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Sep. 4th, 2008 03:28 pmThis is a health/general update to stop several people worrying. If more energy comes into my day then I promise an ordinary post later, if it doesn't, a friend has made sure I have exactly the right movies to watch to restore myself (the words 'ya-ya' and 'fried green tomatoes' come to mind).
Most of the external inflammation is gone. Even my hands are stripping themselves of the old skin and look like they belong to me.
There's lots of interesting healing still happening, especially in the bits of me that got so swollen. Much of my skin looks like a clever makeup artist has got to it and experimented on slightly alien special effects. The big thing (from my point of view) is that it doesn't hurt nearly as badly (in fact, hardly at all for most of the time) and that I can cover it all up with loose cotton clothes. My face is roseate and healthy-looking from the cortisone and that's all anyone seems to notice. I got winked at on the way to teaching yesterday. This was very good for my morale.
My lungs come and go, but never even nearly reach the stage where they're a worry anymore. What they need now is me well enough to do exercise and I tried that yesterday and it was fine then (because I was still doing the jumping-off-wall thing) but I'm paying in other ways today. So, gentle walking is going to be introduced in little bursts and if I'm a bit breathless when I talk I'm going to tell people that I'm channelling Marilyn Monroe.
I can eat almost normally. Given a wide definition of normal. There a bunch of foods the doctor wants me to avoid, and there are several foods that still have untoward consequences, but today I finally reached the stage where I can get enough protein and fruit and salad vegetables in my diet. Not generous amounts, but enough. Lemon coriander rice is still key to this. Importantly, I'm on the way back to a normal diet. By Conflux I shall be able to enjoy every bite of the Prohibition Banquet. You can't believe how happy this amkes me. I still need extra calories (why do I find this distressing?) but not nearly as many as a few days ago.
I still can't drink normal tea and coffee (because they make the cortisone-bouncing-off-walls thing worse and don't help the inflammation, either) but I can drink a limited amount of coffee-and-chicory (the Louisianan version). I dont know how the chicory changes the coffee so it doesn't make my inflammation worse and how it helps me deal with the cortisone, but it does and for these reasons alone I am very grateful to that food history person who makes me try these drinks in the first place. I intend to send the food historian a letter of appreciation. It is just exceptionally nice to be able to sit down to a hot drink again.
I finished bouncing off walls today. That's why I'm so very tired. I start again on Saturday. In between the two events, my new stove arrives. This to me is definitive proof that my crises are nearly over. On Tuesday the new stove will be installed (all going well) and a few days later still I'm off cortisone entirely. Not medication - just cortisone. The big doses of cortisone are the big thing, because they do such drastic things to me, so that's what I measure by. Anyhow, that means I see the doctor next week or a bit later, and we find out more. Right now, I don't think there's more to find out: I'm healing.
I washed some dishes today - the first itme since this all started. I could deal with the water (just ) and the minimal amount of detergent I used. My hands don't like me right now, but it's dryness and sensitivity, not more inflammation, so I stopped at the right time and the single drop of detergent was dealable with. This makes me feel life is more under control. I wish I could have washed everything, but I now have enough bowls and knives and plates to last me till Sunday. On Sunday my Mum does her rescue mission (she is sorting out the stove problems for me and I suspect, having seen me the other week, wants to just make sure I'm OK. She's also delivering the Conflux chocolates.).
Thanks to one of the best birthday presents EVER, my library is ready for visitors, both for my mother and for Conflux. I don't have to do a thing except say 'hi - the linen is in the hall closet.' I know two of you were worrying about what preparing for your visit would mean for my health. Thanks to the best birthday present ever, it won't affect my health at all and it will be great that we can all see each other. Someone does have to sleep on the nice futon in the loungeroom, though. I'll explain why when I see you (and Kesal, I think this might be you, sorry. I got you a bus timetable to make up.)
If you want to know anything else about my current state, this is the place to ask. Unless things go pear-shaped, I won't do another health update until after the stove happens, because that's the thing that went wrong the day before the nurse said "Hie thee to an emergency place," so there are a bunch of emotions invested in it (even more than in that defunct hot water service!) and I need to get through it. Besides, most people who read my blog genuinely don't want to know, and also besides, my life is more than health updates. (I dont mind if people confuse me with my evil sense of humour, but I do mind when they confuse me with my health.)
Most of the external inflammation is gone. Even my hands are stripping themselves of the old skin and look like they belong to me.
There's lots of interesting healing still happening, especially in the bits of me that got so swollen. Much of my skin looks like a clever makeup artist has got to it and experimented on slightly alien special effects. The big thing (from my point of view) is that it doesn't hurt nearly as badly (in fact, hardly at all for most of the time) and that I can cover it all up with loose cotton clothes. My face is roseate and healthy-looking from the cortisone and that's all anyone seems to notice. I got winked at on the way to teaching yesterday. This was very good for my morale.
My lungs come and go, but never even nearly reach the stage where they're a worry anymore. What they need now is me well enough to do exercise and I tried that yesterday and it was fine then (because I was still doing the jumping-off-wall thing) but I'm paying in other ways today. So, gentle walking is going to be introduced in little bursts and if I'm a bit breathless when I talk I'm going to tell people that I'm channelling Marilyn Monroe.
I can eat almost normally. Given a wide definition of normal. There a bunch of foods the doctor wants me to avoid, and there are several foods that still have untoward consequences, but today I finally reached the stage where I can get enough protein and fruit and salad vegetables in my diet. Not generous amounts, but enough. Lemon coriander rice is still key to this. Importantly, I'm on the way back to a normal diet. By Conflux I shall be able to enjoy every bite of the Prohibition Banquet. You can't believe how happy this amkes me. I still need extra calories (why do I find this distressing?) but not nearly as many as a few days ago.
I still can't drink normal tea and coffee (because they make the cortisone-bouncing-off-walls thing worse and don't help the inflammation, either) but I can drink a limited amount of coffee-and-chicory (the Louisianan version). I dont know how the chicory changes the coffee so it doesn't make my inflammation worse and how it helps me deal with the cortisone, but it does and for these reasons alone I am very grateful to that food history person who makes me try these drinks in the first place. I intend to send the food historian a letter of appreciation. It is just exceptionally nice to be able to sit down to a hot drink again.
I finished bouncing off walls today. That's why I'm so very tired. I start again on Saturday. In between the two events, my new stove arrives. This to me is definitive proof that my crises are nearly over. On Tuesday the new stove will be installed (all going well) and a few days later still I'm off cortisone entirely. Not medication - just cortisone. The big doses of cortisone are the big thing, because they do such drastic things to me, so that's what I measure by. Anyhow, that means I see the doctor next week or a bit later, and we find out more. Right now, I don't think there's more to find out: I'm healing.
I washed some dishes today - the first itme since this all started. I could deal with the water (just ) and the minimal amount of detergent I used. My hands don't like me right now, but it's dryness and sensitivity, not more inflammation, so I stopped at the right time and the single drop of detergent was dealable with. This makes me feel life is more under control. I wish I could have washed everything, but I now have enough bowls and knives and plates to last me till Sunday. On Sunday my Mum does her rescue mission (she is sorting out the stove problems for me and I suspect, having seen me the other week, wants to just make sure I'm OK. She's also delivering the Conflux chocolates.).
Thanks to one of the best birthday presents EVER, my library is ready for visitors, both for my mother and for Conflux. I don't have to do a thing except say 'hi - the linen is in the hall closet.' I know two of you were worrying about what preparing for your visit would mean for my health. Thanks to the best birthday present ever, it won't affect my health at all and it will be great that we can all see each other. Someone does have to sleep on the nice futon in the loungeroom, though. I'll explain why when I see you (and Kesal, I think this might be you, sorry. I got you a bus timetable to make up.)
If you want to know anything else about my current state, this is the place to ask. Unless things go pear-shaped, I won't do another health update until after the stove happens, because that's the thing that went wrong the day before the nurse said "Hie thee to an emergency place," so there are a bunch of emotions invested in it (even more than in that defunct hot water service!) and I need to get through it. Besides, most people who read my blog genuinely don't want to know, and also besides, my life is more than health updates. (I dont mind if people confuse me with my evil sense of humour, but I do mind when they confuse me with my health.)