Totally Well For 3 Years Now! :)

Three years ago God healed me of ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome using something called the Lightning Process. It was a huge relief and also a huge shock to suddenly be well after 15 years of illness!

My last blog update was around the time of my one year anniversary in February 2011, so I thought it was about time for another one!

Quite a lot has happened since then...

In April 2011 I got a job! I started working part-time at the Probation Service as an Administration Officer for 23 hours a week. It was a huge shock to the system going back to work after such a long time and adjusting to getting up every day and going to work was a bit of a challenge. It was a temporary job which was only supposed to be for 2 months but ended up lasting for 5 months until September.

I kept going along to my computer course at polytech while I was working and completed the course in November 2011 and received the certificate :)

In my last post I mentioned doing some Spring cleaning. I had just finished cleaning the bathroom in October 2011 when it was discovered that there was water under my flat and problems with moisture and mould. I had to move out immediately. I stayed at Mum's for about 2 - 3 weeks while I packed up my flat (I had a sinus infection at the same time!) and then moved into another flat at the same address while they fixed mine up. It ended up taking 7 months and I moved back into my flat at the beginning of June 2012. I now have a brand new kitchen and bathroom and new paint, wallpaper and carpet in the rest of it :)

In the meantime I got another job. At the beginning of 2012 I started working in a call centre as a customer services representative. It is a very busy call centre and a very challenging job and while I thought the last thing I wanted to do was to take calls all day, I'm actually really enjoying it. Working with really nice, supportive people helps :) I have been working about 40 hours a week (sometimes more) since June 2012 and I have just started learning the admin job so that I can be a back-up for the admin lady if she is away. I started off working there part-time and going to full-time work was another adjustment, finding that I had very little time to do other things! :)

I am still walking as much as I can when I can fit it in but had to give up going aqua-jogging in the mornings when I started working full-time.

I have also changed churches and am now going to the same church as the rest of my family. I'm really enjoying the church and it means I get to see some of my family nearly every week.

So my life has changed a lot in the last 3 years, going from doing virtually nothing to working full-time. God is good and I am so grateful to Him for giving me my life back :)

Debbie :D

ONE YEAR FREE of ME/CFS !

Here I am at the one year anniversary of when the Lightning Process started working for me as it stopped M.E. in its tracks! I can still remember the moment I felt my body relaxing as the process began working and the next day playing with my hands during the seminar as I realised how relaxed they were! I remember the text I sent on the bus in the morning saying "I think it's working!" And I remember the moment I realised that God had been promising me for years that He was going to heal me and He was finally doing it!

If you've been following my blog you'll have some idea of what I've been doing over the last year. I began walking straight away and now I go aqua-jogging twice a week (which I really enjoy) and try to do a walk on the other days. I also usually go for a walk with my sister in the weekend. Recently I've been increasing the length of my walks but am often limited by time!

In April last year I started a computer course at polytech. We've just had a 2½ month break and are just getting going again for the year. I still have a few units to do to complete the course. I'm really enjoying that too! Although this week we were learning about what happens when you open, edit, print or save a file and how the "input device", the CPU, the RAM and the "output device" all interact. Do I really need to know that? :-\

One thing I won't have mentioned (because it was a secret) is that I had the crazy idea to do some sewing for myself and then to do some for my sisters for Christmas. I haven't done much in the way of sewing for a long time and had forgotten how time-consuming it was! It worked out okay though and I got it all finished about a week before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, it was nice to be able to go to church on Christmas Eve and to be able to do some cooking for Christmas dinner and enjoy the day with my well mother :) and other family members.

I'm getting along to church nearly every week and am becoming more involved there.

I "fired" my home help lady about 2 weeks after the LP seminar in February last year and have been doing all my own housework since then. I've also been able to keep more on top of the garden and the roses got a good prune this year.

I can also wash my own car - something that I had to get help with when I was sick.

Now that the secret sewing is out of the way, I have started on the big Spring clean. I've started in the kitchen and am gradually making progress. I did the oven the other day and am glad that's out of the way for now!

