Pages

A Really Bad Day

I try not to write too much about my off days, though of course, this is a personal blog and I guess I’m supposed to let it all hang out. So okay, let’s talk about one of the worst days I’ve had in a long time.

First off, I haven’t been sleeping well the last few days. Last night I got maybe 4 hours sleep tops. I’m running a little low on energy. Worse, I ran out of one of my two thyroid meds. I order one from the internet, and delivery is taking a little longer than usual this time. This is bad because no thyroid meds means even less energy available than usual.

However, energy or not, I needed to go to Fayetteville today and mail a package, get my handicapped placard renewed, and stop at Walmart to look for a new answering machine. Since Jess drives the car to work, that left me driving the truck. Normally, that’s great. It’s more comfortable than the car.

Today it was a mistake. I should have known better than to try to park at the courthouse. They have a very narrow parking lot with cars parked diagonally on both sides and a very small lane to drive through in-between. When there happens to be big trucks parked on both sides with their back ends jutting out into that small space, and a big truck trying to go through the middle, there is no room to make the slightest mistake.

Of course, I made one or I wouldn’t be telling this story. Condensed version: let’s just say there’s a bit of a ding/scratch on one of the truck’s wheel wells now.

That fracas shook me up a bit (okay, a LOT), but I managed to go in the courthouse and get my placard, thread my way out of that dratted parking lot, and head for the post office. Wouldn’t you know, there wasn’t a parking spot anywhere in sight, so I had to find one down a side street in a public parking lot.

This is all a bad combination – I’m walking all over town in the middle of the afternoon, it’s hot and I haven’t eaten since breakfast, not enough sleep, not enough medicine, thoracic pain in high gear, fibro aches, and lots of stress, all of which contribute to the dreaded “Fibro Fog.”

What’s that you say? “Brain fog aka fibro fog is a common symptom of fibromyalgia described as fatigue and listlessness combined with transitory states of confusion, poor attention and concentration, and short-term memory loss.”

It doesn’t bother me so badly often, but it can be very disconcerting and sometimes downright scary when it does. The intrepid explorer of Seattle, Ketchikan and other ports of call got lost in her own backyard of Fayetteville.

No, I’m not kidding. By the time I tried to do the right thing, and finished all my errands, I couldn’t remember exactly where that parking lot was. I had a general idea, but it wasn’t good enough. I wandered up and down steep streets, got hotter and thirstier and more confused, and despaired of ever finding where I parked that huge truck. I just knew it shouldn’t be that difficult to find in such a small town!!

Finally, after about 45 minutes of wandering around, and I was walking up another steep hill, a lady asked me if I was alright. I guess for once I didn’t “look good!” I admitted to being lost, and she got me headed in the right direction.

It was a relief to finally get in that truck and head home. Is it any wonder I hate to drive?

1 comments:

God bless the woman for helping you. I hope you're able to rest the rest of the week and that your meds are here quickly.