My daily homemaking chores

So that we won't live in a pig stye, I try to keep to this schedule no matter how I feel. It is based on Sharon White's Legacy of Home blog.  I often read through this to motivate me, but for really fibro brain fog days, I have highlighted the chores for quick reading. I have modified it a little for my own home...

WAKE UP: BLOODS, JAB AND MEDS FEED XENA

1.  There is the breakfast hour, which includes tea-time. First we prepare the meal and set a table.  I often set up a tray- table and sit in the parlour before anyone else is awake.  I am an early riser so I have my tea while the sun is just beginning to rise.  I enjoy this quiet time of resting from the brief bit of morning work.

Later, when the family has their eggs and toast, or fresh baked muffins with fruit, it is time to do the dishes.   We wash the table and the counters and do the sweeping.   All the work of tidying and making things neat are part of the breakfast duties. 

2.  Often, during the morning hours, we do the laundry or the dusting and vacuuming. Each day has its special work. It may be Wednesday is for washing floors. Perhaps Thursday is for cleaning the bathroom.  The mid-morning hours are a good time for many of us to do these special duties of making a home look pretty. LIST WORK FOR THE DAY

3.  The Lunch hour is such a wonderful time to stop and rest.  We put out a fresh, clean tablecloth.  I love my white-and-teal checkered cloth.  It looks so homey and old fashioned.  We can set up our plates and napkins. We can do this even if we are just serving grilled cheese sandwiches, pickles, and chips!  It makes the lunch - work like a reward when we sit at that pretty table and rest and eat while we enjoy the family.  Next we do the sweeping and the dishes, much like we did in the morning.  

4.  The dinner hour is such a precious time in the day.  I often start working on the evening meal at 3 in the afternoon. I work slowly and take lots of breaks. Sometimes I peel potatoes and start getting a little casserole ready to bake.  Other times I might do much of the work for a pan of lasagna. I like to put these pans of prepared food in the refrigerator and then just take them out to bake when it is just about dinner time.  That way I get a great deal of rest between all the work.  CLOSE THE BLINDS AND LIGHT THE LAMPS.  BLOODS JAB MEDS 

Sitting with the family and hearing the blessing (or the prayer before the meal) is such a peaceful experience.  It is lovely to just sit and enjoy dinner at the end of a long day.  Then the work of tidying, doing the dishes, and sweeping the floor happens.  We make everything look neat and pretty. But I do not like to rush.  I do not want to just "get the work over-with." I take my time and go at a steady pace.  The work of cleaning and accomplishing the beautiful work of making a neat home makes me happy.  It also brings peace. SHOWER OR BATHE 

These four tasks of homemaking do not take a great deal of effort.  They may seem simple and ordinary.  They may seem mundane.  But if we dress up in something pretty, wearing an apron, and keeping our hair up in a pretty style, we may find ourselves enjoying the work.  I have an old blue-and-white gingham apron that I love to wear. It is getting old and ragged. I will have to make a new one this coming fall.  I need a fresh supply of lovely aprons to wear as I do the housekeeping.

When we look extra nice as we do our work, we can find joy in the labor.  Doing the little tasks of keeping house, each day, with a feeling of contentment, will bring a true feeling of comfort and happiness to the family.  It will help them feel welcome and loved in a happy and simple home.

We need an ark!

THURSDAY NIGHT: We are having unseasonable weather with flooding and high winds. Currently having our tenth power outage in 24 hours with large trees blown over lots of roads and in the parkland opposite our house we are out of our diabetic medicines and we can’t get to the chemist.

We have been advised to stay home for safety. I am so glad we are on a steep slope.

FRIDAY: We managed to get through to our closest chemist so we have our diabetic medicine again! We had dinner at Chris's son's as they had gas to cook with. They live near us! 

We have no heating whatsoever and it's winter and the weather is freezing. My fibromyalgia has come out to play! 

SATURDAY:  So pleased that the power came back on last night. 

SUNDAY AFTERNOON: We have just got the modem back on but the phones are still on SOS only. 

The waters came up very high so that the cows couldn't get any food from their pasture behind our back garden. A farmer asked us if he could go through our back garden to leave some hay bales for them. Of course we said yes and he managed to place some in the small island of land in the middle of the flood waters. 

I don't need food or medicine so it doesn't matter that we can't get out for the moment. 