And in September last year I started job-hunting. It's a bit of a challenge. There's not a lot of jobs out there and lots of people applying for the ones that are there. I've had a couple of interviews, but no new job yet. I'm still working from home doing phone surveys and am trying to leave the situation in God's hands, knowing that He's got me covered. I've applied for another 3 jobs recently, so here's hoping! and praying!

In December I had an out-of-town funeral to go to. It was so nice to be able to drive that far (4½ hours each way) and feel fine the next day. I also managed to catch up with a few friends while I was away which was really good.

On the 5th February I went to my niece's engagement party and got roped into helping to make sandwiches, etc. in the afternoon as well. I got up and went to church the next morning, something I definitely wouldn't have done before. I wouldn't have been helping out in the afternoon either because I would have been saving all my energy for the party which would have been quite exhausting for me. It would have taken me a few days to recover.

My Mum (who has also recovered from M.E. using the LP this year - see more about her in my last post) was also at the engagement party. She is now running around everywhere and enjoying her new life. She seems to be doing a lot of shopping! She is enjoying being involved in a new church and doing things with the ladies there.

Just to give you some idea of how different my life is from a year ago - on Tuesday this week I got up at 7am and went aqua-jogging, came home and did the laundry, tidied, dusted & vacuumed the flat. On Wednesday morning I got up at 7am again and went to polytech for 3 hours. After that I looked at some things in Farmers, then came home and cleaned the bathroom. I went for a 43 minute walk in the afternoon after mopping the floor. On Thursday I did the grocery and other shopping, some gardening, swept the back and front porches and went for a 48 minute walk. This morning I got up at 7am again and went aqua-jogging for half an hour. I came home and did washing and vacuumed my car and washed it!

Before the Lightning Process seminar this time last year I was sleeping until 10am and getting up much earlier than that was a huge effort. I had a home help lady to do my housework, so I wouldn't have done any of that except for the washing. I definitely didn't do any exercise - the most exercise I used to get was walking around the supermarket or the Warehouse! I wouldn't have been able to go to polytech regularly and definitely not for 3 hours and I wouldn't have been able to concentrate enough to cope with the study. I would have also had short-term memory problems to deal with which now are a thing of the past (either that or I've forgotten about them!). I would probably only have gone out once during the week to do my grocery shopping and maybe 2 or 3 other things while I was out. Then I would have needed to rest for a few days, hoping to make it to church on Sunday and if I did make it to church I would need to rest for another couple of days before doing the shopping!

If you know of anyone with ME/CFS (it's called CFIDS in the States) please let them know about this or feel free to put them in touch with me. I would love to see more people set free from that awful illness that robs people of their lives.

I am so grateful to God for leading me to the Lightning Process. It has definitely given me back my life!

6 Months since Lightning Process seminar

Ok, so here I am after 6 months of being well! Woohoo! I have just read through my last blog post that I did 3 months after the LP seminar and realised that I have made quite a lot of progress since then :)

I am now doing my regular house cleaning in 2 days instead of a few. And I have been pruning the roses in my garden. Still have a bit of work to do there, but I'll get there - gardening is not my favourite thing to be doing in life!

I've also sorted through a few boxes and my wardrobe and got rid of a lot of stuff including old clothes that I never wear! More boxes to go through but no hurry yet!

I have washed my car a couple of times. The first time I felt a bit tired afterwards. The second time I didn't even notice it! :)

One of my nieces told me recently that I'm looking skinnier! :D

I have hung the bright orange curtains in my kitchen and they really brighten it up :)

As far as exercise goes I have discovered aqua jogging and I really enjoy it :) I've been going 2 mornings a week. I also went for that walk on the cape with my sisters and my brother-in-law. My youngest sister said she'd take me up the easy hill but I decided we could go up another hill which turned out to be steeper than it looked! We managed it though and I really enjoyed walking in amongst the pine trees. Even though it's in town it feels like you're out in the country when you're walking there. My other sister and I are going walking nearly every weekend and we've been up there a couple of times since. We've also been to the local gardens a couple of times and one time I enjoyed having a swing with my nieces :)

I am now going to polytech twice a week and am really enjoying my computing course. Have done 3 units so far and have just started on one using Microsoft Access databases.

