Update

I promised a while back that when I was comfortable with my diagnosis that I would post more info here. So here goes.

A little over a month ago, I finally figured out why I was having the issues that I was having. While I was very happy to hear that it was not MS, the answer to me was almost more scary. First of all, let me say that in the process of all this I had to switch neurologists. I felt that my previous doctor was discounting most of my symptoms and my physician's referral due to my mom's MS. I did not self-refer to the neuro thinking I had MS. I honestly thought I was still suffering from the lingering effects of the heat exhaustion I experienced during the mission trip or something else like Chronic Fatigue. Lab test after lab test, needle after needle, explaining the symptoms, the constant companion of the fatigue and dizziness and waking up tired.

The doctor wanted me to try Ambien. I waited until a time we were out of town and I didn't really have anywhere to be in the morning, which coincided with a trip to Ohio to pick up Mae-Lei after a week with my in-laws during track-out. We had a couple days and with other people there, I was able to rely on them to help me out in the morning if she woke up before I did. She definitely woke up before I did. I was sleeping until 10 am on half a tablet of Ambien. Yikes!!! That's a bit much. I was now feeling rested in the morning, but still needed a nap by mid-afternoon. That meant I still wasn't getting the right kind of sleep, even with the ambien.

So, when nothing else was working, my doctor wanted me to see the neurologist to go down the MS path. Not really the words I wanted to hear. His words were, "I believe you have early MS, it's not a definitive diagnosis, but it's the best I have at this point." I called the neurologist that I had seen for my migraines and set up an appointment. Of course, the wait to be seen, even by the PA is a month or more. I get to the day of the appointment with the PA and finally get called back and am greeted by the PA and asked what brings me in. Mind you, I am not even in a room at this point, we are walking back to a room. I explain to her that my Dr. referred me to be seen for possible early MS. As we enter the room, her attitude surfaces, and I hear the words, "first of all, let me tell you, you don't have MS." GREAT!!! Now, do the right things and figure out what is wrong with me.

She then goes on to explain that she understands that I am overly sensitive to the symptoms because of mom's MS and that just because mom has MS and I have overlapping symptoms, it doesn't mean I have MS. Once again, GREAT!!! Just figure out what is wrong!! She is pretty much blowing me off and disregarding everything I am telling her, like it is MS or nothing. No other possible neuroligical condition is possible. She sends me for even more labs for vitamin d deficiency and thyroid. If not better in 6 months, she'll see me again.

At this point, I am beyond royally pissed. She's essentially called me a hypochondriac, looking for a diagnosis that just isn't there. She ignored my doctor's referral and sent me back. After speaking with him, we decided to do just that... bide our time, manage symptoms and wait it out. During that time, I came to the conclusion that I would change docs. Either within the practice or whole new practice. I finally decided to see another doctor that was highly recommended within the practice and scheduled to see him at the end of January.

When I met with him, it was such a polar opposite to my previous experience. He actually talked to me, sat and listened to what I was experiencing and realized that I wasn't making this stuff up and that I was truly scared. We scheduled an MRI and an EEG and had both completed in fairly short order. I heard back within 24 hours that my MRI was completely normally, which essentially ruled out MS officially. YAY!!! But now what.. What is going?? EEG was 10 days later and I had to be sleep deprived which meant a late night and an early morning, no caffeine or anything else that could keep me awake. I went in, did all the fun parts of the EEG, then went home and went to bed. They advised that it would take about 10 days to 2 weeks to get the results and I was okay with that and scheduled my followup for 3 weeks later. I never received a call back on my MRI results. I should have known then.

The day of my followup comes and I get there of course early as usual. I discuss the continued issues and ask about the results of the EEG as I hadn't received a call on that and he didn't have a copy of them in my chart. He stepped out of the room, made a call and came back a few minutes later. When he came back in, he said that while there was nothing "major" on the EEG, there appeared to be some "minor" activity that was a little concerning. He then asked if I had ever had seizures previously. I was like... "HUH???" I have never had seizures before in my life.

