Not any time soon

 

These last few weeks have been difficult to say the least. We have been moving my sister in here until she finds a new home for rent. With fibromyalgia flaring, the spoons have not even been seen.

To top it off, RSV has been in our house and we have been knocked down like flies.With Chris, Julie and I all suffering from heart and lung problems, RSV hit us hard.

I caught it off my great-granddaughter when she came for a visit a week before she developed symptoms. Being a sharing person, she passed it on to her mother, Chris and Julie then me.

Chris only had symptoms like a bad cold and was ill for about a week, I was very ill with it lasting two weeks and Julie was sickest of all with hers lasting three weeks. Julie has lupus so it played havoc with her health.

This is not a virus to be played with. It honestly nearly carried Julie and I off. Julie told me it was worse than when she had Covid. I can only attest that it made me sicker than when I had pneumonia. I have never had Covid, and I tested myself at my sickest point. It was negative.

Now I am feeling a bit better but it has left me very exhausted and requiring frequent rests and/or nana naps. Maybe it's that and my fibromyalgia flaring. It was hard work moving my sister..

So to today: I am slowing trying to get my home into order. My floors need vaccuuming and mopping. My toilets are in need of a good clean and I need to conquer Dish City and Mt Laundry.

I will get there but not any time soon. 

We just have to embrace it

We have been looking for another house closer to family. We have applied for one yesterday and had a phone call from the real estate this morning which sounded positive. 

Our fiver got to South Australia to its new owner and they rang us to tell us how pleased they were with it. So that's good. 

We are taking our GMC Sierra to the mechanic for a good overhaul Monday and then we will decide what we will do with it. Over here they are seen as a luxury ute and we think a young buck would love it. That's what we are hoping. 

My twin and son and granddaughter continue to recover from Covid but are still very much under the weather with it. 

I am convinced that our prayers have helped keep my twin. She's so many serious health issues such as lupus and I was afraid for her. 

I have done a load of washing, cleaned my kitchen and am about to make some lunch.  I have a flare of fibromyalgia again and my spoons are nearly all gone.  I will be  taking a nana nap soon.

With an imminent move, I am not looking forward to the energy output, however I am looking forward to being nearer family.

I will miss the birds and our feral cat who is gradually becoming less timid as we feed him. We have named him Teddy Bear as his face is surrounded by bushy fur and he is gingery brown and looks like a teddy.

But I know in  life that one rarely gets everything one wants and so we have weighed up staying or moving. We have decided that we want to be closer to family, particularly our daughter who has had leukaemia.

With a bird bath/feeder and garden swing to take with us, we will continue to feed the birds as we watch from the swing in the garden.

It's true what they say: nothing is sure except death and taxes. Life is full of change. We just have to embrace it.

He's feeling fairly ordinary.

It's been a busy day today. I have a broken off tooth that needs to come out. We had to be at the dentist's by 8.30am and it was an hour long drive. I was being fitted in as an emergency and was warned I could be waiting for up to 2 hours to get seen. 

Two hours passed by waiting and I was then told they couldn't see me today. They gave me a list of dentists I could see but it was too late to be seen today. 

So we drove about an hour away to see a house that we have applied for to rent. It's so nice and the inspection is tomorrow afternoon at 5pm. I hope we are successful. We have told the landlord we are looking and he was fine. 

When I got home I rang a few dentists on the list and I have an appointment midday Thursday for an extraction. My tongue is sore as the tooth is quite sharp. With my fibro flaring and TMJ, I am just about out of my tree with pain. 

My twin sister and my son have Covid and continue to feel sick, but she's feeling a little better, but my son has man flu. I am so glad Chris and I haven't got it....

I am already in my PJ's with my electric blanket on.  I have rung my son to see how he is before I go to bed.  Not so good. He's feeling fairly ordinary. 

 

You can say that again

So today we have shopped online but most of the food we ordered was unavailable. So we took a trip to Aldi  and managed to get  meat,  chicken and cat food.  Most products are being limited now.  There are distribution shortages of staff due to Covid. 

There's a four hour queue to get tested or one can do a Rapid Antigen Test at home, but there's a shortage of tests and it's very difficult to get one. People who can't get tested are isolating and missing out on work just in case they are positive.

