Back to the ocean on Sunday with my friend Barbara

Another old friend has been visiting and we were able to get over to the ocean , this time on a crowded day, for about half an hour. I was wiped out after that. These weeks of continued whiplash treatments and speech therapy to regain my voice are taking their toll. My stash of energy isn't high and each week I feel more depleted. I'll be glad when even one of these things is resolved.

I'm glad I got to see the sea again...and most of all, my friend, all the way from Washington State.

When you need to relax....

Put your feet up and listen to these two...

Ludovico Einaudi - I Giorni



Debussy, Clair de lune (piano music)

My college archives

I recently discovered that Stetson, where I attended undergraduate school, has been building and maintaining an archive of annuals, school papers, memorabilia, and photos, going back to the early 1900's. I sent some photos from when I attended. They were especially interested in the dorm life photos, so I'm sharing a few here. It was fun scanning and looking back at these old shots taken with my brownie.

This is me outside my dorm senior year

Taken during the Early Admissions Program. We have our dorm adviser locked into her room.

Toilet papering the person and room when engaged! I'm to the right.

A surprise birthday party. It was a black bra, but I'm not posting THAT photo:-)

Hatter Holiday. Contest for Mr. and Miss Stetson. Look at those gowns and gloves!

My college friend was just here for a visit--ride over to the ocean!

As those of you with ME/CFS know already, house guests are difficult simply because of the extra energy needed, no matter how much you love them and vice versa. My friend knows my limitations, making her one of the few people I would invite for a stay. She was patient waiting for me to write notes since my voice has still gone south and we even got over to the ocean for about a half hour one day as the winds churned up the sea. That made it one of the very best times to visit. I'm glad we could get out. I'm glad I could see her, despite the toll it took on my energy.

 Marilyn and me trying to hang on against the gusts of wind!

This is my 'wheeee' photo, taken as my cushion and pillow blew south:-)

A lone surfer glides in to shore!

A shot of the beach and pier.

Speech therapy

I posted earlier that this protracted voice loss I have was finally diagnosed by the head of the ENT department at U. Miami as muscular dysphonia as a reaction to fibromyalgia pain in the throat. Recommendation was speech therapy to take the strain off of the muscles in the throat. I've now been for two sessions and do feel hopeful. Nothing painful in the sessions. She's teaching me diaphragmatic breathing...seems I talk forcing speech through the muscles of my throat rather than from my diaphragm. That only causes more pain and spasms. Right now I'm practicing the breathing and forcing air from there as I sound a few soft words. This part is basic. Once I get this down....and it's a LOT harder than it sounds....we begin to move on to more sounds and louder speech.

I've not been able to talk, other than a few soft words here and there, since Oct 8 when I had a recurrence of the same problem that plagued me beginning two years into ME/CFS (Sept 23, 1990 was when I was hit with the illness). That time lasted for six years and then , by working with allergies, I still could only talk for a little while spacing those times with long breaks. I had to write notes during that time.

It's been such a loss not being able just to freely talk with friends. I really hope this works.

Pris