Fibro Jedi Younglings - Becoming a Fibromyalgia Father

As a lot of my friends on Twitter have been expressing love, concern and care over my health and over that of my wife, I thought it best to let you all know what the heck has been going on with us both and why it’s both awesome and massively challenging at the same time.

Becoming a Father

Yes, after over 9 years of marriage and having concluded family was never going to happen for us, we are actually 3 months into expecting a child. There should never be any ‘surprise’ children and given how long it’s taken us to get one, this is probably our one shot. So it is most definitely a gifts – and one we are massively grateful for.

However it has been a really rough ride, especially in the last 6 weeks. My wife has suffered from Hyperemesis Gravidarum, a condition which causes women to be sick and feel nauseated over and above the ‘normal’ acceptable amounts. In its extreme some mothers-to-be can be hospitalised with it. It can lead to dehydration which can be a major issue for both mother and child. Thankfully so far, we have managed to prevent this, but it has been a challenge.

Worsening Fibromyalgia

Because of this, I’ve had to try to do more around the house and in the office, at a time when my Fibromyalgia is really bad. My hand pain is awful (I’m writing this blog post to save me writing many tweets to you all!), the doctor has just prescribed me some replacement, stronger opiates and a ‘mood stabilizer’, because pain increases Depression which in turn increases pain (one of the wonderful cycles in my health). So I’ve had more to do, on less resources.

A Massive Thank You

Despite my semi-anonymous state here and on Twitter, I’m so grateful for the encouragement and support I’ve received from so many of you. You have shown me that, despite being in an ‘Age of Trolls’, social media can still bring out the best in people.

I hopefully will have a new Jedi Youngling by the end of October 2016, to train in the ways of Force Balancing, something I genuinely thought would not be open to me. It’s humbling and its challenging, especially with my pain levels being out of control.

But it does show that, sometimes, occasionally, light can burn through the darkness.