It's like a fridge in here tonight.

                                                         

We are just into the seventh day of Spring and I am so glad to see the back of our winter. This house is old and has no insulation and I feel the cold real bad with watered down blood. Chris laughs at me, saying that Australian winters are mild and don't last long. 

I have no desire to live in England or anywhere that has long dark winters and snow. We average out no lower than 1C or 33.8F though we did see -1C a few mornings. As nice as snow looks, you can be sure I won't be joining in making snowmen!

Although changing weather effects my fibromyalgia, I still enjoy the different seasons in each day of Spring and autumn. And I just adore the smell of early spring mornings and the abundant blossoms on our neighbour's tree overhanging the fence. It's such a pretty pink and when it loses its leaves, it leaves a pink carpet all over the lush green of our grass.

With some Spring  mornings and evenings still being cold, I am looking to buy a heater for my study. I am sitting here with a wheat pack on my chest to warm me up!  It's like a fridge in here tonight.

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! 

Sacrificial home keeping's sorted

Today I managed to finish washing the dishes- I have been doing them in short bursts as I can't stand long. 

I managed to take a shower this morning and I had to rest a bit after it. But it was good! The water relieved some of my muscle pain from my fibromyalgia.

I rang my friendly housecleaner and offered her some extra money if she would regularly change both our beds each fortnight. Even though due to illness, we have separate rooms now, the beds still need changing fortnightly. I can no longer do it. She's agreed to do that, so that's a load off my mind. 

We had a doctor's appointment this afternoon, but Chris didn't feel well enough to drive and I can't, so we changed to a phone consult. I got some scripts for pain relief and discussed Chris' diabetes woes. I will be giving him 34 units twice a day from today instead of the 32. Plus there's a new injection for once a week we must start tomorrow.  

I will be sitting outside for a bit today as the weather is supposed to be nice. It will seem better now that the  sacrificial home keeping has been sorted! 

Life is good in spite of setbacks

I am trying to keep up with my home making duties. I have to do some dishes and clean my kitchen.. My knees are paining me so much today, that I won't be able to do much more. 

Fibromyalgia is back again and spoons are scarce. I am also psyching myself up to take a shower. Lucky we have a shower chair now. Funny how you don't think twice about it until chronic illness comes a'callin! 

With the brain fog, I get side tracked often too. Now I ask Siri to remind me to change the loads of washing over from washer to dryer. I need to find an app to tell me I have left stuff out that should go in the fridge or that I have nuked a night time snack and find it in the microwave in the morning hahaha

I am planning  on using  my slow cookers  a lot today.  I will be slow cooking the pork chops in a sweet curry sauce with  the rice.  I will be making some Jewish Penicillin in another slow cooker  and I will make  a chow mein in the other slow cooker for tomorrow.

After that, I plan to feed the birds and watch them eat...  sitting out on the porch under the apple blossoms on the neighbour's tree... it's the first day of Spring here in  Australia. Life is good in spite of setbacks..

If I get those few things done

I didn't get some things done yesterday.  My spoons disappeared and I ended up taking a nana nap to ward off another fibromyalgia flare.

Waking up after a disturbed night's sleep, I realised that fibro has found me again. I have severe pain in my arms and neck as well as a newly diagnosed urinary tract infection. Hence the disturbed night's sleep.

In  spite  of  that,  I have a  few things I would like to do today.  I need to fold washing  which is easy as I can sit and do it. 

As I promised,  I will make some sultana muffins for Chris as I can reach it if I sit at our breakfast bar on the high stools. Same thing for dinner prep. Just a mixed grill for tonight.

Chris is  going to  change  my  bed and I  will wash  the  sheets  and anything  else in the hamper. With  my pain relief making me tired, that will be enough for today and if I get those few things done, I will be very happy.

Living on a wing and a prayer

Before I injured my knee, I bought a food processor and I promised to make Chris some sultana muffins. It arrived Friday and I just unpacked it this morning.

I can't stand on my leg for long, but I think I can manage to reach the processor if I sit on my high barstool which graces our breakfast bar.

Whilst hoping to make muffins for afternoon tea today, I am hoping to make a sweet beef curry in the slow cooker for dinner. It feels good to actually have enough spoons to cook. My fibromyalgia flare seems to have gone.

Later on after dinner, I am going to take a shower as my new shower chair has arrived as well. I should be able to manage if I can sit down. I will time it so that Chris can be nearby in case I run into difficulties.

It was bad enough with a meniscus tear in the left leg without another one in the right now, however life goes on and it is possible to run the house seated. You learn to adapt.

My cleaning lady came today and the house looks nice. I had it tidy before she came so that all she has to do is clean and not tidy everything just so she can start.

I am hoping my knee doesn't require the Tramadol today as it makes me so tired that I won't achieve my goals in the kitchen.

