A few days ago, I wrote a blog post with the same title where I complained about a bad day. But just as some little things can bring you down, other little things can bring you back up! And this is one of those other little things!
Yesterday, I was able to help move and set up some poster boards on table, which I am really pumped about! They were not super heavy but it did involve some carrying, dragging, pushing, lifting, etc. – basically a bunch of repetitive tasks – which are generally troublesome for me. My arms and shoulders did ache like hell later and I felt the stabbing pains at the trigger points on my back, but I was able to manage the pain with heat alone (I was determined to not have to take a tramadol that day for the first time in a couple of weeks). To add to that, I even managed to teach two classes back-to-back. I had to stay under a heating blanket the rest of the evening, but again, no tramadol – so hurray!!
It’s been a crazy couple of days at work so I am really grateful that I am not back in a flare already. I have had a ton of proverbial fires to put out in preparation for an undergraduate poster session that my students are participating in. My mentee in the lab (also an undergraduate student) presented his data at lab meeting today, so I have been helping him last couple of days with that as well. So then when my physical therapist asked me today how I felt, and I could say that my pain levels were only at 2-3, I was ecstatic indeed!
I am trying not to overdo things though. I often end up feeling like my good days are like $10 gift cards, which save me nothing and only encourage me to overspend! Except in this case, it is my energy I am spending, instead of money. I even wrote a whole blog post about that once (linked above)! But I am determined to not do that today. I took out an hour of rest time between work, physical therapy, and back to work. I hope that helps conserve my energy a bit better.
I know better than to expect this kind of goodness to last too long, but I am certainly enjoying the moment while I am in it right now!
Love,
Fibronacci
Pain(t)h.D. 
I’m happy for you! 🙂
🐻 🌻 🌞
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aww thank you so much!!! ❤ Unfortunately, my resolve to not overspend my energy failed at some point in the evening when I felt the deadlines looming. And then I managed to overwork myself and crash, after all. LOL! 😛 Some people never learn!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ohh! 😦
Well, at least you can tell yourself, you tried your best…until the evening! 🙂
I’m always having to pace myself – I even wash my hair and body on separate days. The trip to the supermarket to buy food is enormous, the next day spent recuperating.
All fun and games, isn’t it? 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, that’s true! 🙂 It is almost counter-productive to push on when I am tired because then everything takes more time and energy to do it right but it is so hard to turn off my brain (even when it’s in a fog!) with deadlines dangling over me.
Kudos to you for managing your energy so well! I often have to get my husband to wash my hair because I have a lot of it, and it takes forever, and I cannot keep my arms up over my head for that long. Supermarkets and malls are tough on the legs and feet especially. But dealing with that and still floating above the surface is all in a day’s work for us, I guess! 😉
Thank you so much for stopping by!! You really cheered me up this morning. ❤
LikeLike