Walk In My Shoes

Link not working

2011-10-27T20:26:00.001-04:00

Just discovered that the link to iherb is not working. I'll get on that right away, meanwhile please go directly to iherb.com and when you check out use the promotional coupon HOF888 for a discount. Thanks!!!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Southern Pacific MS Walk Challenge

2011-09-24T15:45:00.001-04:00

Today I am in San Diego, California where tonight I will speak at the dinner for the Southern Pacific MS Challenge Walk. What a joy it is to be a part of this dynamic event.

There are 214 walkers going the distance this weekend for the cure of MS - 50 miles they have covered starting on Friday and crossing the line on Sunday. You take those 214 walkers doing 50 miles and you have just covered 10,700 miles in a duration time period of 22 hours!! You can talk the talk and it doesn't do "beans" for this disease BUT when you walked the walk, you covered a lot of ground in finding a cure to beat the "beast"!!

I have a goal for next year! I've shared that between my diet and new therapy that I am getting stronger - stronger for next year's Challenge Walk here in sunny San Diego and maybe, just maybe, every other MS Challenge Walk I can find throughout the country!! I've talk the talk for the last ten years as the national MS Ambassador - now as the "Terminator" its time to walk the walk and beat the beast!!!

For those that went the distance in San Diego this weekend I applaud and thank you on behalf of everyone who is facing the beast of MS. See ya next year!!!
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6 Months - Going Strong!!

2011-09-21T13:46:00.001-04:00

Yikes, its been six months since my last update! Once again, I've failed in keeping up with the times - there's just not enough minutes in a given day.

It's been six months and I am going strong!! Friends, I am thrilled to report that I have kept up with my life changing diet and have lost nearly 80 pounds! I continue to take my 8 tablespoons of silver each day and I am feeling stronger and moving with a mobility that I haven't done in nearly four years!

You find me in sunny Los Angeles where I've been on a "mini" speaking tour. I spoke in San Jose to a couple of thousand kids at Valley Christian school and for the first time in four years, I stood and delivered the message for 45 minutes without using a chair to sit in!!

We flew out of San Francisco and into Los Angeles and at each airport I walked the entire distance without using a wheelchair!! The strength is returning!! I must confess, the next day I "died" - I was exhausted and the leg muscles were so sore but I bounced back after another good night sleep and am continuing the journey.

We are now in the San Diego area where I spoke for the Southern Pacific chapter of the MS organization women's weekend. What a joy it was to cheer on some hundred plus women who walk with MS. My title was "Beauty and The Beast" and I used the Hollywood movies with their titles of "The Good, The Bad, and Ugly", "Die Hard" and "Alice and Wonderland" along with "Beauty and The Beast" to illustrate our journeys with MS and how we can relate to our daily walk with this disease. The beast can be fought and can be beaten!! We each must take control of our lives and find what works for us!

I am thrilled to say I am returning to my "old self" - no, I am not cured of MS but I am stronger then I have been in five years! I still have many of the MS symptoms that I wrestle with on a daily basis but friends, once again, I am "walking in my shoes"!!

Until the next time, keep searching, keep fighting, keep walking!!

Sue
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2011-03-22T19:31:00.002-04:00

It's been a month since I've started my faithful diet and I am happy that I lost 10 pounds during that month. In spite of a nasty cold the past two weeks I am feeling the effects of being 10 pounds lighter and thrilled that it is in time for spring!!
I have added two very important health additions to my life, Coral Calcium with magnesium and Vitamin D and Sovereign Silver. I am taking 2 Tbsp. of Silver three times a day and have noticed significant results in two areas - I sleep straight through the night, and most importantly, it has strengthened my bladder where I now have control and don't need to get up during the night two or three times - I am THRILLED!!
I realize with MS that everyone is different and not everything works the same for everyone but if you come to the point of desperation as I did, you will find ways and means to take control back over your life. I had read enough positive things about the Sovereign Silver to attempt to try it - and it has worked for me.
What a difference the month has made even with having a terrible headcold. I overdid it with my new "spring" in life when I went to the grocery store and walked with a shopping cart - I WALKED WITH A SHOPPING CART! I have not walked in a grocery store for two years, but rather, have used their electric carts. What a joyous day it was as I felt confident and stronger while using a normal pace pushing the cart. I shouldn't have overdone it as my cold did not like my eagerness but I know once I am stronger when my cold passes I will be working out in the grocery store setting my pace and trying to walk a mile a day. I WANT MY LIFE BACK!!
If anyone is reading this and wants more information about that SOVEREIGN SILVER I have a link to the IHERB Company where it can be purchased. It is a little expensive but it sure has worked wonders for me.
It's my prayer for you that your spring brings forth renewed energy, beautiful days and a desire to fight the beast of MS and let it not rob you of your life - yes friends, walk humbly with your God and know that your affliction is not to harm you but to strengthen you and to live life to the fullest with whatever you have to work with! Life is a gift...celebrate it to the fullest!!