I am mindful of every step I need to take so if I am careful, I should get away with just Panadol or Tylenol.  One thing I can't get away with is a quick prayer as I am literally living on a wing and a prayer.

Wheelchair bound

So, the MRI results are in. I have a meniscus tear, fabella, torn posterior crucius ligament, bursitis and osteo arthritis behind the patella. It needs surgery as it does not repair itself.

I am to see an orthopaedic surgeon and meanwhile I must rest the knee and use pain killers. 

We have bought a shower chair and a wheelchair. I have had Chris push me on the seat of my walker, but it is a big strain on his heart and I worry about him. 

It is difficult to focus enough to write at the moment and I spend a lot of time on the couch aka the beach, or in bed with my electric blanket.

I am just able to stand enough to wash some dishes, cook a meal and stack the washer and dryer. Chris helps sometimes and has been my legs.

I am making use of the slow cooker a lot, cooking the meals as I am able to stand.

As with all new health issues, I am trying to come to terms with this "new normal" and the constant struggles with fibromyalgia are now "normal" and this new challenge is calling for all my ability to accept my new lot in chronic illness.

I am disheartened that both my knees have now given way (I have a torn meniscus in my other knee), and am trying to feel grateful that I could afford a wheelchair. Thank goodness for afterpay.

However romantic a picture I can find really doesn't cut it for me as I struggle to accept that I am now wheelchair bound.

Walking like Tin Man!

So my right knee has been hurting for six weeks since I drove for five hours a day when Chris wasn't feeling well enough to do it. I was hopeful that it would come better, but unfortunately it hasn't and it came to a crescendo two days ago.

Making a pivoting step to turn round and grab something out of my fridge, I felt a searing pain that nearly made me pass out and I thought I had torn the meniscus in the right knee as well as the left one injured three years ago.

With pain still from my jaw following a dental extraction that saw my jaw planed which then brought on a bad fibromyalgia flare, the pain in my knee saw me getting wheeled into my doctor's office 2 days. I cannot put any weight on it at all and it feels unstable.

Two days later and Xrays under arm, we returned to the doctor who told me my ACL ligament had snapped and sheared off some of the tibia with it. He rang an orthopaedic specialist for a look at the films and a second opinion.

Turns out the tibia is intact, but I have a bony stone behind the knee called a fabella. I am having a MRI tomorrow which will tell us more and indicate what treatment is available for the ligament damage as well as the fabella.

I am unable to put any weight on it and have been told to rest the leg. I have been given Tramadol to cope with the pain.

So I am looking at getting a shower chair and possibly hiring a wheelchair. We find that easier for Chris to use as I am concerned about him pushing me especially with his heart problems.

For the next few days at least, it's rest, pain relief and trying to remain positive as I walk like Tin man in the Wizard of Oz! 

Tomorrow may be better

 

So Friday night I developed a raging toothache. By Sunday I was so desperate for relief that I was seriously considering going to the ER at our local hospital.

I only had Panadol or Tylenol here and it wasn't helping at all. Waking up Monday morning, I rang the emergency department in our local dental hospital and they made an appointment for me that afternoon.

My tooth was cracked, exposing the nerve, so it had to be extracted. It was a difficult extraction and my jaw had to be planed down as it had jagged edges after the tooth was removed.

The dentist would not prescribe opiates for pain relief and told me to see my doctor. Fortunately for me, he did a phone consult and left a script for Tramadol for us to pick up. Chris got it dispensed for me and it was a life saver.

With my knees both paining me and a fibromyalgia flare brought on by the extraction, I felt like I was drowning in pain. So yesterday I spent most of the day in bed.

Today, I have a lot of dishes to wash and owing to how I feel, it will be the only job I make myself do.

I will make some Jewish Penicillin for dinner tonight and we will have a salad sandwich for lunch.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

So what's on your plate?

I am trying to balance a plant based diet with red meat. I have a diet full of salmon and other fish, chicken and red meat, with about 50% per meal of plant based food. 

As I am a chronic kidney stone maker and have too much uric acid in my blood, I can't eat too much calcium oxalate. So I can't go on a totally plant based diet. 

When I had the Nutri Bullet/Ninja I drank vegetable based smoothies daily and I had 5 stones in 6 months. The uric acid mixes with the oxalate forming uric acid crystals. So I have to take allopurinol daily. 

It's a delicate blend- the vegetables and the red meats. It's a fine line I walk daily, trying to eat right. I have 120lbs to lose, by the way. Not easy. 

Today I am going to the doctors and I am going to ask him if he can allow me to start my Prednisolone again for my fibromyalgia pain. Also for my arthritis in both knees.

There's only so much you can bear and I need some respite from the pain. Coupled with dietary and weight issues, it's not fun.

Today I am asking how you are doing with your chronic illness and weight. So what's on your plate?