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.

Spoons glorious spoons!

So the last few days I have been feeling a bit better and so with the new spoons, things got done. In particular, I have been spending quite a bit of time in the kitchen.

Yesterday I cooked zucchini spaghetti, ultilising my spiraliser. I really enjoy it. Today I made Jewish Penicillin and baked a madeira cake. Having a decent mixer makes the work much easier! 

We will have the soup and cake for dinner.

I have washed and dried three loads of washing today but because I need to pace myself so I don't relapse with another fibromyalgia flare, I am leaving that to do tomorrow. It won't kill us to live out of the laundry basket for a day!

So today, I am glad that I could put to use those glorious spoons!

Hopping right along

So I was just about to go to bed last night when I heard a horrified scream. I checked to see  if I had left the TV on. No TV. 

Xena was already in bed with her Daddy, and I couldn't see anything. Then it was repeated. I froze. Turning in the direction of the shriek, I noticed a little frog clinging to the outside of the back door.

Opening it a tad, I noticed a cat dash over the fence of the house next door. Obviously, the poor little frog had been trapped by it and was shrieking in fear.

By the time I had turned the light on and opened the door wider, it had gone.

You never know what goes on when you live in the country, especially at night. I am glad the frog escaped.

The last few days have been busier than normal. I have been working in our home catching up on things I haven't done when I had the bad fibro flare recently. With accompanying costochondritis.

I am taking care to pace myself so as not to flare up again. Of course, I am working with what spoons I have for the day. 

I have some washing to fold and put away. My dishes are all caught up and my kitchen is clean. I want to keep up the momentum- so like the little frog, I will be hopping right along. 

Kissing my phone screen!

Today I have woken up with a little less pain from my fibromyalgia and costochrondia than what I have had the last few weeks. I have a distinct lack of spoons, but I will take less pain over spoons any day!

I have dishes to catch up on and washing and cleaning to do, but I am letting it go one more day. Today the Victorian Government has lifted the lockdown a bit and allowed us to go see family,  as long as there are no more than 5 people at the one time.

So we are getting ready to go to see my youngest child, Dianne who I wrote about in my other blog yesterday.  She lives an hour's drive from us. No doubt I will fall asleep en route to her place. That's totally normal for me and Chris is used to seeing me nearly being garrotted with the seatbelt on long drives...

Schools in Victoria are gradually returning in a few weeks. I never thought I would say this, but I miss the mums taking their children to school and even the school buses! 

Life  is gradually returning to some semblance of normal and I am very happy about it. Online classes and visits with family are OK, but nothing compared to face to face! 

Mind you, we are still going to be careful. Lots of hand washing still and today, lots of theatrical kisses without actually kissing. A big Mwah each side of the cheeks at a respectful distance will have to suffice. But hey, it's better than kissing my phone screen on FaceTime! 

Light at the end of the tunnel

The Victorian Government has lifted some of the Corona Virus restrictions for us. Although Chris and I will be taking it slower than the recommendations, we are glad that there will be a little more freedom for everyone.

My fibromyalgia is badly effected by the stormy conditions we have had in the last few days, and I have not blogged because frankly I have done nothing here at home.

It is so hard to function when you wake up with no spoons. Today, I have managed to get dressed. Not bathed or showered- just dressed.

I will be cooking chicken chow mein for dinner and that's it!

I have experienced a new thing with my fibro: my tendons in my arms feel like they are tearing when I extend my arms. Truly excruciating! Plus I have pain in my sternum which is mimicking heart pain. I find no relief taking my Anginine tablets so I think it is the fibromyalgia.

I hate fibro with a passion: it is as debilitating as the Scheurmann's Disease back pain I endured before it finally fizzled out and my vertebrae recalcified or whatever they do to heal. Ten years in the making, whatever it was. With only a slight curveture and a foot that points inwards.

So, fibromyalia seems to be set to stay as my thorn in the side. But I won't let it snatch my joy away in knowing the virus seems to be controlled. At least with that there's light at the end of the tunnel. 

