medical journal and more

January 2, 2008

Hi

It's 6.20 am. I am going back to bed soon, but first I

thought I'd write a little. Since January 1st I have

been keeping a medical journal or whatever I should

call it. Basically it's just a list of the symptoms

that I have during the day. So far I have listed the

symptoms in the evenings, but I will do it throughout

the day today, because they are a little difficult to

remember. The days melt together. Did I have pain in

my hands today or was that yesterday? I already have

some symptoms to write for January 3rd. Cold and pain

in my hands.

Yesterday I got back to work after my little vacation.

It was a little difficult. I have gotten used to being

kind of lazy again and it was tiring to sit there for

so long. Not to mention waking up so early.

Today I'll start planning for my crime story. I have

to write a timeline, because my earlier attempt failed

when I wrote a timeline after 50 A4 pages on the

computer. Yeah, I know, that was stupid of me. I have

to write a timeline first and make sure the police are

not working on Sundays, especially the high boss. And

schools are not open on Sundays either in the end of

July, which it turned out to be in my first version.

Mum's friend is still here. He'll go home on Sunday. I

wish it was Sunday now, but it is only Wednesday.

I've gotten myself a new penpal. I have written an

e-mail to her and she is going to send me her first

letter soon. Anyway, I need some advice. I have

previously told two or three penpals about fibro, but

I have done it after knowing them a pretty long time.

Should I tell the new penpal early or should I wait

and see? I don't want to scare her away by listing all

my symptoms in the second letter. But on the other

side, I don't want to wait a year or two before I

mention it, because if my other penpals had an illness

I'd like to hear about it and write to them asking why

they haven't told me earlier. So I don't know. May be

I should wait a little at least. What do you think?

I had a moment last night, thinking about fibro and

you guys here at FSG. Some of you wrote earlier that

we are strong. And I thought, yes, that's true. We

have to be strong to handle all the pain and

exhaustion. And I don't know what I would do without

you people. I need the comforting words and help that

you are giving. Because I don't have anyone else to

talk to about fibro.

Yesterday I signed up for two small courses. One is a

course in scrapbooking, which will begin in January

17th and continue to sometime in February. So it's a

few Thursday evenings I will do scrapbooking. I also

signed up for a course that is going to be held during

one Saturday sometime before Easter. It's a one day

course, 5 or 6 hours. We are somehow going to decorate

eggs with a net of small seed beads. I don't really

know how, but I am sure they have an idea. I need to

take some empty egg shells with me and beads.

It feels like I have forgotten something, but I don't

know what it is. So I'll sleep an hour now, wake up

again and eat breakfast and then go to work.

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January 3, 2008

Hi ,

I'm tired just thinking about all that your do. I feel like such a slouch.

It's really great that you are so driven to do things no matter what.

I hope the days just seem to fly by until Sunday when your mom's friend goes

home.

I was just writing to someone else about when and how to tell people in your

life that you have fibromyalgia and what all the symptoms are.

I don't think you need to list all your symptoms on the second letter. I

think you can just mention that you have fibromyalgia and leave it at that until

asked about the symptoms you are experiencing. You have so much in your life

you can write about that is way more interesting and is a major part of who you

are. Even though it seems like it consumes our whole being, it still isn't who

we are.

I think keeping a pain journal is a really good idea. I'm trying to do the

same thing for my doctor and for applying for SSD, if I can. It gives you a

better idea of how it changes and affects you during the day. I too feel like

the days just run together and can't remember what the day before was like, so I

am trying to do it all during the day as you are. I've not had really good luck

with it before, so this time I'm e-mailing myself and keeping it open until the

end of the day, since I'm on here so much anyway. We'll see if that works

better for me.

I wish you much luck on your crime novel. You have such a way with words, I'm

sure it will be good. And the courses you are taking sound fun and industrious.

I was going to take a quilting class, but my hands wouldn't do it. I do start

back volunteering at the battered woman's shelter soon, so at least I can make

some contribution to the world, instead of just being home in pain and foggy.

I'm hoping to keep the fog at bay while I'm there. We'll see.

Good luck on all your many endeavors. You surely do keep yourself busy. Good

for you.

Take care of yourself,

Marti

Svensson wrote:

Hi