as we ran though all the point stuff we have ever done, and all the solo variations in our rep that we are showcasing next week.

 

Whilst I'm looking forward to it, i'm keeping my fingers crossed that my feet hold out with I suspect doing a good deal of pointe work every day polishing our PDD as that is the piece that needs the most work. After our final day when we present our showcase in costume etc, then I get a rest WHOOPEE.

[Angela Essex]

Ooh good luck with your performance Michelle ❤️ Hope the feet heal up soon x

[Michelle_Richer]

14 hours ago, Angela Essex said:

Ooh good luck with your performance Michelle ❤️ Hope the feet heal up soon x

Thank you Angela

 

Today (Sunday) we have had our first two hiccups, Adrian's top for Conrad the Pirate in Le Corsair has gone missing. We have a walk-in wardrobe containing over a 100 costumes that I have collected over the years, but we have searched everywhere in the house and simply cant find it. Although we don’t actually need it until Friday and we do have something we can make do with, but its not the same.

The other is Gulnara’s veil which is quite long, which Lukendem the slave -master  unfurls in Pas d’ esclave from act 1 of Le Corsaire. Today is the first day we have actually used the veil, the material I have is far too long, its also very plain. However I have another piece which is orange to match the tutu but is nicely decorated with silver sparkly sequins, I just love it, unfortunately it comes in two halves as its an oddment from somewhere, but when pinned together is just the right length.

 

After fighting with the sewing machine which I haven't used for several years, I finally gave up and pinned it with small safety pins on the non sparkly side, it will allow us to use it tomorrow, after we have finished I know a local lady I've used before to make costume alterations when I was part of the Alive Ballet Company, hopefully she will sew it up for me.

 

Fingers crossed for tomorrow , we have everything covered and no more unexpected little gremlin to come out of the woodwork. The only unknown now is the studio, although I have danced in it before, I've never danced there en pointe and its a very slippery floor, also it does not have air conditioning, but it does not have outside windows either, but it does have an outside door than can be opened to let the fresh air in. The main thing is, its a large performance studio and we need the space.

 

[Michelle_Richer]

Phew I glad last weeks one-to-one intensive on our own rep is finally over, that is mine and Adrian my partner.

A friend of mine ask me if I was happy with what I did last week, well that was a loaded question. Overall yes, but I could have done better, was the most difficult and challenging intensive of this type I have ever done and disappointment was only just around the corner.

 

The structure of our intensive was based on what we used to do with the Ballet School that we used to visit in the Highlands of Scotland, where we broke each day up into usual barre and warmup, followed by breaking down the rep phrase by phrase, before dancing it through, where my teacher would make observation for corrections. Then Adrian and I would work on those corrections for presentation later, we would also start to work on the next piece of rep, for the second session with the teacher that day. The second session we would dance through the previous piece covering the correction ans also the next piece of rep, for which we would get a set of observation for that too. Again we would work on those correction before we left on that day. This we did for the first 4 days, with the fifth where we presented our showcase of everything in costume and with appropriate propts too.

 

This year I hired a large studio that the ballet school sometimes uses it for it own performances in the town of Sleaford. My teachers school belongs to the same organisation but is in Lincoln, so we both have to travel. To make things cost effective I structured the intensive that we attended with the teacher, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Studio in Sleaford, Tuesday and Thursday Adrian and I would work on corrections and practice in our own studio.

 

On day 1 I guess I shot us in the foot by altering the orientation where we were to dance to suit the camera, instead of having a rectangular stage with a wide width, I went for a deep stage narrower stage to be able to record everything. The only point of reference we had was where the Pasha in Le Corsaire sat, it was a been bag with the Pasha’s hat on it.

We wasted an awful lot of time getting used to the unfamiliar layout and both of us making silly mistakes. I had anticipated that this was never going to be a walk in the park it was both a difficult piece of choreography and the PDD was just under 4 minutes long, so I started out in ballet flats to preserve my feet until we could sensibly get through it. One of the very annoying things that kept happening was my veil kept coming off especially during pose turns and there were two set of those.

We got to the last hour of the day, and according to the schedule I set , I should have danced the PDD en pointe and two of the solos in ballet flats. We were along way behind so I decided it was time to get my pointe shoes on and a quick warm-up at the barre, before dancing through the PDD.

