Archive for chronic pain
The Amazing Fibro Aunt
Yesterday, if you hadn’t heard, I finished my first week at a new job. Hopefully that will mean no more privileged, insensitive, ableist comments from bosses, at least for a little while. I’m really enjoying the new job thus far. I’m not just doing data entry all day and I’m gaining trust from my colleagues to undertake projects on the basis of my competence, not my age or the fact that I have not completed my degree.
One of the most difficult things I’m dealing with right now though is trying to raise my partner’s nieces and nephews that I mentioned previously. Don’t get me wrong, it’s immensely rewarding, but at the same time some times I feel like I’m crashing and burning. We had negotiated a bed time of 11:00 for the kids because it is summer, but my new job starts earlier and I have to be up by 6:30. My partner isn’t home in the evening, and I can never get them in bed with the lights out before 11:30. That puts me at 7 hours if I’m lucky. Usually though I don’t get to bed before midnight. Those of you with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue probably know that that amount of sleep is not enough. In fact, it’s nowhere near enough. I’m subsisting on Redline energy drinks to keep me conscious until 11:30, which is making me incredibly nauseous all the time. Thursday, my partner’s day off, instead of keeping with my usual Thursday plans I was so beat that I just lay down in bed when I got home and slept.
Did I mention I’m out of Lyrica again and the insurance has decided that they’re not going to cover it? Because it’s not a “necessity”, so I probably will not be taking it anymore. It’s far too expensive without insurance. I hate insurance companies.
Trying to relate to the kids has been a trip, too. When they get angry, they lash out in ways that I haven’t figured out how to deal with. They say things they don’t mean and react violently (hitting each other, etc). Sometimes I just don’t know how to respond. I know it has a lot to do with things they’ve observed from others, but it’s just so hard sometimes. I have to say, for those of you who have kids, I have a much greater admiration. Raising kids is no easy feat.
Hope everyone is having a great summer.
Anniversaries and Racecar Beds
Well, Tuesday officially marked the four month anniversary of this blog. If you want to buy me something nice to celebrate, I accept all major credit cards, good red wines (bonus points for sparkling wines), and deep tissue massages. All jokes aside, I’m glad to be writing this and want to thank those of you who read this blog.
This week has been hectic. I wanted to have written Tuesday, but I have been so busy. To make a long story short, I now have four children ages 5 through 14 living in my house, my partner’s nieces and nephews. I got a call on Wednesday saying that we (my partner and I) were going to go pick up the kids because their mother was about to be evicted from her apartment and she couldn’t afford to feed the kids anymore–my partner and I had bought groceries and brought them over several times in the preceding weeks.
My head was spinning as I got off the phone, wondering where we were going to put all these kids. We had one “bed” in the house–ours, a mattress on the floor, and that certainly wasn’t going to hold six people. My mind was reeling when I got home, so I went on a search for bedding. By some miracle, we found enough. I found a mattress and box springs in my attic for one, my father brought over another, an extra from his house, we found a toddler size racecar bed in the garage, and an inflatable mattress to suffice until another actual bed can be brought over. We found three sets of sheets (we had to buy a set for the racecar bed), four comforters (including two that I had made myself!) and four pillows.
Setting it all up proved to be difficult though. Stairs, as you probably know if you read this blog, are my arch nemesis. I climbed the flight in our house way more than I wanted to that day, trying to get everything set up and ready. The room looks really cute though… my Ultram and I are just going to be BFF for a couple days while I recover from too much strain.
Thanks for your patience with me while I try to get settled into all of this. I appreciate your continued reading. By the way, I added a cool little widget so that if you don’t use an RSS reader that you can be e-mailed when I update this blog. It’s up at the top, sort of on the right side, so be sure to fill in your e-mail so you can know when I write a new blog. Otherwise, add me to your RSS reader and I promise I’ll start writing interesting things again soon. TGIF!
Here kitty kitty
I’ve been absolutely horrible about blogging since I’ve been back home. I’ve been so busy with the job hunt, catching up with people, trying to get the house in livable condition, family crises for both me and my partner… it’s been hectic. I intend to pick blogging back up though now that things have calmed down a bit. I have wonderful news though that may seem entirely unrelated to disability, but I assure you it’s not–I now am the mommy to three adorable kittens!
I have one more furbaby who’s not pictured here, a little black and white girl, but they are just sweet as can be. Research has been around for several years about how companion animals have a therapeutic effect on those of us who deal with illnesses and pain. My kittens have been wonderful for me–petting them and watching them wrestle around and play with each other has lifted my spirits, thus making the pain at least a little more bearable. I hope all is well for all of you out there. Thank you for the kind comments you all have left me. I hope you will keep reading, I have been thinking about this blog a lot lately and all the things I still want to talk about, so stay tuned for that. I hope you’re all having a good summer so far!