Our Prime Minister suggested that as most Australians will test positive soon so he told us to make sure we have paracetamol aka Panadol on hand so that we can manage symptoms at home. (Lotsa luck with that one!) So people went out and stripped all pharmacies and supermarkets of all brands of paracetamol. 

To top it all off for me is that once again, my antidepressants haven't made it off the wharves. They don't know when they will be available again. So it's lucky that I have extra Panadol on hand for my fibromyalgia and an extra box of antidepressants. I am so grateful to the Proverbs 31 wife in scripture who was always prepared and laughs at the time to come. 

A past Prime Minister of ours once famously quoted that life wasn't meant to be easy. You can say that again. 

Bathing in it

 

So, I have really had a hard week of it. I am physically and emotionally spent and it's all about the ravages of Covid in my family.

Firstly, we have had pleas of vaccinated family and friends to take the Covid vax ourselves. This is not going to happen unless our backs are up against the wall. We have spent a considerable amount of time defending our reasonings and copping flack for our choice.

The government is getting more strident in its call to be fully vaxxed and more and more punitive measures in restrictions are coming into play. So much for vaccination not being mandatory: it is really.

My adult children have decided to get vaxxed against my advice and  so has my teenaged grandson. It is their and his parents call I guess.

Then yesterday my grandson got his second Moderna shot and ended up in ER with heart palpitations and fast heartbeat. He is now home, but they said it was a reaction to the shot. He's doing better today.

Furthermore, his paternal grandmother in her 70's developed a deep vein thrombosis two weeks after her  Astra Zeneca jab. But the hospital denies it was the vax. Of course.

My son has been double vaxxed and he and his partner have tested positive for Covid. The only non Covid related whammy for me this week was my other son succumbing to his back injury and being too afraid to go to hospital because of the chance of getting Covid as well. He hasn't been vaxxed.

Chris and I both have existing health issues that need a specialist's input before we are to consider it. So says our doctor. Otherwise we could get an exemption, but would still be limited in our freedoms and seen by the general public as a threat.

All this has ended up with a major fibromyalgia flare which is exacerbated by arguing our case with newly vaxxed family preaching vaccination benefits at us with evangelical zeal. It's all too much.

So today I am not answering phone calls but am going to try to rest as much as I can which should be easy with the measly amount of spoons at my disposal today. 

I want to not think of Covid and vaccinations at all, but I want to take a Tramadol for my considerable body pains and maybe go back to bed.

But first of all, I am going to boil the kettle and make a really large cup of tea. This should help the Tramadol work faster. Tea always is welcome for me and during a fibro flare, it is invaluable as a comfort drink and pick me up.

These days, the only problem with that is that I can't find a big enough cup to satisfy my thirst and tea cravings. To be honest, at the moment, I feel that I not only need to drink tea with gay abandon, but would love to be bathing in it.

Of birds and sunshine

 

It's Wednesday morning here. I have gotten up early because I have to repack a smart TV that was delivered and it wasn't what we ordered. Chris will then take it to the Post Office and send it back. Then we will get a refund.

After that we have to go to the chemist and get some scripts made up. It's pretty ordinary stuff, but it's a half hour drive and with lockdown still enforced here, it's an outing. We are going stir crazy! Getting supplies and medication is legal, so we don't have to worry about being fined $5000 AUD. The fines have been increased because there are many people going about and ignoring lockdown. I guess they are over it too, but it is what it is.

I have last night's dinner dishes to do before we go anywhere. Due to having no spoons, (energy) I will take my shower before bed. The weather's supposed to be nice today and I am looking forward not only to the drive, but sitting in my walker on the back porch and watching the birds. The sun might help me with my fibromyalgia pain in the neck and shoulders. Along with the pain killers I will pick up from the chemist today.

There's nothing like sunshine and bird watching to chase the blues away.

We are very flexible!

I got up early and stripped our beds and emptied the waste baskets in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. I washed the dishes and Chris dried them and put them away. I got that load of sheets done and in the dryer. 

Our friendly cleaner opted to come today as tomorrow she's having her second Covid jab. Hence the early morning organising of the house for her to clean. 

With us at this stage of our life, every day is the same! We are very flexible- with plans that is: with joints and so on- not so much! 

Painted in to a corner

So we visited our doctor last week and he asked us if we wanted the Covid 19 vaccine. With both of us with weak hearts, diabetic and obese, plus being older he told us we should consider it.

