Doing My Part - Making Fibromyalgia Visible

There's a campaign afoot with the National Fibromyalgia Association to "make fibromyalgia visible". As a chronic invisible illness, it doesn't get the press or funding or attention compared to other more invisible diseases. The NFA notice says, "even though people with FM don’t “look sick”… we are living with a very real and chronic neurological disorder."

Did you know?

1. Fibromyalgia affects an estimated 10 million Americans and millions of others worldwide.
2. The condition is often referred to as an “invisible disease” since the symptoms are not immediately apparent.
3. FM can significantly impair normal activities of daily living.
4. There are more than 4,000 published research papers on FM
5. Studies show people with fibromyalgia have several neurologic signs and symptoms.

See the Fibromyalgia Fact Sheet

Info about the area we live in now

And a third post - in one day!

Here's some interesting info Rod found on the development where we live now. It's called "Indian Ridge" and the reason is that there are ancient artifacts there. There's a real archeological dig managed by the University of Arizona here in Tucson.

http://aa4m.com/common/hohokam_tour.pdf

There are photos of where the dig is - http://aa4m.com/photos/arizona/tawa/tawa800x600.jpg

Anybody want to come and help me dig up the back yard? I fully intend to.

My New Head

Oh, I should mention that I'm wearing a "new head" now. Saturday I got my hair cut short and colored a dark brunette with some slight mahogany highlights (to match my eyes, the stylist said). It's freaking me out every time I see myself. I'm not sure what came over me other than I've always admired how nice a brunette woman with a good short cut looks, and it suddenly settled in my mind that I could do that, too. Rod loves it, says it highlights my skin tones and features - and everybody I work with says it looks great, too. I like it a lot, but am still having that strange moment when I catch my reflection. "Who is that person?"

Long overdue - here's a photo -

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, One and All!

I miss you all so much, and I had a complete melt-down, actually, last evening, thinking about all of the people I won't get to hug and say Merry Christmas to. I've wanted to send elaborate gifts instead, but with the new house and the budget not settling down, I've not been able to do that, either.

But please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers and I love you as much as always.

I've not updated you about the house, but we did get it. Closed on 11/20, I moved on 11/23 and Rod moved on 12/18, but his "POD" has not yet arrived. He and Senji and a car-load of things are here and recovering from the flurry of moving from L.A., though, and it feels great to have "my family" with me now.

The new house address is:

6941 E. Taos Place
Tucson, AZ 85715

Merry Christmas and many hugs!

Becky

Update - We've Got the House!

We're doing great! Closed 11/20, I moved the 23rd, Rod's moving 12/18 with a Pod that he's packing in L.A. and shipping down. We had a great Thanksgiving week - he was there the whole time and supervised the move. There were only a few small annoyances with the move, which is pretty good. The crew were tired from other hard moves - and I think going to a U of A game.

I don't know what happened about the auction of my Ventana condo. I stopped checking on it because the Skyline Properties manager was holding me to the lease. However, with the help of my realtor, we negotiated that I could use the security deposit for the last month's rent, but I still had to pay December. The first mortgage payment is due January 1, so that works out OK.

The house is adorable. We both really like it and find that the retro feel of it is cozy and homey to us. Rod's the one who guided us to the older home - I would have gone newer - but he likes to putter and fix and improve. This house was move-in ready - very pretty paint jobs, mostly a dusty light green, but the back bedroom has two painted red walls, one of them brick. The colors are all "Pottery Barn" palette, I think, from what I gathered from a quick look at the color chips the owners left. They left it in great condition - very clean - but we're still finding things we want to do. Cleaning the sliding glass doors window track, cleaning the overhead fans in the kitchen and baths - stuff like that. The longer I'm there the more I've realized that a lot of the reason the place appealed to me must have been very visceral at first, but it's becoming more conscious. It's a lot like my Nana and Pap's house back in Hinkley, Ohio - crank-out windows, "celery" kitchen cabinets of the old plywood style (but they have all new brushed-aluminum hardware).

We found some neat information about the area online, that there's an active archaeological dig on a 13-acre site that someone willed to the U of A a long time ago for that purpose. Students come there to learn and dig artifacts of the Hohokam Indians that lived there. Here's the link. And some photos.

I'll miss seeing my family this year. I found myself punching the forward button when that song came on in the car, "I'll be home for Christmas, you can count on me...".

It bugged me, a lot. I want to be someone my family and friends can count on, and this damned disease has exiled me. That's how I feel, exiled. As wonderful a place as this is, it isn't home, and it's not where the people I love are. Exiled.