Merry Christmas to all my readers!
Christmas with CFS means something very different from what most people experience.
With the immune dysfunction, I avoid crowds so I won't be sick for the holiday -- it's not uncommon for a simple case of flu to stick around for 3 weeks. So, all the Christmas shopping has to be done early -- before the stores get crowded, and before flu season starts. For the same reason, I can't go to church on Christmas -- other people will force themselves from their sickbed "because it's Christmas", and I wind up paying the price for their decision.
With the orthostatic intolerance, I can't be on my feet for hours baking cookies. The only thing I bake is German Stollen. It's a yeast dough, so you mix it up, and go lie down for 20 minutes while it rises. You pay attention to it for a few minutes, and go lie down for 30 minutes while it rises again. Although the process takes a total of 3 hours from start to finish, I'm only actually working on it for about 15 minutes.
I also can't spend a lot of time upright decorating the tree, or stand on a chair to put the tree topper on. I'm down from a 7.5 foot tree to a four-footer. This year, it has a whopping 12 ornaments on it, and someone else put the lights on. In previous years, I've put the tree away fully-decorated, so that the following year it takes me all of 3 minutes to pull it out of the box and set it up.
I also don't have it in me to put together a big holiday dinner. For many years already, a friend and I have gone out for Chinese food the night before, and I bring home a variety of appetizers to reheat throughout the day on Christmas. That's the big celebratory dinner these days. I don't even cook for myself on Christmas Day, much less for family and friends any more.
I have to skip neighborhood holiday parties because by 7 PM when the parties start, I'm horizontal and too exhausted to get myself there.
Yes, it's Christmas at my house, just like it is at yours, but my Christmas isn't just like yours. My Christmas is spent mostly lying on the couch listening to music on the radio -- not cooking or socializing or travelling to visit relatives.
2 comments:
Oh my I can sooooo relate. I have been spending Christmas with family and have been expected to do more than I feel I should. Even still I am not doing all they want me to do but I've done enough to wear my immune system down and with the kids and all the crud I am sick as a dog. I have to endure another birthday party before I get on a germ laden airplane to go home.
Some of it was fun but the longer I was forced to "suck it up" the more my resolve to avoid this in the future was engrained.
Anyway, Hugs to you and it's almost a new year full of possibilities.
Deb
http://journals.aol.com/dbaumgartner/MakingAHome
http://journals.aol.com/dbaumgartner/kitchenchatter
Yes, having this illness changes the way holidays are celebrated. I first got ill in 1996 after getting Brucellosis. I was bedbound for years, then chair and bedbound (for a long time I could not sit) then housebound. Now I can go out with the aid of a mobility scooter.
This is the first Christmas we have really celebrated since I became ill. My health has improved and it is possible with months of careful planning and lots of delegation of tasks to others, to have a reasonable and happy day without too severe relapse.
I know that many people are not as lucky as I am. I started improving slowly in 2003 and I estimate that now I can do about 30% - 40% of what I used to be able to do before I became ill.
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