June has been quite a month for this Fibro Momma! Music engagements, family visits, Father’s Day, my 28th Anniversary…all has kept me busy, busy. Life does not slow down for Fibromyalgia.
So, What do you do when life does not slow down for Fibromyalgia sufferers and your body desperately needs it to??
Pacing yourself is vital. I use a planner/organizer to help keep me on track. I am a borderline diabetic, so I keep track of all my meals and glucose levels daily along with weather conditions and how I am feeling day-to-day. The planner helps me to pace myself and recall what may or may not cause a flare.
But what about life happenings? Can you slow down life?…not always. Here are some examples of just a three-week span of time in my life-
We played music at a four-day Bluegrass Festival several hours away at the end of May. I admit I lived on Ibuprofen that whole time. Who wants to come to a band’s tent and not see a vibrant, smiling Mom greeting them and talking of the many CD’s our booth has to offer! (Well, I don’t know about vibrant, but I was smiling because the “edge” was off the pain a bit and I had to keep going for four days straight feeding and caring for the clan and greeting fellow Bluegrass lovers!)
After our return home, and still on Ibuprofen, I decided it was a good time to redo our basement and change things up a bit… We were on summer break and it was on my “to-do” list so “why not now???” Well, three days later and I could scarcely move, even on meds…but, golly-gee, the basement looked pretty good! I, on the other hand….did not!
Rest I needed and rest I took!-I could control “life” this time.
A few days later and still recovering from the previous week’s events, I decided it was a good time to scratch another item off my summer to-do list and embarked on canning fresh strawberry jam! An hour into it and my son calls me to ask me to come outside where he and my eleven year old daughter had been riding horses…
I found her writhing in pain and not able to move; she was repeating the same six questions over and over. I came to learn that the horse had gotten spooked and she was thrown from the horse taking quite the tumble! My life literally changed in a moment when I found myself in the back of an ambulance 2x in 6 hours with her. My adrenaline kept me going, but my body could scarcely keep up. I spent a rather uncomfortable night on a futon at a children’s hospital to be with her. Thankfully, she only broke her thumb, she also had a concussion, was battered and bruised up, but it was not a skeletal issue, just muscular and walking would be a challenge for her for a few weeks. 48 hours later and we got to come home. My life did not stop for me then.
Next, my father came for a week’s long visit two days after the accident. My body was exhausted from the emotional hospital ordeal, lack of sleep and rest, not to mention all the pre-visit preparations (cleaning, organizing, decluttering) that still awaited me when we returned.
The temps here in the mid-west were soaring that week and the humidity made the heat index well over 100 degrees. Now, the heat does not throw me into a flare (thankfully!!), but rain and storms do.
The good news it that it did not rain the whole time my father was here, but we did play an outside event on one of the hottest days that week. My husband stayed home with our daughter while she was on bed rest and so it was up to me to drive to this event. The drive was over an hour and a half (driving does wear me out!) and the walking to the event was hard on me due to a great deal of steps and inclines. My dad walks with a cane, but seeing him struggle the steps made me feel almost foolish when I, too, was struggling. (Actually, I think he got along better than me!!!) This music event was not one I could cancel and no matter how I felt, I still had to go. Life could not slow down for me that day, either.
Fast-forward to this past four days…
I get these electric sort of zaps on my scalp when a flare is about to begin. It sounds crazy, unless you have Fibro, but I have learned it is a sign for me. Next came the rain…then storms…and for three days it has done nothing but storm. I have felt run-over, battered and am completely zombified, I have had back-to-back migraines, extreme joint pain and nothing, not even Ibuprofen, seems to help. Not even to take the edge off.
Storms wreak havoc on my Fibro body!
Our anniversary fell on day two of this flare…I pushed myself that day to make a pleasant memory for us both. We ended the day with a pizza and a movie at home. (My husband understands me!)
I am now on day four of this flare and am currently writing this in a great deal of pain…more than I have had in a while and I see no end to this flare up. (I know there will be, I just can’t see it…)
My head feels like it is full of cotton, my bones feel like they are literally falling off, I hurt E-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e.
The rain has not let up and guess what? My daughter had a followup appointment yesterday for the accident over an hour away. It was storming and the last thing I wanted to do was leave the house. I had to MAKE myself go. Pain and all, storms and all…Life did not stop for me yesterday.
Today, I was able to take it easy. I still make myself get up and put myself together every day…even if it takes me three times longer than it should. This mornings shower was hotter and longer just to get me going. They (the trauma team) had cut off the bottoms my daughter was wearing the day of the accident and she had asked me to sew her new ones. I scratched that off my list today, making record time and had it done in less than two hours before falling onto the recliner for a much-needed rest. I was able to control life today…
What about tomorrow…well, the PLAN is to rest up some more. Fibros know that planning is dangerous!!
God Bless-
The Fibro Momma of Ten
