Celebrate a healthy body!

I recently went in for my yearly physical (yeah, that one). I come from a family with strong, genetic illnesses (like arthritis, type 1 diabetes and thyroid disease to name a few) so after I had a scare with gestational diabetes, I have been uber vigilant to take care of myself by eating right and exercising. I have thyroid disease and arthritis but the Dr. told me I am a very healthy 41 year old woman. So, why would I celebrate this you ask? Well, today is the 8th day after my back surgery and I saw the surgeon for the first follow-up. He was amazed at how well I was walking and moving, how I wasn't on ANY pain pills, how well my incision is healing (he actually removed the steri-strips) and told me I was unlike any other patient. I have a high pain threshold and that in combination with a healthy body is what, I believe, has contributed to my remarkable recovery. So, today we celebrate a healthy body! God has given us this remarkable machine for our journey here on earth and while it will have some breakdowns, keeping it healthy will make for a longer, more enjoyable journey.

Celebrate warmth!

I am always cold! I know that a lot of people say that especially during the wintertime, however, I really am always cold! Whether it is 100 degrees in the summer or below 30 degrees in the winter (I lived in Montana). As such, I am truly grateful and celebrate blankets, sweatshirts, pillow, sweatpants, sock, etc. You get the picture. I like the fact that if I am cold I can put on my sweatpants, shirt, sweatshirt, socks and curl up under three or four blanket (which I do summer and winter). So, today, I celebrate warmth!

Celebrate movement!

Celebrate movement! I don't think we really appreciate something or someone until they are gone. For me, it is my back.

I inherited spinal arthritis and until the last few years, I have had no thought on the effect it had on my grandmother or my father until I started to feel the affects at the age of 38. My grandma broke her back at the age of 50 and I remember the back brace, the sleeping on the ground , her hunched back and the way she would manuever things around without really picking them up. I understand so much better now! My arthritis has caused some spinal stenosis or narrowing of the bones surrounding the spinal cord. I had to have some bones removed last week to relieve the pressure they had placed on my nerves causing leg pain and numbness. I put the surgery off because really, who wants to do that? But wow, what a difference! I woke up later that evening and commented to anyone who would listen that I could feel my feet! Now, it has been a trade-off. I am now prescribed to the BLT rule for the rest of my life---No Bending, No Lifting and No Twisting. See, I told you I finally understood my grandma's weird way of manuevering things. I have learned how to pick things up without really picking them up, I have a weird way of getting out of bed and out of a chair now, too. I didn't really appreciate the mechanics of our amazing backs because it was so automatic but now that I have to think before doing anything --our backs are incredible! Not only do they protect the nerves that run the rest of our body they are the starting point of all the movement our body does (and thus the saying "backbone")!

So, today, I celebrate movement! Yes, mine has been limited but guess what? There is still so much movement this body can do. I can walk, I can talk, I can hug, swim, sit, think, love and live!