I've basically written it because today I can - goodness knows what I should do with it; but I have a bit of insomnia (which as far as I can tell is the only down side of the B12 injection so far - & tbh I'll live with it!)
Today I cut my toe nails some were a bit ragged and some were very long- probably because I haven’t been able to reach easily for about 10 weeks. Hopefully I’ll get time to paint them in my “wonderful window”.
What’s a “wonderful window” I hear you ask (or at least I hope you do) – well it’s the time after I’ve had my B12 injection when I have a life; that would be the life the nurse giving me the injection one time told me I should be grateful for. At the time I told he it just made me resent the rest of my life.
I get nearly 2 weeks now after about 5 B12 injections – they happen every 12 weeks, so I have a 2 week “wonderful window” followed by 10 weeks of ‘poorliness’
So I can reach my toes, big deal – well it is when you can’t without a lot of pain, my husband shaved my legs last week as I couldn’t reach and I’d taken enough painkillers that day. What else can I do in my “WW”?
Well I can get dressed without pain and I have a greater choice of clothes because the seams and fabric don’t irritate the nerves in my skin, oh, & I can put on jumpers and things more easily as my shoulder can move more freely. I can wear shoes that fasten rather than slip-ons and tights are possible too.
I can walk up and down stairs without placing each foot on each stair so I don’t stand on one leg too long and when I get up in the morning I can walk without pain in my feet. I can carry things up and down stairs as my balance is better (I don’t trip over my own feet as much) and the pains in my hands have reduced so I can move them better and use scissors and can openers.
My joints hurt less (I still have pain) but my knees, ankles, elbows, shoulders all seem easier and in addition my long bones hurt less too; plus pressing on my joints & pressure points cause less pain-I love these 2 weeks. I take far less pain killers during this period than I do the rest of the time.
I don’t get pins & needles during my “WW”, I don’t get neuralgia, or those odd shooting pains that are random or that nerve pain that is so sharp I have to stop what I am doing just to hold that bit of me.
I can think (& type) much better and compose sentences without getting my colleagues to read them to ensure they make reasonable sense - during my “WW” I spell better too. Using systems diagrams is very hard when my brain takes so long to process stuff and feels all woolly and foggy but now I can plan and formulate an essay to explain how I feel.
I have no mouth ulcers - I can’t tell you how much pain mouth ulcers cause, last week my gums and tongue were sore too but this week they are fine….bleeding a bit but not sore – they bleed because when they are sore I can’t clean them very well…..so when they aren’t I scrub a bit harder.
I can eat! Really eat, food different types, milk, fruit even the odd egg (almond & coconut are still off limits but I can cope with that) – I’ve been FODMAPping (it’s an exclusion diet you know) for so long I hardly remember what a balanced diet is! I have less diarrhoea, less muscus, less pain, less blood in my stools it’s all good!!
Trying to fit my life into those 2 weeks is very hard, when I’m a bit poorly I can’t hold an intense or complicated conversation but as my GP surgery takes over 3 weeks to make an appointment by the time it comes around I’m too emotion and unstable to make sense…..and as for making an appointment while I’m poorly for when I’m well- sadly it’s beyond my comprehension. So I do all the business-y stuff I have to do & I try to have a bit of fun with my daughter & husband and I clear all my filing every 3 months or so (not sure why).
Basically I try to fit 3 months’ worth of life into those 2 weeks, my “Wonderful Window” you know the one that nurse said I should be grateful for. I love those two weeks, but then they start slipping away & all of a sudden it’s ages until my next injection.