Well, we have considered it. With ordinary flu vaccines, both of us had a really bad reaction to it, and we both swore we wouldn't have another one. So we declined.

We pointed this out to him, plus the added problem with my blood being sticky and my propensity to make clots, it seems too risky. Even with Clopidogrel and aspirin blood thinners which I am on for life.

The doctor said if I wanted it that he would consult with my specialist who deals with my antiphospholipid syndrome. When I told him I didn't have one, he said that he would have to refer me to one and take it from there.

I asked if he was planning to have the vaccine and he said he and all in his clinic had already had it. I asked him which one. He replied AstraZeneca. 

Now AstraZeneca has been ceased in some European countries because it seems to be linked to many cases of blood clots.

As an older person, I would be given AstraZeneca here in Australia to leave the other vaccines for those under 50 who may be at greater risk of blood clots. 

With severe muscle pain already from fibromyalgia, I can do without feeling even worse. Especially for a disease that has a 98% survival rate if you are unlucky enough to catch it in the first place.

So we declined and the doctor was OK with that. For the moment. Because I can foresee in the near future that there will be more pressure on people to be vaccinated, especially as more vaccines become available.

I will never agree to being vaccinated and it's OK now, but with a muted message on Twitter from our Prime Minister that "certain things will have to be done to ensure all are vaccinated" and revealing that even Australian citizens may not be able to return to Australia if unvaccinated, the die is cast for some coersion in complying.

We will be standing our ground on this experimental vaccine, but we feel that it's only a matter of time before we are ordered to comply and are painted in to a corner.

Just when we came up for air!

 

So today I had just finished ordering my groceries online when I received the news that all of our home state, Victoria, is going into a five day lockdown starting tonight at midnight. It was a snap decision.

I have been preparing for this, so it didn't catch us unawares. Well, the timing caught us unaware, but the possibility that we could be forced to stay home again didn't.

Since the lifting of restrictions that saw us locked down for nine months, I have been gradually adding extra tinned foods, non perishables and drinks to our pantry. 

I have been gradually getting extra prescriptions and insulin injections made up in case of another snap decision by the Victorian government to enforce a lockdown. I am glad I did.

Although it is supposed to be for five days, with this virus mutating and so on, one never knows. It is  best to be prepared.

With no visitors allowed to our home and nowhere to go,  it will be easy to recover from my most recent fibromyalgia flare that has seen me unable to think clearly, let alone write a blog post. 

I won't be feeling guilty for going to bed during the day, but even so, I would prefer the freedom to come or go as I feel led. 

We Victorians are getting old hands at being cooped up at home and it can be depressing. Especially as we were just starting to relax and relish going for drives and visiting family. 

It was certainly a lovely time and we should have known it wouldn't last long. Typical of events with this horrid virus... it took us back to nine months lockdown just past and coming just when we came up for air!

   

Country life is sweet

I love our little country township. This is the main street. It consists of a few houses, a Post Office and a general store.

Although very small, the town always has something happening- today it was a nursery stall where plants and vegetables to cultivate are sold cheaply.

It is not uncommon to go to the Post Office and be walking among free range hens, pecking in the nature strip or front garden of the people's homes.

The Post Office is staffed with super friendly people and is pretty busy. Due to small population here, the mail is not delivered by a post man, but is delivered to PO boxes which we hire.

I have got permission from our landlords for Chris to make some waist high raised garden beds and I am planning to buy some vegetable seedlings for that soon.

Just across the Post Office there is a lovely park which has just been allowed to be visited after Covid rules lessened. I will be taking the grandchildren there on the approaching school holidays.

This little Post Office is within easy walking distance from our place. As soon as I get some spoons back with this fibromyalgia flare, I am going to try to walk it there and back. 

If I run into difficulties, Chris will be able to see me from our front porch and he will pick me up.

It does seem laughable that a short walk has to be timed and emergency procedures in place, but such is the life for a fibromite with barely a spoon to stir her aching old bones. 

I tell myself, "It is what it is!" and accept it but it still hurts. It's sort of like having a laugh instead of having a good cry.

I will get to walking it as it's fun to play with the hens who are quite gentle and tame. Country life is sweet! 

Making holiday plans

 

After nine months of lockdown here in Victoria, at last some restrictions have been lifted, paving the way for families to get to together for Christmas and New Year.

Gone are the endless days of watching movies and becoming totally indolent because of boredom and depression. We can now make plans for the holidays.

