ME Awareness 2017

19 Comments May 11, 2017 Lennae Stubbs

Imagine one day you wake up and you can barely move from your bed. You try to lift your head but it feels too heavy, almost like you are trying to lift up a heavy rock.

Your cat is lying beside you and senses you are waking, he walks up along your body. Ow! You didn’t realise he was that heavy. His tiny paws digging into your body are so painful. As you try to pull yourself out of bed, you feel stiff, heavy and achy and your joints are sore. Your body feels like it has aged decades to your eighty’s.

As you rise you feel your head spin and your body struggle to hold its self-upright. A million thoughts start to overwhelm your head and you start to wonder why am I feeling so awful? You barely make it from the bedroom to the lounge. Your body feels like it has just run a marathon.

Maybe you’re coming down with something, like the actual flu….. Or maybe today is just an off day. But then the next day feels much the same, days then turn into weeks, then months then years.

Just like that you have gone from be a young, fit, healthy and capable human being into a weak, venerable, confused and incapable human being. You can barely leave the house, let alone look after yourself and your loved one has turned into your carer.

Your doctor and other doctors can’t explain it, won’t acknowledge it, or know about it but can’t help. Leaving you at a loss as to where and how it all went so wrong……

Wow that sounds horrible and depressing! That my friends is a small taste of what life with ME/CFS aka Myalgic Encephalomyelitis /Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is like.

Today is ME/CFS awareness day! As a yearly ritual I like to get on board and help promote awareness on our intentional day of May 12th (read previous posts for 2014, 2015 , 2016 here).

Sadly there are millions of people world wide that are currently suffering with this illness. Many sufferers are left house bound, some are even bed bound. The recovery with this illness can take years, even decades. Unfortunately there is still a lot to be learned and research to be done about ME/CFS. Some health professionals still believe it is all in the sufferers mind, as there is still a lot unknown about the illness. Crazy right!?

I suffered with this illness back in 2013 and become completely bed/house bound for years. It was a very isolating and debilitating experience to go through. Thankfully my health is in a much better place now.

For more information about ME/CFS or to find out how you can help check out the Australia ME/CFS website emerge.org.au.

I am extremely excited to be completing in City2surf this year and fundraising for ME/CFS. Funds donated are going to emerge, they are a wonderful advocate for ME/CFS sufferers. If you want to get behind me or share some love and support click here for my everyday hero page.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a wonderful day!

Much Love,
Lennae xxx

Photo credit: a.m_banks- Instagram

Walk for ME!

22 Comments May 2, 2017 Lennae Stubbs

Taking in the view.

Hello beautiful readers, I hope you’re all well!

Can you believe it’s May already? Where has the year gone?!

As some of you might be aware for a few years now I have been suffering with ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). My health is a lot better now and my days with ME/CFS feel like more of a distant memory, however May 12th is International awareness day. As we are approaching awareness day pretty quickly, I want to put it out there that I will be dedicating a huge goal of mine to raising awareness and fundraising for ME/CFS.

Back in 2012 I participated in City2Surf for the first time ever, l had a fantastic time and was eager to participate in the following years event. Unfortunately that year I became unwell with ME/CFS and haven’t been able to enter since.

Well friends, I’m extremely excited to announce that this year is the year, that I will be taking on this goal! Exciting isn’t it! It’s been worth the wait! I have always vowed to myself that, when the day arrived I would dedicate/ fundraise my race to the Emerge charity to help fundraise for ME/CFS.

If you’re not familiar with City2Surf, let me tell you a little about it. It is a 14 km race from the Sydney CBD out to the famous Bondi beach. The event is held in August and usually attracts more than around 80,000 people, making it one the largest runs of its kind in the world. It is a fun but challenging event that is suitable for most people with a bit of a fitness level, whether you are entering for the competitive race or just for fun, dressing up is always optional. You can find all types of entertainment along the race, it truly is a fun morning out.

I am super thrilled to be entering this year, this has been something I have had my heart set on doing for a few years now. I have built up my strength day by day from being bed ridden to where I am today.

I have meet many wonderful people online, world wide who suffer with this illness. They have all helped make what was a very difficult journey a much happier and brighter one. This one’s for you team!!!

I have started an everyday hero page through the City2Surf website, this page is where you can join me on my journey. You can view my training that I will load up a couple of times a week, with my number one trainer Snowy. I will also keep you posted on my Instagram, but for my everyday hero page click here. I would love for you all to pop over to my page, share it, donate or just say hi, Snowy and I would love the encouragement!

Much love

Lennae xxx

City2Surf 2012.

Wrapping up 2016 and Bringing on 2017!

