Oh-My-Goodness!

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Okay, so let us take some inventory here. As my friends here know through my many discussions on this topic, I am permanently disabled due to a combination of many painful conditions that limit what I can and cannot do. Between the arthritis and the fibromyalgia, I am virtually bed ridden at least 75% of the time. That said, I am also one who refuses to give up and prefer to do as much as I am able to rather than lay in my bed and just wait for death. Let me recap what this past week has been like for me. It started with me trying to get some exercise (which I normally cannot do) by taking a walk through my neighborhood. As a terminally practical person, I took along my shopping cart and collected cans and bottles which I turned in for the cash. I did this not on consecutive days but staggered them so that I didn't overdo and trigger a fibro flairup. I was doing well so I tackled my sewing room, moving everything out of it and tearing up the carpet and padding! I even put them into the garbage can for pickup, although it took me a couple days to do that. I then swept the bare floor so that when my friend comes to pull up the wooden strips that run around the edge of the floor she doesn't have to kneel in dirt. Well, I managed pretty well and felt encouraged so I then proceeded to volunteer my time to help my sister go through her books, deciding what she wanted to keep and what she wanted me to sell for her on half.com. I took home about 40 books to list for her and by then my energy was at a peak so... I then volunteered to help my friend with the stuff her mother in law left behind when she died. Oh-My-Goodness! This project may be the one that does me in. Tuesday I went over and got two sets of porcelain doll molds and two boxes of books. That was enough to put me on my back for all of yesterday. My hands were so inflamed that they felt like they had first degree burns on them. Today (Thursday) I wasn't really fully recovered from Tuesday but went over to my friend's place again. This time I filled the entire back of my SUV (with the seats down) with boxes of books. I think there must be about 16 boxes in there...and we have only dented the amount that there are. There are still a ton of doll supplies to gather and go through and at least as many more books. Now, my friend is very sweet and suggested that I could do this for a living...taking peoples' stuff and sell it for them...but, frankly, I could not keep up the pace. Not only is my house small and room for the inventory limited, but my body could never manage so much work!...and much of that work is physical. Needless to say, I am going to be paying for all this work for a long time to come. I cannot even fathom doing this on a regular basis. Still, it feels good to have something to do, to feel useful and to be appreciated. As a disabled individual, I often run into attitudes in the public that are hurtful to me. I am often viewed as lazy and shiftless and have even been refused help when I needed it because people think I can and should do things myself. They have no clue about my limitations and don't seem to believe me when I tell them about them. Well, anyone who thinks I am lazy, just look at what I have done in the last week! I may not be able to work steady but when I have those short periods of (dare I call it remission?) respite, I DO stuff! My fellow fibro sufferers understand what I mean. Fibro presents itself in varying degrees, too, so some fibro sufferers may seem to not suffer at all with it. Others, like me, are crippled by it. Sure, my house isn't very clean because I have to rely heavily on a teenager to keep it clean but I do what I can when I can! How about you?