I'm still getting to church most weeks and am getting to know people in the church that I didn't know before :)

I played pool with Dad again and won 2 out of the first 4 games - not bad considering he's so good! He beat me at the next 4 though! I also played pool with a certain LP trainer who shall remain nameless ;) He asked me to be kind when I mentioned this, but I'm not sure how to say that we played 4 games and I won them all, kindly! hehehe It's nice to know that I've still got it :)

I'm still working at my phone survey job, but have started on my CV and am hoping to start looking for a part-time job here in town soon :)

In June I went to Dunedin for a shopping trip one day. I don't know how long it is since I last did that, but it's been a looonnnng time. I had lunch with a friend and then went shopping for a couple of hours before driving home again.

I mentioned at the end of my 3 month blog post that I hoped to have some exciting news to share with you soon. My Mum had ME/CFS for 26 years and was housebound for 17 years because of it. In May (3 months ago) she learned to do the Lightning Process too and is in the process of getting her life back! She is going walking for 15-20 minutes most days and I've been taking her to the supermarket for the last few weeks and she has been doing her own grocery shopping. This morning she walked around to my place, stayed for a coffee and then I took her for a drive. She has an EFTPOS card now (she couldn't get into the bank to set up the pin number before) and is enjoying being able to do things for herself. She went to a plant nursery the other day and got some new plants for her garden. It is so great to see the transformation that has come about because of the LP. She is like a new person :)

I'm still having "Look at me God - you did this!" moments. I've written in my journal on 30th July "I nearly didn't recognise myself this morning! I got up at 8am on a frosty morning and was singing as I was driving into town at 9am to go aqua jogging!"

As I'm writing this I have had the flu for 11 days and I am missing my new life! It sounds funny but I have been enjoying it so much! I've heard some people have had the flu for 3 weeks, but I'm hoping it won't be that long since it seems to be clearing up slowly... The good thing is I know that now when I get the flu I can recover from it in the same amount of time as healthy people because I'm one of them now! It will no longer drain my energy for months at a time. And there's no chance of it turning into ME/CFS again because I have the LP to deal with that! I'm looking forward to getting back into my exercise, polytech, etc. again this coming week :)

Until next time,

Debbie :)

Three Months since the Lightning Process seminar!

Ok, so it's 3 months already since I went up to Auckland to attend the Lightning Process seminar and I am still making good progress! I have just been looking through my journal at all that I've been doing and I noted down a list of things....

It's interesting that one month from the seminar I had the flu. 3 months from the seminar I'm getting over something like a cold. I had an irritated throat this week but it seems to be coming right now.

I cancelled my home help lady 2 weeks after I came home and I have been doing my own housework since then. I have progressed from dusting & vacuuming one room a day to doing 3 in one day! And I noticed there was a day when I cleaned my bathroom after having done the shopping! All this would have been completely unheard of when I had ME/CFS!

As well as the housework, I've tidied up the garden a bit (I'm not really very enthused about gardening) and just pulled all the dead leaves out of the iris this week and sprayed the weeds. I seem to have caught up on all the cleaning jobs (like windows) that I wanted to get done and I'm about ready to start sorting through all my stuff and do some "decluttering", before spring cleaning :)

I'm also feeling ready to wash my car myself and would have done it this weekend except for the weather! This was something I used to ask and pay my nieces to do...

I have been cooking myself something nice to eat at the weekends. I used to be really slack about cooking at the weekends and would usually resort to having toast due to my lack of energy. But now that I'm actually getting hungry, toast just isn't really enough! I think I've lost a bit of weight too and am looking thinner in the face :)

I've been doing a bit of sewing - I shortened some sleeves that were too long on a couple of tops that I bought for last winter. I purposely left them until after the LP, hoping I would have more energy :) I've also turned one long curtain into 2 short ones for my kitchen because a cord on the venetian blind in there decided to break just before I went up to Auckland. I just need to get some things to go in the track to hang them on so I can hang them up to get the length right and then I'll finish off the hems.

And I'm still walking and enjoying it! After my long walk on the beach I might have mentioned that my sister is taking me on a walk around the cape next time she comes down, so I've started climbing hills! I've also done some FAST walking a couple of times - I didn't do anything fast when I was sick! And in the last month I've walked to the supermarket and back twice.

