What a difference from the first time I was there & I couldn’t gently pedal the stationary bike for one minute without stopping to put my head down to prevent myself from blacking out! I’m sure glad Dr. Hedayat was able to discover the root causes of  my ‘mystery fatigue’ & help me with this & my fibromyalgia.

I didn’t realize at first how much these health issues were preventing me from exercising–which is a crucial part of pain management for me (with fibromyalgia, three broken lumbar vertebrae, & scoliosis).  It also felt great to see my slimmer, more athletic shape in all those mirrors today!  Feeling great is the best reward but it’s nice to have the little ego-boos along the way too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Actually, I think my post from Thanksgiving says it all: http://10newsblogs.com/halfyeardawn/2009/for-this-i-am-truly-thankful/

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had no idea when I began this journey how my life would be forever changed by this experience. As I’ve said before, I hope that you take away some tidbits that are helpful to you in your life–hopefully from all of us who were part of this Challenge.

I do hope you’ve found my journey especially inspirational, so I’ll leave you with some early posts when I was struggling with motivation & trying to establish new habits.

May you and your loved ones have a peaceful, prosperous, happy and healthy New Year!

~~Dawn

~~~~~~~~~~~~

My poor health had a major impact on my ability to interact with my family: http://10newsblogs.com/halfyeardawn/2009/reality-bites/

Beginning my coordinated health plan at Renew: http://10newsblogs.com/halfyeardawn/2009/yay-progress-d/

My 51st Birthday, and my test results which have profoundly effected my outlook: http://10newsblogs.com/halfyeardawn/2009/life-the-universe-everything-or-i-want-another-50-years-please/

Setting tough priorities for health & time management: http://10newsblogs.com/halfyeardawn/2009/workin-it/ http://10newsblogs.com/halfyeardawn/2009/yikes-where-does-the-time-go/

Learning to adjust my thinking for healthy living & stress management: http://10newsblogs.com/halfyeardawn/2009/finding-the-one-who-is-not-busy/

And, to celebrate the re-birth of my healthy life I finally got a new ‘do! My friend Sally Moreno gave me a gorgeous new hairstyle (the CH 10 video doesn’t do it justice!) & I’ve been enjoying the positive comments from friends (and the second looks from the younger guys–such an ego boo!)  I think my hubby & son are finally adjusting too.   ;-D   What with my new hairstyle & being more energetic & slim I’m really feeling like myself again! (And hopefully it will be plain when I’m out with my 8-3/4 yr son that I’m his mother, not his creaky old grandma watching him for a few hours. Yes, I really did feel like that sometimes.)

I have so much to blog about from last week but it’s almost 1:00am on Monday (I’ll post this for Sunday evening since I’m still up!) so I’ll just tell you the best thing:  During our field trip to Sea World I was playing around all day–even racing the kids up flights of stairs (one flight at a time)!!  I was just a little winded & kept just a few steps behind them–my son was shocked!  He can’t remember clearly a time when I was that energetic.  And when I told hubby his jaw fell to the floor.  He had to remind me how much trouble I was having even 5-6 months ago walking up the stairs here at home–holding onto the railing & moving slowly up, sometimes resting on each step, and having to be very cautious of my balance coming down because I was so tired.

It really has been the integrated combination of health testing & diagnosis, chiropractic adjustments, physical therapy, acupuncture, & my own hard work with lifestyle change (sticking to my cleansing diet & prescribed supplement regimen, experimenting with stress-reduction techniques to find what works for me, & doing my physical therapy exercises & conditioning) that has all worked together to bring about these fabulous changes!  Thanks again to my team at Renew Integrative Health Center!

I also want to note that the poll is back up so you can Officially Vote now! There is an added step for verification of each vote, but it just takes a sec.  Thank you to all of you who vote (hopefully for me!) as my main goal for this blog has been to inspire and inform others of my personal challenges, solutions, & progress and to hopefully inspire others to create healthy changes in their own lives.  I love to get feedback from my readers so leave a comment, or if what you want to say is more private, many friends & family email me privately rather than post (or you can post comments using a ‘pen name’).

Oh, and the tree that came down in our yard during the wind storm thankfully didn’t do any damage–the way it fell it was supported by our neighbor’s waterfall & so didn’t even damage our fence! (Hubby just whipped out the chainsaw & took care of it this weekend–what a guy!)

