Day 20 - Rain, rain, go away! But we made it to England!

This mornings forecast was checked by everyone, I think. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it was due to be sunny all day! 🌞

It lied! 🤣 It was drizzling when I set off at about 8am, and it didn't stop all day. It was that weird drizzle that was quite thick and heavy and gets you soaked right through! But all day Pam was diligently looking for me, and crossing fingers that it would change. It kept promising to. Infact, it was even saying things like, the rain will stop at a certain time. But it lied again! Infact, the rain diddnt stop (hence the title!). I've already mentioned what happens when you wheel in the rain, so I won't go into massive detail, but along with being soaked right through, tech started going a bit doolally. My Garmin kept on deciding it needed to send out an emergency signal. The problem was, I diddnt know how to make it stop. So that was another quick hand up, and stop of the car, and Paul running out to my rescue 🤣

Then there's the slipping of the hands on the pushrims. This happens all the time, on flat, on up hills, which is a real pain, and on downhills, which is rather dangerous! We had it all today!

As much as I can remember, the road surface was pretty good. Not too many cambers and only a few big hills.

It was absolutely amazing and almost overwhelming when we went through Gretna Green, and reached the sign for 'welcome to England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿' Although it was so small, you could have easily missed it! 🤣 The sign for Scotland was the other side of the road, and was three times the size and really lovely. I was quite shocked! But it was still amazing. The feeling that we'd made it that far. I'd managed to wheel the whole of Scotland. It was quite emotional really. It was in a tricky place on a very busy road, so I couldn't stop for long, but it was great.

Then we moved on. Wheeling in the rain! When my body decided to go nuts and my CRPS was kicked off by another in the list of Chronic pain conditions. I always say I have 3, because they are the most prevalent. But I actually have 6 in total. This one is called Proctalgia Vagus. It's basically excruciating bum pain which radiates from navel to lower back. It comes in varying degrees of severity and of course mine is the most severe! Just to add to the ridiculous pain levels I have! 🤣 But when it kicks off, so does my leg. So it was a swift pull in, and heat pads on, and half an hour or more spent rocking, crying, swearing and shouting in agony. Pain levels at 10+ in 2 different areas is a bit too much to cope with. I did carry on wheeling the other day when I had my CRPS flare. It wasn't easy, but I did it. Bit when there's 2 lots, it's too much. I have zero concept of time as well, or what happened other than flashbacks after, and for the rest of the day my brain is completely scrambled. I can't think straight at all, or follow instructions properly. It is also so draining mentally, physically, and emotionally, that everything afterwards is really tough.

I did come out of it the other side though. Pam and Paul were fantastic. Really kind and understanding. They were soaked, bless them, because I was sat in the car and they were stood up getting me stuff I needed, like medication, and heat packs. But like with any of these issues, it is a waiting game for it to end. It can take minutes, or hours or even days, which is one of the reasons why this event is so tough for me.

Fortunately a while later, maybe 45 mins ish, and it had eased enough for me to be back, smile and carry on like it hasn't happened! My leg was still misbehaving. It was at about a 9/10, which is still better than the 10. So I can put my mask on and smile my way through that. It's just how I cope and how I live

life. It's easier for people to cope with. ❤️

So I was off again, wheeling around in a bit of a daze. I can't remember much of the day from that point, other than a few moments.

We pulled over at one point, and because I wasn't comprehending what was going on properly, I got confused about the route we were taking, or what was being planned (see, still confused now!) And that ended up casing a bit of tension. I didn't mean to, but I also didn't explain to the gang that this confused state happens with my flares. I've never had to explain my conditions to anyone, ever before. So I am not used to going into any of the detail. It's really embarrassing talking about it, to be honest. But I know I have to. It was not that pleasant of a day. It rained all day and I had to cope with hills that were very steep in that rain.

When your doing something like this it's easy to forget that it's very difficult in different ways. I'm struggling in every way possible. The people in the car have lots of tasks to do all the time and hopefully keep me as safe as possible, and Neil has so much to sort with day to day logistics to ensure the days are going okay.

I am wheeling over a marathon a day, with my arms, then trying to get enough calories in, and then doing paperwork, social media, and attempting to make things work, plus rehabbing and having medication which makes me feel very sick... oh on top of having 8/10 pain which is escalating to 10+ on a regular basis. It's not an easy thing to do. Good job everyone has their jobs to do, and knows how to do them.

In hind sight, it would have been good to have someone like Cat or Paul who drive a lot in busy areas to do the whole thing. Now we have a new person every week, who don't know satnav navigation too well. So that's tricky for them and tough for me when I end up in the wrong place. But it's a challenge. Challenges are by definition, difficult.

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