Every day and every week I work towards one thing: Surviving. I aim to survive day by day. I aim to survive physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Today I'm preparing to survive another month of my bill. I'm usually heaviest days 2-4.
Tomorrow is (expectedly) day 1. I'll wear a pad in the beginning. I'll gather my things together. Since I eat less during the week I'll pick what I'll drink and snack. I gather my 2 quart bottle, boiled and aerated water, dry drink mix, cup, snacks, my old yarn, and a blanket. This is all placed in a bag ready to go. I don't go far from my homestead. Just enough away from my place not to stain it.
I'm going to bed. Let's see what happens in the morning.
Day 1 of my cycle
Today my cycle started half a day in. Ok, tomorrow I'm expecting Aunt Flo to come gushing. Today Aunt Flo behaved. I enjoyed my fresh eggs and cup of milk. I worked in my garden as much as I could before my body said, "that's enough, Aunt Flo has arrived." At that point I went to the bathroom, took care of business and adjusted my "red sauce" outfit. For the rest of the evening I sat in my spot. At bed time, a freshly laundered feminine pad and a few other amenities helped me try and keep my area clean through the night.
Day 2-4 of My Cycle
These last few days were filthy, nasty. How did our ancestors put up with it? Before disposable pads many well off women would stay in a "guest house" in their backyard. When they were done they would return to the house. We don't have that luxury here. What I described earlier was as close to what our grandmothers and great grandmothers before us did.
Day 2 going in to 3 were the onset of my heaviest flow. I would sit in the open area with a blanket covering me for modesty sake. The fibroids in my uterus aren't helping the matter any!! Normally I wouldn't notice until a big wave would flow out. Yuk! I was sitting reading a book, or sipping a drink when suddenly; glub, glub, glub, glub. Out came_________. The final result of over flow made it look like the scene of a bludgeoning. All that was missing was a crime scene tape. It was time to do a little clean up and moving. The flow would be mixed and saved for composting.
During days 2-4 I pretty much kept to liquids. I heated up water and drank watered down tea. I had my cup of milk in a thermos. Half a cup of milk I mixed with the instant chocolate pudding mix. The other half a cup of milk I heated up and slowly drank it over a half hour. Mmm. Soothing.
At one point my appetite did return for a bit. I contemplated whether to eat something solid, and possibly vomit later, or just not eat and let my stomach grumble. I drank my watered down tea. It helped ease my stomach ache and abdominal cramps. I placed my heated towel on my belly to further ease the pain.
Menstrual cramps are not enough to warrant any pain relief meds that may still be out there. I just have to bear out the worst days. If anything, I don't eat anything for a few days. My fresh eggs are traded for other goods. Those goods I put away for a rainy day. That's a different diary entry.
Days 5-7 of My Cycle
The cramps have lightened up. I'm finally able to eat something solid. The first thing I ate was egg drop soup. I boiled water and added a very light touch of seasoning. As the water was boiling I slowly added a drizzling of one egg, then the next. Slowly, I drank up the hot, egg drop soup. I finally had something solid in my stomach after days of cramps and queasiness.
Now I'm able to give myself a spit shine bath. My face, neck, arms, and torso are cleaned up during the day. I'll wait until evening to clean up my legs. Then, I'll wash out my towel.
Days 6-7 of My Cycle
Now that my cycle has slowed down I can rejoin society. I can wear the reusable pads. I can have a sponge bath. I still wear my "red sauce clothes" until it's done.
My appetite starts to pick up slowly. Day 6 and 7 I'm able to eat a "full meal" for the day. I take my thermos and warm it up with hot water. When the water cools I aerate it and leave it in another container. Now I put my "full meal" in it. 2oz grains, 2oz vegetables, 2 oz of protein. I add the super hot water, mix/stir it well to make sure it all gets cooked right (First time I didn't do it, half my oatmeal was raw because the water didn't soak through). I roll the thermos back and forth. I rock it side to side. I let it sit and cook. Within an hour or two I'm ready to check on my thermos cooked casserole. An hour later I'm ready to start eating my casserole.
Day 8
It's time to clean up. I gather water and boil it. I add it to the cold water in my bathing pot. I start from top to bottom. I wash my hands and face. My neck and ears get a good scrub. I follow it with a wash on both arms. I make sure to wash the stinky arm pits.
I wash the front of my torso, then my back. I pay attention to the folds of my skin and wash away the dirt, grime and sweat. By now I have to re-soak and lather my wash cloth many times.
I start on my lower body, decidedly leaving the abdomen and crotch for last. Each thigh and leg demands a re-soak and lather! I check my feet for cracked skin at this time. I ALMOST feel pre-disaster; Civilized-clean. Still there's one body part still to go.
The abdomen and crotch! EEEWWW! How did our ancestors put up with this? Makes me want to gag. Running water is one thing. Bath bucket is another. I wash my abdomen, getting beneath the folds. I rinse the towel. I wash my backside, again I rinse the towel. Now the final part. I wash my privates and quickly wash my towel without looking too closely.
Once I'm done bathing and dressing myself, it's time to wash the clothes and towel. I'll describe that next time.
