Chillingly hot

I said in my last post it seemed summer might be coming to an end.  Well lately it seems like it.  It's been cold here at night and hot during the day.  This week we were in the 50s (F) every night but today, for example, it was in the mid 90s during the day.

These dynamic temperatures make it hard to determine how to dress in the morning.  Do I dress for the 50 degrees outside when I leave the house, or the 90 degree when I leave work?  It's nearly impossible to decide.  I usually opt for dressing to the heat and wrapping a blanket around my ankle when I'm in the office.

On top of the weather there's been a bit of stress in my life the lat few days.  Swimming last night helped me release some of the stress, but my ankle is still bothering me a bit.  I'm trying to relax right now (I'm sitting back with a glass of Pinot Noir and watching my favorite movie- The Princess Bride).  Hopefully after a good night's rest my ankle will be more cooperative.

Summer's almost over

Pardon me while I pour one out for summer.  I love you, summer.  I loved you more when I was young and had vacation when you were around, but I still love you as an adult.  You just don't bring me the unexplainable joy of being completely lazy for two and a half months anymore.

I being up the impending end of summer because as summer comes to a close the weather begins to cool.  However, my office doesn't turn off their air conditioning for months.  It was 50 degrees F the other morning and my office was freezing.  I'm so glad I have a space heater that I can put right behind my chair and a blanket to wrap around my leg.  I also brought soup to help keep me warm.  The next day it was warm again in the morning.

As much as I'll miss summer until next year I'm excited for Autumn.  I love the fall.  Unlike the summer, I love you more as time passes.  When I was younger you signified the end of laziness and the beginning of classes again.  Now you mostly stand for all the fun things I loved about you as a kid.  The leaves turn beautiful colors, the apples are ready for picking, the haunted hay rides start, and of course there's the beer festivals in my area.  All of that means walking.  It's almost walking season again.

I think it might be helping

I really do think swimming might be helping my ankle.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still in pain, but I find the smallest things aren't exacerbating it as much.

I got the idea that I needed to start working my ankle out more when my husband told me about his friend who has CRPS.  She plays guitar to help stave off the symptoms (and oh boy can she play guitar!), and it really seems to work for her.  I decided I had to start doing something and see if that made a difference in my pain levels.

But what?  I always liked to run, and that's definitely out.  There's working out and then there's being downright dumb and in my case, running would be downright dumb.  That's when the cards fell into place and my swimming buddy asked me to start swimming with her.  I had been on the varsity team in high school, despite suffering from undiagnosed CRPS, so why can't I swim now that I have my SCS?

I'm so grateful everything came together like this.  Swimming makes me feel better in so many ways.

I forgot to turn on my stimulator!

And boy did it make a difference.  We went swimming last night.  At first I could tell something was off but I wasn't sure what.  It wasn't until about 15 minutes in that I noticed I didn't feel that comforting buzzing in my back and legs.

Within minutes I couldn't kick with my right leg anymore and even dragging it behind my body, water rushing by, was very painful.  I knew then I was doomed.

HOW COULD I FORGET?!?  I need the stimulation to carry on even close to a normal life.  It should be second nature to me by now, but of course it's not.

I ended up swimming for only 40 minutes or so and then I had to get out.  It hurt too much and I was beginning to see some swelling.  My very understanding friend understood why I had to leave, and I got out, took some Aleve and headed home.  I could barely even stand in the shower.

The pain has started to calm now.  I'm looking forward to swimming again tonight.  I do think it helps with the strength and the pain related to the CRPS.