Wednesday 28 February 2024
He's getting very rusty!
Tuesday 30 January 2024
I'm in love with my new maidservant
Wednesday 24 January 2024
Helping ourselves
I need pain relief. My doctor's on holiday until Feb 9 so I had a phone consult with his doctor wife. I told her my pain is currently off the charts with fibromyalgia, polymyalgia and both knees paining me badly. I asked for a prescription for Tramadol but she said for me to wait until he comes back!
Too long to wait when you are blown away with pain. So I am going to take some Prednisolone for a few days. I have some in the house.
How is it that people with genuine pain issues who rarely ask for help, are regarded with suspicion and treated like a druggie? it's not fair...
Sometimes you have to go against the medicos and do whatever gives you relief.. (as in taking Prednisolone for some relief) People who are chronically ill and in pain have been known to commit suicide... I can understand why- not that I am going to... just sayin'
We are judged so harshly because of those who rort the system and abuse the drugs.. We have to be our own doctor and help ourselves.
Saturday 30 December 2023
Ya gotta laugh
I got some of things I wanted to do done, but alas, it came with a cost. I have another flare of fibromyalgia.
I can hardly move and hurt everywhere. It doesn't help that we have thunderstorms on the horizon either. So today I have only washed my dishes and I will cook dinner. It's all I can manage.
All our bedding is washed and dried and when our cleaner comes Monday, she will put more clean sheets on. I just did the minkie blankets and our doonas.
I must say that drying the minkie blankets in the dryer has given them a slightly grey tinge, but they are still soft and smell great. Most importantly, they are clean.
My plan for the remainder of the day is to cook bangers and mash for dinner. I will take some Tramadol because my knees are hurting as well as the usual fibro pain.
Saturday 18 November 2023
Hear me roar
Eventually you run out of dishes and knives and forks and of course, pots and pans. You work harder by having to scrub really dried on food. It's a drag.
So the other day I woke up and decided that this would be the day I washed all those dishes and cleaned my kitchen. With both my knees with meniscus tears, I doubted I would be able to accomplish this.
Anyway, in stints of about 15 minutes each, I managed to knock over the dishes and clean the kitchen. It was a novelty to see the benchtops clear of dishes and I pinched myself to make sure I was seeing the empty draining board and not imagining it.
Life has been tough lately with torn knees, sciatica and fibromyalgia flaring. I haven't been able to stand much and my muscle pain has been horrible. But I did it!
To 'normals' reading this, you probably will be thinking it's no big deal- it's doing the dishes. But to me it's like climbing a mountain or going on a 30 mile hike. That's how my body reacts.
To my Sacrificial Home Keeping Sisters, you will be rejoicing with me because you know how even a seemingly small task can feel like a marathon.
It was a marathon and I won! you can't believe how extremely proud of myself I am feeling right now. And relieved. It's nice to prepare a meal in a well organised and clean kitchen.
I am savouring the moment and don't care if you are laughing at me! I can do anything!
I am woman-hear me roar!
Wednesday 19 April 2023
The spirit is willing
Monday 16 January 2023
More than just a place to sleep
Monday 21 November 2022
It still is what it is!
Wednesday 24 August 2022
Bushed but satisfied.
Today we have no physio or doctor appointments so we can stay home. I am ploughing through 3 loads of washing and I have to clean my kitchen.
I am cooking a pork stew in the slow cooker. Chris is feeling unwell and is sleeping a lot. I would be if I could with my fibromyalgia flaring, but I am waiting for the cleaner to come.
I have finally found a cleaner who can fit both DD Dianne and my homes in for a clean once a fortnight. They are doing hers at 2pm and ours at 4pm today.
Although my Roomba is doing a great job, it needs someone to get into the corners it misses so I will ask the cleaner to do that. Basically it's my floors and bathrooms that need cleaning today with the beds changed starting next Wednesday week.
We only have Chris's "man cave" to sort out now- the rest is done and the place looks nice. We are totally bushed, but it a satisfying feeling to look around and see it all come together.
Monday 15 August 2022
I am too tired to shout!
Today is Monday morning. I have to do some washing and restack the dishwasher. I have run Sadie the Roomba and am about to do bloods, meds and breakfast.
Later on at 11 a man is coming to do some flatpacks of furniture for us. I am hopeless at this and Chris can't do it anymore. It's a coffee table and TV lowline unit. It's $40 an hour but we had to factor that in when we bought them. It is what it is!
At 2.30 we have to pick Dianne up and take her to a doctor's appointment. Then I have to go to the chemist and get her meds made up.
It's supposed to rain for the next 10 days and the rain has been consistently heavy and constant. I think we are going to need an ark soon. It is making my fibromyalgia worse, and I am pushing myself to get Di to doctors and physio.
I will neverthless be busy with doctors and physio for the rest of the week and possibly next two weeks or more. I am glad Di's knee has been done though. It's all over bar the shouting! With no spoons at all, I am too tired to shout!
Friday 12 August 2022
A nasty dictator
Yesterday was a very busy day and I am feeling the after effects now. My fibromyalgia is flaring and the pain is incredible.
