Friends,
Making the best of our challenges with friends
It warms my heart everytime I see people who can’t stand…standing. Last week when I got to the gym, Diane, Nancy and Donna were all standing together and having fun in an upright position.
Many people take being able to stand for granted. Not us living with MS. We look at being able to stand as a gift and a blessing. Thanks to our volunteers for helping Diane, Nancy and Donna stand together last week. It’s awesome for them and for all of us to experience this!
Our Grit Chair is here
One of the things we had on our fundraising wish list for this year is a Grit chair. We were able to get one; now we need to see people benefit from it. Adam and a few others already took it for a spin.
We’re seeing how beneficial the Grit chair will be for hand strength, upper body strength and core strength along with receiving cardio benefits once people can ride it long enough. Give it a try and ride it consistently so you too can make some progress. We’ll be able to take it outside soon. I’m hoping some people will use this for our Day of Endurance journey.
Indoor Triathlon training started
We had our first indoor triathlon training at Westwood Health and Fitness last Thursday morning. What a fun and spirited group!
We have 12 people with MS signed up to do the indoor triathlon and training this year…awesome!
Although it was hard for me to see how challenging it was for some people this year compared to three years ago when we last did the indoor triathlon, I’m looking forward to seeing people have fun together and make progress together.
Day of Endurance Journey – Progress
Some people are already doubling what they used to be able to do at the beginning of the year when we kicked off our Day of Endurance journey. Experiencing this progress not only helps us physically, it’s even more rewarding mentally and emotionally. Nothing happens quickly for us with MS but if we think about it, any progress is beating the natural progression of MS.
Let’s keep in mind, this is a gradual build up journey from now until August 26th. Let’s be sure to listen to our bodies and do what we can. We don’t want you to over do it and get set back. We are all at such different levels, we need to listen to our bodies individually and gradually build up but not get injured.
Hopefully you will start partnering up with someone with similar goals and share your journey daily with each other as well as sharing your bi-weekly progress with us.
Please engage in this journey and share your progress with the rest of us. I’m confident we’re going to see some amazing progress with many people with MS between now and August 26th. Let’s make the best of the journey…together.
Our Nutrition Program is starting back up
I’m excited to say that Alison will be back next Wednesday. We will be having our nutrition program on Wednesday, March 22nd @ 11:00. I hope you will engage and benefit from this. Nutrition is so critical to us living with MS. We want to help our bodies heal from the inside, feel good and have more energy.
Here’s our schedule with Alison for the rest of this year. Please join us!
Rest, Recovery and Safety
We’ll be having biweekly workshops that focuses on achieving our fitness goals and preventing injuries. They will be the 2nd and 4th Fridays from 11am – 12pm. Please join us for hands on activities and learn how to rest, recover and stay safe.
Upcoming Topics:
March 24th – Dr Alex Ng from Marquette University will be here to report his findings on the dance study he did a while back. Many of you engaged in this study. It’ll be interesting to learn from Dr Ng the results of this study and how dance can help us living with MS.
April 7th – Assisting one another with stretching. This is a great way to learn simple stretches to help one another. Let Ricky know if you want to be a stretch model or learn to stretch and get some hands-on practice. We will do our best to match everyone up and plenty of room to observe. Ricky will leading this session and will not be doing massages during this time. Please plan accordingly.
Future topics could include: emotional health, nutrition, yoga, tai chi, wellness topics, safe use of gym equipment for your body and more. What topics would you like to see? Please let Joan, Traci, Ricky or Dan know
Tom Holtackers put together a sheet for stretching tips. We’ll get some of these printed out and available at the gym in our resource center.
Research Opportunity
Many of you remember when Dr Jenny Bartloff from the University of Wisconsin – Madison came and gave a presentation on her research study. Many of you participated after she came to our gym…thank you for participating in her study! Dr Bartloff reached out to me this past week and let me know she needs a few more people with MS to complete her study.
If you fit the qualifications and are willing to do this, please contact Dr Jenny Bartloff directly and participate. Here’s some information on the study.
You can contact Dr Jenny Bartloff at the following contact info:
Jenny Bartloff, DPT, NCS, MS
Neuromuscular Coordination Lab Research Assistant
BADGER Lab – Real Life Wearables Team
University of Wisconsin Mechanical Engineering & Kinesiology Departments
Featherless biped with a partiality for bicycling
bartloff@wisc.edu | (574) 302-2852
COVID
We did have another person test positive for COVID again this past week. Bummer! It’s still around so let’s not let our guard down too far.
To all who have reported their positive testing to me…thank you for letting me know and for being socially responsible and staying away until your symptoms are all cleared up. If you do come down with it, it’s important we let people know that you have been in close contact with so they can watch for symptoms and help stop the spread.
