Where has the summer gone! It just seems like this year it’s just been flying along. A couple of days ago we had a big storm move through. I was lucky enough to get some pictures as it moved in! These just happen to be out at the lake at our cottage. We had a fantastic sunny day until the clouds rolled in. Tomorrow we board the plane for Vancouver to visit my family. Over the next ten days I get to visit with family and friends and get a bit of a break from the heat here. For as busy a summer as it’s been I’m doing pretty well when it comes to the pain side of things. I’ve been pacing myself and only doing what my body will allow me to do and backing off if it’s too much.  Over the last several months I’ve also managed to lose almost 30 lbs, which I think has been a huge help in me feeling better!

This summer I feel like I’ve gained some control over my CRPS. Over time it has been a real war trying to gain the upper hand on my CRPS. You never lose hope and you never lose faith, but it can be hard to see any type of an end. Over the last couple of months though if you read my site, you know that I’ve been experiencing some changes in my health. At the moment my confidence is at an all time high and I have God to thank for that.

CRPS is a disease that has no known cure! So a lot of the time people see it for what it is and just give up. I can still remember the day I walked out of the specialists office after receiving my diagnosis. It shook me to my very core and I didn’t know what I was going to do. As things started to spiral out of control so did my confidence in being able to overcome such a big obstacle. I was at an all time low as far as confidence was concerned, and didn’t know how I was going to climb out of the hole I was in. My faith was the only thing that I could turn to. There were no other choices! It was either rely on my faith to restore confidence in overcoming this illness or stay stuck in a rut. Not only that I needed to rely on my faith to heal my body! I felt like I was living out some type of a bad nightmare!

Even with my strong faith it felt as though I was never going to see an end to my nightmare. With all the ups and downs there were several times where my confidence would suffer setbacks, and along with that came the doubts of being able to overcome this illness. Yet every time that would happen I’d ask God for the ability to pick myself back up and restore confidence in whatever way I needed it. Before long my confidence started to grow, and there was a boldness that started to show itself that wasn’t there before. As the confidence grew the ups and downs started to smooth out and happen less often. This wasn’t something that happened overnight but happened over a long period of time for me. My belief that I could actually beat CRPS started to grow!

Which brings me to where I’m at today. Some of the changes that have happened in my health over the last couple of months have only helped improve my confidence all the more. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that I am well on my way to overcoming my CRPS. It’s kind of like this storm that passed through a couple of days ago. It comes on full force and sometimes you just have to ride out what it throws at you. Just remember that there is always calm after that storm!