So today has basically been Rory working on schoolwork–his computer reading-writing-typing program, working on spelling, reading, & other quiet stuff.  I felt a little better this afternoon & made him some of my super-healthy banana bread packed with extra protein, lots of healthy fats & grains, & very low-sugar.  So he’s been happy scarfing that down with some fresh apples while I’ve been lying in the recliner by the fire, eating fresh persimmons & nuts with yummy tea, reading some good pulp fiction (Susan Issacs’ Magic Hour).

The house is, of course, pretty scary right now but I’m getting much better at not stressing out about things that are out of my control at the moment.  I choose to rest & get better quickly, then to clean, do laundry, etc.  In the past I would have worked until I dropped, become worse from over-working, & stressed out the whole time I was sick by beating myself up for not performing the way I thought I should.  Whew!  At least I’m over that self-imposed drama, & I feel much better for it!

I did have a *great* day yesterday at Renew; it almost goes without saying.  I always feel better after some laser work on my back & a great PT session & chiropractic adjustment!  But I could tell by the early afternoon that I was rapidly losing my energy & by the end of the day I was absolutely wiped out–not my usual state now (yay!).  So I guess I’ll just do the R & R thing until we’re back to normal again, which should be in a day or so.  (The house will always be there–I mean the faeries aren’t going to come & clean it for me!  Rats!!)

This opportunity has meant everything to me, and to my family! Being chosen, and partnered with Renew Integrative Health Center, was exactly what I needed, and what I had been praying for. Renew’s  fabulous team of doctors and health practitioners  have given me the tools to:

Overcome my fibromyalgia. Dietary changes coupled with chiropractic, acupuncture, and the correct supplements and exercises, including yoga, have virtually eliminated my symptoms.  It certainly didn’t happen overnight, and I still have mild twinges in my elbows and wrists at times, but for all intents and purposes I consider myself cured.  Super-Yay for me!!

Regain a significant portion of my stamina and strength, and I’m still building! I’m not almost blacking out anymore when trying to exercise and I’m getting stronger and can do more each week.  Last week I went to Julian (in the mountains) and was able to easily walk up and down small hills with no problems!  And the elevation is 4000 feet!! My body is stronger and I carry myself with correct posture again because I have the energy to do so, and my spine is aligned properly.  My pain is 80% less!

Have energy again, with a clear and calm mind. After undergoing the Biology of Function, including in-depth blood tests, exam, & history, the dietary changes and correct supplements prescribed by Dr. Hedayat combined with the pain relief from Dr. Buchel‘s chiropractic adjustments and Dr. Jackson & Dr. Pansky’s physical therapy  have virtually eliminated my symptoms! Discovering my issues with thyroid and adrenal function, my over-worked liver from too many prescription and over-the-counter drugs, and my unhealthy coping mechanisms (sugar + caffeine) have been crucial.  Changing this dynamic has been the key! (In fact, my 8 year-old son just woke up and came in to see what I’m doing.  When he saw my blog he said, “I”m thankful for you getting better!  You’re a much better mommy now because you have more energy to play with me and do all sorts of things!”)  Not much I can add to that except that I’m doing it all caffeine-free and with healthy sweeteners!  Whooda thunk?   ;-D

Discover and address my current risk for cancer. Pre-cancerous levels of abnormal cells were also found as part of my blood tests for the Biology of Function. (I wrote about this and my previous removals of pre-cancerous lesions in my October post, Test Results, or I Want Another 50 Years.) The diet and supplements prescribed by Dr. Hedayat address this issue as well. Hopefully I’ll be here for many years to come to see my family grow and change.  (Maybe I’ll even see grandchildren!)

Have the bonus benefits of dropping excess weight and improving my skin and hair. I’ve dropped 24 pounds, most of it before I was able to exercise very much, and I get daily complements on how healthy my skin looks–no more black circles under my eyes either!  My hair continues to grow back and a significant portion of it is coming back brown, not grey as it did at first.  (Weird, but true!)  Less weight has also helped increase my energy level–I’m not toting it around all day (and my joints thank me too).

Help my family and friends make their own healthy changes. My husband and several of my friends have seen the progress I’ve made and have been inspired to improve their health, beginning with healthier diet and exercise.  My husband is now willing to change his eating habits in ways he wasn’t before (poor cholesterol tests continue to haunt him) so I feel our son will also benefit from a healthier dad!  Yay!  My goal for this next year is to improve my family’s dietary patterns and for us to spend more time outdoors together like we love, but have been unable to do with mom in such poor health.

