nighttime revelations

I just gave up my evening T'ai Chi routine in favor of a bath for the second time this week, then spot-cleaned the bathtub with tissues because I was hurting and desperate for a hot bath and couldn't face the additional pain of going over the whole thing with spray cleaner. This, of course, means that I may actually be dirtier when I get out than when I got in. There are aspects to this illness that I never could have imagined. When I was well, there were certain chores I just always did no matter what, and keeping the tub clean was one of them.

This brought me to the realization that I have been having more pain lately that I can't ignore or tune out. I have gotten pretty good at tuning it out, so that means my pain level is probably 5-6. Raising the dose of Malarone has also caused a recurrence of some of the high-dose antibiotic side effects I was having earlier -- trouble sleeping, nausea, fatigue, and loss of appetite. Oh, and flank pain -- that's back too. I have been drinking a lot of ginger tea, which helps some with the nausea, but I don't think I have managed to eat a proper lunch this week, just little snacks of handfuls of nuts. That still gives me a decent number of calories, so I will just accept it for now. I think, though, that until the pain improves I need to focus on doing pain-causing chores earlier in the day -- cleaning the tub, unloading the dishwasher (it has been sitting full of clean dishes for 2 days, because when I think of it in the evening I'm always hurting a lot), taking out the garbage. Anything requiring lifting, bending, or extension. Also, not to try to do a bunch of these things in a row to get them out of the way, since that causes flares. I'm hoping I'll remember this. If you read it, feel free to remind me.