The farmer who came through to feed his cows was very nice and he said he's lived here all his life and has never seen the weather and floods as bad as this one. The weather bureau said the waters should recede soon.

This is the view today from our back porch. The hay was delivered to the island strip of land because through habit that's where the cows were plodding looking for feed. The farmer's house is in the background.

My focus for today is to wash all the dishes and do some washing... I will be cooking lamb stew for tonight. 

More rain is forecast for the next few days with more flooding. If it gets any worse, we are going to need an ark! 

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.

Hand over the Prednisolone!

I was too afraid to take the 5mg Prednisolone x 3 tablets the doctor gave me Monday for my polymyalgia rheumatica flareup and arthritic deformed hands...

He said to take it for a week and see how it goes, but I was so scared of the side effects that I wondered if I should avoid it. I know it will raise by blood sugars and I am diabetic. Also, I know it will raise my blood pressure. But still, the pain is rising so much that I really don't know what to do...

I have temple pain with the PMR and I am scared it may go into giant cell arteritis. I had them in my hand that morning, chickened out and put them back in the bottle....

I had a phone consult with my doctor later today and I discussed what was worrying me about taking Prednisolone. We discussed the risks and he asked me to try it till Monday when we both go to see him. My ESR was very high (50) so he is pretty sure it's PMR back again. So this morning I took them.

It's evening now and I am exhausted but feel a bit edgy so I am not in bed yet. I know this will sound untrue, but this arvo I have been able to move my thumb and bend my fingers for the first time in months! I hope it continues...

Twelve hours in, in the midst of this battle with pain, it seems like a miracle cure! I am a new fan. I am glad now that I weighed up the pros and cons as I weighed my burgeoning body.

Unable to hold a cake knife, I shouted to my husband, "Hand over the Prednisolone and no one gets hurt!” as I reached for another piece of comforting cake.

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!

   

I just want to stay in bed!

So today I woke with everything aching and no spoons. Yes, another flare of fibromyalgia. Actually, I am pretty sure my body is permanently flaring, it's just a bad day. Another one.

Everything within me says that I should stay in bed, but today is our grandson's birthday and a BBQ has been organised. I simply have to go.

So far, I have showered, dressed and breakfasted. The shower almost killed me this morning. The water felt like thousands of needles pricking my sensitive skin and it was a real effort to raise my arms to wash my hair.

I was so worn out by the end of my drying off that I had to lay down for a bit. Dressing came much later, as did taking our bloods and administering Chris's insulin injection.

We have to leave soon and we are fortunate in that our hosts live close by. A long drive today would be too off putting and we usually love going on long drives. But not today.

When we get home I will be doing a light dinner for us and that is all. It has to be. And I have to be content with that.

Fellow fibromites will know that when you have no spoons, even breathing is an effort. If it wasn't for making memories today, I would be content with posting this and going to bed. I just want to stay in bed! 

 

Spoons aren't transferable

 

So this morning I needed a shower as I have an important appointment later on in the day. With lockdown and being home most of the time, I have been fairly relaxed about it, but not today.

I did our bloods, gave Chris his insulin injection, ate breakfast and ran the shower. It was heaven on my aching muscles and I let the water run on my sore neck and back. I washed my hair and body and then started to feel weak.

Out of spoons, I sat on the side of the bath trying to catch my breath and get my second wind. It didn't come. 

By the time I had finally got dried and dressed, I was literally shaking and sick with fatigue.

Looking at the clock, I realised that in a few hours I will be leaving the house and walking around. Which normals think as normal, but us sufferers of fibromyalgia and other chronic illnesses know, we have to balance everything in the spoon equation. Once spent, they're gone! 

Sitting down to rest and trying to garner some spoons of energy, I realised once again that I simply cannot shower on days I have to go out to an appointment that simply cannot be postponed. 

You would think after 20 years of fibro that I would have learned that spoons aren't transferable.

Help is on the way!

So last week I got a phone call from the Aged care people to inform me that they can send a woman to clean for me. She will be wearing a mask and social distancing they tell me...

She is coming today early in the morning, so I have gotten up, dressed and breakfasted and stripped off our bed for changing. My fibromyalgia is flaring, but I have had to ignore my sore muscles and look to the next few hours when the cleaning lady is here.

You can't imagine the relief I feel as we can't manage heavy cleaning anymore. Vaccuuming, mopping and bath/shower cleaning knock us both out. As I have said to the Aged care people, I can do things at waist level like cooking and washing dishes. 

