Friends,
I need to practice what I preach
As I train for the Day of Endurance, I try to do one long workout each week and the rest of the days, I do my daily hour of aerobic exercise. Each week, I try to do a little longer workout for my long workout and gradually make progress. This is what I encourage all of us to do.
On Saturday morning, I woke up and decided to go for my long walk. My longest walk of the year has been 6 miles on 4/20/2024. My MS behaved pretty well at 6 miles. When I left my house Saturday morning, I took a bottle of water with me and hoped to walk 8 or 10 miles depending upon how I felt. I was walking along and feeling pretty good so I decided to walk around Pewaukee Lake which is 16 miles from my house.
I did really well for the first 12 miles. I pretty much kept the same 17:30 pace which is pretty good for me. At about mile 12, my MS decided to start acting up. The neurological sensations and fatigue set in. I slowed down quite a bit the last four miles but I was still moving along pretty well. I finished the 16 mile walk around Pewaukee Lake in about 5 hours not even looking like I was drunk. I was really happy with this.
When ever I encourage people to do what they can on their long events, I encourage them to watch the length of their recovery time. We’d like to see people recover within a couple hours. If it takes a day or longer, you probably did too much too soon. Well, this is where I need to practice what I preach. My MS didn’t settle down and I was pretty wiped out Sunday and Monday. Two days for recovery is too long. I did too much too soon…again. Sometimes I just don’t learn.
Even though it flared up my MS symptoms and wiped me out for a couple days, it didn’t make my MS as a disease worse. When I went on my 20 mile bike ride this morning, I felt good and felt good all day. I’m ready to continue my training for the Day of Endurance. It sure help me from a motivational perspective to have something BIG on my calendar.
As you train for your day of endurance, I hope you listen to your body and pay attention to your recovery time better than I do. Again, we should recover within a couple of hours and keep “gradually” adding a little more distance to your one long workout each week. I’m so thankful it doesn’t make our MS as a disease worse. I think I’ll need to back off a little and listen to my body a little better. I’m looking forward to another fun day for the Day of Endurance. I hope you are too
Thanks Dr Jon!
Dr Jon Stevenson – Chiropractor with Strive Integrative Health in Brookfield shared his personal story and shared what he is doing with neuropathy and people with MS in his clinic. The information Dr Jon shared with us about red light therapy and laser therapy were especially interesting and encouraging.
Dr Jon also shared some information about nutrition and gave us some of his handouts on what to enjoy and what to avoid from a healthy nerve perspective. Dr Jon was very generous to donate two red light therapy bands to us and his book that he wrote with his wife about helping people with neuropathy.
Again, thank you Dr Jon for all you shared! I hope you’ll join us again soon.
Ed and Adam’s Podcast
This week Adam and Ed interview Bob and Susie as they share what it’s like to live with MS for over 50 years…together.
I love it when people share so openly. I would encourage you to listen to it. Here’s a link.
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ava-g4/episodes/50-Years-of-MS-e2k04kt
Thanks Adam, Ed and Ava for doing these podcasts together!
Who’s making progress?
Wendy continues to inspire all of us and make progress in so many ways. She also goes above and beyond helping others with MS any way she can. If we go back just a few years ago, Wendy couldn’t walk, couldn’t drive and needed help being transferred from her chair to other activities. Wendy is back to driving, walking and has her independence back due to the way her body resonded to the electrical stimulation, her hard work with exercise, her discipline with her nutrition and her determination to beat this thing. All the way through her challenges with MS, she maintained her smile…which also helps immensely.
Golf Outing Friday, June 7th!
We are extremely fortunate that ePlatinum Health will be putting on a golf outing for us again this year. A huge thank you goes out to Jeff, Frank, Katie and the entire ePlatinum Health team.
Great news! We have enough silent auction and raffle items to provide a great experience for our golfers and hopefully raise a lot of money for our mission.
A huge THANKS goes out to everyone who has worked so hard soliciting donations, people who have donated, people who worked hard planning for this event, keeping things organized, communicating to people, making signs, putting baskets together, etc. etc.
I sure hope we have beautiful weather for the event again this year like we’ve had the past two years.
Again, THANK YOU so much to ePlatinum Health and everyone that is making this possible. We all REALLY appreciate you!
