Stax – Page 93 – Multiple Sclerosis & Me

Day 4 MS Awareness Week! National MS Society Challenge Walk

so…

G2 is walking in Charlotte this year in the MS Challenge Walk. It’s a 3 day, 50 mile walk taking place in NC on June 4-6. Let’s raleigh around her and Move It together!!! BIG LIME IN NC that weekend!!! Here’s the link to her website:

G2’s Website for the Challenge Walk

Island Girl

I have said it before…i will say it again, “I AM AN ISLAND GIRL!!!” I cannot stand the cold. I don’t mind cool temperatures, but i love the heat. Now don’t get me wrong, i can do without the sticky humidity and all that shit, but the hotter the temperature, the better for me.

Well, i think that this rings true also in my MS sufferings…in an earlier post, i talked about heat exacerbating the symptoms and luckily for me, i haven’t experienced that. What i have experienced for sure, is EXTRA stiffness in the COLD!!

Now, i am sure that everyone gets a little stiffer in the cold, that’s only natural right? but can u imagine trying to get into a car and not being able to bend ur legs??? WDF????? Saturday nite, we went to a party. It was a club tuh boot, don’t remember the last time i did that (so not my style anymore! between the natives and their monkey glands, people stepping on meh foot, 1 fella actually coffed me in meh belly as he was walking past – what the?!?!?! but i digress). Anyhoo, so at the end of the nite, time to go home; I wasn’t driving so the driver went and brought the car around. G climbed in the back seat first and then i tried to follow and! what the hell…got my left leg in okay-ish, but why couldn’t i bend my right leg to get in???? I was soooooooo stiff, it wasn’t even funny.

Anyhoo, i’m happy to report that Spring looks like it’s finally coming to Atlanta – doh mind we had a snow storm last week! It’s been in the high 50s and 60s for the past 4/5 days straight so hopefully Ole Man Winter is on his way out…i’m ready for it – i’ve been hibernating for the past 4 months and i’m starting to slowly wake up!

Physical Therapy

I’ve been going to a physical therapist.

While exercising and working out will help in the long run (so they say), I didn’t think that i was getting what i wanted/needed from doing anything on my own. I’ve shared already that sometimes after doing my thing at the house, i could barely walk and quite frankly, i just wasn’t sure if that was really the right thing to do. If i didn’t push myself, i felt as if I was doing nothing, but on the flip side, if i pushed myself, then i was of no use to anyone after the fact. I made the executive decision that i needed some one on one attention with someone who could give me some targeted exercises to help me with the situation i am in.

On one of the nights that i went to the workshop at the MS Society, i asked 1 of the associates for a list of Physical Therapists with whom they are affiliated or work closely with on a regular basis. She gave me the list, i called my insurance company to see what coverage i might have for PT (how excited was I that PT was included in my plan!), chose a PT close to the house and have been going to see her since the end of February.

i don’t know if it’s mind over matter or the stretches and exercises that she’s taught me really are worth something, but i have seen an improvement *maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all*! I am able to stay on my feet and walk around for much longer than before – don’t get me wrong, i still have “issues” but the onset is after a longer period of time.

I will admit too, that now that i’m actually seeing improvement, i am more motivated to continue (altho i was a slacker for most of last week and didn’t do what i was supposed to (but that’s another story)). Did I mention that my appt. with my neurologist is 3/23?

so… between these exercises and the new medication, maybe – just maybe – things will be back to normal sometime in the near future.