Friends,
I hope you had a nice Memorial Day Weekend!
Memorial Day is a holiday I like to reflect on the meaning of it and take some time to truly appreciate it. So many people gave the ultimate sacrifice of their life so we can have our freedom.
On Monday morning, I went for a bike ride with my friend Rainer and we rode into Oconomowoc to their Veterans Park. It’s a beautiful park, if you haven’t been there, I’d highly recommend you go.
We stopped to appreciate and remember the people who gave their lives for our freedom.
It was a nice ride with much meaning. We are able to ride bikes today because of these heroes and all the people who served in our armed forces. Thank you to gave their lives and to all veterans – past and present!
Distance around our Parking Lot
I measured our new designated track around our parking lot and marked off every 25 foot increment. It’s 532 feet which is about .1 mile. So ten laps around the parking lot = 1 mile.
Let’s use this for measuring how far we can walk / roll now as a baseline and then continually make progress.
Diane on trampoline
Last week, we got Diane on the trampoline for the first time. To me, this was absolutely amazing knowing how challenging MS has been for Diane. As far as Andy’s face goes, he was happy to help to. Can you tell?
Diane got a great workout and smiled almost the whole time. For some reason, the trampoline makes us smile when we’re on it. It’s fun and beneficial both!
Benefits of rebounding (Trampoline)
I’ve been continuing to do research on how we can make progress. When we jump on the trampoline, it’s called “rebounding”. NASA did quite a few studies on rebounding to help the astronauts train for the flight and recover when they return from space. They proved that rebounding is actually better for us than running.
There is way too much good stuff out there for me to write about the benefits of rebounding. For now, I’ll share a couple youtube videos that seem to effectively communicate the benefits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSyXpxQOcyY&t=1192s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrtwq60n-Ds&t=74s
If you have time, I would highly recommend you to Google “Benefits of rebounding” and learn how it can be beneficial to you. One of the things that I really like is that it is beneficial in just 2-5 minutes of rebounding and it can be done sitting or standing.
Personally, I’ve been incorporating this into my daily regimen as often as I can and I can honestly say I feel more energized after just a few minutes of doing it. When I sit on it and try to bounce, it’s a killer abb workout for core strength.
Let’s do our research and then be sure to get on the trampoline when we come to the gym.
Horse Farm Open House this weekend
If you’re looking for something fun, beneficial and interesting, come to the horse farm Linda volunteers at. Here’s some info from Linda:
“This Saturday, June 3, 12-4pm, Horse Power Healing Center in Eagle will hold its annual Open House. Free to attend! Grounds are wheelchair and walker friendly. Horseback rides begin after 1:30pm. Even if you think you can’t ride a horse – you can!! Riding a horse is similar to the motion of walking. Plenty to do and see! Horses, goats, donkeys, chickens and a meditation garden. More info at https://www.horsepowerhealingcenter.com/spring_open_house.html.”
It’s amazing the opportunities we have in our MS-Just Keep Moving community if we’re willing to engage in them. Let’s go enjoy the afternoon at the horse farm.
Caregivers Retreat – Save the date
Due to how busy June is; we have changed the date for the caregivers retreat to Saturday, September 23, 2023
This will be held at the Redemptorist Retreat Center, Oconomowoc, WI.
If you have MS, please HIGHLY ENCOURAGE your loved one or anyone who cares for you to save the date and plan to attend this. We have an amazing day planned for your loved ones. It would be awesome if everyone who comes to the gym has a loved one attend.
Please do your loved one a favor and save the date for them.
Students are back!
Dr Becky Thomas, Dr Sarah Andreucci and their Physical Therapy Assistance students from Bryant Stratton College are back on Wednesdays. We are thankful! We have 16 students joining us this semester. This is an excellent opportunitity for the students to gain knowledge about people living with MS and get some hands on experience. It’s also beneficial for us living with MS to learn from the students and their leaders.
Parking Etiquette
We have more people coming who are using walkers, poles, canes, crutches, wheelchairs, etc. For us who are able to walk without assistance, please park in the back two rows and leave the front two rows for those who are challenged to walk or can’t walk.
We also have permission to park across the street in the Acuity Foam parking lot. Feel free to park there as well. Thanks for your cooperation!
Friday Morning Bike Rides
Our Friday morning bike rides are absolutely amazing to me. Despite our challenges of living with MS, where do you see so many people with MS getting together and riding bikes at 7:00am each week? I wish everyone with MS could experience this. Unfortunately, many aren’t able to. Believe me, if you’re not able to ride with us, you’re on my mind and I wish you could.
The trikes are a game changer for people who never thought they’d be able to ride again. Instead, it’s like a party train as we’re able to hook them together and ride together. Thanks to everyone who does fundraing for us or makes donations, we were able to pick up another e-trike last week. That makes 10 trikes total now. THANK YOU!
It’s always good to see Todd riding a two wheel bike without falling. He had a nice ride last week. He’s still riding way better than when we first started riding together 10 years ago as he continues to live with primary progressive MS. You’re looking good too Liz!
