mission: accomplished

Well, I guess I'll come right out and say it. I walked a mile! The funny thing is, it sort of snuck up on me. I went on a walk/hike this weekend at the coast near my grandparents' house with Josh and our friends Nicole and Timothy and Nicole's brother Eric. We walked a bit on the beach, along a small stream and then up and around part of the Oregon Coast Trail. It was a really leisurely walk and a beautiful one too! I didn't even think about how far it was until Nicole said she was pretty sure we walked at least a mile. So I checked my phone, mapped our course and sure enough, I walked just over a mile!

I have to say, when I realized it, I cried! It has been two years since I started my challenge to walk a mile, and I wasn't really sure how long it would take me, or if I'd even make it. But now that I've reached my goal I am so proud of myself.

On our "mission: accomplished" hike!

To tell you the truth, I think I need to give credit to the elimination diet I recently completed. I blogged about this a lot on my Kelly's Sustainable Life blog, but Josh and I started an elimination diet about six weeks ago with the goal of "getting healthy." I was suffering from pretty severe acid reflux, fatigue and acne, and was fed up with trying medication, so I decided I'd try the diet to see if any particular foods were the culprit. And while the diet was challenging, I was able to identify the foods that were causing my problems and either drastically cut back on eating them or cut them out completely.

Now that I know how great I can feel, I have no doubt that my diet was preventing me from meeting my goal. It makes perfect sense to me. I was "addicted" to eating  a lot of grains, added sugar and dairy, which made me feel sluggish and sick even though they tasted fantastic. But now that I have largely cut those foods out of my diet, my body doesn't have to fight to digest them, and as a result I feel better.

I have an appointment with my nutritionist this week and I am beyond thrilled to share my accomplishment with her. I didn't say this in my original blog post about the diet, but she was pretty convinced that with the right diet, my CMS symptoms could disappear. I was skeptical (and still am for the most part) when she said that, but now that I have been eating better and exercising more, I completely see where she was coming from. Of course my CMS cannot be cured with food, but the healthier I am, the stronger I will be, and as result, I can walk further.

Meeting my goal doesn't mean my one mile challenge is over. It just means I need a new goal!

Ideas?

Green and Go

Hooray, summer is here! Well, sort of. I guess three days of sunny weather in a row is supposed to be enough before the rain starts again?

Anyway, this weekend Josh and I started a fun new tradition that will not only get us exploring our new city, but will also help me with my goal of walking a mile.

It's called "Green and Go," and it was started on Sunday when Josh and I were scheduled to volunteer at the Oregon Food Bank stocking the shelves. Apparently I got the date wrong so when we arrived, nobody was there. So there we were, sitting in NE Portland at 9 am on a Sunday, awake and ready to work.

So my clever husband got on his phone, picked a green spot on the map and suggested we visit that park. That park happened to be beautiful Kelley Point Park. And at that moment we decided we wanted to visit as many parks in the Portland metro area as possible by randomly pointing at them.

We had never heard of the park and just decided to explore it, and I am happy we did. It was absolutely beautiful and completely peaceful. If you've never heard of Kelley Point Park, it has a 1.1 mile paved path that runs along the point where the Willamette and Columbia rivers. You start off walking under the trees with views of beautiful Columbia River. Then, as you follow the path to the left you start to head inland where you will find groups of picnic tables, clearings that would be perfect for a game of bocce ball, and lots of birds for bird watching.

Our visit to Kelley Point Park was the perfect way to start the summer, and it reinvigorated my desire to keep working toward my goal of walking a mile. All of the rain this winter made it a challenge to get out and walk, so now that the summer is here and we have so many great places to visit, I really think this is the summer I'll meet my goal.

just dance!

I have a new workout obsession: Just Dance 3! Josh and I bought it with some Christmas money we got from my grandparents and I have to say, it's been an effective way to get some daily exercise.

As you know, traditional work outs are hard for me. I can't go on runs, long walks take, well, a really long time, and I can't take full advantage of the equipment at a gym so make the cost of a membership worthwhile. So, for a long time I have depended on my weekly yoga classes and Exercise TV for exercise.

But after talking to my neurologist a few weeks ago, I realized I really need to get some cardio in at least a few days a week. So, the next morning I tried out the Just Sweat feature the game has.