He then goes on to tell me that person who have migraines have a higher incidence of seizures. Evidently, I have begun having seizures at some point in the last 18 months to 2 yrs. I am now back on the same medication that I was on previously for my migraines when I was having major migraine issues a number of years ago. It is interesting to say the least. The good news is that my seizures are not the typical tonic/clonic seizures, but what are called a focal or partial seizure. That is what has made it harder to diagnose. I am awake, aware and conscious the whole time. I get light-headed or dizzy, muscle weakness or a tingly hand, but nothing like the seizures you see on tv or in movies.

Now for the fun part. I am still allowed to cycle, run, swim, drive and do everything else I enjoy. I debated a long time about posting this and letting people know what has been going on. But I realized that I post for me, but there may be someone out there who is going through what I have been going through and questioning if they can keep doing what they love. I am cycling as strong as I was two years ago. I am running and swimming. I am climbing hills and riding strong.

I never knew when I started this blog or titled it what I did how prophetic the title would be. You truly never know until you try. I keep trying and I keep finding out how strong I am and how much stronger I can be. So, no matter what challenges life throws at you, just keep trying.

It Clicked!!

Today, following my workout I was so very pleased with the progress I've made in just a week. But the amazing thing is, something clicked today.

I have worked out for years, trained for years, raced for a couple years, competed at different levels for years. It never clicked until today.

You can have the best personal trainer, the best nutritionist, the best personal chef, the best everything in the world. But until you figure out what works for you, what trips your trigger and makes you happy and makes you happy, it won't work for you. Find it and own it. I think I have found mine.

I LOVE BOXING!!

Boxing is fun, it is hard work, it makes me sweat and it makes me strong. I was doing things today in my workout that I couldn't do two weeks ago, let alone last week. I have babied my knees after surgery and that is done. I was doing lunges and squats today, up downs, burpees, commando pushups and more.

The amazing thing is, I did my first boxing class 1 week ago and could only do 3 commando pushups. At the end of class today, we were challenged with 30 seconds, do as many commando pushups as you can and remember that and do more next time. 1 week and I saw that much improvement... ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Holy Cow!! I so love these classes!!!

Now, lets's see if I can bust through this plateau and maybe actually hit my goal weight!!! Let's see what happens.

Boxing aftermath and Wowsers

Okay, so I have recently taken up boxing in the last couple of weeks during a trial period at a gym near several of the stores I work at. I went in a couple of weeks ago to get a trial pass and unfortunately due to my crazy schedule and the travel for the shuttle launch, I was unable to make it in until a day before it was due to expire. They extended the pass for me for an additional two weeks. How cool was that. Not many gyms will do that for you. If you don't take advantage of it, too bad.

The manager rocks and actually has some ties to the fight game. She is actually related to an MMA fighter and does train at the gym as well. She also admits that she doesn't know it all and I enjoy talking with her.

I have been told that the soreness isn't so bad the day after the workout, but second day is worse. I haven't experienced that at this point, but at this point, I am already seeing a difference in my strength though.

My sister asked me to go workout with her tonight. Her trainer invited me to workout with him and do the same workout with her. Part of the workout was abdominal work and I would honestly say that two weeks ago, I probably wouldn't have been able to rock it out like I did tonight without the previous two workouts at LA Boxing last week. I worked my abs so hard last week that this week, these exercises today were much easier.

Not only do you work your abs during warmup, you work them during the workout and you work them out at the end when you are exhausted from the workout and just want to curl up in the fetal position and go to sleep. I intend to continue the ab portions at home and although I can't join LA Boxing due to our current financial obligations, I hope to eventually join. I plan to work hard here at home until the time I can join LA Boxing and allow them to kick my butt.

thanks to Megan, Nasser and Mike for being a part of this journey and giving me a new fire and passion to hopefully get me over this hump. Y'all rock. I'll be back.

What a workout

I don't know that I have ever burned that many calories in ONE hour.

I have a 2 week VIP pass to LA Boxing. I chose to do a boxing class today and see what I thought. I was amazed at how quickly I started sweating within 5 minutes and I was soaked. I thought boxing might be a good upper body workout, but I was wrong. It is a good full body workout with cardio and core worked in at the same time. Holy Canoli.