26 Comments January 10, 2017 Lennae Stubbs

Photo credit @a.m_banks- Instagram

Welcome to 2017….. Where on earth did 2016 go!!!

I know I’m a little late to the party, but I can’t help myself I love wrapping up a year that’s passed and looking forward to the beginnings of a year ahead! I don’t know about you guys, but a new year just brings a whole lot of exciting and endless possibilities!!!

Although I can’t say I have completely recovered from ME/CFS (Myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome) I am more functional and active than what I have been in a long time. 2016 was a good year for me, my health turned it up a notch and showed me that my days with ME/CFS are becoming more like it was all just a bad dream.

Throughout 2016 I did have a few issues with my health, but they ended up not being ME/CFS related. How good is that!
2016 showed me a normal and active life, that I am more than welcoming back. I was able to work my way up to working 15 hours a week and maintain that. I will increase the hours more at some stage, but right now I am happily enjoying this work life balance. I also enjoyed a bit of travelling, going interstate, as well as heading over to Singapore off on a cruise. I remember feeling on the cruise like I wasn’t a sick person (how amazing is that). I was also studying some of last year, however I did have to place my studies on hold. I hope to continue them at some stage, possibly in a years time. Putting my studies on hold allowed me time to complete my main goal of returning to work and also allowed me to focus more on my fitness. Which Snowy and I have been loving!

Anyway enough about 2016, we are now in 2017!!!

Whoohoo, bring it on!!!

This year one of my main goals that I will achieve, is dedicated to when I first became unwell. When I first became unwell in 2013, I could barely move. At the time all I could do was lay in bed or on the couch. I did a lot of soul searching and googling online about ME/CFS and came across mostly negative stories. This did not help my frame of mind, I needed something positive. I had no idea when I would get better or how long it would take. However I needed something to look forward to. I decided to make a vision board, it was something I hung on my wall, where I looked every day and helped when I wasn’t feeling the best (which at that stage was everyday). My vision board consisted of destinations that I wanted to visit and stuff that I wanted to be doing once I finally started to get better. The one thing that stuck out to me however was Machu Picchu. I have no idea why, it just did. I decided when I was finally well enough and able too I would go there someday. Thankfully my beautiful friends I am well enough to get my butt over to that amazing place and show ME/CFS who the boss is now!!!

To some it may not seem like a big deal, but to someone that has been suffering with a chronic illness it means having your life back. Suffering from a chronic illness is hard work, but recovering from one is even harder. Achieving your goals is rewarding, here’s to a year full of achieving your goals and setting new ones.

Have a happy 2017 my friends! I hope you all have a fantastic year ahead, sending lots of love, hugs, spoons and positive vibes your way.

Lennae xxx

Photo credit @a.m_banks- instagram

Mr Spoons Adventures

32 Comments November 23, 2016 Lennae Stubbs

Mr Spoon at Flagstaff hill park, Wollongong (Photo credit: Instgram @a.m_banks).

Last month I was fortunate enough to be visited by the famous travelling Mr Spoon. He travelled all the way from Germany taking a couple of detours around Australia, before turning up on my door step.

You’re probably wondering who is Mr Spoon and what’s his story? Well let me tell you!!!

Mr Spoon was created by the wonderful Theresa Laura at spoonsforhappniess.com. She created him for the Spoonie community. His job is to help each person that receives him feel less alone while dealing with their illness and help them feel connected to a wonderful worldwide community.

Now you’re probably wondering what is a Spoonie?

A Spoonie is someone that suffers with a chronic illness, for more details read Christine Miserandino’s Spoon Theory. Mr Spoon is helping raise awareness worldwide for people that suffer with a chronic illness. As you may know I have suffered with ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) for over 3 years. My health is a lot better, however I was bed ridden at one point. For some spoonies they can be house bound or even bed bound. This means basic activities can be almost impossible for some. Knowing that Mr Spoon was travelling around to help with raising awareness, I was more than happy to help and support Mr Spoon on his travels. Anything that helps to raise awareness for any type of chronic illness is always welcomed.

Now that we have covered the important facts I would love to share my adventures with Mr Spoon with you all! Mr Spoon ended up staying with me for over a month. Our first adventure was our road trip down the coast to Melbourne. Mr Spoon decided to hide in the back seat on the first day, but we managed to get a lot of sightseeing pictures the following day. We looked for whales in Eden, NSW, crossed over the border to Victoria, and headed for Melbourne while hugging the coast as much as possible (for more details about our road trip click here).

After our big road trip Mr Spoon and I were happy to chill out during the rest of our time together. Before I was due to forward him on, I decided to set him up with a bit of a photo shoot. Mr Spoon loved every moment of it, he is a bit of a model and I’m pretty sure he would win Australia’s next top model if he wanted to hang around and apply.

