Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband. I love you.
*photo taken at Tumacacori State Park, Sept. 4th, 2004. all rights reserved
My friend Kim Johnson over at I Tripped Over a Stone, got together with Karen Anderson and wrote a book to help others find how they can LIVE with fibromyalgia. They know that with fibromyalgia every day can feel like you are fighting shadows.
With over 50 years of combined experience with fibromyalgia Kim and Karen understand that it doesn’t just affect you physically, it affects you mentally and emotionally as well.
The Shadow Boxers: Fighting Fibromyalgia, Your Personal Journal, is an interactive book where Kim and Karen help you on your own journey.
In The Shadow Boxers…, you will find Kim and Karen’s personal stories from first symptoms to the present. They prompt you to make your own plan, write down your own ideas, and figure out how to really live your life with fibromyalgia!
The journal features
Let me sum up by saying, I love this book! I love the how it’s interactive. I already journal, but my journals are simply thoughts of the day and such. This journal gives me prompts to think about. It gives me guidance. It challenges me to think about things I might otherwise have overlooked. This journal helps me find my way as I navigate through this illness. I now have my own story.
The Shadow Boxers: Fighting Fibromyalgia, Your Personal Journal is available on Amazon as a Kindle Book or a physical book. If you get the Kindle version you will need to get a journal to use in conjunction with it.
Or, you just might win it!!
Kim has so graciously offered to give a copy of The Shadow Boxers: Fighting Fibromyalgia, Your Personal Journal to one of my lucky readers. Please only one entry per person. I’m sorry, but this giveaway is available to US readers only.
To enter to win a copy of The Shadow Boxers... simply leave a comment telling why you’d like to win. Contest closes at midnight EST on September 20th. The winner will be notified by email. (make sure the email you comment with is the email to you would like to be notified) The winner will be announced on Friday, September 22nd.
Good Luck!!
**note. I purchased my own copy of The Shadow Boxers: Fighting Fibromyalgia, Your Personal Story. All opinions in this review are my own and I have not been influenced by anyone else.
*photo by W. Holcombe. Please do not use without permission.
Be kind.
*photo by W. Holcombe. Love everyone always. xo
*photo by W. Holcombe, all rights reserved. Please do not use without permission.
I received a message from someone through this blog’s Contact Page a couple of days ago.
I tried to respond but the email address given doesn’t work.
If you contacted me, please do so again. I promise I’ll answer.
*image by w. holcombe. all rights reserved.
**another photo by my friend Kara. All rights reserved. Please do not use.
Friday was a normal day. I didn’t have a lot to do (bored). I’d been sitting in my chair reading when I got up to let our dog out. I got about a two feet and I ran into this:
again…..and did this
happened…..again.
About 4, or was it 5, years ago, I tripped on my walker and broke my foot. At least that time I was using it. On Friday it was just sitting beside me. I haven’t needed it lately, but I keep it close, just in case. A little too close to my foot as it turns out.
It hurt, like it does when you stub your toe, I didn’t think it was broken. It just didn’t hurt enough. I had this discussion with another chronically ill friend and she said the same thing about when she broke her foot. It really speaks volumes as to how differently we feel pain.
Stuart talked me in to going to Urgent Care to get it checked out since I’d broken it before, and was told it would be easier to break again, I decided it’d probably be a good idea. (I hate to say it, but knowing we have met our out of pocket maximum for the year, made it an easier decision.) I hobbled in Urgent Care, got checked in and was seen right away. I had an x-ray and the attending physician said my x-ray showed irregularities. She couldn’t tell if what she was seeing was all from the last break or if it was a new break. She thought it was broken, but a radiologist needed to read it to be certain. I was sent home with The Boot, and the radiologist would call on Monday. They did, and it is broken.
This time it’s not as bad as it was the first time. I didn’t twist my ankle or anything like that. I’ll be in the boot for 4 weeks instead of 12. It’s hot and heavy, but it is taking good care of my broken foot, for that I love my boot.
On the other end, I started physical therapy (PT) for my back last week. What’s wrong with my back you ask? I’m not exactly sure. I did fall, so I might have wrenched it then. (that was over a month ago). I had severe akathisia (the need to keep moving) for over a month. This caused me to constantly tense my muscles. It’s possible, my back just never calmed down. I also have arthritis in my neck, this is causing a lot of pain recently. PT will hopefully help that as well.
So far, I feel like the PT has been aggravating my arthritis. I discussed this with my physical therapist yesterday and he did a few things differently. Hopefully, these changes will improve the pain and still help me get stronger. If not, I know I can talk with him about it and we will work to make it better, to make me better. I’m so impressed by this office. Appointments are supposed to an hour long. As most of us know, that normally means you are actually seen about 45 minutes, sometimes less. My normal amount of time at this office is 1 hour 15 mins. Yesterday I was there for an hour and a half. I hope I get the results I’m looking for, it won’t be for lack of trying.
I’m happy to say that my migraines are still much, much better. I’ve had a few, but nothing like I was. I haven’t had a lot of vertigo. This past week I’ve had a few times where I’ve had really fast spins that last for just a couple of seconds, or very slow movement that I can barely see (but it makes me very nauseous). Overall, I’m feeling healthier than I have in years. I don’t know how long this will last, so I’m trying hard to make the most of this time.
*photo by my friend Kara.
Picnic with Ants 