If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safewest way to health. — Hippocrates

Lately I have been struggling with balancing the right amount of exercise to the right amount of rest. So often when one falls ill, the common remedy is fluids and rest. But what if you feel ill most days? Surely you shouldn’t be spending your days doing nothing but resting. You must get out and do some form of activity and socializing, but how much is too much? At what point are you doing more harm than good? I am the type of person who will do more activities than less, working through pain just to feel somewhat normal, to take my mind off of the diseases that seem to follow and interfere in every part of my life. My surgeon says to work until I feel pain and that pain is a good indicator on how well your body is healing.

What if you don’t feel pain like everyone else? I’ve been told by a few doctors and surgeons that my pain tolerance is quite high, high enough that my mind isn’t processing it but my body is aching. Where do I draw the line there? I guess I’ll just need to wait the typical 6 weeks post-op period, before I can engage in activities such as rock climbing and running. I think once I can participate in these stress reliever activities, my mind won’t be so jumbled and I might actually learn to relax again.

I really had to push myself yesterday and make myself climb. My husband and I used to boulder and outdoor sport climb all the time, before I got sick. In fact, it was I who got him into it at all. I started outdoor climbing way back in 2002 and have loved it ever since. But with this infection, I’m just so stinking tired all the time that I really don’t have any motivation to get up at all. I finally decided to push myself out the door to climb and it actually went fairly well.

I was able to bust through all the V1s without any problem whatsoever. I think next time I will attempt harder routes to see where my limit is. Yes, that is me with my feeding backpack on. I use a Zevex Infinity and I LOVE it. It works in any position with the bag above, below or under the pump (so long as there is no air in the feeding bag). The bag and pump have allowed me to act as a completely normal person; going out to movies, exercising, on vacations, whatever I want. Only thing that stops me now are these darn infections and the massive fatigue that seems to accompany them. I’ve almost finished my second round of antibiotics, so I guess we’ll see what happens with it.