September 30 2014

October 2, 2014 Greetings My Friend, I have wondered why I can no longer get up and roll like I have a good portion of my life. I’ve come to accept it and I have learned to not plan on a whole lot of movement more days than not until lunch time or just after. One of the ladies on one of my Chiari help sites mentioned that she goes through this struggle also and to be honest I found comfort in understanding that my birth defect is the culprit. This is a tiny piece of information but it makes sense and I feel better. Once I eat my lunch my day begins in earnest. I begin cleaning, cooking, running errands and going to doctor appointments. I am jumping on the elliptical and doing some stretches more these days as well. Around 4:00 I begin to slow down and any work I do I do during commercials and the like. It is working out and I have that sense of accomplishment I long for. On another site I read an article about “natural” healing. I believe if God created it then there is a truth behind “natural” healing methods. For me I am trying to do a balance of pharmaceuticals and natural products. I believe God has also given man the ability to create medications that can help others. As my doctor and I have worked at getting me on my feet again I have also used supplements, Chiropractic care and even essential oils alongside of adding exercise to my health routine. Today I am moving about and engaging in life so much more so. Part of my routine is more often than not I find that Sunday’s is a slow way down kind of day. After church I tend to sleep most of the afternoon. On Monday I wake up and feel ready to tackle the week. During the week I still struggle with fatigue or breathing problems. I have learned to sit down and rest which for me more often is writing or engaging with others on social media. When my energy or windeness settles I get up and go again until the next break is needed. I started this part of my come back with two thoughts. The first thought was anything I do is more than was done previous to my doing. The other one which helped me to keep going was “work when I can and sit when I can’t.” Each day I strived to do what I could and accepted the moments that doing wasn’t going to happen. Today I am about as energetic as I am going to get and I am good that I will never be what I once was but I also am not falling asleep every day, so fatigued that I can hardly move from one chair to the other. Part of Chiari is sleeplessness. For a while if I slept more than an hour or two I was doing good. I blacked out rolled down a hill and broke a vertebrae and I now have a CPAP which was the start of sleeping a few hours at a time. I still got up and down a lot at night but I was sleeping more soundly. I cut back on my coffee intake, started to have energy to do a few things which kept building up. Then I discovered vitamin b12 later Evening Primrose and that has helped me as well. Lavender essential oil and peppermint oil with eucalyptus oil helps with my breathing. I am now “oil pulling” swishing coconut oil around in my mouth for a few minutes each day. My lungs feel less congested these days. I still have all the things that I had before wrong with me but they are not as strong. I still tire out but these days I go longer before I tire out. So I believe that medicine and natural things are helping me. I’ve asked God to guide me as I begin something new and I am hearing Him. How do I know? It is the way I am able to function today as opposed to how I was functioning in the recent past. I realize I may not be healed so fully that I will have these diseases but being able to be more functional than I was is a blessing to me. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet.