Well after an amazing Canada Day I decided that I’d better put a post together to let you all know I still exist! I’ve been enjoying a little time with the family but at the same time dealing with a lot of headaches as well. Canada Day at our cottage is always great. We always host the party on our property and invite all the relatives over. This year I think we had about sixty people and it was one of the best years yet. With my CRPS I don’t always do well with large groups and a lot of noise. This year add in live music by my nephew with everyone sitting around shouting out requests and people getting up to dance and the recipe was a hit!

My nervous system took a bit to calm down but I’d do it all over again. I love my extended family! Sometimes you just have to make the choice that your pain is going to get a little worse for a short period of time. Like I mentioned before it’s about finding that perfect balance where you can put up with a bit but not taking it so far that your miserable. If I hide in seclusion all the time then it isn’t healthy and I’m never going to have any fun. If I really can’t do anything about the pain then why not work with the pain. I’ve been dealing with this for seven years now and I want to have happiness and so many other things in my life.

I’m probably sounding like a broken record because I’ve talked about making positive choices before. I wouldn’t take about it though if it wasn’t a really important part of dealing with this illness. I also know that through God’s help He has changed my mindset in how I deal with things. Without His help in all of this and so many people’s prayers I wouldn’t be at the point that I’m at today. I really do believe that God has given me strength and wisdom to get me through all of this. With that being said I face my CRPS these days with a whole different perspective these days. Instead of working against CRPS I work with it trying to gain knowledge about it, finding ways to live my life to the fullest within the borders that have been forced upon me.

My pain level at the moment is at a level where I know I need to slow things down. There are a lot of things on the go right now at our house and I’ve had to do more than my body sometimes wants to. The good news is that we were finally able to fire the restoration company Restorex, and hire a new company to come in next week and fix and finish the work. Hopefully within the next few weeks we’ll have our basement back. It will also take a lot of stress off my shoulders which I’ve been carrying around! So over the next few days I’ll rest at the lake and try and let the pain settle a bit.

At the beginning of this summer I was thinking I’d have to be in survival mode all summer long but there’s hope that only the next few weeks will have to be like that. The only thing I’m sad about at the moment is that I haven’t had time to get out and take pictures. Around this part of the world I only have a few short months to get outside before winter sets in and I’m missing that window at the moment. Not to mention how great a distraction it is for my pain! I hope to find a day or maybe even two next week to get out though. With me pushing myself as hard as I am right now though it’s also hard to find the energy to go out so that is part of the problem.

Well it’s off to the lake for a few days! I wanted to throw something out to you before I go though. If you have any specific topics you’d like me to address in a post please feel free send me an email. I really feel strongly about helping each other in dealing with our CRPS and so I urge you to contact me with any other questions as well. So long for now!