Running to defeat MS (symptoms)

Got out on the slopes again for some late winter/spring skiing and so far the conditions have been absolutely perfect. Here's a shot of Kris on the slope with a nice blue sky in the background. I was able to hit some bigger jumps this week and I went to the (extensive) trouble of making this video!

Will be trying to get out again the next two days for more snowboarding. This is a great trip since the condo was free, and there are 9 of us here for the week to ski/board. From an MS perspective, things continue to go well, the same problems exist that I do not think will go away -- numbness/burning in my toes and occasional bouts of parasthesia in my lower back/back of arms. It's not to the degree that it was BS (Before Solu-medrol) and I only notice it when I think about it. I am battling spasticity in my legs and back/neck nowadays, but exercise resolves it and stretching pushes it back a bit. At my recent visit to the MS clinic at the hospital the PT advised me to stretch with a routine -- I haven't started yet, I do it when I have time. Her thought and experience indicated that regular stretching routines at the same time each day are far more effective for most people. I'll do my best to follow her suggestions.

Big Air Day! Woot, got some air today! This was a fun day, we took it a bit slow as it was our fourth day in a row and Scott was on a board for the first time. But, Dave and I practiced our aerial technique as shown in this picture. That's about four feet of vertical and I'm grabbing the toe side edge of the board in a maneuver I'm calling, uhm, Frontside Air Supreme. Dave was getting the hang of it too as you can see in his, uhm, Wicked Ollie.

There was a time last summer when I really didn't think that I would be skiing or snowboarding anymore. I couldn't run around a soccer field without toppling over. But this week, I'm boarding on the slopes at Vail. I had been boarding two (and a half) other times and decided to try it out for the week that I'm out here at Vail. So, I've got my rental board and have been out for three days in a row so far! I'm really excited about how I feel so far, my legs have been burning, cramping and just plain tired, but in a good way! I didn't even feel overly stiff today after my injection last night. I'm linking my turns together, making progress on becoming an intermediate snowboarder. I have a couple video links from Day 1, and hopefully I'll make some more later this week. Here are a couple pics of me and my buddies, the first day was nice and sunny, since then it's been snowing all day every day.

Posting has slowed down a bit as I'm on a bit of a plateau. It's a good thing, not getting worse, not getting better. Currently I'm battling spasticity that is up and down during the day, I simply get stiffer as the day goes on... and as I sit at my desk working. The side of my face is starting to feel a little numb, not any more than during the summer, but it hasn't gone away in the last few days. I played fairly well in my soccer game last night, I scored two goals and worked hard. Tiredness from playing is easy to deal with, in fact it feels good!

I'm not talking about CVS or Brooks, though they have their issues. I'm talking about specialty pharmacies like the one that is now sending me my Rebif. For some reason my original pharmacy is no longer included in my insurance company's network. Hence, they gave me the number to call the new pharmacy and have them refill my script. As fortune would have it, this has to be done by 11/6 or we'll be charged some sort of nasty price I'm sure.... we received the letter on the 8th. After a week of calling the pharmacy, their promise to get the prescription filled, and to be in contact with me - no luck. They actually started making excuses about a fax not being signed, or part of it being ineligible. Fine, I can understand that, but don't let it become a full business day's delay, that's unacceptable. The MS Lifelines program was my savior, after I was unable to get a better delivery date then the next Tuesday (which meant I would miss 2 doses), I called them...

Muscles feeling really tight and sore this morning, had to take a break from cleaning up the closet and recycling old clothes. More of my legs were tight and sore this morning. Meaning my quads, hamstrings and calves, not just my hamstrings and partially calves. Going onto the eliptical to work my muscles out a bit and then try a prolonged stretching routine. My PT has moved on to a private practice, so the upcoming week is my last. I know what I need to do to keep flexibility, just have to stay on top of it. This past Thu. night soccer game went really well considering how I feel today, perhaps it has something to do with it. I'll have to keep note on how exercise makes me feel the day after, this right now is just a bit too sore and tight to be normal... At my game, it was competitive and the team played pretty well, we lost 7-6 but I managed to find the net 3 or 4 times and played well throughout. I really pushed hard at the end and was exhausted, but it felt good. Unlike...