Needless to say I made a number of mistakes with the PDD as well as problems with the veil, I just felt things were slipping away . I decided to finish off the day with the PDD in ballet flats, at least that run-through was the best for that day.

That night I slept very little about what a rotten day Adrian and I had and my stupid decision to alter the orientation of the studio, also I needed to get the veil stitched up by a local seamstress that I know.

 

Tuesday was a bit of a disaster, my seamstress didn’t open until 10am , however I was there when she opened, but unfortunately she couldn’t do it while I waited, but she would do it that day. One the way back into town me and another lady found a purse laid on the ground, she opened it in my presents and we found the owners address, it belonged to an old lady. I looked the street up on my phones sat nav and the pair of us decided to take it to the ladies address, that wasn't exactly a good move as it was along walk. Although the lady was out we verified she live there from next door and popped it through the letter box, unfortunately it cost me a lot of rehearsal time in my own studio, especially as I had to go back and collect the veil. I finally finished in my studio at 9pm, having also covered the two solo’s we missed on day one.

Wednesday: I knew I had to pick up the pace as I had my PDD en pointe to crack and also another the dance with ballet flats as well as 4 solos.

After our regular barre I did a short pointe work barre with centre work based on what we were doing in the rep, that was all good.

I started to dance the rep and knew I was already quite tired, I managed to get through about half the rep including the pose turns with the veil on, which end with a full down curtsy in front of the Pasha, The last set I have to rise up en pointe and buree round while Adrian (the Slave master) unwinds and removes my veil, oh poo I just didn’t have the energy to get on to pointe properly, for me that was a disaster and really dented my confidence.

Even my teacher suggested I may be better doing this in ballet flats, so I can still full fill the rest of the schedule we set. I agreed with her, but I said I will at least attempt pointe on our showcase day and if unsuccessful I will revert to ballet flats, so we can at least meet the rest of our objectives.

To be fair we went through the rest of the rep with no problems.

When I got home I made sure I had an early night , as Thursday was my last chance to crack my PDD en pointe.

 

Thursday: Most of the day I spent in the studio on my own as a good deal of the PDD rep I can dance without Adrian, my focus was on the pose turns , the chassis into the full down curtsy, then the rise into the turning burrees. I did them separately for endurance, and together as it was the hardest piece of the rep. I knew If I could get through the turning burrees , then burree to face the pasha with arms to fourth, burree round to face Adrian then step into the first of our promenades, it was almost a free ride from then on.

I carried on until tea time, then took a break. After tea I resumed with Adrian to dance our PDD from the top, everything was going until the end of the second set of pose turns and the veil dropped from my waist as I wasn't wearing a tutu, the air was blue, I almost lost it, I really wasn't a happy bunny. I knew if I started a gain it was going to be more difficult, but I had to try. However something didn’t feel right in my left foot and I ask Adrian to wait while I take my shoe off. My two little toes next to the big toe were bleeding, oh poo not another set back. I popped some little tubular toe protectors on , apart from the initial pain of fitting them the feet didn’t feel too bad. I did a few prances to check things felt ok and Adrian said, are you sure you want to continue. I thought better of it and stopped and save everything for Friday.

 

Friday After the barre I popped my pointe shoes on, my teacher said “you are going to do it then”, I just said I'm going to try. This time it was successful, we danced it all the way through, I remember thinking my pointe shoes are really heavy on grand battemants and developpes when you get tired.

I was really happy we had succeeded with the PDD en pointe, it just takes one heck of a lot of stamina, unfortunately when I finally removed my shoes one of the toes on the right foot had started to bleed although I didn't feel it this time. As for stamina I guess it may be a bit like swimming , you put a huge amount of effort in at the beginning , but as your muscles get acclimatized it becomes much easier. I've still got that to come.

 

Now its a bit of a break for a couple of months from ballet, other that my weekly on-line pointe class, as I still need to keep my pointe fitness up.

 

From end of September I will be starting on the Cecchetti Advanced 2 pointe work part of the syllabus, Whahoo!

