In which the Rodent suffers an ME relapse.

Thursday night we went to dinner with Julia Jones and it was really, really nice. The restaurant was one that cooks vegetables little enough that they still taste of vegetable and we all had a very good meal. The service was very good, with staff being pleased to see us and willing to do extra little things to make the meal more pleasant. The waitress remembered what we were all drinking when we wanted refills. They do steamed char sui buns too, which is a happy thing for me.

Julia was full of interesting anecdotes and she and Pol were well away remembering various events in the steel industry. I didn't have an awful lot to add, but it was fun sitting and listening. Pol told me I was having real trouble finding words at all by the end of the evening, with long pauses. This must have been quite dull to listen to. I didn't actually notice, being too caught up in what I was saying. :0)

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Yesterday I woke up feeling very MEish, with the unpleasant fluey yuk in every joint. I took the day off, doing pretty much nothing and eating junk food, while Pol got on with his Open University assignment. The day ended with pizza because it was all I could face. Pol did six of my ten, so the house has been looked after.

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Today I woke up feeling more human and able to do my ten. I realised that, despite washing yesterday, I had that horrible sweat-sour ill person smell. I was very glad to have a bath, and I felt a lot better after. I've covered myself in Lush Silky Underwear powder and lit a candle in my room and gathered dirty clothes into bags ready to go in the machine. Each bag holds exactly one wash, so you don't overload the machine. Everything seems much fresher and more pleasant. It made me realise that people with ME are ill. I mean, I know that, but so many doctors think it's somatic that it's hard not to feel you're just being feeble somehow.

My migraines aren't getting much beyond mildly annoying. Yesterday was a heavy cocodamol day, all four doses, with the most recent being when I woke up at 3am sweating and in a lot of fluey pain. Today I've had none, though I might later.

My main problem is that I am starting to feel a little fluey again. Not badly, but a little achey under the armpits. ME pain always strikes me as a fairly accurate map of my lymph nodes, starting with armpits and neck and working down right to the back of the knees. I'm back on the beta-blockers after a long gap when I couldn't get out to get any, and they will stop me being MEish at all, but they take a couple of weeks to really kick in. I don't want to push things and trigger a major relapse, so I am beginning to think I am going to have to cancel tonight's dinner-and-a-show. I am gutted, since I wanted to see Emma and Andrew very much indeed. They're nice people and I miss seeing them.

Bah.

At least I smell nice.