I made myself take a walk Monday afternoon. It was short, just around the block, but I got outside. It feels like fall, now, damp, chilly, and I need to get acclimated to the change in seasons. I’m back in sweaters and warm pants and thick socks, my long coat, hat. I wore mittens over the weekend.
It’s all too easy to make excuses to myself to stay inside when the weather turns. It’s too overcast. It might rain. It looks dreary. I don’t want my fingers and face to get numb.
So my short walk was a good reality check, as well as a much needed breath of fresh air. Even as it was overcast and had been pouring earlier in the day, the rain held off. The air smelled sweet with the tang of humus. My joints limbered up. My mind brightened from a jolt of oxygenated blood.
It was also good to see the neighborhood beyond my computer screen. Trees are turning late this season in Massachusetts, due to a warmer-than-normal summer and early fall. Usually we’re at peak foliage right around Columbus Day weekend, but this year green still predominates. Only the sugar maples, so far, have begun to flame and shed their leaves.
Pumpkins, plastic tombstones, skeletons and fake cobwebs decorate a few neighbor’s lawns, but the Halloween craze of a few years back seems to have ebbed. That’s fine with me. More than ghosts and goblins, there are quite a few red, white and blue signs promoting political candidates for the upcoming November election. That’s fine with me, too.
A new neighbor’s house has been repainted; that neighbor’s repairs are complete; another’s is in progress, with boards hammered over the front door. Al decorated our front steps with mums, pumpkins, gourds and cornstalks over the weekend, and I’m pleased with the result as I walk up our drive.
Back inside, I realize my fingers and lips have gone slightly numb. But it’s warm in the house, and I feel refreshed. Worth repeating.
Evelyn Herwitz blogs weekly about living fully with chronic disease, the inside of baseballs, turtles and frogs, J.S. Bach, the meaning of life and whatever else she happens to be thinking about at livingwithscleroderma.com. Please view Privacy Policy here.
First of all, i look forward to reading about your life with this disease – I have
learned many things — was diagnosed in 1989 and there was not anyone there
to lessen the fear from that diagnosis
Been blessed – first digtal ulcer was last year – as you know no words to
describe pain – my question to you is – are you familiar with this new
development for ulcers – low level light therapy LLLT ????
ågain, thank you for your blog and wish you continued good health
Sincerely,
Connie Sipple
Thanks, Connie. I hope your digital ulcers are manageable. It is such a complex and chronic aspect of the disease. I am not familiar with LLLT, but I found this feasibility study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29862855. Early research, only demonstrates whether the treatment might work for people with digital ulcers from systemic sclerosis, and not conclusive as a randomized controlled clinical study. But encouraging. Thanks for mentioning this!