2011-02-21T19:15:00.002-05:00

The month of February reminds people of Valentine's Day, MLK, and President's Day. For me it reminds me of MS day. February 14th , 2001, was the day I first experienced the numbness that started my personal walk with MS.

They say that the 10th annivesary is known as the 'tin' anniversary, and I find that very appropriate to how I feel ~like tin ~ with some days having absolutely no feeling, and others experiencing much pain. It appears that with each passing year I am slowly losing a body that I have known well for 60 years; a body that has been a friend in good health and has taken me around the world. On this 10th anniversary of MS I made a major decision and I do mean it is major.

The past month has had more bad days than good. It even came with a major melt-down in a public restaurant when a large glass of water spilt and I sobbed uncontrollably. I kept apologizing to the waitress, not because of the spilled water, but simply because I could not stop crying and felt badly for making a public scene.

I have come to the end of my rope with this disease which has taken my life the way I had known it and I want it back...I am willing to do nearly anything to reclaim it.

I have started taken Sovereign Silver 3 times a day. I read that it has helped numerous people with MS and I am determined to see if the results are true.

I have also made a radical change in my diet, limiting myself to 1000-1500 nutritious calories. I have long been known as a heavy-weight fighter for worthy causes, but feel that now is the time to change radically and go for either the 'light weight' or 'feather weight' title.

To date I have lost 36 pounds which is the first step of journey of thousand miles. I have been sleeping straight through the night without any interuptions and feel positive that somehow I have taken small steps to reclaiming myself and taking back what the MS beast has tried to steal.

Yes, it is my 10th anniversary and I am celebrating 'tin', but it is by God's strength and a personal resolve that I hope to be able to celebrate my 25th and 50th, silver and gold, so that in the end, I beat the Beast!

I will keep you posted on this part of my walk...It's going to be interesting!

Best wishes to you, wherever you are in your walk on this journey. God's strength before you, His arms around you, as you go not forth alone.

Sue

A New Year with MS

2011-01-21T12:36:00.003-05:00

It is now 2011 and still ther i sno know cure for MS, although they are sure cranking out the therapies to help slow the disease down to bide more time for finding that cure.

Last year, 2010 was a bad year for my walk with MS. It seemed I was always having an "exacerbation" sometimes crashing on a daily basis, and definitely coping with it on a weekly basis. It has been years since I have had feeling in my left foot and any normal sensations in my right. What was once a weak right hand only has now spread to a weak right arm, as well.

The bladder is a continual reminder that I am not normal and it appears that my thermo regulator is totally off to the point where when I venture out for groceries I always need to find the freezer section in the store to 'chill out' when my body temps start to act up. I simply go pale, cold, clammy, and nauseated and need the cold to be revived. Welcome to a normal day if Sue Thomas with MS!

It really sounds bad, and it really is when I get those spells. The body is going downhill fast, but my mind and heart still holds dreams of the future, thus I continue to travel and speak, and work on my non-profit ministry in building 1) a retreat center where those with MS can find strength, encouragement, and faith to keep going and 2) the special skills dog facility to train those lovable pups who serve those with physical challenges.

There is so much that I want to do and so much more that I want to give that I am trying various "natural" therapies to see if anything will help.

RIght now I am trying Bio-Active Silver Hydrogen as an immune support. I started yesterday, 1-20-11, with a teaspoon three times a day. After reading an article form a gal with MS who had tremendous results with the silver I thought it would be worth exploring further. I will let you know if I notice any changes.

If there has been anyone out there that has used silver to suport their immune system and found that it has helped, I would love to hear from you and if you are continuing with it.

I do hope to be better on this blog this year, so come back when you can and see what is happening. Hope all is well in your corner of the world!

