Photo Challenge for CRPS Awareness, Day 09

A Day In My Life Photo Challenge for 30 Days Of RSD/CRPS Awareness, June 2013

Day 09 – A picture of gratitude in pain

Today I attended a Tai Chi fundamentals seminar during my physio’ time to brush up on my basics and hopefully improve some more. A seminar is longer than my physio’ time so of course I hurt a little more than usual afterwards, but now I am under the blanket on the sofa with my hot water bottle (back in it’s fluffy cover again!) and I’ve just drunk a nice cup of tea.

I plugged in the stereo before I sat down and I have the volume down really low to allow me to listen for a little longer before the noise sensitivity pain makes me turn it off. My music is on shuffle so I am getting a variety of tunes from different genres which is rather fun. For lunch I’ve eaten some fruit and some cheese (the latter to help my brain recover from the seminar). The sun is shining outside and trying to shine in a little through my overhung front window.

I am grateful to be able to spend my physio’ doing something that I love, and to be able to spend the time that I need to recover afterwards. I have my laptop with me, and that means that I have my friends with me too (as that’s where you all live)!

I am sat so that I can see the mantlepiece. On it are some photo’s, some postcards from friends who are also of compromised health and it means so much to me that they took the time and effort to write to me, a congratulations card from a friend about my Tai Chi progress and I love her so dearly that I haven’t been able to bring myself to take the card down yet, and a beautiful heart ornament from another friend who I love so very much. The ornament represents the beautiful friend who sent it to me and, by extension, my besties who I adore so much. Just seeing it there makes my heart swell in the joy of love for my friends. I am so grateful for you all being in my life and for being who you each are. Each day I am stuck on the sofa for many hours at a time, and each day my gaze will fall upon this ornament at some point and doing so I feel lifted, I feel lighter, I feel grateful. Thank-you my friends, and thank-you to the specific friend who sent this to me, you are always in my heart, xxx

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Photo Challenge for CRPS Awareness, Day 08

A Day In My Life Photo Challenge for 30 Days Of RSD/CRPS Awareness, June 2013

Day 08 – A picture that makes you laugh

The main photo’ for this blog makes me chuckle whenever I think of what Magic Dude put himself through wearing that gnome hat in public for the piccies! Tee hee. He would set up the camera on timer, then leg it to the bench, throw the gnome hat on and sit really still until the piccy got taken, then off back to the camera to try another angle! He got some really strange looks from some innocently passing dog-walkers! Hehehehe ;-D

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Photo Challenge for CRPS Awareness, Day 07

A Day In My Life Photo Challenge for 30 Days Of RSD/CRPS Awareness, June 2013

Day 07 – A picture of your most treasured “in pain” item

I couldn’t live without my hot water bottle!

It would usually have a fluffy cover but it isn’t dry yet after being washed so you get the funky purple view!

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Photo Challenge for CRPS Awareness, Day 06

A Day In My Life Photo Challenge for 30 Days Of RSD/CRPS Awareness, June 2013

Day 06 – A picture of something you’d love to trade places with 4 a day

An oak tree on a warm Spring day, preferably in some beautiful countryside with other trees to hang out with, wildlife flitting about and some gorgeous views. Perfect!

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World Environment Day and Photo Challenge for CRPS Awareness, Day 05

A Day In My Life Photo Challenge for 30 Days Of RSD/CRPS Awareness, June 2013

Day 05 – A picture of something you wish you could change

I wanted to post about the way society tends to misrepresent disability, but I could not do any drawing today, so I shall come back to that one later. Meanwhile, on a personal note, I wish I could change my high level of pain and the big impact of feeling faint most of time! Ahhh, what it is to dream, eh?!

On the plus side…. today is World Environment Day, and so we now have two hardy fuschias potted up in the small space outside the house. When ill-health is rife I prefer to look for the beautiful things, and having flowering plants outside the house makes a real difference to my emotions on returning home.

It will be a flowering plant eventually, honest!