In addition to the regular songs for fun, there is an exercise feature that allows you to start a workout routine. You can choose the sweat mode that is equivalent to 30 minutes of walking, swimming or running every day, and it chooses songs that have high "sweat factors" to get you to the daily goal.

So far it's been great for me. I get up 20 minutes earlier than normal and I dance for 20 minutes. At the end I am sweaty and tired, but I've found that it actually gives me more energy during the day, and except for the one day where my alarm didn't go off, I now get out of bed as soon as my alarm goes off.

If you own a Wii and are trying to figure out how to motivate yourself to workout, I really recommend Just Dance. I'm not coordinated at all, but the songs are more aerobic and after dancing to the same song a few days in a row my dancing has actually improved! Plus, I don't have to leave the apartment. Bonus!

I am hopeful that this will help me with my goal of walking a mile because it's making me healthier overall, which is important. The healthier I am, the stronger I'll be and the further I'll be able to walk as a result. But even if it doesn't help, at least I am having fun!

frustrations

For the most part I am upbeat and positive about having CMS. I accept my challenges and limitations and move on. But sometimes I have a really hard time accepting my disability.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but when I start to get sick, stressed or overworked, I often experience something called a "Myasthenic Crisis." It's where my muscles get overly fatigued and doing normal activities like holding my arms up to brush my teeth, typing on the computer, or even breathing, are really difficult. It's a really scary experience and so when I start to feel one coming on, I have a panic attack to go along with it.

Well, I had one last week and it was not fun. I was at work too, to make it worse. I had been feeling really tired and worn down that week but I didn't have a lot of sick time at work so I tried to power through it. That wasn't the best idea, because at about 2 pm last Friday, it really hit me. I was having trouble typing, my eyes were droopy and it was hard to swallow. So I texted Josh and had him come get me. 


Two of the three crises I've experienced have landed me in the ER and left me with some hefty medical bills, (FYI, it's REALLY expensive to ride in an ambulance, even if it's only for two miles). and the worst part is  that going to the ER is that it doesn't make anything better. I go because I am having trouble breathing, but because my oxygen levels are always normal, they can't do anything for me except monitor me, and none of the doctors have ever heard of CMS so they don't understand what's even going on. So because it just turns into a really expensive nap, I was determined to get through this one without the hospital.

Anyway, Josh rushed downtown, picked me up and got me home. Being the most wonderful husband, he calmed me down, made me lay down on the couch and took care of me. Thanks to his calm reaction, I was able to avoid the hospital. Yippee!! But what I wasn't able to avoid was the next three days of resting. It usually takes me a few days, if not weeks, to get through a crisis. I pretty much have to avoid all physical activity and focus on taking naps, laying around a lot and doing breathing exercises to make sure I get enough oxygen and relax.

Going through a crisis is really scary and frustrating. I hate feeling so helpless. It makes me feel extremely vulnerable and it's a reminder that no matter how hard I try, my disability is something I can't just ignore.

But, a week later, I am feeling back to normal and so happy that I have such a great husband to support me. I even got out and did some walking yesterday, which is encouraging.

A winter milestone!

Well, folks, one year ago this weekend Josh and I left for our honeymoon cruise! It's hard to believe it has already been that long since we left for the beautiful Caribbean. Unfortunately, we don't have any tropical vacations planned for 2012. *sigh.*

Anyway, because it has been one year, I thought I'd share a milestone I reached recently.

I walked .7 miles!

In reality, it's only .1 miles further than I could walk this time last year, but I am excited for the following reason:

I could walk .6 miles in warm, tropical weather (ideal weather) but I can now walk .7 miles in cold, wintery weather!
Weather has a big effect on my ability to walk long distances. The colder it is, the harder it is for me to walk. So the way I see it, that .1 mile difference is actually more significant, and for that reason it is really encouraging. Sure, I was utterly exhausted when we got to the restaurant we were walking to, and I was pretty much relying on Josh to hold me up, but it was still me pick up my feet step after step.

When I think about how well I am doing in 35 degree weather, I get really excited about what I can accomplish when the weather warms up this Spring. Who knows, maybe I'll reach my goal in 2012! But I'm not going to press it because I don't want to be disappointed if I don't make my goal in whatever time period I give myself.

So that's why I am going to celebrate each milestone, even if it is just .1 mile per year. And if it's less, that's ok too.



It's all about baby steps, right?

Happy 2012!