Skip to main content

Wake-up Call

I've never paid much attention to my arthritis. Other than finding ways to live with the limitations it's imposed on me, I don't brood about it or feel sorry for myself. Everytime one of my joints really hurts (quite frequently these days) I think of quadraplegics and amputees, to remind myself it could be always worse. It helps that I have a high threshold for pain, too. My arthritis may be crippling me every day now, but it doesn't control my outlook.

I also don't think about how much and how fast the condition of my hands is deteriorating. Over the last year I've lost about 50% of the use of my working hand. There are a few things I can't do anymore that I have to ask for help with now, like opening tight-lidded jars or gripping and carrying heavy things. Yes, it sucks, but I'm not going to waste my time letting it bother me.

Last month I woke up one morning in pain, as usual, but with a new twist: one of my trigger fingers had curled over and become stuck in that position. This had never before happened to me, so it was a little frightening. I managed to uncurl the finger, and later ordered some finger splints that I can wear at night to avoid a repeat, but evidently this is my new normal. I didn't expect it would bother me so much, but it does. Until now my limitations have come on gradually and I've had time to mentally prepare for them. Not anymore, it seems.

We're all getting older, and facing new challenges due to age. I've had to cope with arthritis already for thirty-five years, so I know the drill. Accept what I cannot change, be grateful for what I can still do, let go of all the rest -- and now, be prepared for sudden changes. Am I happy about it? Nope. Is it fair? Of course not. Can I live with it? Absolutely.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.
Post a Comment
Read more

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.
Post a Comment
Read more

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to...
Post a Comment
Read more