Time....

     It has been a year already for my daughter and her husband to be married. The time sure has passed quickly. Happy Anniversary to them.  I was recounting this story of when my kids were young.  It was one of those times; we were posted to North Bay. We were waiting for our military house and the kids from being in close quarters each day I would put them on timeout and each day but when saying my prayers I would ask for more patience.


The next day we were not up five minutes and they started arguing, so I said, “that is it’, and they said, “no Mommy we don’t want to go to our room’ and “I said, you don’t have to your room, I am going to mine”. To this day I love this story. It is hard to believe the years have passed so quickly including this past year; so much has taken place in a short amount of time. We have been very busy with the life events and learning new coping strategies for helping me deal with the MSA. We have to remind ourselves that sometimes we need to remove ourselves from the situations.

      My balance has been getting much worse this past year. I was in the bathroom and needed something under the sink, l have trouble when leaning in or over something.  So needless to say I fell, face first into the cupboard door. Luckily I did not hurt myself when falling into the cupboard. I was crying not only because I was hurt but that I also ripped the door off the hinges. I had visions of our condo being a mess from me. Everything being marked up from my walker or cupboard doors off from me and this dreaded disease called MSA .  Hunny, always says it is only screws and paint but this does not make feel better.

     One of the symptoms of MSA is difficulty with my bladder. I keep having kidney infections and flank pain and instead my temperature going up it drops. After a few days of this I went to the doctors to get antibiotics to clear up my 7^th infection.  Another one of these and I would have to do something more serious. I not only have trouble with frequency and urgency but the emptying the bladder is an issue also. Now by the time I get out of bed and to the bathroom and sit there and wait, then get back to bed I am awake. So my day starts very early.

   I still try to go to the gym and I try not to get discouraged. To think I started running at 5.2 MPH then slowly it turned to walking down (not up) to 2.5 MPH. I eventually moved to the elliptical because I would not have to move my feet, but this became hard to climb up on the elliptical so I moved to the recumbent bike. I have been using this for a few months but notice when I am pushing the leg making the revolution has tremors. Needless to say I don’t go to the gym now, but although I do not go down to gym I use tension bands. I stay as active as long as I can! As long as I have the support of my family I will persevere.