I had the fastest, most impromptu set of portraits taken last month. One of those “in the right place at the right time” kind of moments except and literally I was still in the process of taking my shoes off while most of these were shot. You may recognize a few of these from recent posts, but supposedly these are for holiday cards. Though, quite honestly, I’m debating whether I’ll even bother this year.

My personal favorite is this one of me lying on the floor with Uschi on top of me:

Of course there are also some fun outtakes. Specifically, this one taken right before the above photo that I am referring to as proof of why I was wary of practicing yoga for the better part of this year.

I’m thrilled to say that I’m still keeping up my daily routine of an hour or so of yoga. I’m definitely feeling it. Or more precisely I’m feeling the fact that I wasn’t practicing for so very long. I can’t speak as to whether I’ve lost any of the weight I’ve supposedly gained because my bathroom scale reads about fifteen pounds to the left of zero when it’s sitting idle and so I find it’s results highly suspect. However, I have lost an inch around my waist!

Most notable is that the yoga is really helping with the pain issues. I wish I could say it was completely alleviating the pain and stiffness, but so far it’s quite literally the only thing that’s had any real effect. I’m fine with this as a solution; however, I’d prefer a conclusive answer as to the cause of the pain. My latest battery of tests came back negative, including the allegedly more definitive Lyme test. I missed the call with the results so the office left a message that was pretty devoid of anything more than blandly reading the information so I plan to call Tuesday morning and talk with my doctor.

The whole thing is ludicrously frustrating and I’m very close to the point of just giving up. It’s becoming increasingly evident that the only answer anyone is willing to give me is essentially to take a bunch of meds. I’m not surprised. I had pretty much the same experience trying to get my migraines under control. But my concern here is the myriad of potential things that could be causing the pain and the possibility that I am doing something (e.g., working my guide dog) that is exacerbating the issue. For the record, I’m not arguing that it isn’t fibromyalgia, though, I am not willing to believe that it is the sole cause of the pain until other things have been ruled out.

Anyway, enough of my yammering on about all that. Tomorrow I’m having Thanksgiving #1 with Mom and Paul and my list of things to get done before then is likely impossible to accomplish.