October Thoughts

October is here and I’m so glad! I think October is always one of my favorite months. The weather, the colors, and the smells are so unique and pleasant. The weather in the midwest is cool and breezy, which is perfect! This is also another month to join in the fun Linkup Party with A Chronic Voice.

The prompts this month are just starting points to get us going. Chronic Illness bloggers find it encouraging to link our posts up and share our journeys with each other. Here are the 5 categories:

Producing

Producing content has been on my mind a lot lately. This past week I started another blog. Now, I have three. Is that too many? I guess I’ll find out. I have always loved blogging, since I started in 2013. Writing posts is so much fun for me. I also love the relationships with my fellow bloggers and with all the super nice readers.

As I think about producing posts, ads, campaigns, and giveaways, I get excited. I love the feeling of being productive! With Chronically Content, TheFrugalGrandmom.com, and Lisa’sReading.com I’m very busy. I like to feel busy. Blogging is such a great therapy for me.

Acquiring

Thankfully, I haven’t acquired any new diagnoses lately. My shoulder problem started flaring the last two months. As it got progressively worse, my doctor examined it. He believes it is the rotator cuff. Yesterday, at my appointment, he gave me quite a few lidocaine injections in the right trapezius muscle.

I didn’t really know what to expect, but was glad to have any help. I’ve had to take tons of Advil, which wasn’t really great at treating this type of pain. The injections did knock the pain. He said that he could feel that the muscle spasms were stopped. I hope that this help will prevent me from feeling such intense pain.

He also discovered that the way I was stretching my neck was hyper-extending (because of Ehlers Danlos). Now that I’m aware that this was over-stretching the trapezius muscle, I won’t do it anymore. Ehlers Danlos causes so many of my pains. But, now I know that the doctor can help with these injections.

Switching

For the next few weeks I’ll be switching states. My address will be new, but not new to me. I’m going to be staying in my hometown and visiting with my daughter, son-in-love, and grandchild. I can hardly wait! I haven’t seen them since late February.

We didn’t want to catch covid, so I stayed away. But, I didn’t want to wait until a vaccine comes. Who knows when a safe vaccine will be available, anyway? So, along with plenty of masks and hand sanitizer, I’m heading out of town. This is a dream come true!

Disappointing

It’s been disappointing to me that I haven’t been able to lose more weight. Whenever I lose a few pounds, I just can’t seem to go any lower. Or, I may lose a few pounds and then gain it back. My big hang-up is that I get nauseated and then eat something to stop that feeling.

I am eating more healthy, though. So, I am thankful that at least I’m giving my body better nutrition and will keep trying. When I’m disappointed, I may become sad or angry. But, I have to get over it and go forward. Staying down does me no good.

Forming

Since I’ve started a third blog, it’s really enjoyable to form new friendships. I’ve discovered many new book bloggers. These relationships are very cool. My goal of reviewing helpful and family-friendly books is interesting, to say the least.

Many books that are commonly reviewed on the internet are from the romance genre. There are many of these that are not family-friendly. I’m trying to navigate the different ways to find wholesome literature to share. There are so many ways to be a book blogger. I hope that I can review many books that relate to the chronic illness community.

Well, October is starting out with a blast! I love my blogging, visiting family, and my new doctor. I know that he can’t fix everything. It’s also true that he’s expensive. But, it really is a clinic that is helping me more than any other place that I’ve been. So, I have a lot to be thankful for.

@2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman

Disclaimer: I’m not a medical expert. This post contains my opinions, and is not meant to be taken as medical advice. If you have a medical concern, please consult your personal physician.