Sure could use a little good news today...

First off, let me just say thank you so sincerely for the supportive comments on my last post. That really warmed the cockles of my heart. I think I need to print them out and paste them up somewhere where I can see and read them when I’m feeling low.

I spent the night in hospital last night. It would have been Tuesday, but all the hospitals in town were chock and block full. Everyone has pneumonia or bronchitis, that’s all I heard last night – cough, cough, cough. Thankfully, I was in a ward with only two beds in, and the other occupant was a frail old lady. I literally never heard a peep out of her. I felt very sorry for her, as she is in a near catatonic state, and I don’t think some of the staff were treating her 100% right.
My stay, as far as hospitals go, wasn’t bad at all. The ward had an en-suite bathroom, which made things a lot easier on me. The insertion of the drip was not too bad, either. At least I have perky veins. That’s one thing to be grateful for.

Ms-wise, I’m already feeling better. I’m not exacerbating from eating anymore, or bathing/ sun-bathing/ walking more than ten steps, which is pretty nice. Also, an alarming new symptom has disappeared. I had one or two scary moments yesterday where I couldn’t swallow (food). The muscles just didn’t want to co-operate, and I nearly choked. Thankfully, the cortisone puts a fast stop to such carry-on, if I react quick enough. So basically, it would appear that I need the one gram maintenance dose every two months. In fact, I may even be able to stretch it even further if I don’t stress about things which I cannot control or change, or revert to binge-eating on junk food.

I felt very low yesterday, which does happen from time to time, especially when I am experiencing a relapse. I just feel very despondent. It’s an indescribable feeling, having your body fall apart right in front of your eyes. However, I’ve got a grip on myself again now that I’m feeling a bit better.
I even have a project or two up my sleeve to focus on, as always. Firstly, I’m going to make myself fresh vegetable-juice every day. I can’t stress how much that helps. And I managed to grow my wheatgrass kit, which I will also be juicing. The stuff is pure magic.
The second part of my strategy, is to finally put into practice the mind-power and visualization techniques with which so many people have garnered a new lease on life, defeating terminal illness, no less.
It requires more than the odd five minutes I put in here and there, though. We’re talking two sessions of twenty minutes each per day, for a duration of six weeks, minimum. It doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, it takes some serious commitment. The mind is like a naughty child that needs to be disciplined. All it wants to do is lose focus, and wander aimlessly through the same old boring (and not necessarily helpful) thought-patterns. So yeah, I’m going to give it my very best shot. I’ve come up with some pretty neat visualizations for MS in particular lately. I think I might be onto something.

I’m feeling all right after the medicine, quite manically perky. And finding myself very funny. But tomorrow I’ll probably experience a bit of a cortisone-related ‘crash’. The adrenal system wakes up with a shock after the bumper load of cortisone, and suddenly has to produce the hormone by itself again. So I’ll probably feel a bit tired and depro tomorrow. Michael can be lucky he’s going to play golf tomorrow, lol.

My back-pain is still in the back-ground. Why wouldn’t it be, being a back, ha ha. (See, very funny, lol). Anyway, I just hope my delightful sacro-illiac joint didn’t pop out again during the (awkward-walking) relapse. Fortunately, it wasn’t prolonged, and I acted fast, so I think it stayed put. Next week, I’m going for a (hopefully last) trip to the chiro. Please let it be my swan-song there.

Thanks to the binge-eating following my five-day fast, I gained a rapid 8 kilograms (could even be 9) in one week. The body goes from thinking it’s starving, to being overfed, and grabbing every kilojoule it can lay its hands on. Not that I’m complaining. I like being 55kg, especially in the winter. Unfortunately, none of the weight went to my cleavage. My pot-belly merely reinstated itself. But that is from eating incorrect foods, so all I can do is demure gracefully to it, and say “Welcome back, Friend. May you sustain me on my next fast.” ;-)
My skin is as smooth as a little girl’s, though. So at least the fast wasn’t a total write-off. Also, I’ve very interested in how I recover from this relapse, so soon after a fast. Last time this happened, I experienced some very surprising and altogether welcome results. So hold thumbs for me.

Today, Michael and I have been together for six years. He asked me to be his girlfriend on 15 June 2000. Then, on 19 August of the same year, we got engaged, and on 10 February the following year, we were married. It was a real whirlwind courtship, and I enjoyed it a lot. A lot of the guests thought it was a shotgun wedding, because of our haste in getting to the altar. Oh well, egg on their face.

I just had a good look at my face in the mirror, and that it obviously where some of the weight has been redistributed. It is looking positively Madonna-esque in its roundness. And I must admit to quite liking it. It is matched in roundness only by the rotundness of my belly. But at least that is mostly due to bloatedness thanks to the excesses carbs I’ve been eating, so I’m not too fazed by that. My previously skinny legs have also filled out nicely. That is nice, as I really don’t appreciate sticklike pins.
BTW, we got our (repaired) camera back. It is taking some gorgeous photo’s, so I’ll finally be able to update my user-pic etc.