Fibromyalgia diary part 7
The pain remains the same
The time with covid/long covid/fibro is now 5 and a half years. On top I have to keep an eye on slightly elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol. There is also the breathing problems that have been named Asthma until recently. The breathing specialist thinks I haven’t been breathing properly and need to relearn.
I have had chest pain since the start and he thinks I have stopped breathing deeply to avoid extra pain. Its possible, I now lie flat in bed and watch how much my chest rises and falls per breath. Its strangely harder to breath normally than it is to half breathe. Unless I focus I breathe only properly into the top of my chest, meaning lungs aren’t getting their full supply.
Of course , this leads to muscle pain as my neck and shoulder muscles try and pull in more air. With the constant pain I can miss things that are separate from the Fibro. Any new pain can be dismissed as Fibro and if anything is new I can decide its more of the usual pain. Also when it is fibro caused pain then there’s a fair chance its false pain and there’s nothing I can do to treat it. So, as I type I am taking exaggerated deep breaths, which will hopefully help release the pain .
Now is the time to start considering some degree of work. I can survive for another 6 months at least but don’t want to run out and then look. I am looking at training to be a driving instructor, roughly 6 months training and then a well paid job should come next. As I get a monthly pension and my body wont allow it, i will do limited hours. The hourly rate is high enough that around 7 hours works covers the franchise fees, the rest is profit after tax.
It is a difficult training regime, a possibly stressful job, nothing I haven’t done before. I have been driving on a full licence for 35 years, so may have learnt some bad habits. The UK method for new drivers is an exam, hazard perception test and finally a 60 minute driving test. Mine took 35 minutes and included no other tests. Modern drivers can be tested on certain parts of the engine, using sat navs and a far more in-depth driving test. I would need to teach people up to that standard, after teaching it to myself and after being tested .
Sitting for hours in a car isn’t something I will look forward to. Then again I hurt in an armchair or while lying down, so may as well earn at the same time. I have looked for things I can do from the seat I presently sit in, but no luck as yet.
To keep me a little entertained I have an interview with a charity that supports children and adults with extra care needs. Its something I have done in varying degrees for 37 years and don’t want to waste the experience. It will only be a few hours a so maybe can do alongside the driving instructor work.
I am quite happy attempting to lie in, to nap as required and to plan my day as I go along. That was always going to be temporary though, so maybe now is the time to make a few quid while body and brain allows me to. If it works I will do it for a few years, then maybe take my other pensions and retire properly. I stopped work 7 months a go and I haven’t missed it. By the time the instructor training is done it will be around a year retired.
Its very hot in the UK at present, so for the last few days I am happy to be now where any work. Happy mainlining ice lollies and bottles of water. As its the uk it wont last too long, probably thunder storms soon. Every time we get a few hot days, the next few are very wet. It would be nice to settle on one temperature range and stick to it. Not as hot as it has been, low 20s would be good. A present the 35c we had recently comes a few months after -7c. It probably explains how the roads are falling apart.
When I visited Canada a few years ago , we went to a free open air concert above Niagara Falls. It was minus 10c and the windchill took it to minus 20c, that is defiantly too low. Although , unlike the UK , pretty much everything carried on normally. Snow drifts, constant below zero weather and chill winds were manfully fought against. Many people we past had their own mini snow plows, otherwise they had snow shovels and cleared the streets.
So that’s the news so far, back to sunbathing before it rains.