 

 

[LinMM]

Glad you were pleased with it in the end Michelle. Ballet can always make you feel you could have done better etc. but you can only do what you can do on the day in the end so at least you got some satisfaction and sense of achievement from it all. 
Now those feet can have a nice rest for a bit hope you are giving them some sort of extra treat lol! 

 

 

[Michelle_Richer]

12 hours ago, LinMM said:

 
Now those feet can have a nice rest for a bit hope you are giving them some sort of extra treat lol! 

 

 

Hi Linda

The only issue I have with giving my feet a rest, is slipping back in terms of pointe fitness, as its been a huge mountain to climb.

 

What I am really interested in pointe feet care, in order to keep going and ultimately pick up the pace. One thing my Podiatrist told me to do with a long standing problem of 2 soft corns between my pinky toe and the one next to it, after I showed her the toe protection I was using, was to add Vaseline between the toes and inside my silicon cover for the little toe, to both prevent it chaffing and keep the dampness out, she said like WD40, I had to smile. That does work. The other thing she recommended was washing the feet every other day in Sea Salt or Epsom Salts solution. Also as much as I can , don’t wear anything over the feet, like tights or socks to keep the feet well ventilated. To a large extent I'm doing all those things, but I'm sure there will be much more I can do. So if anyone has any practical advice on active pointe feet care, it would be most appreciated. I guess that would come under your extra treat for my feet Linda.

 

Unfortunately I will not be seeing my Podiatrist again until the end of September.

 

Although technically I have a two month break with only a single on-line pointe class every week to maintain pointe fitness, come the second month I will most definitely be going through the Cecchetti Advance 2 pointe work syllabus examples in preparation for the restart at the end of September, when we start to do it for real.

[Michelle_Richer]

CROSSROADS: Has my adventure with ballet prematurely come to an end.

 

Each year Adrian and I work towards our Summer Showcase and this year was no different other than I danced my first Pas de deux en pointe.

 

As a thank you to Adrian we take a break from ballet until the week of his Birthday in August and make a holiday of it. As Adrian is a staunch Liverpool FC supported, it always starts with a couple of days visiting Liverpool. What was a little different this year, as we set off on holiday we called at his GP’s dispensing machine for a new prescription “ intended to lengthen the time at night between needing to go to the loo”.

The first two days were brilliant, especially his birthday meal at Browns in Liverpool with a live pianist playing. Monday morning Adrian complained he felt constipated (a noted reaction to his prescription affecting 1 in 10 patients) , so I said no worries we will get laxative from one of the services as we travelled up the M6 to Northumbria . Needless to say services don’t sell them, so plan B as we went across country towards Hexham, we should be able to get them from Chemists on the way, all chemist and supermarkets we closed (Queens funeral). Finally we arrived at our hotel (close to Hadrian’s Wall), we stayed one night only as Adrian's condition was getting worse, so we decided to make for home. On the Tuesday he started to loose control of his bladder on the way home. So it was the GP Surgery first thing Wednesday morning for laxatives and antibiotics, by Friday the constipation was clear. After that things went rapidly downhill over the next two weeks, in spite of seeing two doctors neither of which would actually examine him, and left me to deal with the mess they had left. Of the last doctor we see, he said he would arrange for Adrian to see a Urologist, I said that day, he said yes it would raise the paperwork that day, then I said to see the Urologist today, he said know it would be 2 to 3 weeks. Adrian was there tummy extended and in a lot of pain. I was absolutely discussed with him and left.

By 1am the following morning Adrian was passing a lot of blood in his wee, so I had no alternative but to call 999 and get Adrian admitted into hospital, he was diagnosed with severe liver failure and drained him of two and a half litres of fluid via catheter, Adrian later described it as looking like Coke.

 

I truly believe if I hadn't made the 999 call Adrian would not be with us today.

 

Adrian is back home now, still with a catheter fitted and very week from his ordeal, his blood is being checked weekly until his review by the Urologist in 8 weeks time, we are not sure if the catheter will be permanent or not. During this time I have had very little sleep as I have to attend to Adrian several times during the night as well as the day, so virtually all my ballet activities have ceased all but a couple on on-line fitness classes, needless to say I'm pretty well drained.