Old, fat but wiser

So I got on the scales today and now I wish I hadn't. It flashed "One at a time, please!" just prior to giving me a heart attack.

I am at my heaviest ever this morning. It's like everything is conspiring to make and keep me fat. Every single medication has a warning on it about effecting concentration but none say they will make you fat- but they do.

So with so much going on with Rona, my physical limitations and all the medicines I need to take daily, I haven't got much hope of losing any weight.

I am making wiser food choices and upped my water intake, but that's about it for me. No way am I ever going to take appetite suppressants. 

About 30 years ago I lost 84lbs. I was on Duromine tablets and they made me extremely tense and testy. I remember slamming the fridge door so hard the bottles inside clinked together violently.

I thought who needs this? So I stopped them and gradually gained back the weight. Topped off with my reading this morning, it was a shock to my system.

Anyway, I am nearly seventy now, so that makes me old as well as fat. But I do believe as well as that, that I am wiser. 

I am finally going to accept that I am probably too old and sick to safely lose the 100+ pounds that I need to lose in order to look great on a BMI Chart.  

Apart from a few steps like upping my water and reducing my plates of food, I have a brilliant plan...

I understand Miller's and Best and Less are selling clothes up to size 26... it will be nice to feel a loose waisted skirt again and I have Afterpay to help.

See, I am old and fat, but definitely wiser. 

My list of to do's are:

1. Fold and put away today's load of laundry
2. Cook potatoes, pumpkin, onion and peas to serve with the left over lamb from last night.
3. Check out the plus size clothes online
4. Finally chuck out those lying, treacherous scales.... :)

I aint no cry baby!

So a few days ago it was my birthday. The day started well with Chris giving me breakfast in bed. During the day I facetimed with my family. 

We usually go out for a meal on each other's birthday, but of course with Rona, we had a change of plans. So Chris took me to KFC drivethrough for dinner. We ordered our meal and then ate it in the carpark of Safeway, under the romantic light of the trolley bay!

The rain was belting down and we sat there reminiscing about earlier days and how different things are now.

But we never let Rona spoil our moment. At nearly 70, life teaches you many things. One thing appropriate for now is that you gotta bend or you will break..... 

Seems like at my stage of life and health, bending to difficult circumstances is the only bending I can do.... and laugh. Yes, you gotta laugh. Or else you cry. And I aint no cry baby!

Things on my to do list:

1. Fold and put away washing
2. Do a roast lamb in the air fryer for dinner
3. Clean my kitchen

On a wing and a prayer

I have not been that well lately. The rain and cold has exacerbated my fibromyalgia and my spinal problems have come back to make sitting difficult.

To be honest, at the moment, there's not much I can do that doesn't cause pain somewhere. My whole body hurts.

I have dishes to do and I plan to make a quiche and salad for dinner tonight. That's all.  I will be turning my electric blanket back on soon and retreating to bed.

Even staying up long enough to do these few things is only going to happen with prayer. I am like a war plane struck down and trying to coast to clear land. On a wing and a prayer!

We need an Ark!

The last few days here have brought heavy rains and our little stream at the back of our garden has overflowed and flooded.

Our trickling stream is a gushing torrent of water which the ducks have taken delight in as they plop into the water and get carried downstream rapidly. There's more rain forecast for the next few days.

As well as rain, the temperature has dropped to only 8C or 46.4F  Our heater has been on almost  24/7 as I feel the cold badly. Being on blood thinners, I literally have water for blood.

My fibromyalgia is flaring and I have spent most of the afternoon in bed. With my electric blanket on high.

Productivity today was low: I cooked lamb steaks and vegetables for dinner with an apple crumble dessert. 

Xena has refused to budge off the couch today because the heater is in the wall and blows warmth directly on her. 

Her trips outside are strictly to do her business, and she's back in. To be honest, I think all the rushing water is spooking her a bit.

I don't blame her at all and am glad we live on a hill with the back of the property sloping downwards in case of flooding.  It's not even winter officially till next month and already it looks like we need an Ark!