Moving
I'm in the process of moving to a new flat. The work of moving is being spread out over a week so that I have plenty of time to rest and recover in the afternoons, following mornings moving possessions, getting them sorted and put away, and the old flat cleaned. Three more days to go. Unfortunately, even with my precautions, I'm still getting stressed. I lie down in the afternoon but don't fall asleep - or if I do, just for a few minutes and then I'm awake again - and when I get up again I feel just as dizzy, tense and anxious as before. The water delivery guys found the new flat without difficulty. The internet company is another matter. Even though I filled out the correct forms a couple of weeks ago to transfer my connection to the new flat, it still hasn't happened. I've called the Go office twice, talked to four different people, and still can't find anyone who seems to know what's going on - or rather, not going on, with my connection. At the moment I'm still connected at the old flat, but it's looking increasingly obvious that I'll be without a connection once I finally move in tomorrow. Grrr! I shall ask them for a rebate on my bill. Wish I could ask for compensation for all the stress they are causing me.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Taking a Battering
The winds have been howling all night, palm trees are thrashing and threatening to take off, and my cat Fynn is frustrated because he can't go out - he hates the wind even more than I do. When he gets really desperate to be in the garden he crouches low, ears back, and dashes from the door to the outside stairs. But at the moment we have gale force 8 winds (approx. 35 knots/40 mph) battering and shaking the windows and that's too much for him. Too much for me, too!
The winds have been howling all night, palm trees are thrashing and threatening to take off, and my cat Fynn is frustrated because he can't go out - he hates the wind even more than I do. When he gets really desperate to be in the garden he crouches low, ears back, and dashes from the door to the outside stairs. But at the moment we have gale force 8 winds (approx. 35 knots/40 mph) battering and shaking the windows and that's too much for him. Too much for me, too!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
"A Case of Chronic Denial"
An excellent and interesting article about 'chronic fatigue syndrome' and the failure of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to take it seriously by Hillary Johnson in the New York Times a couple of days ago. Now that we know almost for certain that this serious illness is contagious the shortcomings of the CDC become even more apparent. Someone should pay for this!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/opinion/21johnson.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
An excellent and interesting article about 'chronic fatigue syndrome' and the failure of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to take it seriously by Hillary Johnson in the New York Times a couple of days ago. Now that we know almost for certain that this serious illness is contagious the shortcomings of the CDC become even more apparent. Someone should pay for this!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/opinion/21johnson.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Old Friends (and new ways of connecting)
I enjoyed a special treat this afternoon: 90 minutes chatting with two old friends via Skype. The three of us met as green graduate students at Cornell University around this time of year in 1983. Wow - that was twenty six years ago! Hard to imagine. That was the first year I used a computer; at that time we were required to write all our course papers on the mainframe terminals available in computer labs around campus. I'm sure we never imagined that one day we'd be talking to each other across continents via laptops. For most of the intervening years we've been separated by thousands of miles, only meeting up occasionally. Today Sue and Jacki were together in Boston and took advantage of that rare event to talk to me. I love the way that Skype allows us all to chat together at the same time. Hope we'll get together in person one day!
I enjoyed a special treat this afternoon: 90 minutes chatting with two old friends via Skype. The three of us met as green graduate students at Cornell University around this time of year in 1983. Wow - that was twenty six years ago! Hard to imagine. That was the first year I used a computer; at that time we were required to write all our course papers on the mainframe terminals available in computer labs around campus. I'm sure we never imagined that one day we'd be talking to each other across continents via laptops. For most of the intervening years we've been separated by thousands of miles, only meeting up occasionally. Today Sue and Jacki were together in Boston and took advantage of that rare event to talk to me. I love the way that Skype allows us all to chat together at the same time. Hope we'll get together in person one day!
Friday, October 09, 2009
Breaking News!
This is an exciting day for people with ME. It looks like the folks at Whittemore Peterson Institute (see link at right) have come up with the goods. They've found a clear link to a retrovirus, and it looks like a blood test is on the way.
More details can be found here:
http://www.wpinstitute.org/xmrv/docs/wpi_pressrel_100809.pdf
and
http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/CFSxmrv
This is an exciting day for people with ME. It looks like the folks at Whittemore Peterson Institute (see link at right) have come up with the goods. They've found a clear link to a retrovirus, and it looks like a blood test is on the way.
