As many of you are aware, my health is poor so I often don't get out and about as much as I would like (or even, at times, at all).
My list of autonomic failures reads like Kafka on mescaline.
Type 1 diabetes, systemic lupus, Sjogren's syndrome, some mild Reynaud's all with complications including neuropathy in all 4 limbs, gastroparesis, dysautonomia, cataracts in both eyes along with background retinopathy, tinnitus with pain and loss of hearing in one ear, adrenal stuff, hormonal stuff, and what appears to be (but as yet undiagnosed) interstitial cystitis.
Yet we had a boat trip long scheduled with a couple of friends flying in from California to join us and we were going to be on the coast of Georgia at a perfect time of year for some great birding.
I was in!
Things started off with something of a bang involving some blood work that came back with a potassium level bordering on frightening.
After a couple of days of ginormous amounts of prescription potassium, I actually had to run into the doc's office for a blood draw before getting on the plane to Georgia!
So, needless to say, I was exhausted, worried, and still having to deal with my regular host of autonomic systems failures that characterize my day.
I suffer from chronic pain and nausea which can no longer be medicated because the drugs are drying and since I don't produce enough saliva from the Sjogren's I end up with ulcers on my tongue. Sometimes I need a forearm crutch to walk and braces for my hands. Type 1 diabetes has destroyed my peripheral nerves, my digestive tract, and my heart's ability to regulate my blood pressure.
I average 4 hours of sleep a night. Sometimes I can manage 6 but it's broken. I go for weeks, sometimes months, at a time eating less than 500 calories a day. When flares subside I can eat damn near anything I want (if I ignore the medical diet lists) as long as the quantities aren't huge. The cycle has enabled me to mostly maintain my weight more or less until the last 6 months or so.
I used to be a dancer - ballet when I was younger, stage jazz as a young adult, and then a semi-pro belly dancer for a number of years.
Today I could probably best be described as.... languid. :o)
Things for me lately have been very, well, black. New diagnoses, new restrictions leaving me basically on plain water because everything else is contraindicated by the other stuff I have. Lupus - low salt, no processed foods, lots of raw food. Dysautonomia - high salt, lots of water. Diabetes - no sugars/simple carbohydrates, lots of fiber, low protein, limit water and salt to control diabetic edema. Interstitial cystitis - no caffeine, no acidic anything (lemon, lime, orange, tomato, vinegar, etc.), no rye, no sourdough, very limited fruit, no artificial sweeteners, nothing carbonated. Gastroparesis - no raw foods, low fiber. Then there's the allergies ruling out dairy and bananas.
No baths or jacuzzis, no hot showers, no sun, no fluorescent lighting, no alcohol, no stress, and umpteen medications all of which have to be taken with food.
I take them on an empty stomach because, well, my stomach is almost always empty. Between the nausea, all but paralyzed digestive tract, and sometimes an inability to chew because of the Sjogren's food is often only used medically when my blood sugar gets too low.
Since medicine is now so compartmentalized by specialty, it doesn't even occur to doctors that when they restrict me from a food, beverage, or activity that they are adding to a long, long list.
It is as of my life is being amputated one little piece at a time. Then I get ashamed because so many have it so worse and feel like I should "snap out of it!"
My husband and I are boaters, having completed a refit on a Hatteras Motor Yacht when I was diagnosed with lupus and Sjogren's syndrome, forever dooming me from a life in the sun. Man plans, G-d laughs.
So I stayed below decks and started taking pictures from the covered back deck of the boat, falling in love with the camera and the antics of the gulls, terns, and pelicans who would follow the wake looking for an easy meal.
I had a few bird feeders on my deck at home with a casual photo or two of backyard feathered friends when I came across lineatus' Dawn Chorus one Saturday morning.
Crack. The woman had given me crack. Suddenly, I'm buying various field guides, expensive binoculars I could adjust to my ever changing, and sadly fading, vision, new camera lenses, books on wildlife photography, tripods, monopods, ipods (okay, that had nothing to do with birding!), and feeders, feeders, feeders. I think I have 14 at last count if you include the critter feeders to try and keep them out of the bird feeders. HA!
Since I rarely left the house and had a big yard, I created a habitat suitable to my feathered friends with varieties of plants, water, houses and roosts for both the year round residents and the seasonal visitors.
But this boat trip was going to be something really special for me, giving me an opportunity to see shore birds I don't get to enjoy from my inland home as well as a chance to see the ever gorgeous painted bunting..
I only have a few hours a day I can "function" physically so I have to pick and choose each birding "day" and while I miss a LOT of stuff I would love to see, can't manage full counts because of my variable eyesight, and have to shield myself from the sun with factor 65 UNDER special sun protective clothing, gloves, and hats even in the heat, I manage to see so many GREAT birds.
I feel, for those moments, like I could fly for miles in the light of the sun, strong and sure, cocky and vibrant, and my heart still soars even as my body fails.
For those of you not familiar with Jekyll Island or birding along the Colonial Coast Birding Trail of Georgia, 300 species of birds have been seen at the 18 spots along the trail.
Shoreline, salt marsh, tidal rivers, woods, and freshwater wetland habitats make up this trail as well as now abandoned fields where rice and indigo once grew.
From Fort Pulaski to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the trail offers not only great birding opportunities, but historical sites and a variety of habitats.
As an aside, when I was growing up my father would often swerve the car onto the shoulder of the road, slamming on the brake, to stop at an engraved metal sign.
"Hysterical marker!!!!", my parents would yell out and we would file out of the car to read the plaque.
To get back on topic, the Creek Indians called the Georgia coast, The Enchanted Land for good reason.
I highly recommend Lydia Thompson's blog, Coastal Georgia Birding as well as her gorgeous artwork which you can see here.
Wings Over Georgia is another fabulous site with lots of photos, maps, resources, and trip information.
Jekyll Island is referred to as the "Jewel of Georgia". From Indian settlements to Spanish colony, French privateers, the notorious Wanderer (the last known slave ship to land in Georgia), to becoming a retreat and resort for the richest and famousest (well it should be a word!) including J.P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, William Rockefeller, and William Vanderbilt, 65% of the 5700 acre island has been left in a mostly natural state and will remain that way by legislative mandate.
The first bird I saw on a morning jaunt around the lee side of the island in a dinghy was a bald eagle!
Some more highlights -
Least Tern
Black Skimmers
Whimbrel
Ring Billed Gull
Semi-Palmated Plover
Wood Stork
A Cormorant gets its wings dry for take off!
Egrets - I've had a few...
Great Blue doing some dawn fishing behind our boat.
And just for lineatus -
But what I really, REALLY wanted to see - Painted Buntings!
The last couple of days have involved emergency rooms, new doctor appointments, impending invasive tests, and a mental state that could best be described as dispirited.
I have had a hard time working on this diary (which initially was just going to be about the birding) because of the mental fog, exhaustion, and pain so I had to keep going back over the draft to fix things.
But I wanted to remind myself, and maybe a few of you who also find yourselves in debilitating situations of one sort or another, that there is beauty out there in the world.
And not to get all Wizard of Oz-ish, but sometimes it's right in our own backyard.