Hi! Thanks for visiting! Today is Wednesday, May 17th, and it’s a lovely morning in the northern suburbs of Atlanta. By suburbs… I mean to say our neighborhood is, roughly, 50 miles from downtown Atlanta, but we still get all of the traffic and goodness that goes with living near a large city. Still, we’re far enough away to have some great parks and walking trails! Not to mention, the foothills to the mountains are only 45 minutes from home. In Charlotte, NC… it took us a good hour and a half to reach the mountains, so big bonus!
Anyway… I ramble.. Yep. I do that constantly, and it’s no more apparent than in my very own blog! I get to ramble and no one is here to stop me! Even better, sometimes people read it! 🙂 Good times!
This blog is primarily focused on living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and what it’s like (At least for me) on a daily basis. Not going to lie, sometimes it really sucks. However, for folks with my particular type of MS, (Relapsing and Remitting or RRMS for short), there are plenty of “Almost” normal days. RRMS is one of three types of MS. The other two are Primary Progressive MS (PPMS) and Secondary Progressive MS (SPMS).
I am fortunate to still be in the RRMS stage of things for as long as I have! Folks living with PPMS or SPMS, as I understand it, aren’t always so lucky. The disease is much present in the daily lives for folks in either of those two categories. The big kicker for those of us with RRMS is that neurologists say MS is progressive and, over time, everyone transitions from RRMS to PPMS or SPMS. Bummer!
Still, if you’ve been here before and read some of my prior stuff, you know I am not sitting around waiting for my wheelchair! 🙂
In general, I’m staying as active as I can! I sign up for local “Runs” (Super subjective use of that word) to keep me motivated on the exercise front. Also, I love the outdoors and hiking and try to get off the beaten path a few times a week. On the cognitive front, I stay busy around the house with my to-do lists (Thanks honey!), trying out new things in the kitchen and writing. Cognitive issues are what pushed me out of the workplace a few years back, so I’m a bit sensitive to doing my best to stay mentally sharp. Im not sure how well it’s working (I forget stuff constantly and know my friends are probably tired of hearing the same stories), but I do what I can! 🙂
On the exercise front, I signed myself (And my two younger sons) to run in the Peachtree Road Race on the 4th of July! It’s a big race with over 60K runners! The cool thing is, I have a goal! Super important for me! The not so good things, it’s a 6 mile race and it’s in July.
What about the 6 miles? Well… 6 miles is a LONG jog for me! I’m doing my best to prepare, but man…. it’s tough. I did a 4 mile route just outside my neighborhood on Monday and it about killed me! As I mentioned earlier, we’re closer to the mountains, so there are a LOT of hills. Long hills. Short hills. Long and steep hills. Short and steep hills. Oh my! 🙂 I clocked about 13 minutes per mile on that route and walked more than I had hoped… did I mention the hills? Still, I have 40+ days to keep at it…. just need to work on the hills.
Regarding July… heat and MS are not friends. I repeat, heat and MS are NOT friends. My initial diagnosis of MS came when I had a heat-related seizure after a bike ride on a very warm day. Still, the Peachtree Race kicks off early in the morning, so hopefully it’ll be a relatively cool start to the day. I just have to pay attention to how I’m feeling to make sure I don’t overheat. So, water stations… be prepared. 🙂
And… wait… good grief. 🙁 My wife needs a moment or two on the computer, so I’ll end things here today! Hope you have a great week and I’ll be back next week!
Take care,
steve
#1guywithMS
