Happy 1st Birthday to My Left Foot!!!!

Oh my....I can't believe it's been one year and at the same time it feels like it happened a lifetime ago. It's crazy to look back and compare where I was last year to where my life is now...well, there have been many positive changes, my feet are much better, I am back to work and living life. But it's the same because one of the calluses came back on each foot and there is a very big possibility of two more surgeries, one on each footsie. Thankfully these would be a lot simpler and my recovery would be much easier. Also, this time I am working so I'll hopefully be getting paid while I take the time to do this. My follow up with the surgeon who will give a second opinion is on May 3, so I'll know more then.

This week was a very positive one because I was able to schedule that follow up appointment and I officially became a registered member of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). They offer services to people who are diagnosed with 43 neuromuscular diseases. Their mission is to conquer neuromuscular diseases and fund research projects worldwide to help people like me have a better life. In February 2011 they were awarded 44 new research projects and $13.5 million. So clearly a cure is just around the corner. One of these days, in the near future, I'll stop complaining about pain, fatigue, exhaustion...I can't wait :)

I will take today to reflect about my journey and be thankful for the opportunity I had to dedicate some time of my life to get better and get healthier. For the doctors who safely operated on me. For my family who supported me every step of the way. For my love who was there for me. For my faith that kept me strong at the times when I most needed it. For my friends who kept me company and brought me goodies. I definitely have a lot to be grateful for! 

This was the before...

and this is the pretty after :)

The Voices of Charcot-Marie-Tooth

Check out this great article on the NY Times site: Voices of CMT
And you can listen to their stories here: Listen

I want to say thank you to all of them for speaking about their lives with CMT.

So many parts of what they said resonate with me...the more awareness we can create, the bigger chances that hopefully one day everyone will know what this disease is and that they will find the cure for CMT in our lifetime :)

CMT Awareness Month 2011

Here is a sneak peak of the official CMT AWARENESS MONTH poster art. This was designed by some very talented high school students in Florida.

Let's continue spreading the word so CMT will stop being an "invisible" disease.

Out with the Old, Dizzy with the New...

The anti-inflammatory my surgeon prescribed really didn't help at all...I didn't feel any change the two weeks I was on it. When I saw my pain management doc he wanted me to give him a call in two weeks to follow up and see how/if the medicine was helping. We spoke on Tuesday and I asked him if we could switch from that one to the pain meds I had heard about. He gave me a new prescription which I started taking that night (more on that later).

I also told him how I don't feel that the 30+ pills I'm taking every day are helping me at all. I'm just as tired, exhausted, fatigued, and have no energy. It's been more than 2 months since I started taking them and if they're not helping me out, I'd rather get off them because 1. It's not fun taking so many pills and 2. They cost an arm and a leg! So we agreed that I'll call him in another 2 weeks to let him know how the new pain med is working out for me and at that time, he'll ask for all that blood work again. He wants to compare my first results with the new ones to see if there's any difference.

I started taking the new pain med on Tuesday night in conjunction with the anti-inflammatory. He wants me to take them together at first to try to get the best result possible and then if it works we can scale it back. Well, I have woken up all this week so rested and refreshed, like I'm not waking up with a huge weight over me, and the pain level has been significantly lower. It's actually been SOOOO amazing to wake up like how I would assume most human beings do.

The only downside has been the side effects, which has me really dizzy and groggy! It's been hard to be in meetings at work - falling asleep in front of your boss - NOT COOL! Oh and they also had a belated surprise birthday party planned for me on Wednesday and I felt so dizzy John picked me up so I spoiled the whole surprise...oops! I'm just hoping my body gets used to the meds so I don't have to stop taking them because I'm enjoying feeling lighter :)