Tha pain is no worse than usual . . .

dreamdaisy

. . . . but my ability to manage with it is currently AWOL probably doing this :deckchair: leaving me feeling like this :swim-shark: Does that happen to you too? Blasted arthritis. DD

nearlybionic

Hi DD
Sorry to heat that things are not good with pain and coping with it. I can totally relate to how you are feeling. I try to keep positive but am really struggling with relentless pain day in day out.
Hope you soon get your `cope` back xx
NB

Slosh

Sadly I know the feeling all too well! Hope things start to ease a bit soon for you. In my case it's all my own fault (too much tidying/sorting/throwing out of unwanted stuff).

mig

Sending some gentle but heartfelt hugs. (((()))) Mig

Megrose2

I hope that things improve for you soon, DD. Take care of yourself. ((()))

Meg

GraceB

Sorry to hear you are struggling. For "our DD" to admit this, things can't be going that well.

I hope you feel a bit better soon. Although we can all identify with what its like to struggle with pain, on a practical level that doesn't actually help with coping.

Just be kind to yourself and I hope to see a post soon that tells us things are settling a bit for you DD.

Take care,
GraceB

daffy2

Are you the shark or the yellow bouncy ball DD? Either way that's a heck of a lot of activity for one struggling under the arthritis cosh so I hope your coping mechanism soon returns from its break in clement climes full of energy and efficacy.

Slosh

How are you today?

barbara12

Hello DD sorry the pain is worse than usual, it must be bad for you to say that...we didn't get the warm weather to sit in the garden..but its when you come to move...try and be kind to yourself. and maybe a good swear....(()) xx

dreamdaisy

Afternoon all and thank you for your kind replies. Things are a little easier but, to be honest, not by much. My elbows have joined the grump party which is a nuisance but not surprising as things have been going on with them for a little while now.

We have another beautiful day here so I might take myself off for a trundle round the block, or maybe just a trundle to the end of the road and back (it's the coming back which is always the most challenging!) I had a very lazy day yesterday due to tiredness but that doesn't help the joints, does it?

I hope the rest of you are keeping as well as possible but if not I extend my empathy. Blasted disease. DD

dibdab

Oh dear DD, things sound tough. Just wanted to send some understanding and empathy and hope stuff improves soon. I think I understand, been struggling a lot recently so haven't been here too often......my thumbs are hideously painful and stopping me doing all sorts of stuff, and my left elbow will insist on inflating and throbbing with monotonous regularity....by heyho, that's life with RA.....and sometimes it all just feels a bit too much to cope with.

Gentle hugs ((((((( ))))))). :cheers: maybe some of this would do you a power of good !

Deb x

Boomer13

Hi DD, YES it does. I just get so fed up!! And, thinking about the big picture of having a chronic illness doesn't help me much. It is hard to deal with sometimes, well, a lot of the time.

I'm not doing so well right now either. Seems to be common? This time of year is never friendly to me and arthritis for some reason. I've been lecturing myself on improving how I deal with things but today I will admit defeat, it's just bad in too many places. I've thrown up hands and retreated under a duvet with extra codeine, a dog and a heating pad.

(((((()))))

dreamdaisy

I've noted over my arthritic years that things tend to go pear-shaped around Easter even though that's moveable feast. Recently I had that vile stomach bug followed by some emotional upset with the arrival of the pens made from my grand piano so I think it all adds up to me feeling far rougher than usual. I'd love to stay in bed today but I am going (imminently) to my little art group (I missed the last session thanks to the bug). Some fresh air and company may help me to snap out of whatever this malaise is.

I hope things have eased for you at least a little, Boomer, but if not do what you did yesterday, it sounds ideal to me! DD

Slosh

Hope going to your art group is the tonic you need. You are going through the mill at the moment but I hope things improve for you along with the weather.

barbara12

Just checking up on you DD, and hope things are improving..x

dreamdaisy

Oh bless you, Barbara, and thank you. Yup, I managed it to art and it was a tonic because there was me, one other and the tutor. I came home with two books about East Anglian watercolour artists to study and perhaps have a bash at copying! I like watercolour very much and am developing the DD School of Wishy-Washy Efforts.

