Wilderness Camping

I'm going to post a few photos of the camping trip. We were dropped off on a remote set of Islands in Lake Superior and camped for 4 nights.  My roommate/friend, her brother and I.  It was really nice to be out with other people, as in my previous three trips (2012, 2013, 2016) it's just been me and my furry yellow friend.

I did my usual resting in beautiful places (my tent, our "private" beach, the dock).  I also overdid it on purpose a few times.  The water was quite calm for Lake Superior and we were camped in a protected area so we did quite a bit of exploring by canoe (the bugs were too bad for hiking and I'm unable to hike anyways).

When I canoe with someone I can mostly just steer and make them do the paddling so it worked out pretty well although my arms did get weak and shaky and the second day I was pretty crashed and viral and weak. I've learned after 15 years with M.E that when you manage to travel that nothing changes in regards to illness. In my experience, the travel induces a crash and then otherwise the illness is the same except that I am sick in a different place.

There are no words to describe just how beautiful Lake Superior is.  The water is so clear that you can sometimes see 20 ft down to the bottom.  I enjoyed the nightly companionship by the campfire, one night I got up to pee and lay down on the dock.  I saw three meteors (two with tails) and a sky so full of stars it was breath taking.  We didn't see caribou (which I guess is unusual) but I saw or heard many many birds:

nuthatches
loons
robins
a hawk
bald eagle
sea gulls
ravens
whiskey jack (Canada Jay)
white throated sparrow
pipers

We were also visited by tame hares in camp (someone obviously fed them).  I didn't want to leave the last day.  I knew it would be a year, maybe years until I could return to a place of peace and lack of responsibility like this place again.

Now I am home in bed resting and reading for my upcoming course. I have some major intestinal distress, I wonder if I caught a bug given my immune system (WBC low) is compromised? I'm spending most the day you know where and my lymph nodes just ache.  Anyways, on to the slide show....enjoy

Sunset: Two kinds of fire 

Camp visitor

A geologic feature called "shatter cones" - looked like a big cliff to me

"parked" in a field of daisies, you can see an old wrecked lumber barge 

View from an old copper mine shaft

My happy place

I think this is called "Indian Pipe"

We even paddled a little exposed coastline with "sea" on three sides

"my" beach, I spent hours here

Early morning solo paddle 

Not a bad view from bed

Bye bye Slate Is.

Procrastination Station

I'm procrastinating. Do I have an excuse to procrastinate?

For those of you with M.E. or another severe chronic illness, you know what it's like to deal with fatigue and illness symptoms daily.  Nonetheless, we only get one shot at life, so we must make choices about giving into our body's requests (for rest) versus doing the "living life" stuff that we can manage (I realize for many with M.E. this involves very little).

Compared to the healthy world, however, I do think we have a good excuse to just do nothing sometimes.  The healthy world isn't dealing with constant illness while doing stuff (even if that stuff is as simple as getting dressed, fixing some food, taking a bath or shower, talking). Today I'm giving myself permission to put off all the "to dos" and be exhausted and sick and just rest.

I had imagined my summer being much more relaxed/restful.  Instead I am busy (M.E. busy).  First, I did that crazy intense online course in May and June which lingered into early July stress-wise.  July just flew by with errands and dad-care/assistance and???.  We've also been doing some repairs on the house which got complicated when a friend couldn't come up to help as expected.  Then a different good friend and her son visited last week which was amazing (and she helped with the house project), but unfortunately their visit co-insided with some pretty awful sick days. I also pushed pretty hard just to visit when feeling crappy and horrible.

It's already August and there are at least 4 dad appointments coming up, the yearly agility event in the city, and a trip for me.

For 6 months my friend/housemate, her brother and I have been planning a trip to some nearby Islands to camp.  Exhausted and immunocompromised or not, I plan to go.  I need to unplug.  I need these four days to lay on the rocks and watch the waves, not have to deal with care or questions from my beloved octogenarian, to see a sky full of stars, and perhaps even see some wild caribou!! (the most southern woodland caribou population resides there).

You can expect some photos when I get back. Thankfully it's not that far away, my friend will drive and I will have help for stuff that I need.

Then, to top it off, I also agreed to teach another course this fall (yes I am insane and stupid).  On the plus, it's the 12 week kind (slower pace with more flexibility) and my supervisor from the PhD is allowing me to pretty much just teach her version of the course. This saves massive amounts of planning.  I'm actually quite looking forward to it.

Who knew 10 years ago that I would actually: fist, be just as sick; and second, find a way to become a Dr. (PhD) and even work part-time from bed?  I hope I'm not pushing things to the degree that I will be one of those who relapses into severe M.E? I am counting my blessings.

Today, I am just in bed (to be honest, I still spend the majority of most days in bed - 18- 20 hrs a day).  I can't seem to get motivated to do anything....I mean anything. I'm so exhausted. I should be piddling away at some reading or course planning. Instead I'm going to do pretty much nothing.

Crashy crashed

I have a friend and her son visiting and I'm crashed - crashy crash crashed.  I know sometimes I can go along doing not a whole lot and think "M.E. isn't so terrible" and then when I'm like this I WANT TO DIE, I want it to end I'm so sick.  I can barely sit up today, I'm yawning constantly and so without any energy, so devoid of energy there are no words.

It hurts to breathe, sore throat, icky fluey malaise feeling and did I say colossal lack of energy? Like I can barely hold my arms up, I can't really stand at all for more than seconds.

I was at my clinic Monday trying to figure out some paper work and we did some bloodwork and my white count is down to 2.9 with mild neutropenia again.  Nothing extreme, but this is the lowest it's been in a long while. I did agree to go to a local internist who does some haematology but I doubt she'll make anything of it because, well it's due to the M.E.

I have a "holiday" camping coming next week and I may be teaching an online course again in the fall (the longer 12 week kind).  Did I mention that I'm exhausted lol?

Just for fun, here's my pup jumping off a dock/pier last week.