Sometimes (every week) some need a little help from a friend getting up the hills. It’s incredible seeing this happen and being there to help. If you’re a strong rider and willing to join us, we could always use a little help on these rides watching for traffic and helping us up hills. It’s important we ride safely and make it enjoyable each week.
It looks like the weather is going to be beautiful this Friday so…let’s ride again!
We’ll be meeting Friday mornings at 7:00am at Nettesheim Park in Pewaukee. It’s on the SE corner of Hwy SS and Oak Street. The GPS address is: N26W27495 Prospect Ave, Pewaukee, WI 53072. Come a little early so you can get your bike out of your car and be ready to ride as close to 7:00 as possible. We’ll ride until about 8:45. Let’s ride and have some fun!
Again, for those who wish you could join us but can’t; please know we have you in our hearts on these rides. We’re riding with you and for you. I hope you too can join us someday. We really need to get this MS thing figured out. Let’s keep working on it together.
Rest, Recovery, Wellness and Safety
We are having biweekly workshops that focus on achieving our fitness goals and preventing injuries. They will be the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month from 11am – 12pm. Please join us for hands on activities and learn how to rest, recover, be well and stay safe.
Upcoming Topics:
Friday, June 9th – Tom Holtackers will facilitate a discussion about emotional health – we can all use help with this. Tom has truly “lived” through a lot with his MS challenges and has a lot of knowledge and wisdom to share. You won’t want to miss this discussion with Tom. As we all know, living with MS is not easy.
By the way, at 80 years old and recently pretty much bed ridden for a year and a half or so, Tom is excited to share with us that just last week he hit 9 miles on the UBE machine on his road to the Day of Endurance August 26th with a goal of 15 miles that day. If you ever think you can’t make progress even after being bed ridden, Tom, at 80 is showing us we can. Amazing!
I’m excited Tom will be sharing with us how we can deal with these challenges emotionally. We all know how devasting getting the news that we have MS is as well as learning how to accept it and to live with it. It’s been life changing for all of us. Please join us for Tom’s discussion on June 9th.
Friday, June 23rd – Dr. Robert Motl will be coming here from the University of Illinois and giving a presentation on the cutting edge of exercise research in MS. The last time Dr Motl was here and seen what we’re doing, he really appreciated it. He will have an interesting and educational presentation. You won’t want to miss it.
Friday, July 14th – To be determined
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
Golf Outing June 30th – We would appreciate your help…and Golfers!
Do you golf? Would you consider golfing with us and for us? Our outing is filling up but we have room for a few more golfers and would love to have you join us. There are brochures about it at the gym and here’s a link to sign up as a golfer. https://www.eplatinumhealth.com/eph-cares/
We’re getting some awesome silent auction items and nice baskets for the raffle at “Teed Off at MS”, ePlatinum Health’s annual golf scramble.
We are still looking for donations of new items to create raffle baskets. Popular items have included: tickets to sports games; camping gear, picnic items, gift certificates to local shops and restaurants.
If you have a personal relationship with a local business, please ask them if they’d be willing to donate to benefit our gym.
Please either bring the items to the gym or let Rick Talbert or Joan Ruffino know about them. We would appreciate your help with this…thank you in advance!
Day of Endurance Journey – Progress – Let’s share!
It’s time to record our progress again 😊. This past Sunday, May 28th concluded another two-week period. Please share your progress by recording it on the board. We have some amazing and inspirational progress being made.
Each two-week period, let’s record our longest distance or time of each event we’re working toward for the “Day of Endurance”. Along with that, let’s share a few words about how we felt after our long event for the two-week period leading up to the day of endurance on August 26th. That’s it!
Each two-week period, let’s try to do just a little more than the last two-week period and record (share) it again.
Let’s enjoy our journey…together!
COVID
We didn’t have anyone test positive for COVID this past week. Yeah! It’s still around so let’s not let our guard down and do what we need to do to stay safe.
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, June 2nd. 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!
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 382 members. That’s awesome! https://www.facebook.com/groups/2639832389489709
Our Facebook page is very active and fun. Lots of people are doing more and sharing their journey on Facebook. Feel free to join, post and share your experiences and comments.
There were some awesome pictures, videos and comments shared again this past week. Thank you to all who are sharing!
Thai Massage with Ricky Heldt
Ricky will be here Wednesday and Friday 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 benefits and 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. Thanks to all who joined us today!
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. Last week, I mentioned that spring time is always a good time to enjoy babies. This week, my wife Bonnie helped me out. She seen some baby geese when she went to Woodman’s in Waukesha and told me about them by their pond. I went there at sunset. They were still there and I had some great lighting to work with.
I was there with them for quite a while watching how the Mommies and the babies get along.
And how the siblings get along 😊
They even went in the water for me for a little while.
Of course, Daddy had to show me what he’s all about too. He’s a proud and protective Daddy!
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 and God’s beauty together this way.