Jody’s Blog . . . a life after chronic fatigue syndrome

Thursday, July 29, 2010

 
July has been a red letter month for me.

I have gone bike-riding three times this month. I don’t know when I was last on a bike, it has to have been years ago.

I couldn’t ride a bike during the months and years when I had severe pain in my neck, shoulders, arms and hands.

I couldn’t ride when my feet and knees went on me.

And I couldn’t ride when I had vertigo. I’d have fallen off. Or I’d have had worse symptoms set off from the herculean effort and energy expanded just keeping my balance.

But hey. Now I can ride a bike!

The first foray was only around the block. I waited two days to be sure there were no serious repercussions. Arms a bit sore, but that was to be expected.

So I got back on the bike again and went down to a little spot by the water and panted for awhile on a bench. Felt the breeze, watched the waves. 

Felt alive in a way that hasn’t happened much in some years now.

My last trip (so far) was down a bike trail or greenway near my place. At the far end of it is my mother’s house. I wanted to find out how long it would take to ride that trail to her place. First experiment took me 15 minutes down the trail and then back home.

I am confident that I’ll be able to ride to my mother’s house before the summer is over.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

I’d like to thank Jodi of the blog Surprising ME for laying the Happiness Award on me. That makes me … happy.

These are the rules that go along with the award:

The rules:
1.)When you have received this award you must thank the person that awarded you this in the new post.
2.) Name 10 things that make you happy.
3.) Pass this award onto other bloggers and inform the winners.

So. Here are 10 things that make me happy. They are absolutely not in any kind of order, except for the fact that the first one is about the beginning of the day and the last one is about the end of the day.

1. Being able to check my email and do some writing on my laptop in bed in the mornings. I love that I can do this especially because it means I don’t have the severe CFS morning symptoms that I used to for many years.

2. Laying out in the sunshine with a book by Diana Gabaldon.

3. Watching a movie with my husband Al while we’re drinking coffee with cream.

4. Finishing a knitting project.

5. Freelancing and being paid for writing.

6. I love taking fish oil. Don’t laugh, I really do. Used to hate it. Now when I take it I can FEEL that it’s good for me.

7. Being able to drive a car again and running errands on my own.

8. Spending time with email friends and on Phoenix Rising’s ME/CFS Forums.

9. Having our kids from out of town come to visit and share a great meal.

10. Ending the day with the love of my life, Alan.

I would like to pass this Happiness Award on to Lisa of Sundog Tales.