We’ve all been dealing with COVID long enough and are very well educated on it by now. I’m not telling you what to do but I’d highly encourage you to wear a mask again if you haven’t had it recently. Let’s make good choices and be safe.
Please stay home if you have any symptoms or know you’ve been exposed to someone with the virus. Please don’t come until your symptoms go away. Let’s also give each other some space when talking to one another and continue wiping the machines down before and after you use them with disinfectant. Again…let’s be socially responsible and stay safe!
Let’s get together!
We’ll be getting together again from 9:00am – noon on Wednesday and Friday mornings at the gym. I hope you’ll join us!
Wisconsin Metal Parts – Westmound Building
MS-Just Keep Moving, Inc.
W228N791 Westmound Drive
Waukesha, WI 53186
Prayer Group We’ll be having our prayer group Wednesday @ 11:00am.
I just love the way we share, pray and laugh together while we witness prayers being answered weekly. It’s truly amazing!
Thanks goes to God and to everyone that joins us. Let’s get together to share, listen, talk, give thanks, and pray however God leads us.
MS Just Keep Caring – Our Caregivers support group will be the first and third Friday of each month from 10:00 – 10:30am. The next one will be this Friday, March 17th. If you’re a caregiver of someone you love with MS, please join us and share your experience of caring for your loved one. This has been very helpful for many. Thanks to all who participate!
Friday Morning Bike Rides
Spring is getting closer. Be sure your bike is tuned up, fitted to you and ready to ride. As soon as we get to 45 degrees at 7:00am, we’ll be back out there. Think spring! 😊
Our Facebook page is private. That means you’ll need to join if you want access to all our fun and progress. We’re now up to 349 members…awesome! https://www.facebook.com/groups/2639832389489709
Our Facebook page is very active and fun. Lots of people are doing more and sharing some of their journey on Facebook. Feel free to join, post and share your experience and comments. Thank you to all who are sharing!
There were some awesome pictures, videos and comments shared again this past week.
Thai Massage with Ricky Heldt
Ricky will be here Wednesday and Friday again this week doing Thai Massage. Ricky says he is comfortable to work with you even if you’re not wearing a mask. Ricky will continue to wear one to protect you.
Many continue making great progress with chronic pain relief, range of motion, walking better and a new sense of hope when Ricky works with them. Please keep in mind that consistency is key. Not only with Ricky…with exercise too. We need consistency to realize the benefits long term. We want you to have long term relief.
Ricky has a sign up sheet based on first come first serve. You can pick the time slot that works for you. I highly encourage you to take advantage of Ricky’s Thai Massages each day and sign up for your time slot as soon as you get there.
Reiki with Linda Linda will be here on Fridays doing Reiki. Many people say Linda’s Reiki work is “magical”. We’re thankful for Linda sharing her gifts and talents to us. Feel free to let Linda know you’d like to do Reiki with her. She also has a sign up sheet.
Inspirational Humor with Adam Wollert
We’ll be having our inspirational humor zoom call with Adam again next Tuesday. Adam is a gift to all of us.
Please join us if you can.
Tuesdays @ 1:30PM
Here’s the link to join us…I hope you do!
Join Zoom Meeting with this link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9431389152?pwd=bWlYbFNaazVnM1M1cWxWMitlODdXUT09
Meeting ID: 943 138 9152
Passcode: 3qP2hu
Phone: 1-312-626-6799
Let’s reach out
I encourage you to share a smile and encouragement with someone. Perhaps you could call someone that you have not talked with for a while just to say hi and see how they are doing. We all could use a little extra love and encouragement.
MS is tough. Let us have faith, remain calm, be flexible, help each other and learn as much as we can about the challenges of each day as we make good choices.
Let’s keep moving and smiling 😊
In God We Trust…we are in good hands
Dan
P.S. We had a nice snow fall last week. It made for some great photo opps. I found this robin in St Anthony’s parking lot munching on a berry from the tree.
And an old oak tree that looked pretty cool…literally.
I couldn’t tell if this dove loved the snow or not. I’m assuming it did.
The beach at Pewaukee Lake also looked nice…the ice is all gone.
I made it back to the Mississippi River again for a day this past weekend. The ice is out there now too. I saw some pelicans hanging out.
And a couple nice looking ducks
I was there looking for eagles and saw a couple of them too. This one meant business as he went to grab a fish out the water.
Yes…he caught it. It’s in has talons.
We got really close to this one. Beautiful bird!
I even caught him leaving the tree
It was a fun day with the camera!
When I got home, I couldn’t pass up on the crane in our yard.
For those of you who can’t get out and enjoy nature due your challenges with MS…my heart is with you. You are with me every time I’m out there. I enjoy being out there and I also enjoy sharing with you. I know how hard it is not to be able to get out and enjoy nature. Let’s enjoy nature together this way.