NHBPM Day Five: Giving Thanks!

Today’s prompt is all about giving thanks for what we are grateful for; or what we are excited about or inspired by.  Thought I would cover all three!!

I am grateful for…

• Firstly, I would say that I am grateful for the good days that I do have.  The good days seem to be rare these days, but I am grateful for when they do come around.  Having some many bad days, and feeling unwell, fatigued and weak; as if though if everything is an effort; so when good days present themselves, boy are you grateful!!  Having a little more energy to do chores, legs being stronger, and not as dizzy is a real blessing; and means that I can accomplish more and manage to have a little bit of fun!!
• My new wheelchair: I am giving thanks to this new mobility aid, as it will enable me to be able to get out of the house a lot more, and more importantly it will enable me to stay out for longer.  Before I acquired the wheelchair, I was only able to go out for short periods of time due to the severe weakness in my legs, and especially as they give way if I am on my feet for very long.  Therefore, much of my time was spent in the house, much of the time alone.  Now I have the wheelchair however, I can go out for full day trips taking in shopping, or local tourist attractions.  Looking forward to it!
• My family and my dog!: They have to be the biggest thing that I am grateful for – whenever I am unwell or feeling down, they are always there to pick me up and comfort me.  If I need something or need to go somewhere then they my parents will pick what I need up when they are out, or take me to appointments or wherever I need or want to go. They are all simply the best!

I am inspired by:

• Other bloggers: I love to read other bloggers and health activists blogs.  Every one that I read are truly inspiring and shows a lot of strength and courage to spread awareness of their particular condition, as well as talking and discussing the painful or unpleasant symptoms that each of us face.  It would be so easy to just simply hide away and curl up in the duvet when chronically sick, but all health bloggers and health activists want to make people more aware and to understand their particular health condition (or the condition their loved one is faced with) and to provide support to those who are also living with the same condition – truly an altruistic act!
• Reading – I absolutely adore reading – especially as my mobility problems have become worse and cannot move around as easily, so is truly blissful to be able to snuggle up with a great book.  Love those books that are able to transform you to different worlds, or experience other cultures – sometimes it’s as if you are taking a holiday without leaving your home!
• Nature: I love how beautiful nature can be – the bright bold colours of flowers such as sunflowers or peony daisies, the different patterns and colours on butterflies.  Research has also found that flowers can actually reduce depression! Now if that isn’t a great reason to buy some flowers for a sick friend, I don’t know what is!

I am excited by:

• I absolutely adore the writer Jodi Picoult and actually own every one of her 19 books, so one thing that I am definitely excited about is the release of her latest novel, usually released in March or April every year.  I always pre-order the latest release, and look forward for when the book gets delivered to me so I can start to devour it!
• I get excited sitting down and relaxing in front of my favourite television programmes – it feels like an event, and particularly love the American TV dramas such as CSI, Grey’s Anatomy and Bones.
• Volunteering – I enjoy and get excited by going down to volunteer at a local mental health resource centre every week, and feels really worthwhile giving a few hours of my time to help others

My new wheelchair

A few of my favourite things!…

What are the 3 things that you are thankful for, or inspired by or those things that get you excited?

An Update…

Hello readers!

I know, I know I have been slacking lately in my writing recently but have been relatively busy and having stuff to deal with!

Firstly, I went away for a few days whilst my parents enjoyed a mini-break in Prague (lucky things!),  A friend of mine, kindly offered to let me stay with her, and I had a great time – it was lovely to have a break from the house, also known as ‘my prison’ and basically have a change of scenery.  The day my parents went away, was all a bit of a rush as in the morning I had an appointment at my local GP’s office for a wheelchair.  Now I am all measured up for my own wheelchair which I am hoping will give me more independence and will enable me to go out for longer periods of time.

And after, I came back from my break the hunt began for a personal assistant for myself.  An employee whom I can hire via a grant given by the local council.  With this I can employ a person to support me and take me on trips into the community and so on.

And yesterday I had two interviews with the applicants whom applied for the position – both were excellent and were extremely nice, as well as experience caring for others.  And now I have chosen one with whom I felt more rapport.  And soon I will be going out more, and really looking forward to start swimming regularly at my local swimming pool, hoping that it will help with the spasticity in my legs and ease the severe discomfort.

Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention that I have been nominated for a 2012 WEGO Health Activist Award!!  I have been nominated in the ‘Miss/Mr Congeniality Award’ which is awarded ‘to someone who always has a kind word, a positive note, and a virtual hug’!!

So, whoever it was who nominated me thank you so much!!

P.S.: And for all my readers I have recently set up a Facebook Page!!  If you click on the ‘like’ button on the Facebook widget, which can be found on the right hand side of the page and you can get updates on everything happening with the blog or myself concerning my illness straight to your Facebook timeline!!  So click ‘like’ today so you don’t miss out on the latest news!!

 

Unsure of the Path I’m On…

Hey Friends

Me again, for another post to my blog.  Hope all of you are OK.  I have to admit, lately I am struggling – feeling down, alone, sometimes I feel as if I have no friends or no-one that I can turn to – although absolutely no idea as to why I have been feeling like this…

May be down to the deterioration of my condition – the dizziness, which has been constant for some time now, seems to have become more intense, as well as the episodes of vertigo becoming much more frequent, and are often times are worse to deal with than the constant dizziness, especially when you take into account the visual disturbances – vision becoming foggy or blurry and unable to focus on anything, sometimes not even being able to recognise what I am looking at.

As well as that, my legs seem to be gradually becoming worse too – experiencing many ‘drop attacks’ in which my legs suddenly give way from under me, with no warning.  That is the one of the hardest things to deal with also – the unpredictability of it all – going out perhaps, not knowing whether my legs will collapse, and when you take into account that often I find myself often unable to get up after these ‘attacks’ making plans to go anywhere becomes very difficult.

Take one example: on a Monday, I volunteer for a local Mental Health charity, which I have done for a couple of years now.  So, on my way, my Dad takes me to a local supermarket to go and buy some lunch, and last Monday was no exception.  However, whilst  buying my lunch, my legs gave way, and like on several occasions found difficulty in being able to get back on my feet again as my legs were so weak, and felt as if they were trembling a lot, so consequently  my Dad had to take me back to the car and buy lunch for me.  Legs never really recovered after that, so felt as if I wasn’t much use at the Centre, but often is nice just to get out of the house for a few hours.

Later on, had another appointment with the doctor.  Basically, told him of all the difficulties I have been having, the seemingly progression and deterioration of the condition, etc.  And once again was told “unfortunately, with conditions like these it isn’t much that we can do, and  no drugs are going to help with the weakness…”, basically another way of saying “There isn’t anything we can do, you just have to live with it.”  Mum even asked whether there was any possibility that I may need to use a wheelchair in the future, and the doctor just nodded his head in agreement, that may be my future…  I was shocked and a little upset, as I honestly never really thought that I may need one, people have said that maybe I should, but never really thought that I may need to actually us one, more so for going out, as still need to use the muscles so they don’t atrophy.  But if I need one, then so be it, as there are worse things in life, hey?

I have been often told that I need to exercise and make use of the muscles as often and as much as I can, however, as I am unable to stand for very long, it makes finding any forms of exercise that I am able to do very difficult, my legs and problems with balance and co-ordination, etc. My exercise bike has been increasingly difficult to use as often feel that I am going to fall off, and the Wii Fit that we have does not often recognise me during some of the games as when you are required to stand still, my body is swaying back and forth…

However, I have recently bought a machine that hopefully may increase the strength in legs (although isn’t  guaranteed that it will work) and also keep me fit and in shape.  It is called an Aeropilates Machine  -  a machine that incorporates pilates exercises with a resistance machine….

AeroPilates 4695 4 Corded Machine and Cardio Board

“Pilates was invented by Joseph Pilates in the 1920s as a way of incorporating a full body workout to build muscle and core strength. Over time pilates has come to be the preferred means of exercise for a wide range of people from athletes and dancers to those with common household injuries like injured backs. It’s benefits are wide-reaching and provide not only fitness and toning, but also help with injuries that you might have. An aero pilates machine apply the basic principles and effectively ‘super charge’ your workout so that you reap the rewards of pilates with an aerobic workout that aids with blood flow and muscle growth.”

Anyway, I’ll be off now, doing some exercises on my new AeroPilates machine – fingers crossed that I will see some benefits soon…