It's another mini heatwave, and I was coping alright with it for once.
I say 'was'.....
I've been trying to get back on track with living a healthy lifestyle recently. I'm concentrating on the Swank diet by cutting back on processed foods (apart from my vegan cheese slices...who am I kidding...I NEED those bad boys!), saturated fat and trying to do more exercise.
I bought a FitBit earlier on in the year to encourage me to keep on the move and gradually build up my step count, which was working. Generally speaking I know that if I do around 6000 steps a day then I'm having a good day. Yesterday I did 10,000+ steps. On a hot day.
So I probably would have been fine doing that. After all, that was over a whole day, and it was only because I managed to get a lovely walk in with hubby during the coolest part of the day. No, what killed me were the swimming lessons.
Every week, Ed and Lib have their swimming lessons and though they used to be at the same time, recently it's changed so they are one after the other. These lessons absolutely crippled me.
1. It was really hot in there.
2. I had to stand up for the whole hour.
The seating is sadly limited there, and it seemed particularly busy. Now, I'm not one to prod someone on the shoulder and ask them if I can have their seat. I know I could do, but the thought makes me feel uncomfortable because again it goes back to the age old conundrum of not 'looking ill'. My MS is not visible a lot of the time, and I think because I try to remain upbeat about things, it can seem I'm absolutely fine. As I looked around me at swimming at the people sitting down, I thought, how many of you have health issues too? I suspect, more than you would think.
No, I wouldn't ask someone to move and give me their seat....unless I was suffering a relapse and seriously struggling. Though as I write that I can see how stupid I am. After all, a lot of the problems that come with MS come from the after effects you feel and I was struggling. I just wasn't at my absolute worst...so what?Therefore I thought I wasn't bad enough to ask for help?! Because I allowed myself to stand for an hour yesterday, I'm partially crippled today. My feet are burning and tingly, my knees are stiff and my fatigue is off the charts. I've allowed myself to become that...knowing full well yesterday that I would be suffering today. Instead of watching the kids, I could have been sensible and gone to sit down in a cubicle somewhere, but that's just not me. They love it when I watch!
Yet another trial of being a Mum with MS - living up to your children's expectations.
It's really really hard. Whether it's forcing yourself to watch them swim when you're in pain, or agreeing to play when you are fatigued and really not up to it, MS certainly makes things more challenging.
My saving grace is that I'm not working at the moment, so I can just rest and take it easy today to give my legs a chance to return to normal. I have definitely learnt that next week I need to be taking a stool with me to try and avoid all this!
Sore and swollen this morning
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