Crystal amazement

When I stayed in London for a weekend to attend Lisa Lynch's Super Sweet 30th birthday party, it was a marker for an impressive "independence" achievement for me, despite that independence being fleeting, much as it is now, three years later. It was also the start of a slow-burning desire to exercise more and try to feel better about myself. The party was on a Saturday and, on the Sunday, I went to Hyde Park to watch a couple of friends partake in the adidas Women's 5k Challenge. The atmosphere was thrilling! I'd not known what to expect, and was wholly delighted to see thousands of women raising money for myriad charities, a rainbow sea of T-shirts.


The next year, 2010, I walked and slowly ran my first sporting event, and raised money for Endometriosis UK. I surpassed my original target by hundreds, and was so overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of people I'd never met, mostly via the wonder that is twitter.
The next year, which, coincidentally, was also last year (2011), would see me walk the same event, again raising money for Endometriosis UK.

Each event was also when I would meet friends I had, until those days, only "talked" to online, whether through facebook, twitter, or email, or by text or letters. Last year's 5k run [walk] was about 5 weeks after my second laparoscopy, which made it very hard for me to do any training, and walking the distance proved to be incredibly hard for me, with both legs, ankles and feet feeling as though they were burning after only 2 kilometres. But I carried on *FANFARE* and it was so lovely. People cheered all the way round no matter the charity they were supporting. I wore my Endometriosis UK T-shirt with such pride, and grinned and waved at those also supporting them. It's a wonderful, satisfying feeling being part of something like that; I only wish I'd been able to run, like I had planned.


Typically, the endometriosis pains and fatigue disrupted my plans. Additionally, I was having considerable problems with codeine in the 2 or 3 months prior to my laparoscopy; the withdrawal symptoms relating to the codeine I wasn't having to take were because of minimal pain, due to having the 4-weekly injections of Decapeptyl SR. The intermission in the pain calendar was extremely welcome, although the ills I felt from the lack of codeine in my system, having had quite a lot of the stuff every day for months, were far less welcome. They were not welcome. They were not invited to dinner but they stayed, anyway. A super-lovely GP and I worked out a tapering plan to ensure I suffered minimal symptoms while very slowly reducing the amount of codeine I took each day.


With the days sporadically becoming warmer and brighter, and with the knowledge that the adidas Women's 5k Challenge would not happen this year due to the Olympics, I wondered if I could again raise money for Endometriosis UK by taking part in a not-too-strenuous-but-equally-not-easy-in-any-way event type thing. And lo! It was here that I did discover that THIS EXCITING EVENT was happening! And so, dear readers, you lovely, generous, caring and kind readers, I have registered to complete the 5 kilometres Big Fun Run course in Crystal Palace Park on Saturday 8th September 2012.

CLICK ME NOW!

I've been slowly getting fitter, little by little, and I feel improved even walking round my house, up the familiar stairs, getting up from the sofa, and making tea. It might all seem like not much, but when there are so few moments with not pain, it's a HUGE change. The fitness classes at hospital have been fun, even though I've so far only attended half, with thanks going to unwellness caused by a period, a virus, and another sinus infection. I haven't wanted to miss those classes, but, as you may well know by now if you've read this blog before, when a period arrives, it's all about the period. The Duloxetine is still working well, the pains are less bad, and the periods are less bad, albeit still very significantly ouchy.


I want to do this 5k and I want to do it well. I want YOU LOT to help my beloved and wonderful and TINY Endometriosis UK continue to be funded, so that it may help those frightened, desperate and terribly-affected girls and women come to terms with this most cruel of conditions, to better live their lives, and to feel properly supported by people who truly understand what endometriosis means.

As with the previous events, this is not going to be easy for me to do. It may be less painful to walk, but it will hurt me. This truly, honestly is going to be a challenge for me. An early morning, several train journeys to get to Crystal Palace Park, the event itself, the walking and the trains back home, and the realisation of what I've done will all take their toll on my entire being, and I will be hurting and aching and tearful and overjoyed and wondering why the hell I put myself through all that pain. Again. And then I'll remember: because I'm helping people like me.


My sparkly, phenomenal, and really rather super new fundraising page is sitting just under these highlighted words and, if you should feel so inclined, you can help women and girls just like me, who have fearsome pain and dreadful days, so that they'll be sure people are there to help them get through those dark times. I promise your donations of supremely welcome moolah will do wonders for countless people. You can, indubitably, make an actual difference to actual people's lives. Including mine. And I'll be hurting after the 5k. So please, make it worth my while, if you can? Please? CLICK ME NOW!



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