I figure that most likely I will not be able to move well tomorrow. My arms are jello, my abs are sore, my legs are sore. The good news is that I really enjoyed the workout and would love to go back for more. Going to talk to the hubby tonight and see what he says about the membership.

Beauty and the Beast Royal Family 5k

After a very busy weekend I am finally able to update following this "race"!! This wasn't truly a race. In all reality, it was a fun run. The 5k was not given a timing chip so once we started, we went until we finished, without any age group finish or awards.

The 5k was definitely not the main reason for the trip but it was definitely a great add-on to the trip. It wasn't an accurate gauge of where my training is for White Lake on Mother's day either. The field was so packed that my plan went out the window very quickly. I knew going in that I was going to have fun with it and whatever time came out of it, I was going to be happy with due to the health issues and new meds that I was still acclimating my body to, but it was something fun for me and also something that was healthy and would impact anyone else on the trip and be a good influence for the kids as well.

Friday night was the packet pickup and Fit for a Princess expo at the Josten's Center at Walt Disney World Resort. The traffic wasn't too bad for the expo, but it started at 10 am and went until 7 pm. I arrived around 4 pm and had planned to go in, get my stuff and leave. When I got there and realized the full scope of the event, I realized I needed to take in the full experience and decided to stay and walk through the expo.

Jeff Galloway was there doing a presentation when I arrived. I was more interested in walking around and seeing the various products that were being offered by the different vendors. There were some pretty cool ones and I actually bought one or two. I also bought a head band to wear to keep the shorter parts of my hair out of my face while running. It bothers me to have to mess with my hair while I am running. The unfortunate part is that it was branded with the half marathon logo. There was no 5k merchandise. I guess the good thing is, the head band was SO SPARKLY that you can read the half marathon logo. The second product I bought was Yurbuds. If you run or exercise with iPod headphones, you know they like to fall out of your ears while jogging or moving around too much. I fight them while working, working out or jogging. They had a group sizing athletes and letting you try a pair during the expo and despite the price, I bought a pair, used them during the 5k and I am SOLD!!!! I never once worried about my buds, could hear the people around me AND could hear the people cheering around me. Pretty cool. Also, I could turn the volume down and still hear my music.

I contemplated replacing my polar HRM while at the expo, but decided against it at this point. I still have my REI dividend coming soon and I am hoping to use part of that to get my new garmin HRM with GPS integrated. We'll see, I'm still looking at all my options.

Now, to the race. I got up early for the race as we all had to be there by 6:15 am. Not entirely possible with the shear amount of traffic into Epcot that morning. My mom dropped me off and had planned to head back to the hotel and geet the rest of the family and return, but when she saw the amount of traffic, we both decided that it would be better to let the kids sleep and I'd catch the monorail back to the Polynesian and then walk from the Poly to Shades of Green. It's a short walk. My mom was concerned about me being tired after the 5k and then walking back to the hotel, but I figured that if I could do a 5k, I could walk the 1 mile max back to the hotel.

During the 45 minute lead up to the run, I was walking around and seeing some of the costumes and shirts and different outfits people were wearing for the 5k. Some were hysterical, some were funny, some were scary, some were sweet, some were just right. I saw for women in ball gowns, I saw a guy dressed as Snow White, I saw an older couple and he had a shirt that said, It's my 50th birthday and my wife is making me do THIS!!, but on the back it said I married MY princess!! aaaaawwww!!! One woman dressed up as Chatsworth, the clock from Beauty and the Beast. One couple were in black shirts, red tutu's black shorts and socks with their running shoes. It was all too much.