I no longer use the clothesline to dry my washing which is a shame because there's nothing quite like fresh laundry that's been dried by the sun. However, since my polymyalgia rheumatica bouts, I have trouble raising my arms: it even hurts to brush my hair. Which is why I now wear it short. It's manageable.

Today is the day I refill our medicine containers and that means that later on I will have to get to the chemist to get prescriptions refilled. I also need to buy electrodes for the glucose monitoring machines.

Our sugars are still too high, even though Chris is now on 20 units of insulin twice a day plus his oral medications. I have been put on Januvia 50mg a morning with 2 diamicron tablets. We are not winning this battle against diabetes 2.

So I am looking up dishes to make that are low GI and trying to learn about reducing blood sugar. And although it seems like I am taking steps backward, at least I am winning in the cleaning stakes because mercifully, thanks to Centrelink, help is on the way!

Kiss the cook!

So my fibromyalgia flare is abating, and I have a few spoons today. So I am planning to do some cooking this afternoon.

I am planning to bake some bread, some sugarless cookies for Chris and a vegetable intensive stew for dinner tonight.

With chronic illness, I have seen firsthand how cooking from scratch and making nutritious meals extends our lives. 

My mother was a good cook. When her brother who lived with her, had a stroke, he lived far longer than what the doctor guessed and it was due a lot to her plain but wholesome meals.

My step-father had emphysema and diabetes, and Mum always had good meals on the table for him. The day before he died, he told me that he didn't think he would live to 75. I replied that it's because of Mum's good home cooking! He agreed and said he didn't doubt that it was! 

So with our various chronic health issues, I always try to do the same and I also make sure we eat at least a couple of pieces of fruit. 

Besides, with lockdown on and nothing much to do, it's a good thing to have something nice in the oven and to look forward to your meals.

We only get one life and what we eat does influence our longevity! So I will always make a solid wholesome meal no matter how I feel. 

So far I don't have many complaints about my meals and I don't have to remind Chris to kiss the cook! 

The last one didn't make it home!

So this morning I am in my study checking my emails when I hear Chris talking in the nearby kitchen.

"So which of you is gonna be brave this morning?" he asks his upheld fingers as he searches for a digit that hasn't recently been jabbed for glucose testing..

They are all sore and he is running out of fingers... "Come on, Chaps! I want a volunteer!.... right then, You- step forward!"

I am giggling to myself because all my fingers are sore as well... but I stopped giggling when I heard him call out  "12.9!" -that's a high number for a fasting test.

Going to the kitchen to write it down in our diabetes diary, I asked Chris to retest it... sometimes the monitor needs recalibrating. 

I recalibrated it as Chris again studied his fingers. "I want another volunteer!.." I felt bad when the   result was still 12.9! All for nothing too with no need for the last volunteer  who didn't make it home. 

It's enough to drive me to drink!

So Friday I was talking to my new doctor about my back problems and asthma problems, my blood results and consequent treatment. My cholesterol and sugars were good as was my thyroid thanks to Thyroxin tablets. 

My uric acid levels were good, which they should be with me on medications to stop making kidney stones. And the conversation went like this: "Your uric acid level- have you always had high uric acid in your blood? No? well it probably is due to alcohol intake!" "Excuse me? I don't drink alcohol at all!" "Oh really? well- good: good! So it's just in your blood... OK!"

He was running through the blood tests which showed my liver GGT was unusually high. "Why do you think that is, Doctor?" I asked. "Probably too much fat or excessive alcohol intake!" "Ahem- I don't drink alcohol at all!" "Oh, yes. Of course!" 

I do not drink alcohol, but his reaction to my liver problem and high uric acid level annoyed me somewhat. I mean, if it was a problem, I would tell him so instead of worrying myself as to what it is caused by.

My blood pressure was slightly up which isn't surprising when I am meeting a new doctor. Especially one who suspects that his new patient is a drinker of the new wine! or casks thereof! 

So next we had a discussion on which diet program to follow as the fat lady with the drinker's pot belly needs to lose weight.

And right in the middle of a discussion of Keto and diabetes, I stopped mid sentence and lost my train of thought. Embarrassed beyond belief, I told him I was having a bad fibromyalgia day and it was just brain fog!

He just looked at me over his glasses and I could tell what he was thinking... it's too much imbibing of alcohol that does that!... 

Leaving the clinic with a handful of diet pamphlets and scripts, I asked Chris to drive me straight home. 

