Well, it has been a little over a month since I posted my last update that isn’t a race report. Sorry about that as time has been whizzing by and I guess I didn’t have much to say or maybe mental space to formulate my thoughts. There are a lot of links in this post which mostly go to race report blog posts over the last month and interesting MS related posts by others.
What I’ve been up to since Mid-June. I again helped out with the kids triclinic series with my triclub and will do it one more time this weekend. My second time working with the kids I was able to bring Abigail along and she had a blast so we have signed her up for her first kids triathlon on the same course the training sessions have been on for July 26th. She is pretty excited.
We’ve been doing T-ball with Joshua who has his final “game” on tonight. I had a great five days with my family over the fourth of July with two good runs, a great bike ride, boating and swimming, great
food. family book reading adventures, games, fireworks, and of course the parade “of politicians” in Clear Lake, Iowa..jpg) |
| Joshua at T-Ball Practice |
We did two family fun runs, the Hope Run which raises money for Hospice House. The second one was the Iowa Games Midnight Madness run this past weekend and both are in Ames. As a family we dropped our time three minutes between the two and had a lot of fun together.
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| Abby at Girl Scout Camp |
Joe and I rode the MS Bike Ride in Ames. I received a awesome group of donations for the MS Bike Ride. The grand total was $851 and exceeded all expectations! Thank you to everyone who supported me through donations to the MS Society and continue to support me on this journey!
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| The pole that got me last year |
People who donated:
Colleagues: Bob Y, Lance W, Joe D, Craig B, Mitch C., Sharon H., Sarah K
Teammates: Christian B, Sarah C., Jesse F, Laurie S
Others affected by MS: Charlie N, Aaron R
Friends and Neighbors: Barb M, Henrietta H. Amy D, Siggi
Last but not least my Family: Gloria M., Mom and Dad, Nancy W
I also did two triathlons Copper Creek triathlon which was a day full of firsts. This past weekend I did the Iowa Games Triathlon which was a better experience for me. It feels great to be racing again however leading up to Copper Creek and the week or two after that race I was really struggling. I felt like I am dragging a weight along behind me and all my workouts with runs especially, as well as trying to manage my thoughts. It feels like my body and my mind are going at a half clip, bogged down and slow motion. I really noticed my scattered mind in the pool which is a place I can normally count laps without thinking and work through other stuff at the same time. I am not reacting physically as quickly as I normally do, I am not able to think as quickly and anticipate things out into the future in my thought process. Part of it has been the heat that smoldered through the month of June and I have always been sensitive to the heat. I suspect part of it is related to the disease of MS and part of it is related to the meds I am taking to combat MS.
Despite having better workouts the last couple of weeks I still got hung up with some sort of sinus crud that had drainage running down my throat off and on for couple of weeks. Around the 4th of July it all landed in my chest like a cold but stopped bothering me after that. I also got my allergy meds filled so I have on hand if things stir up again. Once things hit my chest a migraine moved into my head for three days thanks to a series of weather fronts, ongoing dehydration on my part and who knows what else. I didn’t have a chance to slow down as I was to lead three days of meetings over four days in Des Moines for the Iowa Geographic Information Council and then for the GIS-T Planning Committee two organizations with which I am active. The only saving grace in this scenario was Abigail was at Girl Scout horse camp all week and Joshua was at my folks place in Clear Lake so the house was quieter.
I may have mentioned we have a new kitten who has been with us since memorial day. Lilah is a busy, curious, and super cute. Her boundless energy is constantly annoying our older cat Aslan (14) so now whenever she comes near him he wails even if it is 2 or 5am which has really put a dent in my ability to get a decent night of sleep lately. Plus we had a slew of thunderstorms through at night which gets the dogs all stirred up and a night on the couch with a dog panting anxiously in my face is really not all it is cracked up to be. After nearly a week of sleep interruptus I am running on fumes physically and mentally. I love the furballs but I could do with some storm free weather and a little more tolerance from the lot of them.
I mentioned in my June post that the meds have been dragging my blood count down. My white blood counts had both my doctors in a bit of a fit. I may have mentioned they were half the count they were before I started taking the meds. I was retested two weeks ago and they have come about halfway back up but are still well below normal. I see my neurologist in a couple of weeks to talk through things. I am struggling with meds that do potentially do as much harm as good. I am tired of being tired and tired of being mentally muddled all the time. I am tired of bickering kids and howling furballs. Wednesday I woke up with an achy body and a headache and yet I keep marching.
So while this post talks about things that lift me or drag me down… my husband said I don’t have anything to prove to anyone. I don’t have to be happy and strong all the time because I am human after all. I have to keep proving to myself I can do this, I have to keep collecting data about how my diet affects my energy and the exercise that keeps me going. I have to keep getting out of bed each day because I would miss out on all the good things I have going on even if I grumble sometimes. I have to be proactive so today I started working with a personal trainer to help me continue to get stronger and rebuild my confidence. I will keep remembering to breath and hopefully get back to my meditation and tai chi. I am working to better communicate when I need help and when I am good. Looks like I got this for now... as always thanks for listening.
Here are some great blogs and other information by/about folks with MS.
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