A Restful Winter Break
Towards the end of the semester my cough from COVID had finally left and I was able to get maintenance in to clean the carpet.
As I had approached my last week, I also had virtual rehearsals for the show I was working on.
I had been finalizing all of my medical documents that I would remain in my backpack at all times. It’s a packet for nurses, doctors, and EMTs to use that has all of the pertinent information they might need in one place.
December 17th was my first day of winter break and I spent the whole weekend in bed.
It was definitely needed, and it was nice to have a pause after such a busy fall semester.
I kept getting those ocular migraines over break but at least they weren’t occurring daily.
December 19th, I had finally gotten my genetics appointment scheduled for February (I had been struggling for a few weeks to get ahold of them).
I had also been having some CVC (central venous catheter) site pain, but I figured my lumens were probably just tugging me in some sort of way.
The following day my nurse came by to change my dressing and they found that I developed a sore next to my CVC site. The sore was caused by the stitches of my CVC rubbing against the skin.
I had begun eating again the week of finals and continued it into break however, I wasn’t able to eat very much.
I had spoken to my nurse about whether or not I should ask my dietician to up the calories in my TPN formula for January since I was going to have rehearsal every day plus school and work, and we know that I would be spending a lot of energy. They recommended I do request upped calories, so I left voicemails for my dietician.
On December 22nd I had decided to go to the hospital to visit and catch up with the physical therapists during lunch. It was such a lovely visit, and I was so glad to be able to catch up with everyone again!
December 23rd, I had tried to eat a few Smarties from a package but ended up getting sick very quickly (which is usually abnormal and a sign to stop right away). A couple hours after eating, my stomach was grumbling again, and I kept forgetting that my stomach grumbling no longer means what it used to for my body. Since I didn’t pay attention, I ate a few more Smarties.
The following day I had triggered a flare and was in bed all Christmas Eve unable to stand up fully or move about.
I had decided that I needed to be off food for a bit because I caught myself into a predicament. Since I hadn’t eaten consistently in a while (due to flares), I was flaring when I began eating again (this makes sense). So, I need to eat again to regain a tolerance *hopefully*. The issue here is the assumption I will regain a tolerance. My eating is like a downwards slope; it doesn’t improve over time it just continues to plateau and drop. Since I need time to build up a tolerance, I need time to be able to flare (weeks). Well, since I haven’t rested since my one week off in the summer, I wasn’t feeling up to letting my winter break get taken to go into a flare (since this requires a lot of energy).
And so, this is why I decided I’m going to be off food for a while because I need to spend my break resting so my body is ready to work all January, February and March (I have another show I’m working February-March).
Christmas was enjoyable and I spent it on Zoom with my family. They had mailed their gifts to me, and I had mailed mine to them.
On the 27th of December I watched the Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker with some friends which was really enjoyable, and my family and I had been playing a detective board game every night virtually together.
December 30th, I had gone to the dentist and had a great appointment! My teeth are still doing good even with not eating anything! (-I’ll take a win where I can get it!)
Once January hit, I began spending my days working on emails for my school job and prepping for my rehearsals that week. My winter break would end two weeks early in order to begin in-person rehearsals.
And of course, amongst the break time, I spent time at my desk writing seven blog posts to bring the website up to speed with where I am in my life currently.
Do I wish my break was a bit longer? Sure, but I know I’ll need to jump into everything at some point so I’m as ready as I’ll ever be ;-)
Next story coming soon!! ;-)