Time to Get Back to Exercising!!!!

I am still thankfully feeling amazing!!! This has been a great week...I have actually been a great housewife...cooked two dinners (John's been a happy man!), cleaned the entire house, hosted some dear friends from NJ for breakfast, and enjoyed a great weekend with Miss Pretty Shoes. I am so happy that this blog introduced us and I'm really happy to have her as a friend.

My mom came over on Friday night and she said she could see the change in me and my friends said they could see a different twinkle in my eye. Well, I am just so sooo sooooo grateful to be getting up in the morning with a clear head and without the burden of the pain in my legs. I just feel ready to get back to life!!!

So I want to start exercising again...and by exercising, I don't mean anything hardcore to lose weight or build muscles. I just want to get my body moving a little bit, get my blood circulation going, and just do a little to have even more energy. My dad is an eBay addict, so I recruited him with the task of finding me an exercise bike and the only requirement was that it was a recumbent exercise bike so I can lean back and enjoy my TV shows while riding so I won't even notice the time passing.

It took him no time to find this great bike, right in NYC, for a great price!!! Today we found a great place for it in our living room, right in front of the TV (gotta stay motivated) and I've already done my first exercise!!!! Now I want to get into a routine of waking up a few minutes early to start my day on the right note  :)

It's still working =)

I have now been taking the two pain pills at night for two weeks and it's working GREAT!!!! I have had two really intense weeks at work with two major events that I was organizing back to back and this was sooo helpful!!! I'd go to sleep exhausted and wake up new.

The only day when I didn't wake up feeling very well was yesterday, but Friday was an extremely tiring day at work. For starters, I was up at 4:30am and hit the road by 5:30am to go set up the event. And then I was on my feet for most of the morning and part of the afternoon. Even a regular human being would be tired, let alone a human being with CMT.

I'm really excited to have a nice long Memorial Day weekend next week. And I'm really excited that my buddy Jess will be coming up to visit, hang out and get our surgery stories up to date!

The Fog Has Lifted...

As you've been able to tell from most entries I've written lately, I've been really struggling: with pain, with fatigue, with exhaustion. I've been on a journey in search of medical and spiritual help to find some relief. I am definitely a lot better now than when I started, but I have to say that a switch seems to have clicked over the last week that could make all the difference in the world.

About a month ago, I started on a new pain medication, in addition to increasing my daily dosage of Lyrica (for my nerve pain). My doctor said I could take 1-2 pills every 4 to 6 hours. Since I'm already popping enough pills as it is, I've been doing one pill with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I've noticed some relief but nothing major. The last two weeks have been extremely busy for me personally and at work and I seriously crashed last Thursday night with an incredibly busy day and I was just BEYOND exhausted. Since I had to go to work on Friday, I decided to take two pills with dinner so maybe I could have a better night of sleep.

Well, I could've probably JUMPED off the bed in the morning if I wanted to because I just felt SO good. And that's not what I expected at all - I just thought I'd be completely sore and a zombie at work all day. Then I had another busy weekend and I decided to try my luck and take two pills with dinner on Sunday night and Monday night. I honestly can't even think of the right words to express how I feel....

I can't remember the last time I felt this light, this clear headed, this rested, this AWAKE. I feel as though I've been walking around with a veil of exhaustion over me that has suddenly lifted. I was able to wake up yesterday and today, even after not a full 8 hours of sleep, and not feel like I had an elephant sitting on top of my legs. I've been able to sit through meetings without yawning repeatedly. I've had two super busy days at work because one of our biggest events of the year is on Thursday and I'm not stressed. I'm just going through the motions and getting the work done.

Like I said, I can't remember the last time I have felt ANY of these things. I've been on survivor mode since going back to work and just struggling to make it through the week, always tired, always in pain. The pain has not completely gone away but I feel like the fog I've been in has been lifted. I am praying that this is a permanent change, but even if it's not, I am just BEYOND HAPPY that I've had these days to feel like my old self, I guess. It's been so long, I couldn't remember what it was like.

And honestly, the more I think about it, I can't really remember what my old self was like - before all of this got so much more intense and painful. If this is my new norm, I am excited to re-discover how I used to be. Maybe a little more calm, a little less on edge, much much happier. I so soooo needed this. I am SO thankful to God!!

I hope people who are healthy and read this entry don't take for granted what they have. I know we have SO much to be grateful for and sometimes it's not until you lose it that you realize how good you have it. I am LOVING this "new" old me. I can't wait to call my doctor tomorrow and tell him the amazing news!

Thank you for being there for me and for helping me along the way...

Thank you to another dear friend who has helped me so much!

Surgeon #2

Today has been a really crazy day and I'm glad it's coming to an end. I'm even happier because now I have some more conclusive answers about my surgery situation. Quick update - callus on right foot is worse and bigger than callus on left foot and bothering me a lot more. I have been really tired and exhausted, which is the reason why my entries keep dwindling. I still don't think the supplements are helping me and I'm doing blood work to get some more results.

So last night I slept at my parents' house and my mom and I went into the city this morning to meet the doctor referred by Dr. Feldman for a second opinion. I had a great first impression, liked him right away, which is always a great sign. He reviewed all the information I brought, examined me, then stepped out of the room. When he came back, he told me he called Dr. Feldman on his cell phone and they discussed my case already. More brownie points!

So he said we had two options. The simplest and the one he recommends is to just shave off some of the fifth metatarsal's bone, which should relieve some of the pressure on the callus of my right foot. Should be a fairly simple surgery, local anesthesia and possibly not even one night in the hospital. Would probably go right into a walking boot and return to work fairly quickly. Option #2 would be to break the fifth metatarsal bone and raise it to relieve pressure. But then he said he wasn't sure if it wouldn't create a problem for the fourth metatarsal (Oy vey!). This would also be a much more invasive procedure with longer recovery. And he doesn't think pinning all my toes would help at all, so as of now they stay "hammered."

So obviously I chose option 1, and we agreed that if it didn't get much better, we can always consider option 2 in the future. After this I will also try wearing orthotics at least while I'm at work so my feet won't feel so much pressure while I'm running around. For now I think we'll just ignore my left foot...it's hurting a bit but I think I can live with it. I was also surprised to know that Surgeon #2 will perform this surgery, instead of Dr. Feldman. Not that it's a problem, I just wasn't expecting it. Oh that reminds me - I should figure out how this works for my insurance since he's out of network.

Once I got to work I had a chat with the powers that be and it looks like I'll be able to schedule something for the beginning of July and possibly take off two weeks. And this would mean that I may still be able to take my family trip in November!!!!!!!!!!!! Which is really what I'm most excited about! This last part hasn't been approved yet but one can dream...