Week 9 from Baseline

9 weeks from baseline = a little over 5 weeks until Christmas.

It is three weeks of time off over the Christmas period that finally led me to be able to satisfactorily clean out my stressed-filled and study-focussed thoughts overwhelming my happy state in the last month. Those thoughts have now been replaced with the thought of spending nine days in Noosa where the hardest decisions I will have to make is choosing which cocktail I will have for breakfast followed by the terrible quandary I will be faced with when I have to choose between doing a little writing or immersing myself in the writings of others’. Goodness knows what will happen if I choose to read given I will then have to agonise over the choice between the ever-growing number of books I have accumulated over the year yet been unable to indulge in.

Yes, I’m sure it will be awful.

I have high hopes for this holiday for another reason. This summer will be the first holiday in years I anticipate I will be largely pain free and I am confident I will be physically able to do the things I want to do, other than slothing next to a pool. Last summer, I was finally diagnosed, but it still took until the end of February before the Salazopyrin started to make a difference. Last summer, I could barely walk more than a couple of hundred metres at a time. My physical limitations were very frustrating given we had two very active American visitors staying with us.

Brian the American’s idea of a great holiday is more about doing nothing and less about filling your days with loads of activities. I am the opposite. My results from Salazopyrin have led to me being able to enjoy start a playful argument about my intentions to book an itinerary full of strenuous activities for the both of us I have labelled as ‘quality time’. Brian will of course have none of it. This is an playful debate we both like to start with each other as much as possible before it was rendered void given I was no position to do much in the way of physical activity. It is an argument we have both missed having. It is the little things you miss that make the difference.

The flare up from last week has gone and once again I am back to being largely pain free in all joints. I have been debating whether now is the time I should give a short run a go. While I don’t feel any change in my condition since commencing in the trial, it has changed for the better since commencing on Salazopyrin. I am less concerned about how my ankle pulls up and more concerned about how my lungs and muscles will pull up. No doubt it will be unpleasant to start with, but I am keen to give it a try in the coming week.