November 27, 2016

Greetings My Friend, I am almost done with pinning the memory quilt and once more I ran out of pins. Afterwards I decided to work on a sheet blanket since I had 2 sheets to work with and a woven throw. It will be a warm blanket for watching TV or to use as a warm blanket for the spare bedroom if we have company. I like the one I made a few weeks ago a lot but I did not have a full sheet set to use so I made the blanket too narrow. Pinning the memory quilt and then pinning the sheet blanket quilt wound up making my back muscles to tighten up. These days I am learning to stop when my muscles begin tightening up on me. I used to try to work past the discomfort but I learned that if I kept pushing I wind up having pain instead of discomfort. I am able to quiet my muscles most often with resting, I also find that doing the other exercises I have learned are helping me too. Today we went to town to pick up a few things so I used my walker at 2 of the stores we went into I did fairly well. I do believe the medication is helping me regain some of my mobility again and that feels awesome. Right now I am using the walker when I am out, at home though I do not need the walker. The tiredness associated with trying to work my gait normally seems to have left me. I am also looking on line at some of the natural supplements to see if they can help me stay on the lowest dose of medication longer. The exercises are helping too, I am amazed at my energy level over all and the things I am able to do again. I almost feel like I have been handed my life back which is exciting. Of course down the road I will more than likely decline again, I understand that so while I can I want to do all that I am able to do with Junior. I am working hard at making meals again to have ready to eat at lunch and dinner. Breakfast he is on his own. My goal through out this disease is to not allow discouragement and despair to over take me. God continues to be my strength in all of this in that I find the courage to keep going, to be thankful for the small steps forward and accepting when I am in decline. At this point I am grateful to know what is wrong with me and not trying to find the right combination of things to do for energy, how to walk straight or why my gait is out of whack. It is the unknown that has been the most difficult to deal with, so knowing is better thank not knowing at this point. Along with sewing I have been working on dehydrating food and right now I am trying my hand at dehydrating cranberries. I decided to give them a try since they are around for the holidays and I am developing a taste for them more than raisins when cooking. My first couple of batches have been on the fairly dried to a crisp state. My struggle is I put them on and forget that they are drying until they are crunchy dry. They need to dry from 12 to 24 hours so I believe I need to find a way to remember. Learning new things helps me too and since I have always loved to learn I have many things to learn. In all of this I find that I have not lost my hope and when there is no hope there is no desire to keep pushing past the the struggles of disease. God reminds us a whole lot in the Bible to not worry, to trust Jesus and for some reason it helps me to face life, disease. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet