Brin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brin_bellway) wrote2020-02-06 10:47 am
brin_bellway) wrote2020-02-06 10:47 am
Temporarily able-bodied
[cw: apocalypse, aging, illness, (mild) death]
I was thinking this morning about the apocalypse joke I made in the previous post, and my recent comment about growing to fear exposure to the outdoors, and it dawned on me:
While AFAIK I'm not yet to the point where I'd *die* if you thrust me into a non-industrial lifestyle, my body has definitely deteriorated to a point where I'd struggle to function.
I can't breathe unfiltered non-winter air without scrubbing my throat raw (and unhumidified winter air can have much the same effect, in its own way). I can't work up a sweat without itching all over until I wash the sweat off (no known limit on how long it takes to wear off on its own; one time I didn't shower for three days afterward and I was itchy the whole three days). I *can* have unmedicated menstrual periods while retaining the ability to stand up, but not consistently.
None of these things were true five years ago. Most of them weren't true two years ago: the itching started around May of 2019, the menstrual problems in May of 2018. (...and my first record of wearing a mask to go outside is in May of 2017. oh dear.) I'm...kind of scared what my body is going to come up with next. What does *this* May hold?
---
[epistemic status: at least somewhat joking, at least somewhat worried]
(Maybe it's like that thing where an old laptop will deteriorate faster when you've expressed plans to give it a restful existence as an emergency spare but haven't done it yet. Maybe my body is upset about not being a cubicle farmer yet, and is trying to encourage me to get there faster by increasingly putting me into a position where I physically *can't* work non-desk jobs.
Almost every time I've gotten taking-out-garbage duty at work over the last month or so, my shoulder hurts for days afterwards. Maybe that's the next stage, being bad at carrying and especially lifting things that are too dirty to hug close to you.)
I was thinking this morning about the apocalypse joke I made in the previous post, and my recent comment about growing to fear exposure to the outdoors, and it dawned on me:
While AFAIK I'm not yet to the point where I'd *die* if you thrust me into a non-industrial lifestyle, my body has definitely deteriorated to a point where I'd struggle to function.
I can't breathe unfiltered non-winter air without scrubbing my throat raw (and unhumidified winter air can have much the same effect, in its own way). I can't work up a sweat without itching all over until I wash the sweat off (no known limit on how long it takes to wear off on its own; one time I didn't shower for three days afterward and I was itchy the whole three days). I *can* have unmedicated menstrual periods while retaining the ability to stand up, but not consistently.
None of these things were true five years ago. Most of them weren't true two years ago: the itching started around May of 2019, the menstrual problems in May of 2018. (...and my first record of wearing a mask to go outside is in May of 2017. oh dear.) I'm...kind of scared what my body is going to come up with next. What does *this* May hold?
---
[epistemic status: at least somewhat joking, at least somewhat worried]
(Maybe it's like that thing where an old laptop will deteriorate faster when you've expressed plans to give it a restful existence as an emergency spare but haven't done it yet. Maybe my body is upset about not being a cubicle farmer yet, and is trying to encourage me to get there faster by increasingly putting me into a position where I physically *can't* work non-desk jobs.
Almost every time I've gotten taking-out-garbage duty at work over the last month or so, my shoulder hurts for days afterwards. Maybe that's the next stage, being bad at carrying and especially lifting things that are too dirty to hug close to you.)