Also in the last month I have:

1. Had my oldest niece around for tea and taken my nieces to watch their mother (my sister) in a local Repertory Society play.

2. Been to the movies twice in one week! I saw Home By Christmas and Mao's Last Dancer. When I was in Auckland for the LP seminar I saw Mao's Last Dancer advertised and decided I wanted to go to the movies to see it when it came here. I have the book and really enjoyed the movie :)

3. Started a National Certificate in Computing course at Polytech. I've been going for a couple of hours once a week. I've just finished working through my first unit and have an "assessment" (I'm guessing that's a nice word for a test or exam) this week. It's supposed to take about an hour.

4. Done Communion at church - minus the anxiety which was a part of my illness and which kicked in big time last time I did it. It was so wonderful feeling totally relaxed while I was standing there speaking! I am soooo grateful for the Lightning Process!

5. I was a driver for Meals on Wheels for 3 days one week.

6. And last Saturday I played pool with my Dad for the first time in 13-14 years! We played for an hour and a half and I even managed to win one game with a really good shot. I was very pleased with that :) Dad's really good (he taught me to play snooker as a teenager on a full-sized billiard table at home so no comments about a "misspent youth" thank you!) and I was just pleased to be able to stand for long enough to be able to play! I love it and will be working on getting more practice :)

So my life is starting to become more normal! I'm working at least 2 hours a day when I can on my phone survey job too :) (Just had 2 days off this week because of my throat).

I'm also getting along to church nearly every week :)

And in amongst all this I'm praying and trying to sort out where God wants me to be heading. I know He'll show me at the right time...

That's about it, but it's likely I'll be doing another update soon with some more exciting news - I hope!!!

Until then,

Debbie :)

Two Months since the Lightning Process seminar

Well, it's 8 weeks since I did the seminar. I've noticed that time is going slower for me now that I'm fitting more in. It just seemed to fly by before when I was doing hardly anything.

And people are saying I look different! I think my face lights up when I'm talking about the Lightning Process and telling people that I'm well.

This photo was taken last weekend. I went to the beach with my sisters and nieces and we went for a long walk. I think it was probably about an hour but (to quote one of my sisters) "we weren't power walking" because we had a 2 year-old with us who was stopping occasionally to play in the sand and was having the time of her life. She wasn't the only one! I'm experiencing such joy and excitement that I'm able to do things like this now with my family. M.E. was such a horrible thing to live with and it was really hard not being able to do as much as would like to with my family, especially with my nephews and nieces as they were growing up. But now it's like I've been set free to be me!

I am still working about 9 hours a week doing my phone survey job. This last week I've been calling businesses and it's been nice to be working during the day and to have my evenings free. This week I'm starting a course at the local polytech working towards a National Certificate in Computing. I think I'll be doing the Level 2 course and depending on how often I can get there (it's self-paced) it could take me a year or two to complete. I'm thinking since I've been out of the work force for 15 years it would help to have something to show I'm up-to-date on my CV. Actually it would also be helpful if I had a CV - something else I need to work on!

This Friday night I'm going with my nieces to watch their mum (my sister) in a local repertory play. She was really good in the last one she did and I'm sure she'll be great again.

On Sunday I've been asked to do Communion at church. I've done it a couple of times before and it's nice to have been asked again now that's it more likely I'll be able to make it to church! And I've volunteered to be a driver for Meals on Wheels three days next week.

I've noticed that I don't seem to be needing as much sleep now, probably due to coming off some of the medication I was on. I think this medication was causing me to have nightmares and I just noticed the other day that I haven't had any for a while, so that's good! Instead one night I had a dream that I was para-sailing and then flying! Woohoo! In some ways I feel like I'm flying now!

It's so nice feeling like I have a life again. Sometimes it's the little things I notice like being able to pop out to the supermarket without having to think about how much energy it would take. I'm using more petrol because I'm getting out more and I'm really enjoying walking. My youngest sister says next time she's down she's going to take me on a walk around the cape which will involve hill-climbing! So I'm planning to start walking on hills now so that I'm ready for it!

One Month on from the LP Seminar already!

Ok, so here I am doing my update one month since the Lightning Process seminar. I am still doing amazingly well! I sat down and looked at my journal today of all I have been doing in the last month and it is just wonderful that I am now able to do whatever I want to without paying for it later.