Is stuff still hurting? Yes. More than usual? Yes. In more places than usual? Yes. Am I fed up with it? Yes. Does that matter? No. Will things pass because all things do? Yes.

Come Sunday it will be three years to the day that Ma died. This is also weighing heavily on my mind. Hey-ho. DD

Slosh

It sounds as though the emotional aspect of things is really throwing everything else off balance. I often feel that living and coping with arthritis is like walking a tightrope, most of the time we manage to balance things and move along the rope however slowly, with careful thought, planning and concentration and hopefully a safety rope. However other things can so easily make us loose this balance and wobble or fall, hopefully into a safety net.

You have major emotions battering you at the moment, I really hope that once you are through the weekend these recede and give you a break. You so deserve it.

dreamdaisy

Thank you for your very kind words, Slosh, I appreciate them. Since the arrival of the pens I have dreamed of my parents every night, also their house which I had cleared after relatives had taken what they wanted (my cousin was a gem in sending off the old treddle Singer sewing machine to a charity in Africa, sending Ma's dinner service off to a company who specialise in replacing sets no longer made and doing many other kindnesses too) but I still feel very guilty that the majority of her possessions were consigned to a house-clearance company and the dump. Logically I know there was nothing else for it but at least The Old Girl lives on and that is a blessing.

Negative emotions are important because they are part of being a fully-rounded human being; learning how to cope and deal with them, however, is the challenge. I reckon that guilt is the worst because you can never undo that which you did. DD

mig

How are you today DD ? better i hope, you are in my thoughts. Mig

stickywicket

Guilt is the most useless of emotions. I well recall you did far more than could be reasonably expected of you at the time. The pens are your well-deserved reward. Enjoy them and congratulate yourself on finding a lovely new use for a lovely old piano.

dreamdaisy

Thank you, Mig and Sticky, for getting in touch. Things are still rough but no matter; I believe it's due to a little thing called arthritis, yes? I am proud of what happened to The Old Girl, there was no way she could continue being a piano but she lives on in a different guise and that's a good thing. I know my Pa (a mechanical engineer) would appreciate David's skill and would relish how things have turned out for The Old Girl. Ma was rarely pleased by anything (her problem, not mine).

I spoke to David last week, he is now actively searching the interweb for old pianos and their keys and, hopefully, finding new sources of veneers etc. I'm supposed to be tidying and cleaning the house for guests tomorrow but I'm not. I'm too tired. DD

Slosh

I think the idea of turning the piano into pens and giving it a new life is wonderful.
I hope you have a good weekend with your visitors, and remember the trick to fooling visitors into thinking you have spent ages cleaning...spray a little polish into the air!

dreamdaisy

Thank you, Slosh, I will indeed and spray the radiators too. Their bed is clean, their room and bathroom will be tomorrow and I will do my best with the kitchen and sitting/dining room. The rest of it? Who cares? I don't.

It's daft, innit? It's been very nearly three years but I am still fragile. So be it. DD

Slosh

It's not daft DD, it's natural.

Sharon2960

Certainly isn't daft - there's no timescale to grief; often just when you think you've got it under control, something bites you on the bum - something as simple as overhearing someone use a phrase that your mum would use can turn everything upside down again - and that sort of thing can happen however much time elapses.

Slosh

Just wanted to ask how thngs are going now for you DD. I do hope you are starting to feel better in yourself, and that you're not overdoing things.

Thought you might like this, I've been working with one of my yr 6 reading groups on what we now have to term "split digraphs ", they can know recognise and read them correctly, but insist on referring to them as "split diagrams "

Take care of yourself xx