Dealing With Chronic Illness.. And The Unexpected

in #blog7 days ago

In the first post I made to this channel "Being honest with you, why I blog on this sites" I explained I blog here full-time due to chronic illness that happened after lockdowns. Content creation provides me with flexibility, and allows me to take the time I need.

It seems like my folks don't understand. They don't understand that your chronically ill body isn't the same as before the factor. Most disabled or chronic illness sufferers use various analogies to explain how taxing their condition is. The common one I hear is spoons.
A certain task takes a various amount of spoons. Say you have 30 spoons and you use 2 to shower and make your bed—another 2 to make breakfast etc. My folks always complain that I never do anything. it's because I don't have the spoons. It's the chronic fatigue that gets to me. Your disability sucks the life out of you like leeches.
Now for the unexpected.

A week before Thanksgiving, when my grandma came home from choir rehearsal, she tripped on a rug and fell, breaking her knee. My grandpa got a walker you can sit in, I used it during bad flares that hurt to stand up. I thought she would use that and make her breakfast. Sit and gather whatever pots and pans she wants, and have the walker for support when standing. It turns out that I had to cook for her. My grandma is an early person; my flares are the worst in the morning, and it's not as bad by noon. Often my meds aren't weak until the afternoon. I take my meds at night in case the side effects are drowsiness. Nonetheless, this is going to be a challenge with my unpredictable issues. Also, my grandma criticizing me to the tee had a negative toll on my mental health and I don't cook like I used to. I don't intend to come off as not wanting to help her. The way she talks down to me makes it difficult. I haven't burned the kitchen down. I know what I'm doing.

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