 

If the catheter is a permanent thing for Adrian, I guess that's an end to our dancing Pas de deux together and sharing our ballet experience, without it, me just dancing rep solo’s on my own feels as if a whole lot of my world has gone.

 

Cross roads: Where to from here ?

[Jan McNulty]

Oh Michelle, I'm so sorry to hear how poorly Adrian has been and I hope he has a good and speedy recovery.

 

Very best wishes to you both, Janet

[LinMM]

Michelle so very sorry to hear Adrian has been so ill. I will message you privately. 
However I don’t feel your adventure with ballet needs to come to an end. 

[DVDfan]

My heart bleeds for you - the worst experience of my life has been trying to source help for my disabled daughter from a medical profession who didn't believe in her symptoms. (We do now have medical support, but only because she moved to another GP practice.) There's something about the situation that sends the stress of caring for a sick/disabled relative sky-high. I think it might be the experience of living in an alternate world - my relative is sick, I know it's serious - but the medics are just waving it away as though it did not exist. It's like getting up in the morning and finding you've been transported during the night to another time and place, where you don't know the language, the rules, have any friends and so on.

No need to make any decisions now, you're exhausted and you don't know what the future holds. There are charities that support carers, and your GP practice may also have a member of staff who runs a support group. These aren't just for desperate long-term carers but for anyone finding themselves in this new world, even temporarily. There is probably also a charity that supports people with Adrian's condition, might be worth getting in touch.

I'm sure that if you want to, you will be able to dance again when the crisis has passed, and your circumstances have stabilised. On the other hand, all dancers' careers are eventually stopped by physical injury - maybe you've got to that point, though it isn't your injury.

Don't think about it now. Concentrate on looking after Adrian AND yourself, you both matter in this situation.

[Michelle_Richer]

Correction Adrian's diagnosis by the Urologist in hospital was Severe Kidney Failure not liver failure, which is documented on his "Discharge Summary", my mistake but Adrian keeps accidentally referring to it as Liver Failure, so I guess thats where I got it from.

[Fiz]

Michelle, I’m so very sorry. I hope Adrian can make a complete recovery or else improve greatly. I will keep you both in my prayers. 

[LinMM]

Given the symptoms you mentioned this would much more be associated with kidneys. But can usually be resolved with antibiotics though may take some time. Have messaged you as been through some of this with R 

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Linda

 

My apologies for not replying sooner:

I did see your message Wednesday night as well as these postings everyone has made, unfortunately I was having to get everything ready for Thursday’s trips. Adrian's sister offered to take him for the full day, while I at least get to do some ballet at Lincoln.

 

At least it was a change of scenery for him and a break from me. It did allow me to regain a little bit of normality with my ballet and to some extent to try and build the new normal, at least it was a start. The down side is that the Lincoln journey which was around 45 miles each way, now its almost 80 when I add in the journey to Adrian's sister.

 

To be fair although I did start on the reply Thursday night I was absolutely shattered , as it is I usually have to get up once or twice in the night with Adrian anyway, then I was up at 5am to get both of us ready, then left home at 7am for the trip to Lincoln via Adrian Sister, although I was in Lincoln around 9.30 for a 9.45 start, the heavens open with thunder and lightning and a heavy downpour, it was horrible, but the classes were a welcome taste of normality, but at the end of that day I was so very very tired. Under normal circumstances I would go on and do an on-line pointe class to finish the day, but not yet. I am however hopeful to rejoin that class by the end of November as I been with it for the past couple of years.

 

When Adrian was released from hospital he was give a weeks course of antibiotic 500mG 3 times a day and his bloods are now checked every week until his review in 8 weeks time. As for the moment his blood results are ok and his urine in clear, especially as his has to drink at least 3 litres of water a day, each time I go to the super market I buy 48 x 500ml bottles of still water for him.

 

As the days go on, the improvements in Adrian are quite small but they are mostly in the right direction, however we did have a nasty set back on Friday, Adrian's appetite during this ordeal has been quite poor, so when he expresses he would like something, I generally go out of my way to get it for him to try and build him up as he is still quite weak, he wanted some chicken slices for a roll for his lunch , so I popped down to our local village shop and got some as well as some ham. Later that day he had quite bad diarrhea , I check the chicken slices that we had just bought and they were out of date Grrr. He never eat any more for the rest of that day, and of course I was worry as it was a set back in building his strength.

