Successful
Outing with No Lupus Fall Out....I'm Learning.....
I've
been a bit of a hermit since I've been diagnosed. I've been too concerned
with Flare Avoidance and less with living my normal life. I guess that's
to be expected in the beginning so I'm going to cut myself some slack and say
"That's OK, you had your hermit time, now it's time to figure out how to
live your life". Lupus is a weird disease. It's different for
every Lupus survivor, different triggers, different symptoms, and
different levels of intensity of those symptoms, different treatments. So
each of us Lupies have to figure out what works best for ourselves. I'm still
working on that and still learning. Learning about the disease as well as
myself.
So,
this time of year in Southern Oregon, there is an event called Tap Walk. My
Dear Husband is a homebrewer and this event is a big one for his homebrewer's
club and I really wanted to go. It is an event that features 14 different
brewery’s beers and tasty morsels that are paired with each brew. You are given
a map and you stroll down the city streets with your beer glass from one local
business to another, taste a beer, have a snack and then wonder to the next
stop to try a different beer and snack. You see the challenge? It’s
outside so there could be sun, it's not my normal food so there could be
digestive backlash, and it's going to be several hours of walking so that could
kick my butt for the next few days. We were also invited to a bon voyage dinner
that night at a friends house who is moving to New Zealand and we won't be
seeing again for a really long time, so I wanted to do that too. That's a lot
for a hermit.
I
tried to rest for the two days before the event, I didn't schedule anything
that took any physical effort and I napped a bit. Not to be indelicate,
but I also started taking stool softeners that morning to help with the
potential food fall out...or lack there of. Then I dressed for the
weather, it rained so it wasn't as difficult as it would have been on a really
hot day. The sun did come out though and I used my fancy black and white
stripped umbrella with pink ruffles to keep the rain and the sun off, and got a
lot of positive comments about my fancy parasol. That parasol is going to be my
new best friend.
We finished
up the Tap Walk and then went straight over to our friend’s bon voyage dinner,
to eat, laugh and have a little wine. I paced myself with the food and
beverages all day to be sure I didn't do anything to extreme. We had a
lovely evening and I was beginning to get tired so we started saying our good
byes. We got home about 10:00PM and went straight to bed and sleep like rocks.
Next morning I felt pretty good, no flare, daily body aches were at least
at a minimum, digestion is working well enough and I wasn't completely wiped
out. I kept close to home, read books and rested the day after, but I
have to say that I'm pretty proud of my first big "flare free"
outing. I learned about my body, my disease, and my future.
I've
just realized that I have to plan in advance and can't be as spontaneous and
wild as I would normally have been. Having a success under my belt has
helped my general outlook and I think it’s given me a feeling of control in an
out of control situation. So there's that, and that's pretty dang good.
Tap Walk Shenanigans
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