[catra121]

Having a bad flare up this past week...really struggling to find my balance again between living my life and managing the RSD. I am so blessed with my now 7 month old daughter...she is an absolute joy and treasure. I am seriously one of those people blessed with a happy baby that rarely as in almost never cries and only fusses for a reason (hungry, tired, or full diaper)...and has been sleeping through the night 10-12 hours a night since she was 1.5 months old. She brings so much happiness into my life.

All that said...I'm overdoing it and can't seem to find the sweet spot between doing too much and not enough. I want to do everything with my daughter and now that the weather is nice and she's a little older that includes going out with her for little "outings" and stuff.

Well...Tuesday I went to the mall with baby, my mom, and my grandma who are both in town for a short time. We were at the mall for about 4.5 hours. I'm used to being on my feet for long stretches at work...but at work I have my walker and when out with baby I just have her stroller. We searched a long time to find a stroller that had a handle low enough to support me using it like a walker...but it's not as good as the walker at keeping the weight off my bad leg and it also aggravates the RSD in my arms tring to maneuver it in the stores.

So Wednesday I was in bad shape but worked a full day. Thursday I could barely get out of bed and had to call off work...which I hate doing...and I couldn't get the pain under control. I was off Friday but had the baby all day so I didn't get any relief there. I worked again today and it was really rough...only to come home to my angel of a daughter and want to do everything with her...making me even worse.

UGH!! This flare up is killing me and I can't remember the last time I had a flare up that lasted this long as was so resistant to all my pain management tricks. I think it's because I'm not allowing myself the time to rest and recover physically...and I just don't know how to fit that in.

Sorry guys...just needed to vent a little. I try to be so together around everyone...but this RSD crud is just kicking my butt lately...