 

When Adrian settled down for the night, he said he would call me about 2am as usual, I was awake around 1.45am so I went down to check his catheter bedside bag as its usually pretty full, as I put the light on his eyes flickered, I thought he was awake , but subsequently fell asleep, I see to his bag and then went back to bed. Adrian shouted me up at 2.30am to say his bedside bag needed checking, I went down and needless to say it was ok, but what was unusual he was really chirpy and looked much healthier than I have scene him lately, it was the enthusiasms in his voice, it was a delight to see, so I stayed chatting with him until a little after 3am. Today Saturday has been a really good day for him.

 

Adrian is at his sisters next week too, she doesn't seam to mind, in fact we are stopping for tea with her when I go to collect him.

 

We may have a possible solution for Mondays too, Adrian has a friend (one of his old neighbours) on my way to ballet class at Stamford, he thinks she may well let him stay there while I do class, it will be nice if she does, at least that's a help, but sadly I will not be able to go on a do the two classes at the Royal Opera House that I originally planned, but never the less, its another step towards the new normal.

[Angela Essex]

Aww I’m so sorry Adrian has been so unwell. It sounds like you’ve both been through quite an ordeal and I hope that when he sees the urologist they can offer some treatment that will help. Hopefully then the catheter will not be permanent. Thinking of you both ❤️ 

[Michelle_Richer]

I'm hoping my fragmented ballet activities will soon be over. Only a week and a half to go for Adrian's review with his specialist urologist, hopefully his catheter will be removed as I know he really doesn't like it, even though it saved his life.

 

At least then we can start to plan for next year, both our holiday and possibly our summer showcase, but it will take an awful lot of time before Adrian is fully fit for that.

 

When I think back to what we were hoping to achieve in the latter part of this year, I even approach the school where I attended the Silver Swans some time back, I was hoping to rejoin them as they were a lovely bunch of ladies, admittedly I had an alteria motive , it was for Adrian and I to perform the Grand Pas de deux from the Nutcracker for them at the end of their last class before departing for their schools Christmas lunch. But the reply I got from the school is probably the nicest rejection I could have hoped for, it referred to my vast ballet experience , the teacher thought it would be unfair for me to attend their class as it was set at beginner level and some of the ladies were physically compromised and she had a duty of care towards them. Of course I understood and I hope me and the teacher are still good friends.

 

Its a bit academic now as we couldn’t do it anyway and I wouldn't like to guess when Adrian will be ready to dance his next pas de deux with me again.

 

Unfortunately at Adrian's review its not guaranteed that the catheter is coming out so I guess for the moment we are both treading water waiting with our fingers crossed.

 

One of the things I'm going to miss, is the last night of the Royal Opera House ballet classes, and also a couple of Tutu and Tinsel workshops run by Karis Scarlette one in London the other in Birmingham.

At least next year the English National Ballet on-stage rep workshops should be back at the Coliseum, it seams an age since I last attended one of them.

 

Just hope 2023 is a better year for us.

[LinMM]

I hope it’s much better for you both too but just one step at a time at the moment. 
I was a little disappointed that ENB did not restart their adult winter workshops this year which always cover Nutcracker plus whichever ballet doing after Christmas …this year Swan Lake. 

As it happened we did a nice adage to Nutcracker music in Saturday ballet class yesterday ….that piece when all the guests are leaving the party and just before the Christmas tree starts growing. 
My only two goals  this year were to take part in the Chelsea Ballet Summer School in August which I did and then be dancing on my 75th birthday which I hope to be next Wednesday!! 
Now you’ve mentioned it Michelle my next goal will now be to take part in the ENB winter workshops on the Coli stage next year ….if they return and if the Coli is still a working theatre by then!! 

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi LinMM

 

I love your term “Just one step at a time”, but it depends what direction you are going in, this week feels like I’m going backwards.

 

Last week I had an unexpected good week with my pointe class and I really wanted to build on it this week with lots of practice, but that wasn't to be.