More details can be found here:
http://www.wpinstitute.org/xmrv/docs/wpi_pressrel_100809.pdf
and
http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/CFSxmrv
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Addicted to Reading
One reason for not writing more blog posts is that I get caught up in reading other people's blogs, or Face Book posts, or the news, or whatever else is in front of me. "I'll just read this" is what I'm thinking, and before I know it a few more hours have slid by. I'm the sort of person who'll sit and read the back of the cornflakes packet rather than eat without reading.
This week I began an on-line writing course based in NYC. This will now force me to write every week, although I know I'm going to spend hours reading the other participants' work too. Our first chat session was Monday evening NY time - which was 2 am Malta time. I managed to get myself up, but then my cats woke up too. Fynn was convinced that if I was up then it must be morning and therefore I should let him out. He proceeded to yowl and push pens and papers off the desk, so I ended up playing with him while trying to participate in the chat (which, fortunately, was written). Actually I'd imagined that 'chat session' meant we'd all be talking to each other and there'd be a row of video faces on my screen... but it seems technology hasn't quite come that far. Given the cat problems, not to mention problems arising from getting up at 2 am, I think I'll skive future chat sessions. After all, I can still read them later.
One reason for not writing more blog posts is that I get caught up in reading other people's blogs, or Face Book posts, or the news, or whatever else is in front of me. "I'll just read this" is what I'm thinking, and before I know it a few more hours have slid by. I'm the sort of person who'll sit and read the back of the cornflakes packet rather than eat without reading.
This week I began an on-line writing course based in NYC. This will now force me to write every week, although I know I'm going to spend hours reading the other participants' work too. Our first chat session was Monday evening NY time - which was 2 am Malta time. I managed to get myself up, but then my cats woke up too. Fynn was convinced that if I was up then it must be morning and therefore I should let him out. He proceeded to yowl and push pens and papers off the desk, so I ended up playing with him while trying to participate in the chat (which, fortunately, was written). Actually I'd imagined that 'chat session' meant we'd all be talking to each other and there'd be a row of video faces on my screen... but it seems technology hasn't quite come that far. Given the cat problems, not to mention problems arising from getting up at 2 am, I think I'll skive future chat sessions. After all, I can still read them later.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Orthostatic Intolerance
After a few good rain storms we're having perfect weather right now - if I could freeze Malta's climate at any one point in the year, this would be it. Today we have blue skies, a few puffy white clouds drifting here and there, 25 C, around 70% humidity (lower would be ok too), and a light east northeast breeze. I'm enjoying the weather from my patio and the couch, but frustrated because I had really hoped that with the cooling weather I'd be able to get out more. As it is, on-going dizziness has kept me tethered. I may have worked out the problem: orthostatic intolerance (OI) is a chronic state for many people with ME. OI is a condition in itself (there's a reasonable discussion of it on Wikipedia), but it's just one more of many symptoms experienced by MEites. One solution to chronic OI is to drink a very large amount of water, more than two liters per day. Now, I'm only 5'2", and I find it quite challenging to drink that much water - not to mention the hassle of keeping track, and all the bathroom breaks, and the vast amount of toilet paper used up in the process! Oh, and the cost of water - here in Malta tap water is undrinkable, and I buy mine in 19L bottles which are delivered, collected, and reused. Nevertheless, now that I'm aware of the problem I'm chugging the stuff down just as fast as I can, and hoping I'll be back on my feet and out taking afternoon walks again soon.
After a few good rain storms we're having perfect weather right now - if I could freeze Malta's climate at any one point in the year, this would be it. Today we have blue skies, a few puffy white clouds drifting here and there, 25 C, around 70% humidity (lower would be ok too), and a light east northeast breeze. I'm enjoying the weather from my patio and the couch, but frustrated because I had really hoped that with the cooling weather I'd be able to get out more. As it is, on-going dizziness has kept me tethered. I may have worked out the problem: orthostatic intolerance (OI) is a chronic state for many people with ME. OI is a condition in itself (there's a reasonable discussion of it on Wikipedia), but it's just one more of many symptoms experienced by MEites. One solution to chronic OI is to drink a very large amount of water, more than two liters per day. Now, I'm only 5'2", and I find it quite challenging to drink that much water - not to mention the hassle of keeping track, and all the bathroom breaks, and the vast amount of toilet paper used up in the process! Oh, and the cost of water - here in Malta tap water is undrinkable, and I buy mine in 19L bottles which are delivered, collected, and reused. Nevertheless, now that I'm aware of the problem I'm chugging the stuff down just as fast as I can, and hoping I'll be back on my feet and out taking afternoon walks again soon.
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