Day of Endurance 2024 – August 24, 2024
The board at the gym is starting to show some exciting progress. Please check it out.
Consistency is key. Let’s exercise everyday. It’s the gradual, consistency that our bodies will adapt to over time. Let’s do one long workout per week so we can appreciate that we are making progress each week. Dr Kate can certainly help you with a program based on your abilities. Please feel free to reach out to her.
It’s really important that we’re active and we enjoy the journey of training for the Day of Endurance…preferably “together”. I hope you can find some workout friends to enjoy this journey with. It can be others with MS, friends, neighbors, family members, movie stars, it doesn’t matter. It really only takes one other person to have show up and do whatever you’re going to do each day. You can pick different people different days.
Let’s make this a recreational adventure. A social adventure. A rewarding experience. And… “share” it. So, let’s start inviting friends and family members to join us on this journey and have some fun with it.
I hope you’ll engage in the journey and make progress yourself.
Cardio and Balance Programs
These classes are aimed to get everyone exercising together. I like that word “together” . We’ll need help from volunteers before and after the cardio class on Wednesdays to get members on and off equipment. All are welcome and encouraged to join.
Wednesdays 10-10:30am: Cardio exercise
Location: in the big room using aerobic equipment in front of big TV
Pick your favorite piece of equipment to use, bring a water bottle, and arrive a few minutes early to get the equipment set up to your height.
10:30 – 11:00am Tai Chi led by Ricky
Fridays:
10-10:30 am: Seated balance class
10:30 – 11am: Standing balance class
Pick the class / classes you feel most able and comfortable participating in. We will have chairs set up to sit on and/or use for balance support.
Email Kate at kborn1234@gmail.com with any questions.
Friday Morning Bike Ride
Our Friday morning rides are off to a great start.
Thank you to all that are showing up and riding with us! If anyone knows of anyone willing to volunteer that can ride a two wheeled bike and help at intersections, keeping people together, getting up hills, etc., we could use a couple more people to help. I’m certainly thankful for the volunteers that are riding with us. We all are.
We’ll be meeting Friday morning 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!
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.
Educational Sessions
This Friday, May 31st 11:00am – noon. Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association (WASA) will be here to introduce us to adaptive sports opportunities for us to engage in. They do some fun stuff!
Friday, June 7th: Golf outing – no speaker
Friday, June 14th: 11:00am – noon. Research review with Kate. Topic will be about the importance of sleep in MS.
Friday, June 21st: 11:00am – Noon. Volunteer meeting – Kate would like to meet with all volunteers to answer questions, coordinate a buddy system with members, and touch base on anything volunteers would like to discuss.
Friday, June 28th: 11:00am – Noon. Second demonstration for transfers hosted by Becky Thomas and Gayle Caya
Future topics could include: emotional health, nutrition, yoga, tai chi, wellness topics, safe use of gym equipment for your body, best exercise for you and more. What topics would you like to see? Please let Kate, Joan, Traci, Ricky or Dan know
Let’s get together!
We’ll be getting together 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 Friday, June 7th 2024. 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 at 509 members. We finally broke 500…That’s awesome! https://www.facebook.com/groups/2639832389489709
Our Facebook page is 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 on Wednesdays doing Thai Massage. Ricky will be taking Fridays off for a while. Perhaps through the summer.
Ricky has a sign up board based on first come first serve. You can pick the time slot that works for you.
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 with 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’s 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, smiling and loving It helps!
In God We Trust…we are in good hands.
Dan
P.S. On Monday morning (Memorial Day), I went to the war museum grounds. There were 27,316 flags to honor the 27,316 men and women from Wisconsin who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their life for our country through the years. I was humbled and honored to see this well-deserved tribute. That’s a lot of heart ache as each of these people were loved by so many.
Do you ever go out looking for four leaf clovers? Sometimes, when I could use a little good luck, I look for them. Here’s one I thought I would share even though it’s not perfect.
The flowers are beautiful this time of the year. I hope you can get out there and enjoy them.
The birds are fun to watch and listen to too.
Even Cal looks good this time of the year
Dragon Flies are fun to watch too
Even spiders are active
I think this is an invasive species weed but it sure looked nice to me.
I had some nice lighting when this turkey was trying to be impressive. Actually, he was quite impressive. He deserved to have his picture taken.
For those 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.