Surviving As Mom

It’s been about 6 weeks since my last post, so I wanted to update everyone on my progress. I’m still feeling pretty good overall. I have good energy and living like a normal person. I do notice however that during my PMS time, I feel a little off. I don’t feel great and I need to rest often. It seems to be temporary and I start to feel better a few days into my new cycle. I can deal with that.

This next thing blows my mind. We just came back from a 7 day Disney World trip and I am still amazed that I felt great! Even bigger… this is my first trip since getting sick so many years ago that I did NOT need any steroids!! If you are a fellow chronic illness warrior, you should very much understand the significance of such a statement. I went on a week long active trip with my husband and children and did not need Prednisone! AND I felt great! On top of that, I was sick with real viruses during the week and still felt good.

The few days leading up to the trip I got a stomach virus and was very weak on the first travel day and into that night at dinner. By the next afternoon I started to feel more normal. Then, on the 3rd day I developed a cold and carried a box of tissues around the parks with me. The next day I felt pretty crappy because of the congestion, but I still carried on with the day and managed to have some fun. But I was happy to go back to my room that night. I got through those few days without cold medicine because I didn’t think to pack any. For the remainder of the vacation I was happy, energetic, and excited. I had a great time and was finally able to fully enjoy a family vacation. I used the scooter because my walking stamina isn’t fully there yet, but I did take some breaks to walk around a bit.

Eddie and I keep saying to each other how amazed we are at how well I’m doing. On my best days I end up crying to myself because I’m so overwhelmed with happiness! I feel like I’ve been cured! I feel like the luckiest person on the planet because my life is so much fuller and I’m so much happier now. For the first time in so many years I can look into my future and see so many possibilities and hope. Before I dreaded thinking about anything in the future because I didn’t see much of anything besides pain and sickness.

All I can do now is just focus and making my body as strong and healthy as possible so I can continue to live my life again. ❤️