 

About 3 weeks ago I took Adrian to his local GP’s surgery as his legs were still quite swollen from when he was in hospital. We see the practice nurse and she said they couldn’t give him anything for it due to his Kidney condition, but to keep his legs up. I mentioned Lymphatic massage and she just remarked massage of the legs would help.

With that I have been doing almost daily lymphatic massage for his legs and they have been going down nicely until this Friday and a rash started to appear. Monday morning we went in to see the practice nurse (different one) this time, I mentioned the lymphatic massage and the massage oil I was using, she didn’t think it was that, although I had stopped it on Friday, she suggested treating it with an antihistamine cream and she prescribed some antibiotics, I guess a bit of belt and braces approach. Sadly because of that I had to cancel two of my classes for that Monday and another on Friday for a follow-up appointment.

 

However I did recover some of Monday for pointe practice but as it wasn't long enough, I literally did a couple of music tracks of prances in my pointe shoes before hitting my centre practice, not something I would normally do, but needs must.

 

Sadly I have lost today (Tuesday) buying more antihistamine cream and visiting Adrian's brother in hospital. That was another 999 call I had to make a couple of weeks back when he broke his tibia right on the hip joint. As they say “When it rains it pours”

 

OK about doing the ENB workshop at the Coliseum next Christmas, if its running I will most certainly try and be there. I did also enquirer with Northern Ballet as I’ve done quite a few of their on-stage workshops but unfortunately I didn’t get a reply from them.

 

To be fair the latter half of this year feels like a bad dream that I'm struggling to wake up out of and cant properly plan my ballet schedule next year.

I guess its the unknown that's getting me down.

[LinMM]

I’ve noticed ENB  just advertised a class for this year!! It’s on the Coli stage and I think has a nutcracker-ish theme but not sure it’s a full blown workshop as it’s only for one hour and a half. It’s only just been posted and unfortunately think it’s on 17th December which is an RMT union strike day so can’t get to London then. It’s very late to be announced as I can remember booking these in August before now!! 
There’s a company class on the same day which you can book but this used to be part of the workshop package before and am not sure it’s included this time so it’s £27 just for the class ….a bit of a price hike since pre Covid! 
Really hope Adrian picks up a bit soon so you can get back to more ballet activities. Having a longish break makes it harder to keep up the fitness level so one can be more prone to injury. 

[DVDfan]

10 hours ago, Michelle_Richer said:

guess its the unknown that's getting me down.

Yup, this is the worst aspect of caring, in my experience. You're doing a grand job supporting Adrian.

Contacting Carers UK might help. They're at Contact us - Carers UK. At the very least, you will know you are not alone, something that has always helped me. They also have a lot of practical advice on offer. I don't suppose you'll want to find time to go to a carer's coffee morning run by the GPs or the council, but they exist if you need extra support.

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi LinMM

 

I have looked on the ENB site but I couldn’t find any reference to Workshop on the Coliseum stage, can you post the link to it please, not that I'm going as I have the same rail issue that you do, with living a long way from London.

 

OK about Adrian having a longish break, to be fair I have always rested him between our summer showcase and the start of the next year as generally he only dances the Pas de deux’s with me. In the past it has allowed me to make an early start with the solo’s, but since the last showcase the focus has been on my pointe work as that's the only way I want to dance PDD’s, solo’s I’m quite happy on ballet flats.

 

The real dilemma is if Adrian's catheter cant be removed at or around the time of his review, then there is no future for me to dance PDD ‘s any more and I'm certainly not happy to go and just do a ballet class, or do teachers adapted rep.

 

But hey ho lets look on the bright side, if the specialist says it cant be removed, then we need to set the rout to the objective when it can.

 

 

Hi DADfan

 

What can I say, I really don’t want to turn into a carer. Yes I will look after Adrian I guess to the day I die, as he is my lover, my partner, my everything, but I really don’t identify with the label of carer.

 

I guess to a certain extent I also fulfill the roll of carer for his brother who is not a well man, but I really don’t want to go into details here. For me it just feels like I'm the responsible adult helping them get through very difficult and challenging times.

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Michelle_Richer

[LinMM]

I’ve just forwarded the email from ENB with info about workshop in to you Michelle 🙂

 

[DVDfan]

11 hours ago, Michelle_Richer said:

What can I say, I really don’t want to turn into a carer.

