Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Happy New Year!

It's January 2013, and a great start for a new year. I just finished the major draft of 'Love, Life, and God: Getting Past the Pain'. I found a website with online Pain Management -- http://pain.goalistics.com. Someone I know showed me an article in January's Reader's Digest about a gadget she invented which was instrumental in the miraculous recovery of her daughter --http://neurolumen.com. Maybe it can help me, too.

The Annual Local Author's Fest is coming up on the 19th at our library. When I stopped by there earlier this week, I saw that 15 authors will be there this year (including me) and all our books are on display as you walk in the door. As I walked over to the counter to ask a question, a bright PINK book with yellow letters caught my attention: 'Younger Next Year for Women' by Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, M.D. which was exactly the book I needed to read. 

After I got my DexaScan, the doctor's office called me and told me I needed to go see an Oncologist to get Prolia Injections. I had panicked. Why did I have to go see an Oncologist? A CANCER doctor? Two days later, I found out that this doctor was the only one approved by Medicare and other types of insurance to get these injections, WHICH WERE FOR OSTEOPOROSIS and that I didn't have cancer. But I was also filled with fear about what my future would be like if my bones don't hold up. 

But this pink book I found has the answer. The title is 'Younger NEXT Year' because you are supposed to start exercising, both weight lifting and aerobics, slowly and gradually, working your way up... that weight lifting was the only thing that would strengthen your bones and keep them from decaying. I had always done too much too fast, then quit, because I was in too much pain. This PINK book says we all have to get old, but we don't have to ROT. And it is not just another FAD diet with expensive supplements that most of us cannot afford. And on the aerobics end, you just had to get your heart rate up to a specific point, which I do just prancing around my apartment while reading books and talking on my cell phone.

And are you a Facebook addict? I am. I have 'liked' so many pages that it takes hours every day to go through them all. It keeps me busy when I have little else to do. I tore myself away for awhile to finish writing my book (Love, Life, & God), allowing just 30 minutes a day to jump in, check on my son, pregnant daughter-in-law and a couple of other people, and jump out. I finished the book about the 1st of January (didn't win the non-fiction contest, but I am fine with that--I had more to add to it). 

While I was waiting for the proof to come in the mail, I dove into Facebook to organize all my 'liked' pages after I organized all the emails I got into folders because I don't have time to read them all now. A lot of them are newsletters of all sorts I've subscribed to. I'm a fanatic about being organized. I figured out that you can organize all your 'liked' pages into file folders called 'interests.' While I was doing this, I saw the little word 'group' below my interest list. I am just a poor girl trying to get by on a not so big fixed income (for now), so finding out I could create a group in my free Facebook page is a big deal for me. I wanted to create a 'Pain Support Group' of people I know locally and from Facebook who deal with chronic discouraging pain, like I do. We don't have a Pain Support Group in my area so I wanted to form one. If you are on Facebook and you want to be included in this group, let me know!

I am feeling incredibly inspired and motivated! This is what gets me through a day with a hard to live in body. I feel encouraged about knowing that back in February, I could not walk very far or very fast. I feel encouraged at how much stronger I've become by doing my therapy ball exercises consistently. I've succeeded in shifting my way of thinking from 'I can't do it' to 'I can' -- to learn how to train like an athlete (on a much smaller scale). Having my own place has cured so many things: giving me the space to exercise and do/organize all the projects I managed to start. Hope I can keep up the pace!!!!