So, for all these reasons I’m thankful to be chosen as part of ABC10′s Half-Year Resolution Challenge and for my Challenge partners, my team at Renew Integrative Health Center.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime gift I’ve received and I decided on Day One I wasn’t going to waste this God-given opportunity.  I feel I’ve pretty much achieved all my goals (except for the swimming the mile part-brrrrr!!) and  I’m well on my way to going on all-day hikes in the mountains.  I’ll have some maintenance and fine-tuning visits with my team at Renew to continue to stabilize my health and I will continue to cement my permanent life-style changes at home.

I’ve gained all I dreamed I possibly could and for all these things my family and I are truly grateful.  Thank you all for giving me my life back!

We went with some of the families from our  homeschool charter, Greater San Diego Academy, to a robotics lab workshop at Legoland & then had the afternoon to play in the park.  I love rollercoasters & all sorts of crazy rides so I took every opportunity to play with the kids & ride, ride, ride!  Fridays are pretty quiet there now that school’s back in session so many times we could get right back on the ride with little or no wait.  So I ended up going on about 6 or 8 coaster rides (Dragon & Technic), then went on the Knight’s Tournament, which is one of my favorites.  It’s a giant robot-arm, the kind they use in large manufacturing facilities to weld, move car frames, & do all sorts of intricate work.  Here, they’ve programmed 5 different levels of twists, turns, & excitement so you can choose your own level of thrill.  I took the kids on lots of Level 1 & Level two rides before I took one last ride just for myself–on Level 5!  Boy did I have fun!  The kids were laughing at me flying around, spinning while whirling upside-down, with my arms up in the air & my long hair flying out above me like a flag!  I was laughing & whooping it up the whole time.

But when I was walking away after my wild ride, uh-oh!  I knew right then I’d made a big mistake.  It hadn’t even crossed my mind that I’d hurt myself because I’ve been ignoring the warning signs on these kind of rides all my life–I never even thought twice about it.  But I’ve been feeling so much better, & my back is getting in so much better shape,  that now I actually notice when I’m pretty racked up–it’s not merely an increase in my already high pain level.

I have a chiropractic appointment with Dr. Buchel on Monday, along with Dr. Kevin in Physical Therapy, but I’m going to stretch, work out gently, have my mom give me some massage (she’s a Licensed Massage Therapist), and try to mitigate the damage until then.   ;-D

At least I had fun while messing myself up, but now I know I’ll have to take these warnings more seriously, at least until my spine has been stable & healthy for a good while–probably a year or so.  So I’ll chalk this one up to experience & now I’m off to go sit in my mother-in-law’s jacuzzi!

I’m finding that 2-3 days a week of ‘stickwalking’ with my Exerstrider walking poles plus 2-3 days of interval training on my stationary bike has put my endurance level back up into my low-normal range of fitness!!  Yay!!  No more almost-blacking-out when doing aerobic exercise for me! And last week Dr. Kevin really worked to release more tight muscles in my lower back & hips, then Adam really kicked my behind with lots of lateral core work to really engage my obliques.  Coupled with an awsome adjustment from Dr. Buchel I was feeling better than I have in a long time.  My muscles were stiff the next few days, but not overly painful.  This really enforced my feeling of correct posture & core engagement from my lower abs–all good stuff.

I think I’ve really found a combination of exercises, chiropractic, & meditation/relaxation at home that’s beginning to show results!!  Today I got another adjustment & another kick-buns workout, plus I took an easy stick walk to help settle in my new muscular alignment after my body work.  Now I’ll see how this works out for me over the next week–I really feel I’m on th something!

I was able to do so much I couldn’t do even 2 or 3 months ago!!  I visited my Grandma every day & was able to have her use me for stability when she took walks, andgetting in & out of the car (she’s 93).  My son & I visited my uncle & his family on their small ‘farm’ & we helped them preserve apples, worked on the new chicken run they’re building off their coop (we collected eggs too!), planted LOTS of garlic & shallots, & stripped the last of the leaves & twigs off the grapevines to prepare them for pruning.  I was so excited that I was able to do all these things with very manageable pain!!

Really, it’s the sciatica that’s causing me the most trouble right now so I just kept stretching, massaging, doing my exercises & hip-balancing routines given to me by Dr. Vanessa–they really help keep the pain down.  Plus, uncle has a Wii Fit so I was able to do the hula-hoop exercises & other core-strengtheners that help me so much.  (Sure wish I had one of those at home . . . )   I think this is my main area of challenge now–to stabilize my lower back & the sacro-illiac joints of my pelvis.  I know when I’m taped up with the kinesio-tape I’m very stable, but I can’t go around with tape on all the time!  (Even if I wanted to, it irritates the skin if used too much.)  So I really must continue to focus on my strengthening, stretching, & using the massage ball & roller to re-train my muscles & ligaments into healthier configurations.

