Gardening is rough sometimes with
chronic illnesses nipping at your hands and making your head spin.
Still, I love it and I'm determined to strike a balance between rest,
work and play in the garden. So here's the latest fine line I'm
walking in that area.
Each of the chronic illnesses I have
presents a unique challenge in the garden. With Rheumatoid, my hands
are not always capable of gardening every day. With Lupus, I can't
garden in full sun, but cold gives me chills. With Reynauds Syndrome,
I can't garden unless it's warm, lest the nerves in my hands freeze
up and go numb, which also impacts the Rheumatoid.
Oh, and I also have to stick to raised
beds and buckets, due to a lack of normal mobility.
Aren't I just a bloody mess, though?
This leaves me with a pretty small
window to enjoy one of my favorite hobbies. To reiterate: I
absolutely cannot garden on cold days with either Rheumatoid or
Reynauds. I absolutely cannot garden then or when the sun is high in
the sky with Lupus.
Heat is OK. Sun is not at all OK. Cold
sucks. Ground planting is out. And because I live a mile closer to
the sun, here in the Denver metro area, the sun shows no mercy. None.
What's a gardening fanatic to do?
Gardening before 8 am, even on a warm
day is out. Because it's not warm yet, you know? My
hands would freeze up. Afternoon gardening is out because the sun is
out. That leaves me seeking mid-morning ground. Sometimes I can start
at 8. Sometimes I have to wait until 9. But pretty much always,
unless it's a quick run to do a 10 minute job and back into the
house, I have to stop by noon at the very, very latest. Eleven is a
better plan.
Nevertheless, I am determined to work
with my short time and limitations in the garden in order to keep
that time peaceful, pain free and low stress. Because what's the
point of having a hobby if conducting said hobby makes you miserable?
I refuse to rush through my tiny window
of opportunity. But I do have to stick to it, for the most part. Now,
I'm stubborn too, so some days in the past, I have ventured out in
full sun, with a huge umbrella to work under. But honestly, it's
wasn't the best solution as umbrella aside, the sun still managed to
get the better of me on those scorching hot days.
So, this year, it's 8-11 in the garden
for me. Hey, 3 hours is not too shabby. I'd rather it were 8 hours so my
garden could be picture perfect. But I'll take what I can get. Life's
a struggle with chronic illness but if you're determined, it doesn't
have to be.
You just have to be a stubborn old so
and so like me.
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