After a lot of beach therapy and way too many photos, Mr Spoon headed off via Australia post to see the next wonderful Spoonie.

If you would like to have Mr Spoon come visit you, feel free to contact Theresa Laura at spoonsforhappniess.com.

Thank you for visiting Mr Spoon and keep doing what you doing!

Lennae xxx

Hanging on tight to Buddha (Photo credit: Instgram @a.m_banks).

Looking over City Beach, Wollongong (Photo credit: Instgram @a.m_banks).

Wollongong Harbour (Photo credit: Instgram @a.m_banks).

Whale watching in Eden, NSW.

Mr Spoon takes on Melbourne!

Walking with ME

32 Comments October 24, 2016 Lennae Stubbs

Walking with a view, Woonona beach, NSW.

During the early days of my illness with ME/CFS (Myalgic encephalomyelitis/ Chronic fatigue syndrome) moving proved to be very difficult, my body was weak and heavy. I’m in my third year of recovering with ME/CFS and here is how I have managed to get moving again. Please note that although I have found this to help me, it may not be ideal for you. Everyone is different and this illness affects everyone differently.

When my doctor referred me to an exercise physiologist to help with my recovery, I was confused and didn’t understand why… “how could I exercise if I could barely hold myself up?” This being my only option from my doctor, I went and gave it a go.

At the exercise physiologist I was given a couple of exercises and was told to start walking, this sounded like pure torture. I did want to get better, which meant I was willing to give anything a go.

The exercises I did off and on, but the walking I have kept and maintained since day one. I started off with a walk down my driveway; to the mailbox and up and down 2 small flights of stairs. That was me done! I struggled up the stairs, while breathing heavily. Gradually I started shuffling a 5 minute walk to the beach. It was literally two blocks away and took me 10 minutes to get there. I started this walk with someone each time, I was too scared to go by myself and scared that I would fall over and be too weak to pick myself up if I ever needed to. I would stop when I got to the beach and get a chai latte. Usually I would need to rest for around half an hour before heading back again. When I got confident I started do this walk on my own, I remember the first time I was out on my own and I was shuffling along and an elderly man passed me, I was so disheartened. The old me would have lapped that elderly man, twice!

I started to walk around 2 – 4 times a week, this become the highlight of my day and even week. I would look forward to it, it became good for my physical health and mental health. If I could manage a small walk on my struggle day’s, then that was something and something is better than nothing. There were days where I didn’t want to do it though deep down I knew that if I got out into the fresh air I would feel better for it and I always did.

I remember one occasion I was having a bad day, I was feeling down and had no motivation to face my walk. I was mentally struggling and it was late in the afternoon. I thought to myself I need to do this walk today, I got myself together and slowly made my way down to the beach. When I finally got there, I ordered my chai latte, sat down and looked out over the ocean. I was rewarded with the beautiful sight of whales splashing around in the distance. I was so happy and proud that I had made it down, it was such an amazing reward.

After almost a year of this, things got easier and we moved into a different area. We lived close to some shops that were under a 5 minute walk. I would walk up there, run an errand or two, have a chai latte and sit down then walk back when I was ready. Gradually I didn’t need to sit down and rest, I would find that I would be walking around for 20 – 30 minutes easily.

That’s when I took on a new challenge of walking Snow. We only had her for a few months, after a bit of walking practice around the backyard. I started to feel comfortable walking her. We started our walks and got into a habit of walking 2 – 3 times a week, walking around a few streets in the area that would take me around 20 – 30 minutes depending on how I was.

When I returned back to work I had to make sure not to push things. Usually when I went for a walk it would be on my days off and the walk would range from 20 – 30 minutes. I took her on longer walks when we would go to the beach, they were always at a strolling pace. Beach walks were good to add in as the terrain is a bit harder to walk on. This helped build strength, we would bring Snow along to the beach and I started off by walking a quarter of the way and then back. Every-time I would go, I would assess how I felt and then turn around and walk back. Eventually after doing this for just over 24 months I made it to the end and back comfortably.

I have managed to build up a solid pace from the shuffle that I use to do back in my earlier days. I now can complete regular walks weekly ranging from 2 – 5 times a week. I always assess how I am each day and during the week, if it feels like too much then that’s ok, I limit what I do.

I recently completed my first walking event since illness, it was 6 km’s and I completed it in 54 minutes (click here for details). My goal is to complete CITY2SURF I did it back in 2012 and loved it, due to illness I haven’t been able to do it since. It’s 14 km’s, fingers crossed next year is my year for it!!!

