Well folks, it’s been an incredible, life-changing six months!  I just returned from Isis Physical Therapy at Renew and boy, I really had it brought home to me just how much my pain level, energy level, flexibility, and overall health have improved! Dr. Kevin gave me a great PT session this morning  & continued to loosen the muscles in my pelvis, hips, & glutes.  Then Adam totally kicked my be-hind one more time–for 1-1/2 hours!!!

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!

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

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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

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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/

No, I didn’t run away or hide under the covers for the past 4 or 5 days–I haven’t stopped running from appointments, to teaching class, to the school field trip (Sea World), to cleaning & beginning to decorate, to birthday parties, to taping my ‘After” video at Channel, to the myriad of ‘mom’ stuff we all do each day!!   (Well, actually I was a bum today & went back to bed for a nice leisurely nap this afternoon just because I was still kind of worn out).  But I’m very jazzed that with just a little R & R I feel great & ready to go again!  What a change from the woman I was at the beginning of this journey who hardly had the energy to function, or stay awake, on a daily basis.  Thanks again to Dr. Hedayat & Endobiogenic evaluation for unraveling the combination of thyroid, adrenal, liver, & other health factors that were causing me such trouble!  My fibromyalgia is much better too–I hardly have any muscle or joint pain now.

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!)