Gratitude Project 2009
So, estaratshirai started this back in 2004. I missed the past couple of years, then jumped on the bandwagon on the last day in 2008. The deal is that from August 1 (Lammas/Lughnassadh) through September 21 (Mabon), which are two harvest festivals on the Wiccan calendar, you post at least something you're grateful for every day. No, I'm not Wiccan, and I don't "celebrate" those holidays exactly, but they do form natural divisions in the year in my climate, so they do make a sort of sense, and besides, several on my flist are still doing it after all this time. Positive peer pressure! *g*
This year, I've noticed that several in HP fandom have taken to doing "five things Fridays," so I may try to combine the two and come up with five things on Fridays and/or keep it going on Fridays throughout the year. Or not. We'll see how well I do just keeping up with the basic GP!
For today, one of my big grats is the existence of Lyrica. In the month I've been taking it, I've gone from taking 2000-4000mg of Tylenol and 440-880mg of Alleve per day plus the odd Skelaxin to taking 1000mg of Tylenol once (yesterday, major headache, presumably from thunderstorm system rolling through) and Skelaxin once (and not so much for the fibro as for having fallen asleep in a weird position with resulting awful spasms). I'm also grateful that, sweet tooth and sunflower ice cream and all, I've somehow managed to gain no more than a pound during the past month, reassuring the rheumy that I'm not going to suddenly have huge weight gain from the med, so I get to keep taking it, and as of yesterday, he faxed a refill order to hold me until my appointment at the end of the month.
Usually on Day 1, people post lots of really uplifting grats about family and friends. And I'm grateful for my family and friends, too. But finding something that can keep the fibro manageable and me functional without side effects that outweigh the benefits has been a long time coming, so that's what's most at the tip of my brain today.
Side note, mostly to self, on the tagging: I mark the first and last GP posts with just "gratitude" to make it easier to find the start and end points of each year, then label all the interim posts as well as the first and last with the year. Yes, I'm a bit o-c. We knew that, right?
This year, I've noticed that several in HP fandom have taken to doing "five things Fridays," so I may try to combine the two and come up with five things on Fridays and/or keep it going on Fridays throughout the year. Or not. We'll see how well I do just keeping up with the basic GP!
For today, one of my big grats is the existence of Lyrica. In the month I've been taking it, I've gone from taking 2000-4000mg of Tylenol and 440-880mg of Alleve per day plus the odd Skelaxin to taking 1000mg of Tylenol once (yesterday, major headache, presumably from thunderstorm system rolling through) and Skelaxin once (and not so much for the fibro as for having fallen asleep in a weird position with resulting awful spasms). I'm also grateful that, sweet tooth and sunflower ice cream and all, I've somehow managed to gain no more than a pound during the past month, reassuring the rheumy that I'm not going to suddenly have huge weight gain from the med, so I get to keep taking it, and as of yesterday, he faxed a refill order to hold me until my appointment at the end of the month.
Usually on Day 1, people post lots of really uplifting grats about family and friends. And I'm grateful for my family and friends, too. But finding something that can keep the fibro manageable and me functional without side effects that outweigh the benefits has been a long time coming, so that's what's most at the tip of my brain today.
Side note, mostly to self, on the tagging: I mark the first and last GP posts with just "gratitude" to make it easier to find the start and end points of each year, then label all the interim posts as well as the first and last with the year. Yes, I'm a bit o-c. We knew that, right?