Happy Thanksgiving! 

Despite our challenges of living with MS, we have many blessings in our life to be thankful for; wouldn’t you agree?  Let’s dedicate some time and conscious energy being thankful this week of Thanksgiving.  I’m thankful for you!

Congratulations to “Dr” Becky Thomas! Let’s give Dr Becky some high fives, hugs and congrats as she has completed her doctorate degree in physical therapy this past weekend.  Way to go Dr Becky!  We’re all proud of you and thankful for you and your students who are part of our family.

We’ll be doing laughter yoga Friday.  Do you remember the last time we did laughter yoga?  If you were here, you wouldn’t have forgotten it.  We had lots of laughs!  My sister Michelle and her friend Nancy will be coming from Madison and volunteering to join us Friday to do some more laughter yoga with us.  Be sure to join us and learn about the health benefits of laughter.  We’ll be doing this from 10:30am -11:30am so if you want to do other exercise, come early or stay later.

Save the date: Our annual thank you party for our volunteers and Christmas party will be Friday, December 20th.  Chris will be bringing a sign-up sheet to give you an opportunity to bring a dish to pass.  I’m extremely thankful for all our volunteers and our friends with MS who join us and share their journey.

MS Educational opportunities coming up:

  • Amy Lewis from Novartis Pharmaceutical stopped by and dropped off some information about an interactive educational program on Mayzent in Milwaukee and Madison in December.  Please see the brochures on the table in the gym for more information.  Free food and education. 

Last week, Carol brought an AARP article in and said this really makes sense for us living with MS and fighting inflammation.  I read the article and I agree.  Here’s a link to the article, I’d highly recommend reading it.  https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2019/lowering-inflammation-to-improve-health.html

You’re probably wondering how the Alinker worked last week.  We have a medium size which is too tall for many people.  The tall people thought it was awesome, especially Nancy when she finally got to go for a walk with Donna.

I always love it when people who can’t normally walk get to walk with each other.  If there’s a will there’s a way, right?  We sure have the will with our friends with MS, don’t we?  If you want to ride the Alinker, go for it!  Ask a volunteer if you need some help.  They’re here to help.

We have many blessing in our lives.  We’ll be getting together again Wednesday @ 11:30 for our prayer group.  We’ll be giving thanks to God for our blessings and praying however God leads us.  Wow! I’m hearing some powerful comments about this time together.  Feel free to join us.  If you need to come in a little early to get your exercise in before this starts, feel free to do so.

We all need to “Just Keep Moving”!  It doesn’t matter where we start.  We can start with laughing which is great exercise in itself.  Other than that, we start with the body parts that will move and keep moving them as much as we can.  Let them rest and then move them again.

I know there are still many of us going through other life challenges in addition to our challenges with MS.  Let’s stick together, keep our chins up and keep sharing our journey.  Better days are ahead.  For those of you who haven’t been able to make it by us on Wednesdays and Fridays lately, please know you are missed and in my thoughts and prayers.  I hope you’re able to make it back soon!

I hope you’ll join us both Wednesday and Friday again this week.   Remember…consistency is key.  With MS, it takes a lot of consistent effort every day to make small improvements.  Yes, it’s frustrating so be patient and consistent and you’ll be amazed how your quality of life will continue to improve.  It’s been about 17 years of exercising just about every day for me and I’m still making improvements (encouragement, love, support, nutrition and proper rest help immensely too).  It takes time so please be patient.  It sure is better than MS getting worse.  I really don’t know what my life would be like if I didn’t do this (nor do I want to find out).  I’m so thankful you are all joining me on this journey of making progress with our MS and quality of life…THANK YOU!  We’ll continue to learn together…there’s so much power in the love and support we all share with each other.

In the past, I’ve been telling you to bring a friend.  Unfortunately, we’re going to need to start a waiting list for new people.  Please feel free to continue to share your experience and what we’re doing together.  Let me know of anyone who would like to join us.  I’ll communicate with these people through e-mail or phone and help them any way I can.  When we have room for them to join us, I’ll encourage them to do that.  If you’ve joined us in the past, please continue to join us.

We are here to help you and anyone with MS…no strings attached (well maybe an occasional story about the progress you’re making, smile, high five or a hug).  I remember how challenging life used to be when my MS was bad.  I get great joy sharing what I’ve learned and feel blessed with the progress I’ve made.  I hope you make progress in some way too!