I started telling you about my past. I can continue with
that, which I will in future blogs, but now I want to talk about the present.
There are some things going on that I want to share and I hope some of you can
relate to. Plus I am up. It is 4 in morning. I have been up since 2 and my
alarm goes off at 5:30. So I might as
well do something constructive. Anyway,
I have had arthritis and fibromyalgia
for years. However, I kept it pretty much under control by working out and
controlling stress. This summer I had
minor surgery, which went fine because I used my factor, but then I had other
complications such as my oxygen dropping, a doctor overmedicating me, I couldn’t
work out because it was my Achilles tendon that I had surgery on. So all of a sudden, I had a terrible onset of
arthritis and fibro. My fingers and neck swelled to the point that my hands were
numb and my rings had to be cut off.
Since what I do for a living as a professor is to teach and write (type),
not being able to use my hands is a big deal. My rheumatologist, Dr. Valente is
great. He doesn’t believe in pain
killers to treat chronic disease. He believes in life style change. At first I didn’t take that well. I thought
it sounded like a death sentence and I whined and moaned, but then what I
realized what he was giving me was a prescription for living my life with my
disease, rather than letting the disease control my life. So I am
on prednisone, which as some of you know is not fun. But it is supposed to take down some of the inflammation.
Then I have to go to the chiropractor, massage therapist, get a speech
recognition program to learn to talk to my computer, go to occupational therapy
and physical therapy, learn to mediate, and the list goes on. While I can’t seem to sleep through the night
and watching my Chihuahua Sasha and Boxer Joey lay beside me sleeping peacefully,
I just get jealous of them. In the next blog, I will tell you how I am doing on
my wellness journey. It is quite the journey for someone who taking care of themselves
and putting health first has never been the first thing on her mind.
Diane,
ReplyDeleteSo many things you write about are familiar to me and my family. I had a physical therapist tell me that I must be one of the efficient women who take care of others and take all the groceries in from the car in one trip to save time. I wondered how she knew..... that was 10 years ago and I have learned now to ease it up, ask for help, and let others whine about all the stuff I'm not going to be doing that they hoped I would. I think getting older makes you do those things. So, there you have it. Tell us how it's going and in particular if you find a good daily meditation book. Give a gentle hug to your dogs as they are no doubt keeping your blood pressure down. .... Cheryl