{"id":653,"date":"2025-07-08T17:41:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/?p=653"},"modified":"2025-07-22T13:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T11:22:55","slug":"me-cfs-and-birthdays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/me-cfs-und-geburtstage\/","title":{"rendered":"ME\/CFS and birthdays"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Good news to start with. I'm feeling better, much better. Better than I've been in three and a half years. I've made a huge leap in the last three weeks. I'll update my status page in the next few days. Now for my birthday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">July 7, 1986 - Between reactor, sponge cake and reality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was born on July 7, 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back then, my parents didn't know that I would later write a blog - about life, illness, hope and occasionally also about birthdays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1986 was a year that had it all:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In Chernobyl, not only did the lights go out, but an entire reactor blew up.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maradona scored his legendary \"Hand of God\" goal - which still makes every Englishman sleep badly to this day.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Falco sang \"Jeanny\" - and sparked more debate than many of today's politicians.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And I was born - unspectacularly, by caesarean section.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/6\/6b\/IAEA_02790036_%285613126700%29.jpg\/1024px-IAEA_02790036_%285613126700%29.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/4\/42\/Maradona_shilton_mano_dios.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Pictures: WikiCommons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1 wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Note<\/strong>This section contains affiliate links (marked with *). If you make a purchase through these links, I will receive a small commission - the price will not change for you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five birthdays have already passed since the onset of my ME\/CFS disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is a rather inglorious look back at my last days of honor:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2021 - My birthday marked the end of my best phase. I was really miserable. I cried when my 7-month-old daughter was brought to bed with a \"Happy Birthday\" sign around her neck from mummy's bed. That was all I could do that day - but this image remains.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2022 - I got a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4kxq4Pp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">digital picture frames<\/a>* as a gift. But I was only able to switch it on a year later - more than sad proof of how much the illness had slowed me down.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023 - Gift: My first bird from the WildlifeGarden series: a hand-carved <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3IiCZHC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blackbird<\/a>* - as a loving substitute for my real bird friends outside. I could only look at them - but they always put a smile on my face. There are now four feathered wooden friends.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2024 - This year there was a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4nDOZDC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iPad<\/a>*! Great in theory - in practice I couldn't use it for weeks because I was too weak. But it slowly got better. Today I can write a bit with it and do short researches.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2025 - This year, my best birthday in a long time. For the first time since the illness, I felt well on my special day. I was able to have lunch and dinner with my daughter for the first time. A really great feeling. Presents? A few Magic cards (yippee!) - <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4eDLR6F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iPhone SE<\/a>* and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3IhWFLx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple Watch<\/a>* (both refurbished). My old Galaxy S7 is now obsolete after almost eight years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_0177-1-1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-704\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_0177-1-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_0177-1-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_0177-1-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_0177-1-1.jpg 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Visit from daughter mi mom (Photo: Private))<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I don't know what next year will bring. But I do know that I can say today: I am alive. I love. And I write. Thank you for being here. And thank you, July 7 - you're not perfect, but you're mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, a song that I haven't been able to get out of my head for a few days. It blew in to me through the open window at around 2:00 a.m. (possibly from the Schneckenhof). In fact, the first song I've heard in almost three and a half years. Have fun \ud83d\ude09 :<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Erfreuliche Info gleich vorab. Mir geht es besser, viel besser. So gut wie seit dreieinhalb Jahren nicht. Habe in den letzten drei Wochen einen riesigen Sprung gemacht. Update meiner Zustand-Seite erfolgt in den n\u00e4chsten Tagen. Nun zu meinem Geburtstag: 7. Juli 1986 \u2013 Zwischen Reaktor, R\u00fchrkuchen und Realit\u00e4ten Am 7. Juli 1986 bin ich zur [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[35,36,33,34,25,18],"class_list":["post-653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mein-leben-mit-me-cfs","tag-alltag-mit-me-cfs","tag-emotionale-belastung","tag-fatigue-syndrom","tag-geburtstag-chronisch-krank","tag-leben-mit-me-cfs","tag-me-cfs-blog"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/39bb41f3-d255-481f-b29c-de3f40344d48-1.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Fabian","author_link":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/author\/fajamir\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/39bb41f3-d255-481f-b29c-de3f40344d48-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions\/876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurpfalzglueck.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}