It was horrid being in a state of limbo due to the Government's tight rein on us travelling because of Covid 19. We didn't know what would be happening this year, but hopefully now we will be able to reconnect with family.

It will be good to travel without being pulled over by the police or defence officers. Shopping for food and presents will be fun, even though we still will have to wear a mask and practise social distancing.

This doesn't really worry me as I do all my gift buying and food online, due to fibromyalgia and heart problems. But it will be great to know that we can actually visit our family instead of posting presents. 

My aged care home help lady has been coming and it is such a relief. I have the place tidy for her and she said our place is fine. Apparently some people won't do anything in their house at all.

I have had Chris receiving hospital in the home care daily and last Friday he was discharged because the wound has granulated sufficiently that it doesn't need packing anymore.

We are experiencing quite changeable weather and my fibromyalgia is off the charts. Along with the chronic fatigue a flare brings.

I am looking for Christmas gifts online and am planning my Christmas dinner menu. We are so glad that at last there is a lessening of active Covid cases here in Victoria and it looks like Christmas will be a time to enjoy with family. 

I am rejoicing and feel alive again, now that I will see my grandchildren and other family and I will take great pleasure in making holiday plans.

I haven't bothered to do it.

 

These last few days since my last post have been difficult to say the least. With Spring here in Australia, the weather has been at its' most changeable. 

In Melbourne where we live, it is possible to experience all seasons in one day and the joke of the day is to wear a bikini under your raincoat. It plays havoc with Fibromites.

We Fibromites know that inclement or changing weather patterns causes a fibromyalgia flare and for me it has run true to form.

I have been unable to think clearly let alone blog, and the depression that has enveloped me in its' dreariness has made it impossible to rise above the constant background of muscle pain.

By the time I have made our bed and tidied our home in preparation for the nurse from Hospital in the Home to come to change Chris's post op dressing, I am in so much pain that I just want to crawl back into that newly made bed. Sometimes I do.

Still on lockdown with Covid 19, we only go to the chemist or face to face doctors appointments when a phone consultation isn't suitable. And the way I have been feeling, it is more than enough.

It is not uncommon for us to prepare ourselves for a few hours out of the home as if we were planning a vacation. When I say "prepare ourselves" I mean emotionally.

We have to give ourselves a pep talk and conjure up motivation and spoons to leave home. Physically, there's not much to do.

We may or may not shower, depending on how recently we have had one. We get dressed and we rest. Avid clock watchers, we usually leave our departure until the absolute last minute, so loathe are we to venture outside these days. By the time we are no longer in lockdown, I think I will be preferring to stay home.

Close to the hour to depart, I will usually check my hair has been combed and on a really, really good day, I will pull all stops out and put on some lipstick. With mandatory masks, no one is even going to see that these days, so lately I haven't bothered to do it.

Endone envy!

These last few days and the next few have been extremely busy. Chris has been unwell and is awaiting surgery for a hernia/abcess as we speak. Also, my twin sister is also in hospital with heart problems again.

I don't usually drive, but these last few days I have had to. Driving sure has exacerbated my fibromyalgia pain. But it simply had to be done.

Yesterday, I drove Chris to the ER and then I drove myself home. This morning when I woke I could hardly raise my arms. 

Needing to go the hospital again this afternoon, I had to take a nap because I knew I wouldn't have sufficient spoons to make it there and back if I didn't.

It has been a hot day today. The first majorly hot day in our spring weather. There's more of the same. By the time I got my walker out of the car, then walked the miles of corridors to Chris's room, I was exhausted.

When I got home, I had a cuppa and some paracetamol. I will be having an early night tonight as tomorrow I will be visiting Chris again. 

I think stress exacerbates fibromyalgia symptoms as well. I feel torn about not visiting my twin and staying by Chris's side. Obviously, I can't physically be two places at once, but in my thoughts and heart, I am. 

I wasn't allowed to stay long with Chris due to Covid 19 restrictions, but the only thing that saved my emotions today was seeing the Endone had made him sleep. Seeing him without pain made it easier to leave him.

The kettle is on and my evening meds have been taken. I will ring both the hospitals and check on the patients before I go to bed. 

Fibromyalgia is consuming most of my thoughts right now, and for the first time in my life, I am actually envious of the wonderous soothing effects of Chris's Endone.