I woke up crying this morning. I’m not sure what triggered the crying this time but it’s been a very common symptom over the last few years. I would often have nightmares and wake up to the sound of my own crying. I’ve come a long way in my recovery though and this was the first time it’s happened in months. I should have taken it as a warning sign that something in the environment might not be right but I just brushed it off.
When I got up though and started moving, there was no denying that something wasn’t right. My brain was muddled and the widespread pain and oppressive fatigue were back. The wind was still blowing from the south and it didn’t take us long to decide that we really did need to leave.
I forced myself to wash the dishes from last night so I could pack them up. Then I picked up the salty mess from yesterday’s disaster. After that I was so beat that I couldn’t do anything more. The post-exertional malaise is back with a vengeance! Poor Brett had to pack the van all by himself.
When we were finally ready we headed into town to buy ice for our cooler, get gluten-free pizza for lunch and pick up some salad ingredients to make easy meals. Then we were off to Wyoming!
We decided on a campground in Wyoming because that’s where our friends, Sara and Peter, are camping right now. They are fellow “mold avoiders” (as we like to call ourselves), so we knew it would be a good location for me. It’s about 3.5 hours away from Rapid City.
We’re definitely not happy that we’re being forced to relocate, especially when we have a film crew coming in two days. Really inconvenient timing! And yet, I told Brett that I was more at peace with it this time. Fleeing is just part of the mold avoidance process and I’m learning to be okay with that. I’d much rather be fleeing an environmental trigger than be trapped in bed with excruciating symptoms that cannot be alleviated.
When we got out of the city we stopped by the side of the road to decontaminate. We both rinsed our heads and exposed skin and changed our shirts to minimize contamination from whatever we were exposed to. Then we rinsed Ramona off too. It was a really hot day so having wet hair actually felt refreshing! I’ll take too hot over too cold any day! 🙂
I figured I could use the driving time to work on writing but my brain was not having any of it. I was so out of it that I couldn’t even function. I just sat with my eyes closed in a half-asleep daze. Until suddenly I woke up strongly craving fruit juice. Strange! I hardly ever have cravings! Hopefully this isn’t a bad sign.
Brett kindly got me one of our organic fruit and veggie juices from our cooler. I drank it up eagerly and felt much better almost instantly. My mind started to clear and my energy started to return. I guess my body was just telling me what it needed!
When we got to the campground we took a little walk… well, I mostly sat on a rock while Brett and Ramona went exploring. The air definitely felt better there and in the evening we got to hang out with Sara and Peter a little bit. That was really nice! We don’t get a lot social interaction with this camping lifestyle.
The plan right now is to spend the night here and then drive back tomorrow night so that we can be in Rapid City for Brett’s video shoot the next day. It looks like the wind will still be blowing from the south for a few more days so we may need to head back to to this campground as soon as the film crew is done. I really don’t want Brett miss out on this opportunity though so I’m going to tough it out even if it means an extra day of sickness.
By the way, Brett and I made a beautiful PDF of my favorite resources for suffering souls. I created the content and he made it look fancy with his superduper graphic design skills. It’s available for free to my email subscribers. Click here to sign up and receive 5 Resources for the Suffering Soul.