I’ve almost caught up on my sleep now, & will definitely hit the major workouts again starting tomorrow!  (Now, it’s time to toddle off to bed . . . )

The wonderful acupuncturist I’d been seeing, Jonathon Dodd, has moved back to the Seattle area, so it’s been a time of transition.   I had my 1st session with Kimberly Fried last Thursday after  an abbreviated session with Jonathon the Tuesday before, will have no session this week, & will have to wait until Tuesday next week to return to a regular schedule.  My 1st impression of Kimberly has been extremely positive & I’m sure we’ll establish an excellent relationship, but it does take time for any doctor to gain familiarity with a new patient & their body’s individual quirks.  Oh well, it took time for Jonathon to figure out his approach to my health issues so I’ll just have to be a patient patient until I have enough sessions with Kimberly that she’s got me sussed as well!  ;-D

Bottom line is I’ve realized how important the acupuncture component is to my health strategy.  I’ve been much busier now that I’m teaching classes again & have felt more tired, but I’ve begun to have trouble falling asleep again!  (And I’ve gone back to the ‘waking up at 3:00 am’ routine too.)  I’ve really  noticed that my chronic insomnia becomes much less of an issue when I’m getting those regular acupuncture sessions.  (And the insomnia gets worse the more over-tired I become.)

I’m still following the cleansing diet prescribed by Dr. Hedayat & taking my supplements, doing my PT exercises, & getting my chiropractic adjustments, so it’ll be interesting to see how getting back into the groove with the acupuncture will effect things.

And on top of it all I’m trying very hard to rest, choose where & when I’ll spend my energy, & to let the stress flow right off my back. It’s a struggle to try to balance everything but I hope I’m getting better at it!!  It’s so hard not to fall back into the old ‘Get-’Er-Done’ mentality I’ve used to power through my life, no matter how exhausted I am.  But that’ mentality is what got me here so I’m learning to ask myself if a task is really so urgent that it’s worth setting back my health recovery.  Now I can take a rest before I tackle it, or just cross it off my list–the world isn’t going to end!

I didn’t think I did that much this last week  <eye-roll>  but I do remember that I:

—–Finished my lesson plans, gathered materials, & began teaching my fall classes ( Math & Science) at our charter school, Greater San Diego Academy (GSDA).

—–Did our homeschool lessons each day (yes, I teach at home too!).    ;-D

—–Setup & coordinated the field trip & drove a carpool to Pasedena on Wednesday for an Aerospace & Science out-reach day for the kids  put on by all the industry heavyweights (NASA, JPL, Boeing, Northrup-Grumman, Wyle, NTSB, etc) to show how fun & rewarding a career in science, technology & engineering can be. They also had loads of  fantastic stuff for the educators. (ME: Puh-leeze can I have one of those cool NASA astronaut pens to go with all the great teaching materials you just gave me?!)   What a fantastic time but thoroughly exhausting!.

—–Coordinated our LEGO Engineering class, materials, & lessons at GSDA.

—–Had bad sciatica at the beginning of the week & drove to Renew on Monday & Tuesday for help, along with my regular Thursday session.

—–Put in solid exercise sessions each day for fitness, & to help my sciatica & lower back pain.

—–Toted my son to his sports group, archery lesson, did housework, ran errands,  blah, blah, blah, just like every other busy parent.

And now I’m in the middle of cooking dinner & arranging a last-minute trip to see my elderly grandmother in Seattle next month!  I guess I’d better sign off so I can finish making all the phone calls to various relatives before it gets too late but before that . . .

I want to report that I was able to do all these things this week & still feel pretty good because I’ve really been following my directives from all my health providers! I’m packing nutritious snacks & lunches (with the accompanying supplements to take at the appropriate times of the day).  I’m having to fight my family’s & my own tendencies to be up late but I’m adamant about my bedtime, & so I have been getting enough sleep.  I’m cooking meals, even when I don’t have the the time!  I’m really trying to listen to my body & when I begin to feel tired I’m having a snack & a rest.  And I’m taking time each day to just chill, whether it’s visiting with a friend while our kids are doing archery or taking half an hour to sit & read or practice my new guitar.

Most importantly, I’m sticking to the priorities I’ve set as to how I will spend my energy each day & I’m refusing to let guilt from myself or from other sources push me to try do everything at once. (I refuse to stay up past midnight like I did in the past)!   I’m not Suzy Homemaker or Super-Woman! There, I said it!

