Gooood Morning!

Good morning, good morning, rainbows are shining through. Good morning, good morning to you!

I love this song from my favorite musical "Singing in the Rain". In fact for years it was the song I would sing to my children to wake them up. I'm not sure my children have the same love for this song as I do. Their responses of moaning and covering of their heads with their blankets should be a no-brainer. I'm sure it wasn't my amazing voice that triggered this response ( I sing like a 5 year old) or maybe pure disgust over my cheerful mood. My families morning demeaner has always been totally oposite of mine, not my problem, I'm too busy singing to care!

I'm one of those people who love the mornings and can't wait to get out of bed and start my day.
I have always been a morning person, waking before the sun rises and taking great pride in getting things done before the rest of the world is out of bed. My average morning consisted of brewing my favorite coffee (raspberry chocolate from "It's a Grind") breakfast, quiet time with God, scouring of the bathroom and grocery shopping all done before 8:00. The rest of the day often followed the same pace.

I didn't realize a diagnosis of POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) would drastically change my blissful busy mornings. I should have seen the flashing warning signs when the doctor gave me a list of things I would need to change. They mainly consisted of morning activities. Some of the things on the discharge papers were:

* Bathing must be done at night.
* Rise slowly out of bed.
* Drink 1 quart of water or Gatorade before getting out of bed.
* Limit morning activities
* And my all time favorite! Drum roll please.....
Change bowel movement to later in the day.
Yes, you read that correctly. I didn't want to appear ignorant, but REALLY, REALLY!
Not quite sure how to manage that one.

Reality set in on the first morning home, I forgot I had POTS, and got straight out of bed (habits die hard), and found myself on the floor seeing only black and wondering what had happened. The rest of the morning was a nightmare. Not wanting another morning like the one before, I realized this was serious and decided to change my morning routine.

1. Wake up and wiggle hands and feet, do this for 5 minutes.
2. Slowly rise, wait another 5 minutes.
3. Sit on the edge of the bed about 5 minutes, a quarter of an hour has been wasted.
4. Drink very large glass of water even though I really really have to use the restroom.
5. Slowly get out of bed, feeling unsteady but I really need to use the restroom!
6. After my trip to the restroom, I sit at my computer to rest for 10 minutes.
7. I feed the anoying meowing cat, rest 5 minutes, another quarter hour passes by.
8. Make COFFEE! Rest another 5 minutes.
9. Make toast,too nausiated to eat anything else, rest another 5 minutes.
10. Do my hair (10 min.) another quarter hour has come and gone!
11. Quiet time prayer/Bible reading. Scheduled so I can rest in between the next thing (30 min.). 12. Get dressed, rest 5 minutes.
13. Can't go to work without make-up (10 min.)
I've been up a little over an hour and a half and I have accomplished very little.
14. I'm pooped, rest 10 minutes.
15. Make lunch, and gather things I need to take to work.
*Note to self can't forget the extra sweater the air will give me a chill,
and get the ice-vest for the heat later in the day.
16. Rest again.
17. Add extra time in case I lose my breakfast.

Out the door in 2 hours, it's a good thing I work 2 minutes away, if I had any kind of commute at all, I'd probably be out of a job! I know I'm lucky, some of my friends who have this disease can't work and would gladly go through this routine to be able to work again. And I totally think my new morning routine is worth it just to get to go to work and do what I love and have a passion for.

I so appreciate what I can do now, because I realize it can all be taken away at any minute. Life is precious, enjoy every minute, you never know when that one thing you love may be gone!

:)Michele