Advocacy Alert: Last Day to Vote for Chase Giving

Help the CFIDS Association and Whittemore Peterson Institute win money from Chase Bank! Today is the last day to vote for your favorite charities. The contest ends in a few hours at 11:59pm Eastern. We are in round two of the contest. All the organizations participating in round two were awarded $25,000 in round one.

What's Happening Now (from the Chase Giving facebook page)

There’s another $2.5 million in donations on the line – and your votes could be the deciding factor! The time is now, so check out the Top 100 charities, explore their Big Ideas, and vote for the ones you think would do something amazing with $500,000.

How To Vote (some instructions from the CFIDS Association email)

First, log into your facebook account. You must have a facebook account to do this.  

Next, "Like" Chase Giving Community (http://www.facebook.com/ChaseCommunityGiving ). You should see the Like button in the left column.

Then go to http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/?ref=ts (yes, that's the correct web address) and search for "CFIDS Association" and cast your vote by clicking the "Vote" button. (You have to "allow" Chase Giving to access your account info in order for your vote to count. This enables them to keep track of the voting under the "one vote per charity" rule.) Next search for "Whittemore Peterson" and vote.

While you're at it, vote for the The National Marfan Foundation. According to the CFIDS Association, their organization is encouraging its supporters to vote for the CFIDS Association and WPI.

Happy voting!

Have I Been Overdoing It? & I Hate Bug Bites

Have I Been Overdoing It?

To answer my own question. Yes. All the amazing energy I've had for the past few weeks seems to be waning a bit. It's my fault, though. As my energy increased, I took to doing more chores and food preparation. I even went grocery shopping by myself a couple of times. (For people with ME/CFS, grocery shopping can be like running a marathon -- exhausting.)

I think I got reckless in my activity level because I hadn't felt that good in many years. A little part of me (ok, a big part) also thought I might be healthy enough not to be susceptible to my nemesis, Postexertional Malaise. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

For the past few days I've been plagued by my other adversaries, Low-Grade Fever, Sore Throat, Cold Sores, and Constant Fatigue. Boo! On the upside, this setback does not feel nearly as bad as my typical crashes.

While I'm not thrilled about my enemies revealing themselves all at once over the past few days, I'm glad they didn't put me out of commission completely. This incident serves as an important reminder to me that I still have to be careful. I'm not Superwoman, after all.

I Hate Bug Bites

To add insult to injury, I woke up yesterday (or was it the day before...) with bug bites on different parts of my body (head, ear, wrist, leg, ankle). I have no idea what kind of bug bites they are, but they are so itchy that they woke me up the night I got them and kept me up much of last night.

I am paranoid that we have fleas or bed bugs, though we have not been able to find any evidence of either type of infestation. I've been surfing the web looking at detection and extermination options for both types of bugs. Some of the photos are disgusting, and the horror stories will make you think you've got bugs in every crevice of your home.

We washed all the bed sheets, blankets, mattress cover, and allergy covers in hot water. After inspecting our mattress, we wiped down the bed frame with damp paper towels looking for evidence of bed bugs (none found). We then vacuumed the room just in case there were any bugs or eggs hanging around the floor. Luckily, we don't have carpet, so it's harder for bugs to hide from us.

My husband has not gotten any bites and I haven't gotten any new ones, so I'm hoping the bites were an isolated incident. Cross your fingers for us!