We were all dancing up to the Star Spangled Banner. After that, rather than the typical on your mark, get set, go, we were set on our way BE! OUR! GUEST!!!! I can't believe the number of people that were doing the 5k. I never did hear a final tally on the numbers, but it really didn't open up until around the 1 mile mark. I had gone into it with the plan to jog until I got my heart rate up and then walk 1 minute, jog 1 minute and keep going until the end. I haven't been doing much training, but I've been on the bike and figured that fitness could carry me through and it did. The funny thing is, once I got it through my thick head that this was a fun run and I needed to just have fun, I did. The 1 mile mark was still outside of Epcot, at the guard shack backstage. We then entered backstage behind test track. turned left and around toward Mexico. As we entered Mexico, we were greeted with WELCOME TO MEXICO!!! I returned with WHERE'S MY TEQUILA!?!?!?!? Hehehehehe. Had to have a little fun with it. Right after Mexico is China and our first "Princess." I use apostrophes for that one because in the Disney pantheon of princesses, Mulan is not technically a princess. As far as our kids are concerned, she is. I didn't think to open up the camera on my iphone and get a picture. I stopped, said hello for me and the girls and headed on. I kept jogging past Snow White and Dopey and a couple of other, but stopped in America to get a picture with Pocahontas. I waited for a period of time for that picture. It was worth it and I had fun talking with the ladies around me. After the picture, I took off again, stopping at the top of a bridge to take a beautiful sunrise picture, then took off once again. One more picture in front of Spaceship Earth with me in front and then off to the finish. Final time was 53:00 flat. My time at the 5k in January was 44:00 plus, but about half of the race was uphill. I know the 5k at my tri will be flat.

I think this race qualifies for coolest race bib ever and favorite medal ever. Have fun with the pics, I had fun running.

NEW RACE!!!

Well, it has been decided that we are heading to Florida to see one of the final shuttle launches this week and I was looking around the disney site and noticed that the Princess Half-Marathon was part of the weekend we would be there. I also noticed that they had a 5k the day before the marathon.

The Beauty and the Beast 5k at Epcot will be run on February 26, (my sister's b-day) and I signed up. I believe I actually claimed the final spot. I noticed that the race was 99% full when I registered and when I returned to the info page it had updated to read sold out. The course is a relatively flat course aside from the parts I don't know from being "backstage" portions of Epcot. I am excited for this one because it is a travel race, we are already there and my nephew, niece, mom and dad will all be there. My parents will see me finish my first race since high school!!! COOL!!!!! My daughter is already packed for the trip and has included 2 cowbells for cheering and her running shoes as she wants to run the last 100 yards with me and has already told me so.

If you know me really well, fashion has never been a priority for me and likely never will be. I am a jeans and comfy shirt kind of girl, but for this race, it will be different. I am wearing a PINK running skirt by skirt sports. I received this skirt a couple years ago for volunteering at the skirt chaser 5k here in Raleigh.

now a brief health update. I finally have an answer on the health front and am not comfortable at this time sharing the diagnosis. I will say this, it is tied to my migraines, but it is an additional piece. I have already started medication and I am feeling better every day, but it is also something that is need to know and when I am more comfortable with this information myself, I may share. Until that time, know this, I do not have MS or a brain tumor, I have not had a stroke and what I do have can be treated and is being treated by taking a single medication. I thank you all for your thoughts and prayers as they are truly the only way I have made it through the last 9 months. They have been trying, but to have an answer despite it being one I am still absorbing, is truly a prayer answered. Thank you all.

2nd Ride of 2011

Great route for yesterday's ride.

I rode yesterday and the question was, should I?? I worked 11 hours on saturday and got up sunday morning and had one more hour to work. By the time 2pm rolled around, I was exhausted and completely lacked any form of energy.

At 12 miles in, I wanted to stop and call my mom to bring my van and come pick me up out on the road. I wanted to quit riding so many times, but I didn't. That is one thing I learned the first year I started cycling. If I quit, then I'll be mad at myself and beat myself up for not pushing through it.

So final ride total after riding back to mom's to pick up my van, was 22.72 miles with an average speed of 13.00 mph. Max speed of 29.8 mph which I know was on a descent because I hit full tuck and was doing my best to maximize speed on the down to stay in contact with my group on the up.

In last 8 days I have ridden 45 miles and have felt great afterwards. Last year I rode about 315 miles last year, which was pretty respectable considering 2 knee surgeries last year. I have a fairly high goal for mileage ridden this year, but I am keeping that goal to myself and I am getting there quicker than I ever thought possible. Let's hope I keep going forward!!