Chronic pain is work!

I have been seeing a counselor about my pain and we are working through an excellent book. So far, we have discussed strategies to relax and to distract myself from pain. I am also keeping meticulous records on my pain, eating, activities, sleep, etc.

Yesterday was my first physical therapy appointment. My therapist (with whom I have previously worked and whose babies I delivered) gave me a bunch of exercises to do and then did some soft tissue massage on my neck and head. So, today, my neck is incredibly sore. My therapist did remind me not to do the exercises too strenuously at first because I don't want to precipitate a migraine - so far, so good.

With all this work on trying to manage pain, I've been frustrated with trying to work with the kids. Actually, I'm doing as much with them as before, I'm just spending more time actively doing things for my pain instead of laying around in pain. But, I've been concerned about keeping up with curriculum, etc. So, I signed up Wild Man for time4learning, which is an online curriculum. We're just going to use language arts and science right now with maybe some math to supplement what he's working on. What I like is that it will read the science out loud to him. So far, he really likes it. Ga'Hoole Girl is doing lots of stuff independently. My goal is to do history/geography and Bible regularly with both kids and reading daily with Wild Man.

And, my counselor and I have been working very hard on my perfectionism and need for productivity. I've been doing some reading in the Bible to try to sort out the Christian response to work - how to not be idle without being a workaholic. And, how does this work for someone with pain issues? More on that later. Right now, it's time to do my exercises again.