MS Update - The good and the even better

these are pretty darn nice seats

A couple of great things to share today. The last couple of weeks have delivered some happy surprises.  The first one was winning two great seats at the ICubs game and being able to go with my family and my wonderful Aunt Joyce.  The coolest thing was I got to throw out one of the opening pitches.  As a result I got to play catch with my kids and Joe to make sure I could still throw a ball 66 feet.  Needless to say I got the ball from the mound to the box just right of the plate so not too bad for someone who’s pretty rusty these days.

throwing out the pitch

The other pretty great news came yesterday.  It was my annual meeting with my neurologist.  Despite feeling like my appointment was rushed, along with the “ride in the can” (35 minutes in an MRI machine) the outcome was worth the effort.  My neurologist was beaming when he came in.  It looks like there is no active disease progression showing in my MRI ( had a lot Feb 2014). AND my Doc said I have an almost a 50% reduction in the lesions on my brain too, so something I am doing is healing some of the damage (not that my symptoms are resolving) that was done from my MS and the med (according to the doc) are keeping me from relapses.  Only bad news is he won’t let me go down to the half dosage so I am stuck with yucky injections three times a week at the current dosage which makes me feel crummy for a week usually once a month. Even so my mom, my boss and my hubby all said it was worth celebrating so we got a couple of tasty sandwiches and a refreshing beverages. Yum!

At the MRI appointment the tech asked if I wanted to take the elevator or the stairs and I told her as long as I am able to take the stairs then the stairs it is.  Then, I was at the pool yesterday in between appointments (shocker I know) and a disabled man was struggling across the deck and I am thinking in my head that that could be me some day.  I stopped in my tracks and asked him if I could help as he was trying to get a lifeguards attention.  All he needed was a seat so I brought him one.  Every day am thankful for my mobility and my mental capacity.  All in all I am feeling pretty lucky.  Sending thanks into the universe.

One last cool thing is our butterfly garden has has some activity. We have monarch butterfly caterpillars working on their bush so excited to be doing our part to continue to support their population.

As always thanks for listening.

MS Update - Training, Lemonade, and Volunteering

I started this blog two weeks ago… trying to get caught up with my thoughts.  The summer is blowing by me with hardly any time to catch my breath.  I have been working hard to get ready for my big race, a half Ironman Triathlon, this coming September.  I was supposed to do a prep race last weekend however things didn’t play out quite as I had planned.  In the last couple of weeks my training had pretty much been on track.  3.6 miles of swimming on the month (38.7 miles on the year), 75 miles biking (422 on the year), 12.2 miles running (178 miles on the year) but a couple of Monday’s ago our super busy summer caught up with me and I ended up down for the count for the better part of three days with fatigue and mental muddle.  To add the misery it was a super hot muggy week.  Then I found out I was double booked and the race I thought was Sunday was actually Saturday.  I was also supposed to be coaching a youth triathlon clinic which Abby had planned to attend with me.  

After the week I had it was time to make the best of a challenge (lemonade from lemons) and I opted to not race for fear of another setback.  I got to move my race fees back to next year and Abby and I got to spend a whole morning together.  We volunteered at the triathlon with race set up, water station set up and body marking.  It was fun to chat with my teammates and support a great race which made up for not racing.  Then Abby and I raced down to Ankeny in time to coach the kids I had been working with off and on all summer.  Plus Abby got a chance to do a dry run for the triathlon she would do the following weekend.  I also volunteered at the youth triathlon the next weekend and got to see my baby and all the kids I coached find some success in finishing the triathlon they had trained all summer for, and I have to say I teared up a bit.  They are a pretty amazing group of kids and I really love working with them.  

Hugging my baby girl at the finish of her second triathlon

Since then my training has really ramped up with final miles for July at 8 swim miles, 142 bike miles, 37 run miles for July with a current total milage on the year at 43 miles swimming (it makes me happy) 490 miles biking, 215 miles running (31 in the last ten days).  I’m starting to build my run speed and distance again but still need a lot more seat time on the bike but have added bike to work once or twice a week for extra miles on my heavier bike as well as some shorter family rides.  Starting to get excited and hoping to have some solid training in August.  I also want to give a shout out to my amazing coach who has been helping me build strength and confidence.

Inspirational MS racing story to share (no not me): Runners world MS Survivor racing Endurance Race Badwater http://www.runnersworld.com/ultrarunning/ultrarunner-battling-ms-competes-at-badwater-with-help-from-famous-friends