IT HAS BEEN FOUR MONTHS

It has been four months since I blogged. I was still feeling pretty weak in late November and I was in pain until January 31st. That Friday I realized that I had had an almost "normal" day. There was still pain, but it wasn't enough to keep me from walking, moving around and even going out to shop. Each day after that, I looked for the pain to come back, but mostly I just kept getting better.

What I have now is twinges. And I've kept getting more energy. Both the energy to do stuff, and the energy to want to do stuff. Right now I've got the energy to start blogging again. So here is a beginning of a new kind of blog for me.

When I started this blog, it was about grief and quilting. Grief because my husband had died, and quilting because that was the creative outlet I was busy with. The grief has basically resolved itself. I still sometimes get the feeling that I need to get something finished up because Joe is coming home, but then I realize that no, he isn't coming home, and I feel sad for a little while, but then pick up the pieces and go on. There comes a point where you no longer think about the person you have lost first thing every day, and then life goes on, and sometimes you think of them, and sometimes you don't. I'm at that stage.

As for quilting, I haven't been on the machine for 6 months because of fatigue. And right now I don't have a clue as to what I would do with quilting even though I'm beginning to want to do something creative. I've been buying books from Amazon, but they have been all over the place. Still not sure where I go from here, but I've got supplies for multiple crafts and artwork, and it is time to DO SOMETHING. And not just think about it.

Over the next few days I'll be doing some tweaks to the blog itself. If any of my former readers are around, please comment.

Take care all.      

Another Update - November 24, 2013

I've been pretty sick, so I have not been blogging. But slowly, but surely, I'm coming back.

It is officially Fibromyalgia. I'm one of the lucky ones because Cymbalta works for me. I went all the way down into the pit mainly because although I thought I had Fibromyalgia, I thought it was a mild case. By the time I was in the pit I had the unrelenting all over pain that is the strongest indication of the disease, but until the last few weeks before I started on Cymbalta it wasn't that bad.

Or I thought it wasn't that bad.

Now that the pain is infrequent, I realize just how much I hurt and how much of the time I hurt.

The other thing was that both of the people I knew with diagnosed Fibromyalgia could not get out of bed, and I could not stay in bed because of the pain of being in bed. Mind you, I own a one year old adjustable Tempurpedic bed. Now I am more like they are. The first symptom to go wasn't the pain. It was the inability to sleep.

So I'm getting better. The first activity that came back was reading. The second was being able to do some really easy and fast cooking, mainly in a slow cooker. The third was doing laundry, which I was really glad to be able to do. I started going out of the house for more than doctor's visits. I started being able to go grocery shopping with a friend, and then alone.

And for the last week I've been doing baby steps towards quilting. Mostly, so far it was planning, and Craftsy classes, but right now there are boxes of fabric on my bed! The yellows are calling me. The last thing I need is a yellow quilt, but .....

Health Update - October, 2013

It has been a month since I've blogged. The last time I wrote I knew there was something very wrong but not what was wrong. I now know two things. It is not Lyme disease and it is not rheumatoid arthritis. Which is progress I suppose.

My doctor did not expect the tests to come out positive. She still has some blood work in progress, but since I haven't heard from her for a week I doubt if any of that came out in a way that required my immediate presence in her office. I see her again in two more weeks.

In the meantime she started me on Cymbalta, which is what she has had success with for fibromyalgia, and general pain. And three weeks into the drug it is certainly helping me make progress.

No quilting yet, but I'm here blogging, sitting at my computer for more than essentials. Must mean the energy levels are going up. The pain levels are certainly going down. No question about that. I'm sleeping so much better. I'm waking up on my own at 7 to 8 am instead of 4 or 5 am. For me that is progress indeed.

I'm actually a little antsy that it is the first day of four days of heavy rain and I can't see my way clear to going out on my own. Tomorrow I have a podiatry appointment, so I will be out rain or no rain. I'm almost looking forward to that.

So I can see light at the end of this particular tunnel.

Health Update

There has been no quilting and no blogging for over 10 days now. On Friday, September 1, my chiropractor suggested that I go online and do some research on fibromyalgia and chronic Lyme disease. I added low thyroid to the mix because I've been treated for that for the last 25 years, and probably have had the condition for more than 30 years.

I've been going to the chiropractor for more than a year. I'm making progress, but I am still in a huge amount of pain. The pain keeps moving, and joint pain does not do that.

And this is what I discovered. There is no question that I have fibromyalgia. I've probably got 90% or more of the symptoms. There is a possibility that because my low thyroid disease tests funny, that it is the reason that I've got fibromyalgia as well. I'm not so sure about the chronic Lyme, but the dates are right for my having been infected and not treated about 30 years ago.

I did have a dog in Arizona who brought ticks into the house on a regular basis. He mostly stayed in our yard, and I spent a lot of time in that yard as well. I could easily have been bitten.

The timing is right because 30 years ago my body began to do the slide down to where I am.

So, tomorrow I will begin the process to get an actual diagnosis on the fibromyalgia, and maybe on the chronic Lyme. And my plans right now are to ask to see a specialist who treats low thyroid disease and fibromyalgia. Because I know I've got those two.

I'd love to get back to quilting, but don't know when that will happen. Could happen on Thursday, and maybe won't. I've got the usual fatigue issues that fibromyalgia brings. And pain. A lot of pain.

This stuff isn't new. It has been going on for decades!