Well, I guess not technically the MS-aversary yet. That technically comes at the end of March. However, it was on February 3, 2016 that my MS journey unofficially started with a blinding (literally) optic neuritis attack. From there, after a plethora of doctor visits, various tests and imaging, and what seemed to be gallons of blood for lab work my actual diagnosis came March 28, 2016. A lot has transpired since that time, with a fair amount documented here.
Now to the MS Sucks portion of this entry.
I am very blessed and fortunate that overall I am doing well. The most noticeable thing that leads to this MS Sucks post is that my endurance is horrific and my recovery from significant exertion is way longer than it should be. I’m not sure which is worse, though as I think more about it the recovery piece is the worst, at least at this point.
I have learned over time that I need to plan ahead if I am going to be doing something that will require significant physical exertion. Yesterday it was cutting, moving, and stacking wood. Thankfully the cutting part was with the chain saw. The rest was just good old fashioned grunt work. It was over the course of about 2.5 – 3 hours, and I knew I was reaching the end of my ability when I lost my balance and fell backwards after cutting a log. Cutting ended shortly thereafter as I wasn’t interested in any more gruesome injury. Still, what wound up being 5 garden trailer full trips moving the wood then stacking it was yet to come. I got it all done with the help of my kids, but I was spent to say the least. And only after a couple few hours. Rewind time and I would have been able to do more and endure longer. Yes, I am older now, but I am also in better overall physical shape now than I have been in quite some time.
Recovery is on the cusp of brutality. After a good night’s sleep I still feel like I had been trying to lift significantly more weight than I should. It isn’t that “good” burn you feel after a solid resistance training session. It is that hard core, you overworked yourself significantly muscle pain. I have felt like this before even when I was younger, however it was always after extremely strenuous work. Usually within 24 hours I was good, maybe even 36 hours, but certainly not 48 hours. That was then. This is now. I am figuring that I will feel somewhat back to normal at the soonest on Wednesday, which is 4 days removed from when I did the work. Mind you I purposely chose the word “somewhat” because I will still be a ways away from recovered. I will just be a bit more mobile not in as much pain. My guess is by the end of next week I will be back to “normal” – whatever that means.
I knew it would be this way though after the work done yesterday. Having tomorrow (Monday) off I knew I had an extra day to slowly move toward recovery. I have learned that I need to pace myself when significant physical exertion is required and generally I am able to do so, thereby increasing my endurance at least to some extent. Recovery though, that always sucks. I didn’t yesterday because I only have a finite amount of fuel and oil for the chain saw. Interestingly enough I ran out of gas before the chain saw did.
My MS Journey 2016 