PEM & PWM

 Spend much time on the Internet and you become familiar with many acronyms - not just text-message abbreviations like “LOL” either!

One symptom which is a common complaint of many of us long Covid sufferers is PEM: Post-Exercise Malaise, aka overdoing it! While graded exercise is prescribed for some fatigue-related conditions, overdoing it can cause devastating relapses. And as Jake Spoon said, “I didn’t see no line Gus, I was just trying to get through the territory without getting scalped, that’s all!”

While I’d like to compare myself to the fun-loving Gus McRae or dutiful, hard-working Woodrow Call, I probably have more in common with Jake Spoon, just trying to get by at this point. I have added my own acronym: PWM, Post-Work Malaise which ain’t exactly new in my case. I could unearth old Spark-blog entries from years ago in which I bemoan my lessening stamina - it used to be that a busy workday was a challenge and I would finish up feeling proud of myself. It is becoming an increasing struggle to “get ‘er done”, after which I stumble home to collapse in my recliner, not looking forward to resting up & trying to do it all over again the next day…

I went to the gym with DH Friday night and did a little grab-bag of activities: a few minutes on the elliptical, half a mile on the treadmill, followed by the stationary bike and a couple of the weight machines. It was a hard task to roll out of bed yesterday morning - I was sore from nose to tail. I continue to try to draw inspiration from my dear Clarice, who soldiers on with her special pates of canned puppy food and softened kibble - I wish I could post videos here, she has a very amusing, alligator-like toss and swallow routine down! Her weight is stable, her blood work has returned to normal - I’m gonna take her back to see the internal medicine specialist at the end of this month more for a humble-brag than anything. I am as proud of her as anything I’ve done in my entire career - almost 4 months out after a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, that’s a long time especially in dog years…

I don’t know if I’ll have it in me to slog through a 50 mile ride next month, but all I can do is keep placing one foot in front of the other. As other endurance writers have paraphrased, sometimes you learn as much from your failures as from your successes.

I have very little in common with Charles Darwin from the brilliant-scientist perspective, but I do know he also suffered from chronic illness - one  theory is that he developed Chagas disease (bitten by “kissing bug” in South America), which caused heart problems, fatigue and general ill health. I can certainly relate to general peevishness - if this is my “new normal” I strongly protest (ha ha, that’s the sound of the universe laughing at me)!

Janet has been giving Alex a tune-up; I’ll pick her up next week to see if we can forge a stronger bond. After all, she was supposed to be the successor to my dear Coyote (ex-mule stolen from me, I got a lot more mileage out of missing the mule more than the husband!)