Dianne my daughter was not able to get the staples out from her total knee replacement because the doctors and nurse said a week out of surgery is too early to remove them- especially on a bending joint. We had to reschedule to next Thursday.
Then I was not allowed to accompany her into physio because I am not vaxxed against covid. So I helped her return her hired crutches-(she has her own) and left.
I accompanied her teen son into his counselling appointment, talked to the psychologist as he is a new patient, then left them to discuss things.
It was so much walking and in and out of cars that my own knees were quivering. Di's pain level was off the charts as it is difficult to get in and out of our car- it is high. She begged me to not undergo knee surgery myself. (I have both knees with torn ligaments) She didn't have to beg much. I don't like pain.
Today I am just resting and making a stew in my slow cooker. That's the best I can do today. Fibromyalgia is a wicked task master and a nasty dictator.
Monday 8 August 2022
We really like our new house
Wednesday 3 August 2022
I can hardly wait!
Sunday 24 April 2022
We have gone mad!
The rheumatologist suggested to my daughter who suffers from fibromyalgia and pain post chemo, to use it as a distraction from the pain. She was one of these mind over matters kind of doctors. We were not very optimistic to be honest.
As a sufferer of not only fibromyalgia but ankylosing spondylitis, spinal canal stenosis coupled with bad arthitis and angina, I thought it may help me. It helps a little. But Tramadol would be better!
My doctor won't let me have them. Even though he knows I only take them as required for high pain days like today. He gave it to me when my second knee tore and it helped my fibro pain so much. Then he closed shop!
I know there have been many who abused pain-killers but when basic pain relief is available only with a chemist's approval such as Panadol with codeine, it makes life more difficult for the person like myself, to get any relief at all.
With fibro flaring and another episode of polymyalgia rheumatica, I have been tempted to take some of my Prednisolone, but I am worried about the side effects. I tell you truly, I am feeling desperate.
So even though you may see me playing Candy Crush or online a lot, I can honestly say that it's for medicinal purposes. I will be a Candy Crush addict any day if it will relieve the pain.
Just don't tell the do-gooders. If they think we are liable to become addicts, they'll make FB take it off their site! You fellow pain sufferers know they will. We have gone mad in our correctness!
Friday 22 April 2022
Chipping away at the stone
Wednesday 20 April 2022
On my cactus sofa
Tuesday 1 March 2022
The downside of country life
Walking into the bathroom, I must have passed close to this horrid spider who could easily have jumped on my head and such is my fear of spiders, it possibly would have killed me in a cardiac event brought on by fear!
Not an overly big spider by huntsman standards, he would have been about 3 inches across. But he was big enough to induce panic in us as we scurried to find a broom and the fly spray!
I didn't want to lose this guy as we wouldn't know where we would find him, so there was a great over use of flyspray and frantic loud bangs of the broom. Suffice it to say, he got a burial at sea!
It is said that they come in pairs, so we were watching everywhere until his mate was found. And she was...
I was in the adjacent laundry and found her sunning herself on the glass panel in the back door. I grabbed my flyspray and went to spray it, but then realised that she was outside the door. She too had to be gone because I didn't want her coming in the house. I'd had enough excitement with her mate's intrusion.
A few sprays of the flyspray had her on the move, and a few heavy thumps of the broom, and she was no longer. Except for food for the birds and ants.
Indeed, I had to chuckle at how fast I moved, considering my two damaged knees and fibromyalgia. It's marvellous what an adrenaline rush can do for a body!
Not only did the fear of losing the huntsman to perchance come back to terrorise me, rattle me, but so did realising that I had married a man who refused to rescue me from dangerous wildlife! Such was my expectation of my knight in shining armour! :)
Don't get me wrong: I still love living here in the Australian bush with my liver-lilied Chris, but snakes and huntsmen are definitely the downside of country life.
Friday 24 December 2021
Oh no, no ho ho!
Monday 15 November 2021
Keeping my wheels turning!
Good morning. It's a new week! We have to go out today, just some grocery shopping and a trip to the post office. That will be before I tackle last night's dishes.
I was so tired last night that I left them, hoping to wake up with some spoons (energy). That didn't happen so the grocery shop takes priority today.
Some lamb chops are defrosting for dinner tonight. I will do mashed potato, vegetables and gravy with them. A sandwich will suffice for lunch.
I use the frozen mashed potato, steam packs of vegetables and instant Gravox gravy. I am fortunate in that Chris loves meat of some sort with two veg and if one of them's mashed potato, he's a happy man.
Being able to go without peeling potatoes and shelling peas is a godsend for me. The arthritis in my hands, the torn knee caps and spinal problems make standing to cook to prepare a nightmare. I am too short to sit on a chair as I can't see over the benchtops properly.
When in a fibromyalgia flare like today, it is just the icing on the cake. It literally tips me over. The pain is incredible and never lets up. I do have a high pain threshold but when the pain is 24/7, it wears you down.
I think I will make myself a cup of tea and take some painkillers. That's the only way I will be able to function today. They can join my other ten tablets taken this morning. I swear I rattle when I walk. It is what it is! But hey, whatever keep my wheels turning!