I headed for the kettle to make myself my favourite beverage- tea. But I swear I was so upset by the insinuations that I cried out to Chris's surprise, "It's enough to drive me to drink!" and it almost is! 

Watch, pray and wash your hands.

So this Corona Virus is getting serious here Down Under. In our home state, Victoria, people have been dropping like flies after a whiff from the can of Mortein. 

Melbourne and metropolitan towns have been told to stay at home and even  we in the rural areas have been asked to limit our business outside the home.

Masks are becoming mandatory after midnight Wednesday for those in lockdown and we here have been requested to comply. 

We had  a telephone consult about our three monthly blood tests and although Chris's sugars at 9.2 have come down, there's room for improvement. He has to double his Januvia tablets.

My sugars were 8 which our doctor has said was good but could be better. I do have a high GTT on my liver report. Just another thing to worry about, I suppose. Kidney function is good. Cholesterol is fine too.

I don't get much sun as I am inside mainly so not surprisingly, my vitamin  D is low. I am to take 2 Vit D tablets from now on to give it a boost.

Due to comorbidities, Chris and I have been told to wear a mask when shopping etc. I accordingly bought some on ebay today because it is cheaper than the chemist.

I am experiencing some itchy hands from the constant hand sanitisers when we leave the house. I know they are important, and I do use them, but I use soap and water at home.

It's just another cross to bear with fibromyalgia vying for top place in the itching field. My hands usually only itch after I clap my hands. 

But all in all, we have to stay vigilant to stay safe, so I will do as I am told. We have faith in God, but have to have a teachable heart with matters like Corona.

So we keep social distancing, and we watch and pray, and wash our hands. 

Sometimes old school is better

So when we lived in the fifth wheeler, we needed to find a vacuum that actually picked up cat fur, wasn't heavy and didn't take up a lot of room in storage.  We bought a Dyson V6 Animal with disappointing results. 

It became clogged with Xena's fur mainly and it was difficult to unlatch it to empty. At $700AUD, it wasn't cheap.

While it was kind to my sore back, it was not at all kind to my arthritic fingers. In fact, as soon as there was the slightest relaxation of pressure on the red button to run the motor, the thing died.

Last night Chris was able to resolve a problem of it stopping and starting erratically. He dismantled it and cleaned the filter and removed dirt from around the collection area. It improved and pulsed properly, but it still is a big disappointment. It simply blocks up too easily and quickly. 

For those Sacrificial Home Keepers with arthritic hands and fingers, or fibro hands, I would not recommend a Dyson. Something old school that runs with a power cord would work better.

Fortunately, we have a Volta Red Devil that has a long cord and we find this better in the long run. Unkind on my back, it doesn't hurt my hands or fingers. Sometimes old school is better.

Today we had our blood tests for diabetes: HBA1C. We went to the chemist to pick up some prescriptions and headed home. Chris needed his insulin injection and breakfast.

I am under the weather with fibromyalgia- same old story: weather changes = pain. So I followed the Wednesday List on Sylvia's Lists and had a much needed nana nap.

We are having a late dinner tonight as we have to wait 8 hours between Chris's injections as we were late with it due to the fasting this morning. Not feeling overly hungry, we are going to just have a frozen dinner.  We eat really well most nights, so a frozen meal occasionally won't harm us.

I am a firm believer in eating nutritious foods and we live on three veg and meat dinners cooked from scratch.  I know take away and fast foods are convenient, but once again, old school is better...

Again: it's just the nature of the beast!

Chris is going to help his son with car stuff so I will be home alone today. 

If I have enough spoons, I plan to make no sugar icecream that Karen posted in her vlog, bake a no sugar cake for Chris to enjoy and cook a beef stew for dinner. 

Last night I facetimed my grandaughter, Taylah. I miss her terribly!  Although the children have just returned to school, it will be school holidays again this Friday for two weeks. I plan to have her stay with us for a few days. She's excited too! 

My fibromyalgia is still flaring and my sugars were high today. I think maybe I need a nana nap before cooking... one can never plan anything with certainty. 

That's the emotional downside of fibro... it tries to run our life. I mean, really, is cooking a few things too much to ask in a whole day?

Somehow, with twenty-two years of fibromyalgia, my answer is: sometimes! Yes, it's all about spoons!  

No good whining about it: I've said it before and it's true- it's just the nature of the beast! 

