My Journey Recapped (Part 3)

In May, we discovered that my Dad's cancer had returned and that he had 4-6 months.  As he got weaker, my mother required my assistance more in the evenings after his caregiver had gone for the day.  But I was determined to make time for me and keep up with what I was doing.  Things started getting really crazy over the summer -- but my WW was one thing in my life that I could control.  My Dad died on August 31, and again through all this I felt my life was totally out of control - I bobbled on points and walking, but got back to it as soon as I could.  Again it was the only thing I could control, and by this point I needed that stability that I had some influence over something in my life. 

Four weeks later on a what was supposed to be a 9 mile walk, but was actually closer to 10 miles, I started rushing as we were finishing the walk because I thought I was off-pace and tore cartilage in my knee.  The knee immediately locked up which put the walking on hold.  I ended up having arthroscopic surgery in October.  Again, this has been a major challenge in my life and to my WW efforts because all of sudden I couldn't earn any APs - none, there was nothing I could do until after the surgery.

 A week after the surgery I started 2 months of physical therapy.  I realized that because I had been working out, my body was really missing it -- amazing concept for me.  So, I really worked at therapy, and finally got permission to start walking short distances in November.  We went to my sister's for Thanksgiving and the first thing we found out is her cancer is back.  I feel that life is starting to throw all of us curve balls again, and so I renewed my vow to improve my own physical well-being.

My Journey Recapped (Part 2)

Once I made 3 miles as a goal, I realized I could do a 5K.  I looked into various events and found the Komen Race for the Cure in Atlanta (where my sister lives) in May.  I called my sister and told her about it.  She decided she wanted to have that as a goal for herself as well.  We told my other sister about it and decided that we would make it into a sister's weekend, something we haven't been able to do much because of everything going on (plus the fact that other sister lives in Europe).  Well, our sister's weekend blossomed into a Team of 20 being formed for the Race made up of family and friends.  Mom even got Dad's caregiver to stay with him and went.  I did the Race with a personal goal of completing it in under an hour -- and I did it in 58 minutes - 4 months after barely being able to complete a mile in 30 minutes.

Once the Race was over, we decided to keep up Team Life Is Good (my sister's idea -- she has such a fabulous attitude about everything she has been through -- but that is a whole other story) for the Race for the Cure in Houston in October.  But I needed another goal to shoot for because I was starting to slack off on my walking.  So I started exploring longer distances.  In July, the local USA Fit group started training for the Houston Marathon that is held in January every year.  I thought about it and figured I could at least do a half.  The training started out so easy, that I actually started training for the full, and I figured I would switch over to the half marathon group when the training got too hard.  

My Journey Recapped

Someone asked my about my success with WW today and I replied with the following:

I'm not sure what my success is -- but if I had to say it's a combination of being very aware of my family history, determination to do it this time, and a big part is the support on the boards.  I have set physical activity goals as I have gone on, and that has helped as well.  <Warning: The rest of this is going to get wordy, but I'm on a roll now and I guess I really need to get this on paper.> 

A little bit of my family history -- my Dad was a cancer survivor of non-Hodgkins lymphoma and renal cell carcinoma.  In 2001, he had a brain-stem stroke and was hospitalized for 5 months before being moved to a nursing home.  He finally was able to come home in November 2002.  Because of the stroke, Daddy had to have a trach, and because of the trach, somebody from the family stayed with him 24/7 with very few exceptions.  Daddy couldn't call for help if needed, and didn't always know when he needed assistance.  As a result, I spent a lot of time "vegging" in his room, or eating really poorly because I brought Mom dinner almost every night (Mom spent the majority of the time with Dad with me relieving her a couple of nights a week - I was working full-time as well). 

In 2002, my youngest sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through a double mastectomy, chemo and radiation. With all those factors and once Daddy came home, I decided that I had to do something.  Also, I had a young niece that I wanted to be able to play with and didn't want her to remember Aunt Maggie as someone who couldn't do anything.  I was at a near high in my weight and had almost no exercise in almost 2 years from daddy-sitting.  So on January 6, 2003, I started journaling (I actually started counting points the following week -- one step at a time) and walking on the treadmill.  I could barely do 1 mile at about 2 mph.  But I wanted to go to Disney World with my sister and her family, and she told me to be able to go with them, I had to be able to walk 3 miles over a day.  So that was my first goal, to be able to walk 3 miles and enjoy myself at Disney World. 

Walking With USA Fit Group

I did 4 miles with the walking group today (they did 5).  I was so far behind the rest of the group it was pathetic, but I felt pretty good while walking - a little pain, but not too bad at the time.  I have lost so much in the last 3 months of speed and endurance.  Both knees are hurting tonight and I know that it's a result of pounding on asphalt and concrete for over an hour.  But I'm planning on doing the 5K next week and finish the marathon training season for 2003.  I'm not sure if I'm realistically going to be able to do anymore serious training, but I guess that I will wait and see how I'm doing come April or so when I have to start seriously training for Virginia Beach.  Maybe by then I will have enough more weight off to make a difference.  I'll keep plugging away on the treadmill until then.

Mary Is Home

I can't believe I haven't written this down yet (ok, so I haven't written in almost a week) but ML came home Friday with an oxygen generator rather than an O2 bottle.  She is on 3 liters under normal conditions and is able to get around a little at home.  She was supposed to start PT yesterday.

Audrey is so glad to have Mommy at home.  ML said that she has been playing close by and climbing up in Mommy's lap, etc.  I know that it was really hard on Audrey when ML was so sick.  She didn't understand why everyone was so upset and why Mommy was not at home.  I think it was really upsetting how no one mentioned Mommy when we first got there.  It was like she just totally disappeared.  I hope that the good feelings lasted past Audrey having to go to school yesterday.

Am I Crazy Or What?

Dr. Kolstad recommended bike riding so I got one last week.  He even suggested the MS150.  I signed up today after talking to some of the people at work.  I must be crazy.  I couldn't get ready for the marathon so now I'm going to kill myself on a bike.

I'm still planning on walking the 5K on the 18th since I'm not doing the half-marathon.  Hopefully, it will still be a fun time.

I'm workng to manage both walking and cycling into my schedule.  I'm going to walk 3 times a week and cycle (both stationary and outside) 3 times a week for a while and see how it goes.  I'm also trying to get some strength training in.  Yes, I'm going nuts but I figure that if I start out the year right, maybe it will carry through the year.

I was up 4 pounds yesterday at WI which wasn't too bad considering that I basically blew off trying to stay on plan while in Atlanta, and then was not very good this weekend.  I'm trying to re-commit to doing a better job staying on plan again.  It's really hard because it is so easy for me to slack off after being online with WW for a year today.  When I started last year, it was really easy for me to restrict myself and get into the groove.  Now, I tend to eat too many chips at the Mexican Food restaurants, to eat the refried beans and rice.  I need to show some restraint when eating out again.

Mary's Journey

ML has had a very rough couple of weeks.  She continues to have breathing problems but it was a lot worse.  She was put in ICU on Christmas Eve because her Oxygen Saturation levels were not stable at all.  She needed increasingly higher concentrations of oxygen.  The doctors started her on chemo and antibiotics because they weren't sure what was causing the oxygen exchange problems.  It turns out they guessed right.  Christmas Day, she was showing marked improvement.  I think the power of prayer had something to do with that.

The doctors weren't even sure if ML would leave the hospital and now 1 week later they are saying she may be able to go home Friday, two weeks after she was admitted.  She will go home with oxygen, but the fact that she is stable enough and is on low enough concentration to survive at home is a miracle.