Songs that get me smiling!

Nov. 12: Top Three Tuesdays!  Name three songs that you can listen to that get you out of a low point or lift your spirits.

I have blogged about music a lot in the past, I love music and it helps get me out of my head sometimes.  But there are times that the wrong song can drop my mood faster than a lead balloon.  

The first one is Katy Perry's Roar.  This song reminds me that I teach people how they treat me, so I should not be afraid to roar!  

The second one is Miranda Lambert's All Kinds of Kinds.  This song is about acceptance and how the world is made up of "all kinds of kinds".  

I saved the best one for last!  This song ALWAYS makes me smile, and this version gives me a little dance wiggle to my step.  DeStorm Power's remix, Don't Worry Be Happy.

O Christmas Tree

It's that time of year!  Children are getting excited about Santa, places are decked out in holiday decorations, commercials have doubled on tv/radio, and everyone is elbowing fellow shoppers for an extra nickle off that (seemingly) brilliant gift idea you seen at a bargain store.  If you are like me, you dread getting asked what you want for Christmas.  Its not that I'm against gift giving, but my money doesn't go far these days.  And when someone asks me what I want, it really reminds me that I have a growing list of gifts I should be hunting down.  I've always been the kind of person that would rather put time into a gift and give something meaningful.  But with energy as scarce as it has been in 2012, even that thought is making me nervous.  

This Christmas season, I feel more lost than I normally do.  I miss my parents so very much and I'm thankful for the family I have with me... But I also feel like I've lost the 'Holiday Spirit'.  I have no desire to put up a Christmas tree, decorate with lights, or even to put together a group of friends to do phone-caroling.  (Which is like regular caroling except its done over speaker phone because I'm a bit lazy.  lol)  

The closest thing to making me feel even a little Christmassy has been this Readers Digest slideshow about Wacky Ways to Decorate Christmas Trees.  Don't freak, they aren't super-crafty-Martha-Stewart type stuff, these are truly creative!  Some made me laugh, one or two made me stare...  It's worth a look! 

Day 7: I am not alone.

When I was first diagnosed with an illness, I was in high school, Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome.  We didn't the internet back then and my doctor was more focused on talking with my Mom than helping me understand what was going on with my body.  Then in 2006, I was diagnosed with the flu, shingles, and a few other things... After numerous specialists and almost two years of researching, I was diagnosed with Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, which (according to my doctors) is a combination of Fibromyalgia Lupus and Arthritis.  But this time, I wasn't alone.  I had support from my family and friends, as they educated themselves about my condition.  I also had the group of spoonies I had met online, twitter, facebook, online chat rooms, blogs, podcasts, forums, support groups.... I wasn't alone!  And that made all the difference. 

Now That We're All Booming...

This has got to be one of my favorite scenes from the Golden Girls.  For anyone who hasn't seen it, the Girls are babysitting for a friend and the baby refuses to go to sleep!  So Rose voices one of her many St. Olaf ideas on how to soothe the crying baby.... This is her plan in action. 

I have been having a lot of problems sleeping lately.  I'm not sure what is going on or how to even explain it... but I am confident that others who are either chronically sick or grieving can definitely relate.... Unfortunately, I don't have any tricks or tips on how to handle these sleepless nights....  I imagine being serenaded by the Golden Girls might not put me to sleep but I am confident it would make me smile... and maybe feel less alone during these isolating nights... 

Thinking of Mom

I miss you, Mom.

01/08/1958 to 11/15/2011

Video: What Fibro Feels Like

Thank you for sharing this video, 

it speaks volumes of how I feel! 

Not by Strength - but by Perseverance

In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, 

the stream always wins -
not by strength 

but by perseverance. 

- H. Jackson Brown

I've heard this expression a dozen times but this morning something inside of me clicked.  The rocks of my path lately have been holding me back, when what I need to do is relax and allow myself to flow around them.  Yes the barriers may slow me down but eventually I will get around them... 


So now I am going to try to breathe through the stress, relax during the drama, and imagine myself - my true self - flowing around these issues, skimming past the flare up pains, slipping past the work headaches... to pool back into myself on the other side... 


Will keep you posted on its success.  

It's a bird, it's a plane, its my Chiropractor!

A new pain has struck, bad #10 on the scale of pain.  It could be a fibro flare-up because of weather changing.  Emergency Medical Personal thought I was drug seeking.


Even my own Doctor wasn't sure how much of this is fibro and what is new.  Sometimes I'm not sure she believes in fibro or if she believes it is all weight related.  


I cried myself to sleep several nights from the intensity of this pain.  I can't walk unassisted, barely stand up enough to see where I'm going.  Yet am told it is "part of fibro".  I know enough about fibro to know that this is very different. 


Pain pills numb my brain enough that I can sleep a little.  It doesn't really ease the pain as much as it makes it easier for me to mentally disconnect from it. 

Finally my Chiropractor figured it out!  God bless him!  He discovered that I have pinched a nerve in my lower back.  He worked on it some and for the first time in a few days, I have non-medicated relief.  Prednisone, cold packs, and his TENS unit to the rescue!  With any luck, tomorrow I will be able to go back to the office :)  


It is another day I thank God for the support of my family. 

Hopeful

Hope is like a bird that senses the dawn and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark.  - Anonymous

Not feeling that great today, intense muscle pain/cramping, stiff joints, dizzy and headachey.  Still hoping that the weekend will improve, tomorrow I will feel better... I hope.

Sickie Challenge: Seven Movies I Love

Thank you Monique for developing the 10 Day Sickie Challenge! For more information on how you too can take part in this experience, get more information here.

Day 4:  Seven Movies I love, in no particular order. 

Click on the movie name to get the Internet Movie Database Information on that particular movie. 

Wizard of Oz

Stardust

10th Kingdom

Ever After

The Shawshank Redeemption

Secondhand Lions

The Notebook

I Promise Myself- The Secret

I Promise Myself

To be so strong that nothing can

disturb my peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity

to every person I meet.

To make all my friends feel that there is

something worthwhile in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything

and make my optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for

the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the

success of others as I am about my own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and

press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful expression at all times and

give a smile to every living creature I meet.

To give so much time improving myself that

I have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger,

too strong for fear, and too happy to

permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world,

not in loud words but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side,

so long so I am true to the best that is in me.

-Christian D Larson

Support Fibro Warriors

Like everyone else with fibromyalgia, I have been chastised by Medical Professionals (Doctors and Nurses alike) for "having it in my head that I'm hurting".  Or I'm told that my weight or whatever else is the issue, no wonder I'm in so much pain.  Fibro is often labeled an Invisible Illness because it has symptoms that are felt, rather than seen.  

This quote is kind of wordy but I really like the meaning behind it.  It helps, when those who understand nothing they cannot see try to belittle my intelligence or experiences, when Fibro truly exists... and it is a battle every day. 

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."    ~ "Citizenship in a Republic," Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Rough Night

Over the years I have read dozens of blogs from authors who have some sort of illness or disability.  They tend to be upbeat and really don't show the down sides of having chronic conditions.  I want this blog to be honest.  Good days and bad. 


Last night was a rough night.  I was restless, muscles were aching, hot flashing, and couldn't sleep.  I was uncomfortable and couldn't stop crying for long.  Plus my sugar is sky high!  Along the way I have learned to pay close attention to my body for signs of what it is trying to tell me.  I think I am getting some kind of infection, so I will get out my antibiotic supply and start a few days of one of them.  I'm still not feeling well today, but I have an idea of what is going on.  There are certain infections I tend to get frequently, otherwise I would call the doctor. 

I've always had emotional responses to infections and illnesses.  Not just the normal tired whiney mood but I can do a pretty good job knowing what is going on in my body... sometimes. lol  When I have a respiratory infection, I tend to sleep all the time and cannot seem to shake the fatigue.  When I have a staph infection, suddenly I question everything about myself and cry a lot... I don't mean a few tears here and there, I mean uncontrollable weeping until I have a hard time breathing.  


The hardest part of having fibromyalgia and lupus isn't the way that I have to find new ways to do things I have done forever... or the way that my energy goes from normal to non existent in a heartbeat... the worst part, for me, is the loneliness that comes with having a chronic condition.  From time to time, I can feel myself being pulled into isolation for a brief period, I don't know how to describe it and don't understand what happens.  My solution?  I watched a few movies to try and take my mind away from it and today I will rest as much as possible.