This last week threw up a new challenge for me. On Tuesday I was emailing Ian (LP trainer) and I mentioned to him that I thought I was feeling a bit tired and that I thought I needed an early night. I realised a while later when I was started feeling achy and then developed a sore throat that the "feeling a bit tired" was actually "coming down with the flu"!

This has been a challenge for me because 15.5 years ago my M.E./CFS began with the flu and whenever I have had the flu over the past 15 years it has really knocked my energy levels for months at a time.

But I am so grateful I now have the LP to help me deal with it. The flu symptoms only lasted a couple of days and were gone by Friday morning. When I realised I had the flu I began taking garlic oil and echinacea straight away and picked up some vitamin C the next day and started taking it. I have also been taking it easy - no walking or doing anything strenuous until I feel I am over the flu! And I took some time off from my job. And I am feeling good! Yesterday morning, when I was lying in bed and feeling fatigue in my back and thinking that this was how I would be expecting to feel after the flu, I did the LP and it went away! This morning I found myself repeating my old pattern of "I'm probably feeling this tired because of all I did yesterday" and once I realised this and did the LP I began to feel fine again. The Lightning Process is still amazing me!

I am planning to be working again on Monday. And I'm looking forward to getting back into walking again soon because I have really been enjoying it. I was just at the stage where I was thinking of increasing the lengths of my walks when I got the flu, so hopefully it won't be long before I'm doing that!

I am actually glad I have had the challenge of dealing with the flu sooner rather than later. Because I can already see that I can recover from it quickly as my body is now behaving normally. Someone even congratulated me on having the flu - (there's a first! lol) - because it means my body is acting as it should be!

Last night I had a visit from a friend from out of town. I took her down to Subway to get our dinner and I had a 12 inch sub! I'm still finding it funny that I have an appetite!

I think I have gotten over the shock now of the sudden and major changes the LP has brought about in my life and I am looking at setting some more specific goals to achieve the things I am wanting to do now that I have my life back. But as you can see I haven't really worked out yet what "tired" means. For so many years I was so far beyond wiped out or exhausted and it's great that I'm not going to be feeling that "tired" again. Now it's a matter of learning what it's like to be healthy again! And when I am tired from now on it's only going to be a matter of having an early night or getting more sleep! So strange but wonderful!

I have already bought myself a new digital camera and will be able to have more fun with it than I had with my old one because I can go to more places to take photos!

Enjoying my new life,

Debbie :D

Two Weeks since the Lightning Process Seminar

Well, it's 2 weeks since the seminar and I'm feeling great! Yesterday I sent Ian an email with my two week's worth of successes and it was long! I am so excited to be able to do anything I want to do without paying for it later.

I've been walking nearly every day. I'm keeping it to about 20 minutes at the moment, but I'm already noticing strength in my legs - like they actually want to be walking! Today I took them for a treat ;) I went for a walk some of the way around the cape and they got a good workout going up and down hills :)

I've also been going out most days - something new for me after only being able to go out 2 or 3 times a week on a good week!

This week I went to see my doctor. She was really excited for me and she gave me a prescription so I can start coming off some of my medication :)

I also sat down with my pastor and explained about the LP to him and answered his questions. He wants to be ready for questions from people in the church!

The day after I got home from my trip I started working and have increased the amount of work I'm doing by an hour a day.

We were asked to keep a journal for the first couple of weeks and I think I will probably carry on with it. A couple of days ago I stopped and read some of it. All I could think was "Wow! I did all that one day and woke up feeling fine and did all that the next day and woke up feeling fine and did all that!!!!!"

I'm still coming to terms with my new life. Of course I knew there would be quite a few adjustments to make but I don't think I expected the change brought about by the LP to be so major and sudden! There's a reason why it's called the Lightning Process! It's probably going to take me a bit longer to develop a new routine but with the extra hours I'm working during the week, the weekend is actually feeling like a weekend now!

I'm getting through my to do list for today. This update was one of the things on the list. I'm going now to do some ironing and to make a birthday card for my little niece, Faith, who will be 2 years old next Saturday...

Until next time....

Debbie :D