The problem with recovering from a flare is...

Anyone who has fibromyalgia knows that a flare is BAD. Your body aches. You can barely move. Any motion requires bazillion amounts of energy.You are exhausted and just want to sleep.  Lots of times people have headaches or muscle spasms or irritable bowl issues. The list is endless.

One other thing that tends to suffer is housework. My last flare that I dealt with lasted for 3 weeks. That pretty much did my house in. Sure, I could have sucked it up and just cleaned up the messes, did the laundry, cooked for my family, and rescued a family from doom and destruction all while staying possitive and looking great while doing everything and stayed in the flare. Or, I could take the time needed to get better and rested...which is what I did.  I don't want to give the impression that I did nothing during this flare but stay in bed all day. It was more of a combo, hence why it lasted for 3 weeks.  I did stay in bed quite a bit on some days, but anyone who has kids under the age of 8 knows that you don't just clean one day and your house stays immaculate. You clean multiple times a day and if you don't your house looks like someone bulgalarized it and a hurricane finished it off.

In a past post I bragged about my awesome husband and how great he was during this past flare. He kept my kids fed and helped them get ready for bed. He did the massive amounts of laundry that this family produces. My husband is just one man though and I am impressed that he does all that he does as it is. I am in no way going to nag the man for not cleaning a house on top of doing all that he did. I am just happy to have clean clothes. He truly did pick up the slack for me and I cherish him for this. However, my house has still not recovered.

Today, has been a good day. I have had energy. I am starting to feel more like myself and noticed most of all that my house is starting to recover. I truly am in recovery mode. I am blown away at my success in this. I still have to take it easy. I can't just go and go and go like I do when I am well. That is what caused my last flare. I have to learn from this last flare if I want the recovery to continue. I think that is the hardest part of recovery is the learning process from the prior flare. With every flare, as bad as each is, you learn something from it. If you don't, you can be sure that you are going to get to deal with another one soon. I also have to learn that recovery takes times. I have grown accustomed to instant gratification and recovery is anything but that. So I will continue to recover at my own speed as my body sees fit.

The trouble with progress is...

I graduated today! Not from high school or college, but from physical therapy. It was kind of a bittersweet moment. Renee (my physical therapist) realized that today was my last scheduled appointment and asked if I thought I could continue my exercises at home. I wanted to say no because I have enjoyed my time doing PT, and like having a scheduled time to go to do my exercises,  but had to say yes, that I could, because I feel that with some discipline that I actually can keep up the routine. So I no longer will be doing physical therapy. It was exciting to see how far I have come as well. Day 1 was just a few months ago. I couldn't hold up my left leg when she would push it down, my grip was 10lbs less in my left hand than in my right hand, and I was in a constant high level of pain. I wasn't sleeping well and wasn't feeling good at all. Today, when Renee reevaluated me, it was so different. I was equally strong in both legs. My grip was about 7lbs better in my left hand than in my right. I went from sleeping 3-4 hours a night to easily 8-10 hours straight. It has been an awesome transformation. I am elated.

I am currently on Day 4 of juicing. I haven't just done only juice. However, I haven't really crashed my diet with crap either, like I did before (well, except once). It is amazing how good I feel. I plan to continue to keep doing what I am doing. Right now, I juice breakfast and lunch and then eat a pretty healthy dinner. Healthy dinner is usually a salad, or like last night we had lean steaks, potatoes, and some asparagus. I will admit that I broke down and bought some pizza on Sunday night while at work and I regret that decision. It made me feel so bad that it truly made me wonder about having a gluten sensitivity. I haven't really checked inches and haven't checked my weight much either. All I know is that I do feel better. So juicing continues tomorrow. I look forward to the continuation of this journey.