Summer is coming to a close and the kiddos are heading back to school next week! Looking back over the last couple of months, we did more than I remember (thanks, fibro fog) and had a great time. Here is a recap of our Fibro Summer 2018.
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All in a Fibro Summer
New Health Issues
I’ve been battling new symptoms since the Spring, and while they have varied in intensity, I haven’t been a single day without pain since March 25, 2018. Symptoms have included a myriad of issues such as stomach pains, headaches, muscle weakness, fatigue, brain fog, and more. These haven’t been the typical fibromyalgia flares either.
As of the writing of this post, we still have no answers as to the cause of it all. We hope to get answers soon, but I’ve been struggling with the negative feelings the chronic pain has caused. I’ve managed to cope with some of those feelings, but it’s an ongoing process. It’s as though I’m stuck between depression and a mental breakdown. It’s driving me insane, but I’m taking it one day at a time.
Our Summer Adventures
Since my symptoms wax and wane without any warning, we have been limited on our Summer adventures this year. Normally, we take one or two family vacations. We also do a variety of fun activities here and there all over town. Activities such as visiting the library, attending free events, swimming, and more. This summer was a bit more spread out, but we did have some great times!
Fruit Picking
My kids and I love to go fruit picking at local farms! They like to go for the fun of it, and I like to go for the fun and how cost efficient it is. After picking loads and loads of fruit, we come home to wash, dry, and store all of it. Well, whatever the kids haven’t eaten while washing it!
This year we visited two new farms – a berry farm and a peach farm. The berry farm had a small area where they kept some bunnies and also a little market to buy other produce. We got some peaches for a snack and I found some zucchini to take home, too. Yummy!
The berry farm also had an Agritourism Passport booklet for us, too. The passport is produced by SC Agritourism Association, and lists all the farms in the state. As you visit each farm, you collect stamps and earn prizes. We got our first farm stamp!
A Trip to Belgium
Tim was the only one that managed to fit a trip into his summer. Of course, it wasn’t a leisurely trip, but rather a business trip. He visited Belgium for two weeks, and had a great time exploring the place when he wasn’t working.
He brought home a few trinkets for the kids and Belgium chocolate for me! Yummy!
Venus Fly Trap
Our older model car had a few issues at the beginning of summer including a flat tire. While at the Walmart tire center waiting for all four tires to be replaced, we did some shopping. In the garden center we found these cute little bundles of Venus Fly Traps! The kids were super excited about finding it and feeding it flies (they have to be live flies).
Sleepover with Mommy
While Tim was in Belgium, the kids had sleepovers with me in my room. It was fun having them with me and helped to distract from my health issues. My mom spent a majority of the two weeks with me, too, to help with the kiddos. The kids always enjoy having my mom here, so it was a real treat to have her here multiple nights.
On one of the nights I wasn’t feeling so good, Abby read a book to me. It helped me feel better and cope with the pain.
Chiropractor
Seeing a chiropractor has done wonders for my body pain, so I started taking my kids to the chiropractor, too. They each have some minor issues, and we are hoping chiropractic care is a good fit for them.
Board Games
We play lots of board games over the summer, and this summer was the same for the most part. Our favorite games are Ticket to Ride, Dead of Winter, and now Monopoly Junior Deep Sea Adventures.
Doctor Appointments
I had lots and lots of appointments this summer. My kids went with me to a majority of them including a trip to the ENT where he looked down my throat with a camera. They learned how to entertain themselves while waiting with me in the waiting rooms, and developed some patience with it. This is one of the many aspects of being a fibro parent – your kids learning about the medical field and how the body works.
Pizza! Pizza!
Okay, so that slogan is for Little Caesar’s, but I think of it every time someone mentions pizza. Anywho – the day we dropped off Tim at the airport to fly to Belgium, we were all super bummed. To lift their spirits, we took an impromptu visit to Cici’s pizza. If you aren’t familiar with this place, it’s a mini version of Chuck E. Cheese’s sans mechanical dancing animals.
The best part was that I got some pizza! I ordered a crust with sauce, onions, mushrooms, and pineapple. It’s something I’ve been craving for months and it tasted heavenly! I did get a few cramps later because of the gluten, but some essential oils on the tummy helped with that.
Best Summer Reads
Since I was bed bound a LOT, I did a lot of reading, too. I usually read out of date books because I get my books from yard sales, our community’s Little Free Library, and the library book sale. However, during one of my trips to the emergency room, a nurse talked to me about the Book of the Month Club. It sounded like a steal, and I could get books published in the current month! I signed up and so far I LOVE it!
Some of my favorite reads included:
The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams
The Last Time I Lied and Final Girls by Riley Sager
The Autoimmune Solution Cookbook by Amy Myers, MD
July Fourth Celebration
Like Christmas and Halloween, July Fourth celebrations are popular in our community. We don’t have to leave the comfort of our yard to view multiple fireworks shows, and the kids love it! My husband and I enjoy setting off fireworks, too, and this year was no different.
House Projects
To break up the time of being home, we worked on a few home projects. We had most of the supplies already, and the items we did have to buy came from the store’s clearance section (including the flowers and paint).
Half Wall
The half wall was done by my oldest daughter and me. This is the wall that we hang up the kids’ artwork because the fridge is too small. After we mixed a few cans of leftover paint, we ended up with a beautiful color!
Flowerbeds
The flowerbeds in front of our home have driven me crazy since we bought the house in 2015. I had the bushes and palm removed in 2016, and it’s been an eye sore ever since. That changed in late July. With just a few bags of mulch, flowers, pots I had in the garage, and a lot of elbow grease we got the front looking great again!
Sunroom
Our sunroom is another eye sore I’ve been wanting to work on since we bought the house. It’s not the greatest color, and I wanted a pretty color to brighten it up. It is a sunroom after all, so it should be bright and sunny for me. We didn’t intend on a beach theme, but that’s how it turned out.
Isle of Palms Beach
My kids love the beach! However, it’s a far drive for us, and driving too far makes me anxious when dealing with unpredictable symptoms. The mornings prove to be the best time for me, so we made a morning trip to the closest beach. We drove through a massive thunderstorm to get there, but it was worth it!
The kids had a great time, too! It was a new experience to be enjoying the beach while a storm raged on in the background. The waves crashing onto shore competed with the thunder clashing overhead. It was impressive.
Mema’s House
A few trips were made to my mom’s house on the island. She lives in my grandmother’s house which happens to be the same house where my mom and dad raised my sister and me. They had a pool put in one summer when I was eight or so. It’s fun to see my kids having fun in the same pool I did when I was their age.
We went swimming a few times in our community pool as well.
And now the summer is winding to a close, and the kids are going back to school next week. I’m definitely not ready for the new school year, but the kids are excited about it. New memories, new experiences, and new friendships will be made. Hopefully, time won’t go by too fast because my babies are growing faster than I’d like. Being a parent is bittersweet like that, I guess.
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