207 days to Antarctica..."We Are the Champions" Queen

Approximately 6.5 minutes reading time

 

“Take courage, my heart: you have been through worse than this. Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this.”
― Homer, The Odyssey

 

Hello, I hope you’ve had a great week.

I have decided to have the Covid-19 Vaccine, if I can get Pfizer. I rang on Friday and was told to call back on Monday, tomorrow, to book an appointment. I hope that I don’t have any dangerous and negative reactions. If I don’t come back, it must be my time. I don’t want to have it but all around NSW, Australia and the World, the situation seems to be worsening, so please stay safe.

My lifelong dream of being in Antarctica is still threatened by the state of the world. 

My house frame is up and the windows and sliding doors are in place. Schrodie and I are incredibly excited. We so long to go home. It has been freezing and wet so the builders have not been working every day. I hope that the Covid-19 situation does not halter the build. All Sydney Construction has been stopped by the government for July. So far the country where we are is okay. The Site Manager liaised with my neighbour and put the collapsed fence up temporarily until the retaining wall is built and everything can be permanently repaired. This was welcome news.

My two Specialist appointments, Endocrinologist and Rheumatologist this week were tele-health Consultations because of the increased lockdown in Sydney. My results were fantastic. I am healthy and well, I am finally illness free without problems. I will start to wean off the prednisone and I am ecstatic. In August my daily dose will drop from five (5) milligrams to four (4) milligrams. I didn’t want to decrease my dose if it would interfere with my nerve recovery. My wonderful and brilliant Rheumatologist assured me that this would not be an issue. My amazing Endocrinologist will send me a form for blood tests that I have not had for a year. We talked about reducing my Insulin doses and an appointment with the Dietician, as a refresher since my eating habits are irregular and I eat so little now.

My hand therapy appointment with the fabulous Kara was great. I got more exercises and weights to keep building up my strength. Stretches are new on my list of exercises to help me and will helpfully help with the nerve, shoulder, hand and arm pain I am experiencing. The best and happiest news is that my hands work and my grip strength has increased to sixteen (16)  in my right hand and twenty (20) in my left hand. It’s about double what it was for each hand since January. My pinch strength is one and a half (1.5) in my right hand and one point six (1.6) in my left hand, from nothing in both hands. Kara was amazed. Most especially Kara could not believe that my Ulnar Claw has gone and I have full movement in my hands. Even though I am so much weaker than I was before the bushfire and all the critical illness and disability, I’m back in the normal ranges. I have worked so hard and this makes me happy. I still have a long way to go. Kara told me that the muscle fatigue that I experience is normal. Kara also suggested that I might see an Exercise Physiologist to help me with a full body regime and workout. I will get a referral at my next appointment in two months. I can’t afford to go more regularly. I never heard of an Exercise Physiologist until Kara mentioned them. It sounds worthwhile and they work out of a gym. I haven’t been to a gym since I left Sydney, although I still exercised between five and six days a week. I have also made an appointment to see a Podiatrist in the hope that she can give me extra exercises to rebuild the muscles in my feet. I only ever saw a Podiatrist once, in hospital in August last year to cut my toe-nails and my feet were perfectly fine, thankfully. Gratefully I can cut my own finger and toe nails, although it is not always easy. Not being able to cut them on my own was terrible and filled me with sadness and angst but not anymore. I broke out in a cold sore, even though I had the Valacyclovir straight away. Cold sores are dangerous for me since the ANCA Vasculitis as the risk for them to go to my brain is increased. I take Lysine every day to guard against cold sores. I only ever get them when I am run down physically and emotionally, rather regularly since the bushfires. I am under so much stress and exhausted even though I am okay.

Every day there are more issues and problems with which I need to deal and they take their toll on me. I have been wavering. Getting my book written and my poetry is challenging. Working out my next steps for getting published is also challenging. I persist as always. Luckily Schrodie and I have fun every day. We have been loving our walks. Fierce winds are dangerous to be out in so we did not walk yesterday or today. We are still playing chasings and dancing every day. Friends have seen us walking as they were driving past and stopped to chat, which has been lovely.

Trivia has been fun. I don’t need to miss out next week as I won’t have a car. My friends offered to take me which was a wonderful surprise. I hate Surprises, ordinarily. Wearing masks is a drag but worthwhile as it keeps us safe. We won on Thursday night, from fourth place with a significant lead and it was fantastic. My naturally competitive streak was satisfied and I was so happy. We all were, especially as I was the only one who believed that we would win.

Johnny, my guitar and I are getting along incredibly well and enjoy our time together. The new chords and exercises are really testing and stretching, literally, for my fingers and hands. I can feel the fatigue in my hands, as well as the muscles working. I can’t wait for the tiny wasted muscles in my hands to be restored. Kara said the improvement in my muscle restoration is remarkable. I keep working to get my strength and body back to what it was before it was destroyed completely last year. It was lovely to be complimented on my body and shape, condition, not because of vanity but reassurance that I am winning the war to recover my body and my life. I still get too much attention from men but I can handle it and it is surprising after everything that has happened to me. I have turned down several men since August last year. 

All the wonderful, new people in my life have been an added bonus. I really enjoy spending time with them all. Fortunately my life is still filled with old and true friends and my family with whom I chat to regularly. I still feel like I’m living in a dream, it’s very strange.

All day, every day I take a small step, one after the other and remember to breathe as I do everything I need, one task at a time and step into my future with Schrodie. We are excited and happy, especially that we are together. There are so many decisions to make and so much to do and way too many challenges to overcome. Although I have been wavering and faltering daily I remember my Heroes, my inspirations and my goals and step boldly with my mind and spirit, even if tentatively with my heart into every choice, decision and task that I face. I stay my sobs. I wipe away my tears. I continue to remind myself that I can control myself and this is enough for me to achieve my goals. I try not to focus on the fact that things are getting harder not easier. I cuddle Schrodie and he restores me.

I have made a wonderful, delicious, hearty, warming and nutritious vegetable soup like Mummy used to make. I boiled my own bones this time as bought stocks, no matter how expensive and recommended, pale in comparison and lack flavour. I didn’t have celery or turnips but I had pearl barley, onions, potatoes, carrots, suedes and parsnips and beef. It will be delicious and will be better tomorrow. It smells delicious and is calling me. I’m glad that I am hungry as this is not always the case.

I am glad that I had a back-up phone as my phone broke as it had been dropped one too many times, even with its gorilla case. I did not notice that the screen was seriously chipped until it stopped working. I can’t wait until I can afford a phone that I really love again. I am working on my plans to restore my financial security and there is so much to do but I will make it happen. I must. 

I am glad that my car is finally going to be repaired after a semi-trailer smashed into the back of my car when I was coming home from work in November 2019. Since this happened and seeing the crushed boot of my car every day, has been a constant cause of much angst and sadness, this will be no more. Another great and important step into our future.

Thank you for your company and for sharing this last week’s adventures. I hope that you have a good week. I hope you have enjoyed your time with me and this has been of interest and perhaps helped you in some small way. 

Feel free to refer anyone here for anything from my blog if you think it will help someone. Let me know if there is anything specific that might interest and/or help you or someone you know. I hope that my inspirations and my Heroes help you as much as they help me. Technical difficulties have seen me post my pages as posts. I will continue to post on Sundays, Wednesday and Friday.

Take care and stay safe.

Until next Sunday, bye for now.

Watch this space....