From the comfort of my couch

Today when I woke up, the outside was like a winter wonderland. Everything had a cloak of white from the frost. I quickly put the heaters on and warmed the place up.

After my lunch, I was still in my Oodie and I just didn't really have any spoons to do much. The birds were eating in our bird feeder and the sun had come across the back garden and was so warm that I was able to turn the heater off.

My stress levels when Chris became ill were pretty high, and I had done a lot of driving over the last two weeks. It played major havoc with my fibromyalgia, back and hips. I don't usually drive so of course I was using muscles that don't get used much. And they were complaining!

We opened the back door to air the house. The birds were chirping, the cattle were lowing and the stream at the end of our garden was flowing fast and bubbling. The sun shone on the water and not for the first time, I thanked God for giving us this home to rent.

Chris was sitting at the end of the couch and invited me to lay down and he would give me a foot rub. Now with all the driving, my right foot was extremely sore from using the pedals, and my peripheral neuropathy from diabetes was causing my feet to burn. He knows I suffer with sore feet and oedema in my legs, thanks to heart failure, and he rubs my feet and massages the water from them up towards my heart. It is supposed to help with heart failure.

The sun was shining right in my eyes, so I pulled my Oodie hood over them and lay listening to the birds, cows and stream. With closed eyes and the sun shining on my bare legs, the birds continued to chorus and with the water running, it felt exactly like I was at the beach. I fell asleep.

When I woke from my resultant slumber, Chris had closed the door as it was getting cold again. My muscles felt more relaxed and I had a few spoons to cook some fish and mashed potato with peas for dinner. I even did an apple pie sweetened with Hermasetas and cinnamon.

I was so comforted by just getting to rest and sleep and I intend to go to the "beach" again tomorrow- all from the comfort of my couch!

I am wearing my blanket!

We are in our winter here in Australia and where we live in a small country town, it gets very cold. Sometimes it even snows. 

With my thermostat being broken due to fibromyalgia and then being on blood thinners for my stents and antiphospholipid syndrome, my blood is like water and I really feel the cold.

You kinda know your blood is thin when you get a blood test with your husband and when it's standing in vials next to mine, his is dark red and mine is watery pink! So yes, I feel the cold keenly.

Our home is all electric and of course our only heating is electric too. So when the bill came, I gasped when I saw how much it cost! 

When I saw the Oodie on Face Book, I asked Chris if I could have one for my birthday! I ordered it in April but didn't get it until the beginning of June. Just in time for the coldest months in Australia. I figured that if it was as warm as they say, that it would recoup the cost in just one billing cycle!

Now Chris is from England, and he is quite used to the cold and doesn't feel it like I do. When he saw how warm I was without using the little fan heater in my study, he mentioned that he might like one for his birthday!  Since getting older and feeling ill with high sugars and vertigo, he declared that he was now feeling cold too.

So he tried it on and apart from mine being the pink you see in the picture, it was perfect! So I ordered a navy one for him. Size is not a factor as they are made oversize and one size fits all! 

The only problem is that he won't get it until July as they are pre-ordered and very popular here!

They are expensive and I got mine on Afterpay which helps a good deal. We love Afterpay!

Today is Monday and I am doing Sylvia's Lists today as I am feeling under the weather with fibromyalgia flaring. The last few weeks have been stressful, especially the day Chris was taken ill and I thought he had suffered a stroke.

We then had to sort out his new insulin regime which I did, and although he is now improving, I still am suffering rebound fibro flares from the stress.

I am planning to cook lamb strips in a marinade of mongolian beef with green veg and mashed potato for dinner. Depending on Chris's sugars, I will serve some artifically sweetened jelly and sugar free icecream for dessert.

By the way, I am not getting paid to advertise my Oodie. I just wanted to pass on my great comfortable friend for your consideration to anyone here who feels the cold. I really love mine: I can find anywhere is a great place to sit and be cosy as I am wearing my blanket! 

Better days ahead!

We are still self isolating. Chris's sugars are slowly improving, as are his ears. I am planning on decluttering our home today as the home help lady is coming Wednesday to do our floors. I am looking forward to that. 

I ordered groceries online last night and they are going to be delivered this afternoon. Chris is the type of guy who could live on meat and two veg- as long as one of them is mashed potato! So that diet is great for his diabetes control. It is easy to do and I have a happy man! 

