Who Knew?

So, I did my first Pilates workout today!  Really? Me? 

Okay, so this all started when I started taking Lyrica.  This medication really helped my Fibro pain.  I felt an immediate change when the Dr. paired this with Sevella.  However, I also started gaining weight.... like rapidly.  Since I began the medication I have gained 25 pounds.  This might not sound like a lot to some people, but on my little 5 ft 1 inch frame, this is huge.  I approached the Dr. about this and his answer was, "well.... ya, that is a side affect, maybe limit your calories." Really?  It isn't like I'm eating everything in sight. This is why there are no pics of me at Disneyland!! Little self conscious here.....
     So I've been using the WII fit to exercise for the last year because we all know that exercise is a big part of fighting Fibromyalgia.  On my "good" days I've run/walked 'treadmill' style up to 5 miles, or done the aerobics, etc. I tried the yoga but the stretching was really hard on my back which is where my pain is located, so that didn't work for me. None of this has helped the weight gain problem. I keep it up for the fibro though.
     So Enter NETFLIX (BIG FAN!).  I'm cruising around this morning on What's new this week and I find FREE Pilates video. Sweet!  I decide to see if it is something I can do and the beginning workout is 10 minutes and it is relatively easy and didn't irritate my back at all.  Score! So I added this to my morning workout.  Let's see if I can get my body back with this.  It works for all the movie stars, right? Sigh. :0)

I'm Back

I know it's been awhile since I've written on my blog.  I feel like I kind of "went dark" for awhile.  I wanted this blog to be a positive place where anyone with chronic illness could go for some uplifting moments. But I have had some difficulties the past few months so I haven't felt much like writing. But even through the difficulties I have had some really amazing moments! 

San Fransisco was wonderful.  We crammed a lot of sight seeing into 3 days. We went to every tourist attraction there.  My favorite was alcatraz.  We also spent over a week with my daughter and grandkids just hanging out.  I had some good days, and some bad days. But mostly it was spent building some really great memories.

Then I had a spur of the moment trip home to spend a week with my mom, just the two of us.  It was a really special time for us.  We just spent girl time together.  We had never done this before and it was really a sweet, special time for us. I got to go to lunch with my favorite Auntie I hadn't seen in years. It was great.

Then.........the big one.  I have always wanted to go to Disneyland with all of my grandchildren (even before we had grandchildren this was a dream of mine).  In November it finally happened!

At this point I was having a lot of pain from my fibro, so I was taking life a moment at a time.  This trip was Magical for me.  I had to really enjoy every moment that I could.  My husband and I started the trip with my son and his wife and their two kids in Palm Springs.  We stayed in a Mansion (seriously!) provided by my daughter-in-law's parents.  We did nothing all day but swim in the pool and sit in the hot tub which did miracles for my back pain!   This place was awesome.  Our bedroom suite had a fireplace, an extra bedroom, bath and home gym. From here we went to San Diego and visited Sea World.  Then we met our daughter and family at Disneyland.  We went for 3 days straight. 

What a sweet and precious Moment!!  Having Sully give the kids a hug?  I wouldn't have missed this for the world.  I'm afraid I was not in hardly any pictures.  I had to be in a wheel chair all 3 days of Disneyland.  I couldn't walk around at all.  But I wouldn't have traded these special moments with my grandkids for anything.  I was able to ride on every ride they wanted me to go on with them.  I think we hit every kid ride there.

  Ok so here is the one picture I let my hubby take of me on my sweet ride:

I truly enjoyed the trip even though it was a challenge and I had to endure a lot of pain.  I've learned that you have to make a lot of trades. I am a work in progress. I know we all have the tendency to answer "I'm good" or "I'm fine" when someone asks how we are, when in reality we are not at all fine. But I know that my struggle is to strive to stay positive and work toward living the best life I can and look for those best moments in life that I can find.