Hi friends! That was a really quick month and it’s been a great one. I’ve managed to stay healthy and officially made it a whole month without getting sick…I’ll be right back, I have to go knock on all the wood…and life is really feeling like it’s getting back to normal. We changed our daughter’s after school schedule so she’s only staying late 3 days a week instead of 5 in hopes of bringing back some normalcy back into our house. This also makes me appreciate my “Alison time” more when she is at school all day 🙂
Ok so here’s something I find really exciting. Before HSCT I was really noticing problems with my balance and vision whenever I would get warm and it was really effecting my daily life. The week before I left for Mexico I tried to do a kettlebell workout that I’ve done many many times in the past 10 years. It is fairly simple and has a 3 minute warm up, a 20 minute workout that looks and seems really easy but leaves you drenched in sweat, and a 3 minute cool down. It’s a great quick workout. I didn’t even make it through the warm up before I was falling over. And I really mean that. I’m lucky the wall caught my fall because I tipped right over like someone pushed me. So needless to say I didn’t continue that workout. Well a couple of weeks ago I had a burst of energy and thought “I’m going to try that kettlebell workout again!” And guess what…today I just finished my 14th day in a row of completing a kettlebell workout! What!! I do get blurry vision during it but not nearly as bad as before and my vision is back to normal by the time I’m done with the cool down. Prior to HSCT if I got blurry vision for any reason it would take hours to go away. Now that’s progress!!
So I’m really starting to feel a little more normal now. And I’m one month away from the first huge milestone because at 6 months I can stop taking my prophylactic medications, Bactrim to protect from a deadly strain on pneumonia and Acyclovir to protect against shingles. 6 months of antibiotics has done a number on my gut and I’m looking forward to working on healing that. I can also at 6 months eat at restaurants and drink alcohol and take probiotics. Lots to look forward to!
Next month on March 20 I have my first appointment with a new neurologist who has helped patients returning home from Mexico after HSCT so I look forward to meeting her and hopefully she will be able to monitor my recovery and monitor any changes, or lack there of, to my MS over the years. My current neurologist is completely against HSCT so I didn’t even bother telling him I was having this done and I haven’t seen him since a few months before treatment.
My hair is really showing curls and the volume is crazy!! I’ve never had volume or any waves at all in my hair prior to treatment so this is fun and new but I am ready for long hair again. I miss feeling feminine and “normal” but this too shall pass and looking back through my previous updates, I am shocked at how much it grows every month!
Adios, MS! 