A little bit of biking!

Here I am - nearly a week since my last post, and I have just increased my Houttunyia and Enula dosages to 28 drops today.  This means it took me a full week to go from 26 to 28 drops.  It's slow.  But I'm living a little bit. :)

The kids were at the Grandparent's place for three days last weekend.  That meant hubbie and I had some free time together - wooeee, baby! I love my kids, but oh do I also love the freedom of not having that responsibility once in awhile too.

So, we packed in the frugal, uber-relaxed fun.  What do other lymies do for fun?  We are on a super tight budget, so spending in any big way is out - no shopping sprees, expensive dinners, movies and popcorn, hotel mini-vacations, spa days, etc.  And of course my fatigue and brain fog are huge still too (much better, but huge compared to a healthy person).  So we can't hike or run or zip line or anything like that either.

We ended up going to the beach for a wee walk in the water - just up to our ankles.  Heaven feeling the sand under my feet!  Water is super grounding for me too.  Then we sat on the beach for a long time.  Chatting and chilling.  We did actually go to dinner too.  But we tend to go to an organic, vegetarian place where you pay by weight.  So I get a LOT of salads.  Which I enjoy because I rarely have the energy to make these at home - a real treat.  And the food is actually safe for me to eat at this place.  We also went for a little walk around a downtown neighbourhood (my husband drove us there in the car).  We both love the architecture of the old houses as well as the lush, full gardens and mature trees in these types of neighbourhoods.  Inspiring. Tried to watch a movie one evening at home but we were too tired.  The evening before we went to a movie out - a real movie at the cinema!  This isn't in the budget, but we ask for movie gift certificates for birthdays and Christmas gifts.  A total mini-break from reality.

So these are our date night ideas... walks, a cheap and healthy bit of food out, nature that is close-by, a movie treat.  Sometimes we people watch too.  Sit on a bench in a busy area and just hang out.  Pretty fabulous considering I spent over a year primarily in bed and in pain, but I still wouldn't mind more ideas. 

(And of course all of this fun - with ample resting in between mind you! - resulted in the worst symptoms I have seen in awhile. Major word slurring, brain fog, more body pain, etc.  But I didn't care!)

I need to get to the coolest part of this post though!  We ended up at an end-of-school party for the kids near the end of June.  The host family happened to be a car-free family with a bunch of bikes.  Hubbie and I had previously played around with the idea of getting a tandem bike - so I could sit at the back, barely peddle, and not have to balance or steer.  I miss biking with my family! We searched for a bit on kijiji, but quickly realized that tandem bikes are pricey - way out of our budget.  And we didn't even know if I could actually do it.  Well, this generous family were going out of town on vacation and have just lent us a tandem bike for a few weeks!  We went for our first bike ride two nights ago.  The first time I have biked in literally years.

I adored it.  Do you remember how it feels to bike?  I don't even remember what it feels like to walk without pain - never mind run, or swim, or jump...   We went for a 20 minute ride.  It was scary and a little painful, but mostly massively awesome.  I could cry with the joy.  It's hard to absorb, it's that great.

Right now, for the record, I can walk for about 20 minutes on a usual, 'good' day.  And I'm sore, and sometimes feel like my ankles will give out, but I do it.  Riding in a car as a passenger - with pillows beneath and behind me - has the pain start at about 40 minutes into the drive.  At an hour it gets bad.  If the road is bumpy (Ontario roads!) I end up in tears from the pain. 

So being able to bike - just for a little bit - feels like a miracle.  Gratitude for little miracles!

building muscle!

I didn't mention this in my last post, but wow is it something I am grateful for - just a wee sign of healing progress really.  But it feels huge to me.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I walked around for 2 hours at an outdoor street festival in my neighbourhood last Sunday.  Then I walked, at a normal pace (oh, the excitement!!!!), all the way home.  20 minutes. 

I've been physically able to walk for 20 minutes at various stages of my recovery.  But not always at a normal pace.  And almost always with considerable body fatigue and stiffness as I arrive back home. I recently actually came across some info about why this could be...  A scientific study out of Newcastle University concluded that CFS/ME patients produce an average of 20 times more acid when they exercise. It is this build up of acid that then makes the body feel sore, with aching muscles that then don't work as well. (More info here: mecfsForums).  Now they didn't study chronic lyme of course - but I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens to us - my own experiences indicate that it does.

But the awesome thing about last Sunday is that this did NOT happen after my big wander/walk session.  The crazy, gross pain didn't overwhelm me as it usually does.

Then, the next day, on Monday, my body was a little bit sore.  And on the second day after, Tuesday, quite sore.  But a different sort of sore.  Like after a workout sore!!!!! Despite that I can barely remember how that feels, it was still familiar.  

My friend, who works with a personal trainer regularly, tells me this means I am actually, incredibly, building muscle!  How amazing is that?

I am super crazy happy about this thought.  Am I nearly there????  To the point where my body can actually rebuild muscle?  After years of lying in bed with my muscles atrophying?

YAY!