Nobody does, because of what it means for the person you love. The information and support are there if you ever need it, for both temporary and long term carers. 

Good luck with your doctor's appointments, we're all rooting for Adrian!

[Michelle_Richer]

Hi Linda

 

Thanks for the ENB info, its brilliant that they are finally back, just a pity neither of us can get there this year. I will extract the link to the advertisement and try and encourage some of the other major ballet companies to follow with their on-stage workshops.

 

DVDfan

 

Thank you for your “Good luck with your doctor's appointments, we're all rooting for Adrian!”

Unfortunately we had a set back yesterday (Wednesday) as the rash on his legs got worse, we managed to see the same practice nurse as Monday which was good for continuity, she agreed it was worse and referred him to one of the doctors, thankfully it was a different one to the two I had seen before. At last we had a doctor that wasn't preoccupied with playing his computer, but someone who actually took time examined Adrian's legs and back. We spent some time going possible causes but unfortunately nothing could be clearly identified. The condition he referred to was Cellulitis which is a deep bacterial infection, he has arranged for Adrian to have a blood test tomorrow (Friday) and also a Doppler test at the surgery. I ask him about his thought on my Lymphatic massage on Adrian without using oil, he was all for the massage and didn’t think the oil was a factor. This morning (Thursday) dare I say it, the redness of the rash appears ever so slightly lighter, fingers crossed it may be going.

 

Needless to say Wednesday pointe practice session was very much shorter than planned, to the point I was uncomfortable about doing today's one-to-one pointe session without proper prep.

Strangely enough today's session went really well, but I think that was more luck that proper preparation.

Going forward to Adrian's review next week, i'm reinstating Adrian's daily  Lymphatic massage to reduce the swelling in his feet and legs as far as I can and hopefully we can get the outcome we desire from his specialist urologist.

[glowlight]

Wishing Adrian a quick and smooth recovery, and wishing you @Michelle_Richer comfort, strength and as much ballet as you can manage.  You are doing an amazing job looking after him.  Make sure you look after yourself too.

[Michelle_Richer]

Grim news I'm afraid

 

We went to see Adrian Specialist Urologist at Hitchinbrook Hospital on Thursday, we didn’t get the news we wanted.

He said if the catheter is removed, he would be back to square one in hospital with Kidney failure again, he is now arranging a test where a camera is placed up the urethra to establish if the route cause is the enlarged prostrate that Adrian has or a stretched bladder from the two and half litres of fluid that had to be drained away when he was taken into A & E. It seams if the bladder has been permanently stretched, he will have to have a catheter for the rest of his life, if its the prostrate that causing the problem then it can be operated on, however the waiting list is up to a year. I ask him how much would it cost to be done privately, he said he doesn't do private operations, only NHS.

 

It also seams he hasn't had any of the blood results from Adrian's practice, from the instruction he had given on Adrian “ Discharge Summary” when he was released from hospital, so blood was taken at Hitchbrook hospital before we left.

 

The outlook now for getting back to normality seams even further away than ever and especially working towards our summer ballet showcase, the hart of which for me was dancing PDD with Adrian with me en pointe.

Even through this difficult time I have been lucky enough to carry on my one-to-one pointe coaching at Lincoln . Sadly I have had to suspended doing my on-line pointe class of the same evening which I really need, although I do have the videos from that class and try and work through them in when I can.

 

My normal pointe class is nearly all centre work now, the only barre work is a music track of prances as a warm-up, then we are back on the barre at the very end for arabesque and attitude. Originally we used to start with attitude for a quarter of the track length, change supporting foot for the second quarter , then repeat the same for arabesque on either leg.

 

As I built stamina we graduated to hold the same supporting leg for a full track, but turning and swapping arm on every 16 counts. That was developed further for my teacher to lift the height of my gesturing leg firstly at the beginning of the last 8 counts and then I was told to hold it, and now at the beginning of the last 16 counts. This is really hard as your legs are very tired towards the end of an hours pointe class mainly in the centre and then have to do all this on a long single leg stints really pushes it..

 

The intention was to change the focus of the pointe work in the new year to the movements and poses I need for the specific PDDs I intended to dance with Adrian from La Bayadere.

