The time came last week for me to begin temporarily scaling back. This is the most important thing you can do to preserve and honor your health when you’re hitting a rough patch or going through a flare-up. This is also the hardest thing for driven, goal oriented individuals like myself to practice. My body is requiring, demanding actually, that I make this scale back happen.
photo credit: Adam Foster | Codefor via photopin cc
My creatnine (a toxin present in the blood that your kidney filters out) is at 6.4. Normal for me would be less than 1. This translates to 7% kidney function. While I am fortunate enough to not be on dialysis, I am beginning to have symptoms of kidney failure that are starting to impact my day. The biggest one being fatigue, especially on exertion like climbing the stairs or standing for more than a few minutes. The second is that my thoughts are super fuzzy. I have wanted to write for many days now, but couldn’t seem to focus long enough for anything to come out from my head in a coherent manner onto the computer. The other night I forgot my phone number…for the second time in the last two weeks.
Our transplant plans are quickly being finalized…more to come on that in the next few weeks.
How does one scale back exactly?
I’ve done a few things:
- I have had to remind myself many times how much I value my health. Even thought I also value relationships, education, achievement, returning e-mails promptly and a clean house, health has taken center stage.
- Knowing my priorities and having them listed out on a piece of paper that I can hold in my hand is like gold. It makes decisions about what to do with the small amount of precious energy I have each day easier.
- I cleaned out my e-mail. I have this weird thing about wanting to keep less e-mails in my inbox than can be seen in the view window (the portion that lists e-mails above the pre-view pane in Outlook). Since Chronic Resilience was released, my e-mails were piling up and my inbox was being used as a quasi to-do list. Last Sunday my only goal was to file all of my e-mail and reduce the number of pre-transplant commitments I had. The impact this had on my stress level was HUGE. Clean, organized, e-mail is an amazing stress management strategy.
- I have been s l o w l y cleaning out areas of the house and office, one small drawer or file a day. This is also good for my stress level. Things got hectic with the book release and getting things organized and put away is so relaxing.
- I nap every day. It is heaven.
- Also tougher, I’m getting better at asking for help. Phillip and I had a good conversation last night about me allowing him to pitch in more and ask for what I need. After running one too many errands yesterday, I had a rough afternoon of fatigue, headache and low grade fever. When I cooked dinner, Phillip kindly suggested that I not push myself and start pushing things onto his plate. It takes thought to request someone pitch in before you do something yourself. I notice that with many things I’m on autopilot and don’t notice that doing them is too much until they are done. Phillip did the dishes last night & is getting takeout tonight.
After moving so quickly for the past six weeks with the book, it has been nice to slide things off of my plate and snuggle with Abbey under a blanket. What are your best tips for scaling back?