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Photo Challenge for CRPS Awareness, Day 04

A Day In My Life Photo Challenge for 30 Days Of RSD/CRPS Awareness, June 2013

Day 04 – A picture/video of your favorite song that helps you get by

My go-to song for calming the nervous system is Ry Cooder’s version of ‘Dark is the Night’. It’s a slow acoustic blues with some gorrrrgeous slides in it (yum)! In fact, that was what I was playing before performing at the Tai Chi tournament on Sunday because I didn’t want slight nervousness to become wildly exaggerated by my faulty ANS as then I’d wobble on my legs, my hands would shake, I’d get light-headed and woozy, and I’d produce a much lower standard performance as a result.

It worked, too! From now on – blues before a performance

It’s not available on You Tube to share (or at least, it’s not available in my country according to You Tube so I don’t know where it is or isn’t available), there’s some covers, but I love Ry’s version so much that they’re just not the same

It’s all over so quickly though and, unless I want to keep playing it on a loop (which I did for a while on Sunday!), I love a bit of Ry Cooder on blues guitar playing ‘Ganges Delta Blues’ with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on sitar. Scrumminess for my ears and soothing for my nervous system, perfick!

And if I need a joyous lift? Well, as I am getting more noise sensitive as time goes on I can’t turn to my rock and metal the way I used to. Oh, and the fact that the house has walls so thin that us neighbours here can here each other cough, sneeze, laugh etc so driving them barmy with metal didn’t seem too wise anyway So how about some Florence?…

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Photo Challenge for CRPS Awareness, Day 03

A Day In My Life Photo Challenge for 30 Days Of RSD/CRPS Awareness, June 2013

Day 03 – A picture of something that makes you laugh

What keeps me laughing is having a view of life which is skewed towards the silliness side! I like seeing the funny side of things, and that includes the funny side of my condition and the bizarre things I find myself doing or saying sometimes, as well as having silly impromptu conversations with friends to make each other chuckle, laughing at the way the world is portrayed through amusingly stereotyped adverts, laughing at any opportunity, really ;-D

Laughter is one of the things that carries me through and silliness can help to facilitate that. So here’s a pic’ of a moment of silliness before ‘planking’ got dangerous and it was just daft people like me playing ‘The Lying Down Game’

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Photo Challenge for CRPS Awareness, Day 02

A Day In My Life Photo Challenge for 30 Days Of RSD/CRPS Awareness, June 2013

Day 02 – A picture of your comfort item

Tea! Even if it’s out of a machine like today whilst at the London Tai Chi Nationals…. teeeaaaa!

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Photo Challenge for CRPS Awareness, Day 01

A Day In My Life Photo Challenge for 30 Days Of RSD/CRPS Awareness, June 2013

Day 01 – A picture of YOU today, introduce yourself

I’m a post-graduate researcher with multiple chronic conditions. Silliness is a tool in my pain management tool kit.

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Thank-you ‘Blogging’ for choosing to feature Elle and the Auto Gnome, x

Thanks you lovely peeps at the ‘Blogging’ for featuring my blog yesterday for your ‘Featured Blog Friday’. It was lovely to be acknowledged, and with such lovely and encouraging words, too.

I shared the link to my blog with the words: This blog exists to help support fellow patients of two conditions very poorly understood by doctors and often misdiagnosed and mistreated.

And ‘Blogging’ said:

“Thank you to all who have entered for a chance to be #FBF [Featured Blog Friday]… This Friday’s winner is… elleandtheautognome.wordpress.com. Filled with insight and humor, this blog is worth reading and our #FBF!!…about living with CRPS and Dysautonomia and finding joy through it. How informative and inspirational!!”

How lovely are they? *glee* They even told me that they appreciate my optimism in a most commonly difficult situation and admire the “silliness” I write about. “Stay strong, stay smiling, and keep blogging!” Darn tootin’, I will!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…. silliness rocks! Thanks guys, It was so lovely of you, x