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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Funny Moments with Fibromyalgia

Curly has his ears twisted in 1938's Healthy, ...Image via Wikipedia


Yes, there are laugh-out-loud moments in my life with fibromyalgia. Granted, many of those moments take on the flavor of a Three Stooges episode. While living with fibromyalgia isn't inherently funny, I think life really isn't worth living if you can't laugh at your situation or yourself every once in a while.

IT'S FUNNY NOW

One calamity I can look back on with a smile definitely wasn't funny when it happened. Back in 2007 I was just getting started making my life more fibro-friendly. I purchased a folding shower bench from an online retailer, not realizing that it was made from materials that would rust over time when exposed to water.

So can you guess what happened?

Yup, it broke one day while I was sitting on it taking a shower. I squealed like a piglet when it happened, calling for Robert to come into the bathroom and rescue me. Fortunately I was not hurt in the process, although the tumble did flare me up for a few days.

I learned my lesson though: buy home health care equipment from a medical supply company.

ONLY FUNNY UNTIL SOMEONE GETS HURT

Then there was the time in 2008 when I took a step down from the bonus room behind the garage to the ground, twisted my ankle and broke my foot. Robert saw the whole thing: one minute I was standing up, the next minute I was flat on the ground writhing in pain.

The really funny part was the argument that followed. My husband hates taking me to the Emergency Room and he tried to convince me I didn't need to go. After an hour of icing my foot and the pain only getting worse, I told him I had to go. He grumbled the whole way there, mumbling, "They better find something wrong with you." At one point, I thought I'd have hell to pay on the ride home when the doctor came in and said I only sprained my ankle. Turns out, the doctor was wrong! The radiologist reviewed the x-ray and found a foot fracture that the doctor had missed.

So picture me hobbling out of the ER using a walker, the lower half of my leg, ankle and foot in a non-weight bearing splint, telling my hubby, "I told you so!"

LAUGHING AT MY FOIBLES

His dislike of the ER aside, my hubby truly is a trooper when it come to all the crazy stuff that happens when I get extremely fatigued and the fibro-fog rolls in. He puts up with me asking him the same question over and over again when my short-term memory is on the fritz. He helps with my frantic searches for items I have absent-mindedly misplaced in the weirdest of places, like my keys in the refrigerator. Or I sometimes think I have lost something and then get all worked up about it when in reality the item is literally right in front of me.

When ever I lose something, Robert jokes with me by saying, "Then one day I lost the cat."*** (His joke is a reference to our house cats and how they are never truly lost, just hiding.)

FUNNY HOW SWEET IT IS

One thing in particular always brings a smile to my face and a laugh to my heart. On days when I am really tired and really struggling, I have a habit of putting my pajamas or shirt on inside out and not noticing. In response, Robert makes the most adorable sad, pouty face and says, "Oh, are you not feeling well today?" At first, I would look quizzically at him and respond, "Why do you say that?" He then would point out my wardrobe malfunction and we would both get a good chuckle out of it.

Now I know this is my cue to adjust my clothes right side out, pause and laugh at myself.


ADDENDUM:

***Oops! I didn't get that quite right! See my post I knew that.. for the real scoop and more to laugh about.

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4 comments

Anonymous said...

Selena, We do have a lot in common don't we? I put my shirts on inside out a lot too...my kids think it is hysterical! I lose the phone all the time and often find the TV remote for the downstairs TV in my bedroom. And I regularly take my cordless phone to my Mom's when I go there. Brain fog???
xoxomo
good post

elisabeth said...

One thing I do occasionally when I am very tired and flaked-out is put on mismatching shoes. It doesn't happen often, but I think I should be allowed to call it a day, go home and crawl into bed when it happens!

Selena said...

Mo -- are we sisters from different mothers? LOL!

Elisabeth -- I think I have done the same thing with my shoes once also & yes, I agree! When we get like that, we should be able to just hang it up & call it a day.

Thanks both for your comments!

Dana Asmara Morningstar-Marton said...

I do the same stuff. I also use the wrong words, put the milk in the cabinet and the cereal box in the fridge. Oh, the list goes on and on...

Sometimes I wonder how I get through the day or from place to place. I have the fibro fog and chemo brain, and I teetering on meno-pause. My poor brain!

LOL!

What a laugh!

Blessings,
Dana