I guess while there is any glimmer of hope left, I will still attempt to follow that plan, otherwise I the future is very bleak and uncertain.

[Jan McNulty]

Oh Michelle, I am so sorry to hear that things are still looking grim for Adrian.  Sending hugs to you both.

[LinMM]

If it is a benign enlarged prostate things should resolve after the operation to reduce it.   Nurses can teach to self catheter which may be needed for a short while after the operation instead of having the bag attached. 
I have no idea why they are taking so long to decide whether he has an enlarged prostate or not though ….not that difficult to diagnose ….but maybe trying to get a more complete picture of Adrian’s situation first. 
R has a yearly PSA test since his troubles which is testing for signs of cancer but so far so good. 
It may depend on which operation type they think is necessary as to the waiting list time. Although when R was going through this about six years ago the waiting times were generally not good obviously now they are far far worse. 
His consultant offered to do the operation privately within two weeks! 
Richard declined this but the same consultant did the operation anyway on the NHS just a couple of weeks later!! Don’t think that would happen now so R was very lucky. 
I do hope they get Adrian sorted soon waiting a whole year for this operation which gives so much relief is very poor but you could find out if you can get any required treatment anywhere else in UK earlier. 
R did not have any major kidney disease though inspite of the infections he had at the time …one of which hospitalised him …and the bladder problem you talked about above shouldn’t be long term either if no other problems associated with it. 
 

[DVDfan]

I'm so sorry to hear this, Michelle. You're looking after Adrian so well, he's lucky to have you.

 

[Michelle_Richer]

May be just may be., my PDD's en pointe with Adrian for this year may just be possible.

 

Just under two weeks ago Adrian had another review, the outcome was extremely positive, his problem was not an over-stretch bladder which we had feared, it was purely prostrate which was operable. Even better the medication which he is on, in 2 months time will be maxed out at 6 months and an operation may not be necessary.

 

Since then we have a date in March for that review, which in simple terms means the catheter will be removed and he will be assessed by checking how much fluid he retains, if it very little, then job done and he no longer needs an op. If he does retain fluid then there are one of two different type of laser treatments that will be applied by passing the laser up a small pipe in his urethra to help clear the restriction in his prostrate. At least now we have hopeful that this awful nightmare will come to an end and we can get back to normal.

 

Although he still has some swelling of the legs, they are continuing to improve with keeping them up when possible, antibiotics and my daily lymphatic massage of them, I even had a complement on the improved state of his legs by one of the medical staff.

 

On the down side I did loose some pointe work time with hospital appointments, however towards then end of December I visited my Podiatrist who remove a hard to get soft corn. Since then it has been playing, last week I attened my first one-to-pointe class for this year with focus on particularly pieces to contribute to my PDD requirement, I also attended my second on-line pointe class that evening too. At the end of the evening my right foot was extremely sore, not only that but the foot remained sore whist in bed that night and the following days too.

 

I was mindful I had lots of pointe homework to get done for Thursday this week which is all centre work towards my PDD’s. I thought it prudent to get an urgent appointment with my Podiatrist again, fortunately they had a cancellation for Wednesday Lunchtime, so I took it. In the meantime I soaked the feet in warm water with a solution of dead sea salt and afterwards applied Arnica cream as the little toe on the right foot looked swollen and brewsed . Apparently I shouldn’t have applied the cream it does more harm than good, she has cleared more skin away and applied a dressing, she has advised me to go round in bare feet where I can to let the air get around it. She has given me more dressing to apply myself and I am to still to bath them in a sea salt solution but for only 10 minutes. I have another appointment with her next week for her to check progress.

 

Last night I though I would check out if it were possible with both the dressing and with toe protectors if I could get up on pointe with that foot, it was still very angry. I also checked that foot with my regular ballet slippers , they too were extremely uncomfortable, finally I checked with some old possible overstretched ballet slipper and they were no too bad.

 

This morning I had a chat with my teacher about my feet and we both agreed it would be better for me to postpone both of my pointe classes for the next couple of weeks to allow the foot to heal, instead we switched the class to my solo’s from La Bayadere in ballet flats for the next couple of weeks and I was really please with the progress we made.