Rest Days

I'm been taking some rest days.  Still doing things around home, but no outings.

As with much of North America, winter has come early here.  While southern Ontario is actually getting winter weather in December, we are getting winter weather and then some! We have been in a deep freeze for the best part of two weeks now, maybe three.  Lots of below -20 C temperatures with wind chills as low as -40 C!  Right now, it is snowing heavily out, but because it's a good -20, the snow is very light and swirly.  It's lovely.

 The good news: two weeks from tomorrow I will be back home here post-Christmas travel and post-50th wedding anniversary for my parents.  I am telling myself over and over that I'll make it through and it might even be OK.  I need to keep my expectations of myself low despite all the pressures and stress that are inevitable.  Send good thoughts my way, if you will.

My friend/roommate has been a life-saver helping me -  picking up items for the party and Christmas, mailing some cards and presents, and getting my prescriptions, so that I don't have to crash from outings.

I've also enjoyed some movies the last few days.  I saw "The Help".  I'd read the book and liked it, but had some mixed feelings about it too.  But I thought the movie was really well done.  I also saw "It's a Wonderful Life".  I know most people have seen it a hundred times, but I don't think I'd actually sat down (or lay down in this case) and seen the whole thing.  Perhaps as a young child, but I didn't remember the story.  I really enjoyed it.

On the negative, I have some kind of weird infection or flare or who knows what????  My friend/housemate has a cold and when she started her cold, I had a nasty sore throat (which I usually get with a cold - different than my M.E. sore throat).  But  the nasty sore throat hasn't gone away, it's been 5 days, and it hasn't developed into a cold??

It is pretty painful and one tonsil is swollen, but is it painful enough to be strep? It doesn't seem like it.  I have a low grade fever today too, but that is also common for me with a flare.  So to be honest, I still don't know if this is a flare or something else….every hour I change my mind: "it's just M.E.", "it's strep", "it's viral tonsillitis", "it's a very very slow moving cold".  Place your bets.

If I don't post again before my travel, have a wonderful _________ (insert seasonal holiday which you celebrate).  If you are ill, be kind to yourself and don't let others' expectations of you ruin your holidays.