Monday, April 10, 2017

Day 120: Operation HOPE...Cells, Acupuncture, Lower Back and De-Stressing

Today is kind of a big deal in my journey.  I've earned brand new, clean, healthy cells!!  It takes 120 day for cells to rejuvenate and basically become new.  This is so huge for my healing process.  With new, healthy cells my body is on the right track to continue to heal itself.  Dr. C asked me today on a scale of 0 to 100 how much improvement do I see/feel.  I told him that I thought I'm about a 25-30.  He said that that number should double in the next 120 days.

I had a second acupuncture appointment today.  I have so many feelings about it.  It's different, a little weird, and relaxing at the same time.  After both appointments, I felt much more relaxed after, which is really good.

Dr. P is continuing to treat my lower back.  And, I have to say that I definitely feel I'm moving around better than I was.  I've noticed that I'm not hobbling or wincing in pain half as much as I was.  I do still have to be careful about how long I sit or stand, and how much I do in a day because it still gets sore and fatigued.  But, all in all, I see a definite improvement!

Cell rejuvenation is good.

Acupuncture is good.

Lower back is good.

De-stressing, not so much!  At times, I think that trying to de-stress is harder than following the food plan.  It. Is. So. Hard!!

I'm burnt out.  I feel at times that I'm holding on by a thread.  I've been having a hard time processing everything going on, and at times I'm having a hard time controlling all my emotions about it all.  I'm really not liking this phase.  I would love to snap my fingers right now and be done with this phase.

Dr. C assures me that this is all part of this process.  He said that I'm like an athlete that has been training very hard & burns out, that's where I am at this point.  He said that my brain just cannot handle my every day stresses and responsibilities along with the rigorous new lifestyle that I'm trying to adapt.  At this point, this is where he talks excessively about de-stressing.  He keeps reminding me that fibromyalgia feeds on stress, and if I do not get some time for myself and de-stress I will never get better pain wise.

With Dr. C's help I'm working on a game plan of what I need to do to de-stress.  Some of it will be very difficult, as I will need to shift my responsibilities and commitments in many areas of my life.  Some of it will be quite refreshing, as I will begin to make time for myself doing things that make me happy {something I haven't done is quite a long time}.  A lot of what I need to do and change I don't have quite mapped out.  At this point, I really don't know how I'm going to execute most of what I need to do.  So, right now I'm in the "planning" stage of this phase.  I have to have a road map planned out by my next appointment with Dr. C on Tuesday, April 18th.

One thing I have implemented is what I affectionately call "Beach Therapy".  Dr. C told me a few weeks back that, since I'm a beach girl, that I should go and let the minerals from the sand and surf soak into my body.  I've gone twice in the last five days, and will be blogging about those days soon.

Even through all the rough patches, not once have I lost hope in this journey.  I may kick and stream a little, and not like what I'm walking through, but I knew when I started 120 days ago that this journey would be hard {probably harder than anything I've ever done in my life}.  And, hard it has been.  But, I tell my kids all the time, "Anything worth having takes hard work".  Being pain-free is definitely worth having.  With God's help, I will walk through and endure all the hard this process has to give until I walk on the other side of this journey healthy, healed and pain-free!

H.O.P.E. = Hold On Pain Ends

No comments:

Post a Comment