I believe walking can help on so many levels, do you enjoy walking or find helpful at all? Have you noticed any progress over time with your walking? I would love to hear all about it!

Lennae xxx

Walking and resting.

Snowy and I at the 3k Million Paws walk 2015.

Snow and I at the 3k Million Paws walk 2015.

We love walks when this is the view, East Corrimal, NSW.

Snow in her element.

Walk selfies at the park.

Just a Casual 6 KM Walk at RUN WOLLONGONG!

37 Comments October 16, 2016 Lennae Stubbs

Walking with a view, City beach, Wollongong.

For a long time now I have been patiently waiting for my body to cooperate and say “yep I’m ready to move it and be active again!”

I have maintained regular walking throughout my illness with ME/CFS (Myalgic encephalomyelitis/ Chronic fatigue syndrome). In the beginning it started off with only walking to the mail box, because at the time, that was all I could manage. Over time I have increased accordingly to what I could manage, slowly but surely I have made progress with this.

This brings me to where I am today….. Today I entered into the Run Wollongong running event and registered myself into the 6 km walk. Yep it was a little scary to think that I was taking on normal active life again, but also amazingly brilliant that I was at this point where it was an option and I didn’t have to worry about my illness or symptoms of getting in the way of it all.

Cameron and my Dad joined me, Cameron entered himself to run the 12 km race and Dad walked the 6 km race with me. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was out, blue skies where upon us and the temperature was warm. A lovely light breeze swept through towards the end of the race, which helped with keeping cool.

Proudly I can say that I kept a fast pace up throughout the whole course, finishing towards the front of our group. I felt completely in my element! I have always enjoyed walking and right before my illness, I had started to get into walking/ running events. I have been longing to get back into living an active life for a while and it feels fantastic to be able to do this sort of thing again! Thanks body, thanks for working with me! Whoohoo!!!

Celebrations were called for and we made a pit spot at a healthy cafe that I had been wanting to try out. I celebrated with a Acai bowl!

Every proud moment or milestone is always worth celebrating! Do you have any proud moments or milestones that you should be celebrating? Make sure you celebrate them!

Much love

Lennae xxx

Start line fun.

6 KM walk group photo.

Free fresh fruit to re-fuel with after the race. A great idea!!!

6 KM’s done, Whoohoo!!!

Acai bowl celebrations!

Road Trippin

30 Comments October 9, 2016 Lennae Stubbs

Eden Wharf, NSW.

Over the long weekend, the Mr and I decided to road trip down to Melbourne. I was pretty excited about the roadie, though after a full on week I was also a little concerned as to how I would pull up. I wasn’t planning to take time off for the trip but long journeys can tend to wipe me out. After a good night’s sleep I still felt a bit exhausted, mentally and psychically. However after a little pep talk and the realisation that it would probably still be good for me to get away, I got myself sorted and we were good to go. We also had Mr spoon joining us (for more about Mr Spoon click here), he had arrived into my possession only a couple of days earlier from his previous road trip (he gets around).

Our journey went via the scenic route, cruising down the coast of NSW stopping in Eden for the first night (the bottom of NSW). Keeping an eye out at Eden for whales while enjoying the gorgeous views. What I love about Australia is that there are so many beautiful coastal towns, each one just as gorgeous as the next.

We then headed down to Victoria hugging the coast as much as possible enjoying the beautiful national parks along the way, I love a good national park. We stopped off at a couple of spots along the way and enjoyed a nice walk and then ended the day in Yanakie, which borders Wilson’s Promontory National Park. The next day involved exploring Wilson’s Promontory National Park and enjoying another lovely walk. We also got to drive on the most southern road on mainland Australia. After a bit of National park exploring, we headed to Melbourne, cruising through rural Victoria and ending my part of the trip in Melbourne. Rural Victoria, the Gippsland region reminded me a lot like where i’m from in New Zealand, loads of sheep, cows, farmland and lush green grass. All up a total distance of driving was just over 1100 km (not by me of course)!

Some delicious food was eaten and I think those country Victorians definitely give Melbournians a good run for their money when it comes to good food. I sensed there was a bit of competition in that area.

After spending a lovely night in Melbourne and conquering the square glass floor up the Eurka tower (it’s one way to test my fear of heights), I flew home the next day and managed everything just fine. It’s moment’s like this, that remind me that only not too long ago I wouldn’t have been able manage any of this, mentally, emotionally or physically!

Wowee it feels good to be living life and enjoying the simple things! Bring on life!

Sending lots of love and positive vibes to you all, do you have a road trip planned anytime soon? I’d love to hear about it!

Much love,

Lennae xxx