Day 117 – 18th October 2010

Another early Monday morning. I was at the beach at about 6.20am, earlier that last Monday, because today we are off to see Asher at school in his class and I needed to be home by 7.30am. I got to the Arches and was the first one there, not even Paul & Soweichi yet. I wandered down to the beach, straight into the water (naturally cold and very dark!), swam just passed the helter skelter (which is by the end of the pier), pretty much ran out of energy, swam back, trudged up the beach, passed Paul & Soweichi who were just going in, slumped into the shower for a couple of minutes and now at home feeling a little better and about to leave to take Asher to school. The coldest part of today was actually the walk up the beach. I forgot my flip flops and as such walking up the beach on bare feet after my swim was really painful; not because of the sharp stones, but because of the extreme cold of the stones – I even had to stop a couple of times! As I was leaving the arches at about 7am Bob came in looking his usual cool and fit self; gotta hope I look that good at 55!

Those that live with Crones disease will understand when I say last night and this morning was a lot like taking Picolax. If you’ve ever had a Colonoscopy (which I have once a year) then you will know about having to take Picolax the day before. Basically it cleans you out so that they can see clearly inside you; the effect of course if a massive lack of energy as your body is pretty much stripped of everything. If you’ve never had Picolax then count yourself lucky as its bloomin horrible. Living with Crones disease feels pretty much like having Picolax on a regular basis, sometimes a few days every week your body gives up everything your storing and leaves you pretty energyless. Last night was not a great night for that and whilst getting out of bed was hard in itself, this morning was pretty much a repeat of last night. So I ended up at the beach slightly anaemic looking and without much energy; luckily no-one was there to see me looking 10 years older! Having had this now for 20 years I am of course totally used to it so it really isn’t a problem and I am so not looking for any sympathy at all, absolutely none required, I just wanted my blog to reflect each day as it really is as against some fairy tale being acted out. I remain hopeful that come my Channel swim day the weather is really good and my Crones is behaving; it would be rather annoying if the weather was good and my Crones was bad. However, each day is a different day and I remain absolutely positive that every day like today simply empowers me and prepares me even more for my swim day. Being able to still get into the sea at 6.20am in the dark & cold and alone really does show me I am strong enough to do this (even if a little mad – maybe the madness helps!). Hopefully this afternoon by the end of work my energy will return and I can at least get to the gym for an hour and have a decent workout with the weights, then tomorrow I’ll get Bob to join me on a twice around the pier adventure. For now though it’s off to Asher’s school and then onto the office for what will have to be an easy day, as running around is quite out of the question!