I ordered lots of frozen veg in packets that you steam in the microwave... and they do potato mash in white and sweet potato.  I usually make a gravy to pour over the vegetables.

With still feeling exhausted with my fibromyalgia flare, I am very appreciative of convenience foods that are still healthy. 

Anyway, with the sugars improving and Chris not so dizzy, I can not only see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I can see better days ahead!

Still the mistress of our home!

Yesterday I came to the realisation that my fibromyalgia is not going to get any better. Nor is my diabetes, hole in the heart, back pain, angina, asthma or torn meniscus. 

My blood sugars are also high, but not as high as Chris's, but it is a warning to me as well. I certainly do not want to go through what Chris is going through with trying to get the right amount of insulin and the horrid symptoms he endures.

My hole in the heart means my right lung is not oxygenating properly and because I need a fourth stent which I have refused (another story), I have constant stable angina. And asthma on exertion.

My blood pressure is high as the pain from my back and torn meniscus in my knee is bad. Finally, with Chris being ill now, my depression is back. I hurt when he is hurting.

Like any Sacrificial Home Keeper, I am trying to keep my home clean and tidy and here I too am failing. I see no end to it...

I was talking to my twin sister yesterday and she said that it is possible to get a bit of subsidised home help through the Australian Government's Age Care plan. So I applied and am going to be assessed tomorrow. I am eligible, as I am now 67 and my husband is 70 in a few weeks and is unable to do housework with me.

I can do some housework if it is waist level: dishes, cooking, washing, dusting. But I cannot even sweep let alone vacuum or wash my floors, as my tendons and muscles scream for mercy with my fibromyalgia and my back joins in sympathy, followed by angina and asthma. So basically I need someone to clean my floors and to change our bed.

As a woman who has been a house keeper since 1969 and brought up five children, it really galls me that I have to admit that I cannot maintain my own home by myself anymore. 

So, I am throwing in the towel.... well, mostly. But I still will be doing meal planning, grocery shopping (online),  cooking, cleaning my kitchen including dishes, bill paying and budgeting, washing, ironing as needed, refilling prescriptions, social planning and gift buying, looking after Xena our cat, and most importantly, looking after Chris's and my health.

In saying I am throwing in the towel, I forgot how much I still will be doing. I guess I will still be the mistress of our home! 

Help in a hurry

So we needed an ambulance Monday morning. Within 20 minutes not one, but two ambulances were at our house, tending to Chris. They were wonderful and stabilised him and got us to our local hospital in about 20 minutes..

This is something that was important to us as older people with many health issues. Living in the country, we weren't quite sure how long help would be if we needed it. We were very impressed and comforted.

The last few days have been difficult with looking after Chris as he becomes accustomed to injecting Insulin, and trying to overcome my resulting flare of fibromyalgia.

It was inevitable with having to drive to the hospital for a couple of days and not being able to sleep well... 

As a result I was so overcome with fatigue and muscle pain that my dear daughter-in-law pulled on some gloves and washed my dishes for me while her husband visited Chris. I am most grateful to her.

I have ordered my groceries online and am expecting them in a few hours. I think I have just enough spoons left to drag them in and put them away. So most likely I will serve a frozen dinner for tea tonight. I am so tired today that even breathing is too hard.

Anyway, I am pleased with country living in emergencies, even if the hospital care leaves a lot to be desired.... as I posted about here.  But at least we now know that it's only 20 minutes away if we need help in a hurry.

It's just the nature of the beast!

I wish I could tell you that my fibromyalgia flare is over, but I can't. This morning I woke with so much pain that I took my bath in the morning instead of at night, hoping it would unkink all my sore muscles. It didn't.

As I lay in the bath I planned my day and prayed for the energy to do it. If determination was the only way to get through, it would be a breeze! But alas, determination does not equate to spoons (energy), and at the end of the day it can actually lead to false guilt if I can't achieve what I wanted to.

In chronic illness, I find that whilst it is good to make plans, it is unlikely that all will be accomplished. Like me knowing that my diabetes is out of control (11.6) and I simply must accept that I cannot take much sugar in any form, I must accept that I can only do so much. Or so little. 

So, it's no good flogging myself like a dead horse. It is what it is. What gets done, gets done. What doesn't, doesn't. 

So today, I am just following Monday's List. And preparing a curried sausages in the slow cooker for dinner. 

If I get everything done or not, I will have to learn to be content. Chronic illness is tough, but I will have to accept it: it's just the nature of the beast.