I’ve been trying to make a conscious decision each week as to which days I’ll work on the house & what are my priorities each day.  So this week I deliberately decided to let all but the essential housekeeping wait until Saturday, so it’s been kinda messy around here this week.  But it’s not disgusting or life-threatening, & where I used to beat myself up I now remind myself that my priorities are my health, my family, my educational responsibilities, & having some time to see friends & relax.  Having a picture-perfect home would be nice but it’s not at the top of my priority list.  (Honey, when can we afford some maintenance help?  ha ha)

So I’ll just keep on track with my health strategy & begin to enjoy my life & my family again & if I get busted by the White Glove Squad, they’ll have to leave my demerits on the front door knob ’cause I’ll either be workin’ out,  outta here, or sittin’ on the back porch watching the hummingbirds while I’m eating a healthy lunch & sippin’ a tall (decaf) iced tea!

P.S. Oh, I forgot to add that I verified that my home scale is the same as the medical scale at Renew, so I had a very pleasant surprise last week when I weighed myself & realized that from the beginning of my challenge I’ve shed 15 pounds!  (I knew my clothes fit differently . . . )

Part of this new feeling of health, I believe, is I’m being very conscious of eating my prescribed meals & healthy snacks on more of a schedule–I think I was right in that I really can’t wait to eat until I get hungry because my energy level falls too low & I never really regain it that day.  So the ‘scheduling’ thing seems to be working pretty well.  (And I’ve lost almost 10 pounds!)

Dr. Hedayat ordered the blood panels for my Endobiogenic testing & I have a follow up appointment in 2 weeks so it will be interesting to see what the results show.  I’m very aware that my newly-found feelings of mental clarity, less muscle & joint pain, & greater energy are just beginning, & so are still quite fragile.  I will  have to be quite vigilant of my daily structure & actions–to continue to protect myself from myself –& not delude myself that I’m instantly better & can now go back to my old, destructive habits.  I’m in this for the long haul!!  I want to treat the root causes of my health issues, not merely trim a few symptoms here & there, so I’m very interested in what the test results will show & what my next steps are.

But I think the greatest impact my higher, more consistent energy level is having is on my physical therapy/pain relief conditioning. Now (2-3 days per week) I’m able to ride the stationary bike for 45 minutes, throw in some intense interval training (e.g., 30 seconds as fast as I can possibly go, then 45 seconds slow for rest, 30 sec on/45 sec off for 3  or 4 sets) & still not be dizzy when I finish!! (But of course I’m sweating like crazy!)  I’m finding it easier to do the core-strength building exercises & have begun to do some gentle yoga moves along with my prescribed exercises.  And I’m using some of those specific exercises as pain-relievers when my back hurts so I’m still not popping pain pills!! Sure I still hurt–sometimes quite a lot– but I’m working hard to retrain myself to use the exercises as my first-line of defense.  And you know what?  They’re helping me to have less pain in the long run!  < DUH!! >  I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to find exercises that really work!  (Or to learn to use them as ‘medicine’ instead of just part of physical conditioning.)

My biggest challenge this week has been really painful sciatica.  Dr. Buchel has been giving me really great chiropractic adjustments & Dr. Vanessa (& Dr. Kevin) have been doing lots of mobilization & mucle therapies on my hips & low back–including my favorite, the cold laser!–so between the adjustments & the soft-tissue thaerapies I’ve felt tremendous relief!  (I’m actually sitting here typing & only have a minimal amount of pain instead of it being torture, or not doing computer work at all!)   Dr. Vanessa even had me out this week waling around the block with these crazy walking poles (they’re sort of like cross-country ski poles) that totally kicked my butt, or should I say abs & core body!!  Then I got to ‘play’ (read: sweat!) on the Wii Fit doing soccer, cross-country skiing, hula-hooping (go ahead & laugh–I dare you to do it too!), & yoga.  Normally I would have taken a week to recover but I actually felt more of a normal tiredness & just slept for about 12-1/2 hours that night & felt a good energy in the morning!

I really feel like the co-ordination of the different therapies, diet, & medicines are beginning to show their synergistic effect. And Jonathon has been giving me awesome acupuncture sessions that not only help my sciatica, but even more importantly, have the effect of bringing everything together. No, that’s not a very good description.  More like, confirming the placement of and & ‘comforting’ the newly re-aligned parts of my body–physically, functionally, & mentally.  I feel like the acupuncture helps in re-integrating the disparate parts of my being that have been long divorced,  & in the reconnection of  normal function & communication. Or I can just say it makes me feel terriffic & leave it at that.   ;-D