Sue

Milestone

2009-07-15T12:42:00.002-04:00

This week I hit another milestone in my journey with MS. I went mobile! After 8 years of walking with this disease I have come to the point where I have to roll!. This past year I have experienced a steady decline in my walking. To go any distance I have to work hard to push a walker, and have begun to realize how much energy I can conserve by either using a wheelchair or mobility scooter.
With my doctor's approval, this past week a brand-new, spic-n-span, viper blue Pride Celebrity Scooter entered my life to give me a freedom that has been missing for the past 8 years. The night of its arrival I took a 'walk' through the neighborhood with 'Katie', my yellow-lab Service Dog, and 'Thumbs' my personal nurse at my side. There was a freedom I haven't felt for years as I zoomed down the sidewalk admiring my neighbors' flowerbed, and watching the sunset over the trees!
I am grateful that my MS has progressed slowly. It has taken 8 years to slow me down to becoming 'mobile'. I know I must work on my balance and keep walking as long as I can. I hope I never reach the point where I cannot stand on my own two feet. And yet I am glad I relented to the scooter as I now can do and see those things which for so long I had to forfeit because of my physical weakness.
It is truly a "Milestone" in my journey with MS. Another mile, another stone, and I will always remember it with a thankful heart.
Keep walking, my friends, and when you 'gotta roll', then roll with those punches. Never stop moving forward and upward for the journey is awesome!!
This gal now rolls at 6 MPH!

Hugs

2009-03-19T21:57:00.004-04:00

Today is the first day of our second week in a local hotel eight miles from my home. The aftershocks of our flood have subsided along with the water. We've picked out the new carpet, wallpaper, and window fixtures and all have been ordered. Tomorrow they will start ripping the baseboards up and anything that is wood such as doors - I am learning a lot through this process and have received encouragements and plenty of hugs along the way.
Lets talk about hugs. Such a warm way to show the emotional bond of friendship! I have always been a hugger and not afraid to give that added squeeze to reinforce togetherness. I love to connect with my audiences when speaking and am blessed by those who come up to me afterwards and want to give me a hug, to show their appreciation. Some, without realizing how frail I have become with my MS, have inflicted pain with their emotional squeezes. I love a hug but now have to caution folks who give strong squeezes.
This past week has been a very intense and stressful week and several times I have experience tightness and pressure around the upper part of my stomach. I have noticed this before over the past months, but this week it was persistent. Sometimes the pressure was so great it nauseated me. Then I would have to calm myself from having a panic attack! Was it my heart? Do I have congestive heart failure as my mother did? All sorts of thoughts raced through my brain as I dealt with the confusion and turmoil of being relocated to a hotel room while major construction takes place in my home.
When I mentioned the weird sensation to "Thumbs", my registered nurse, she researched my complaints. Lo and behold, she informs me that it is an MS symptom and called the "MS Hug." A hug? Of course! That is exactly the way the sensation feels but much more powerful, enough to make you want to throw up!!
Friends, can anyone help me understand and deal with this new "hug"? Is this a short little "speed bump" that occurs every so often on the journey of MS? Is it something that I need to be concerned about - like can I have a heart attack over it? I can only imagine headline news announcing that Sue Thomas died because of a hug!! This is quite a journey where I have seen many faces of this MS Beast; the extreme fatigue; double blurry vision; numbness of feet; instability; the dribbly bladder; the wheelchair; motor scooter; the weakness and frailness of body and the excruciating pain found in the jaw, and now just when I thought that I have experienced it all - I get a "Hug"! Not just any ole hug, but an "MS Hug" that sucks the life out of me!
Can anyone share their experiences about this so called "Hug"? Surely it doesn't last through the whole MS journey. Its the last thing that I want - A HUG From the Beast!!

When it rains...It pours!

2009-03-05T11:52:00.003-05:00

Last week I "jump started" this blog as well as this hunk of clay that I carry around as my body. I am happy to report that I have been very faithful for the entire week in taking my protein drink with every imaginable nuetrient blended together with two bananas in the blender. I am also on a low-carb diet, and enjoying salmon every day. I got my new video "Sit and Be Fit" but have not turned it on yet as I've had major issues to deal with, and I do mean, MAJOR issues!!

Last Tuesday morning I was still in bed just awakening from a restful night. All appeared to be well, when "Thumbs", my private registered nurse of five years, said "I hear water - I hear rushing water." There I lay on my bed thinking she's crazy, I don't see anything. No sooner had my thought finished when we first saw the drips falling from the ceiling above the door that leads to my livingroom. I leaped up and tore out of the room saying, "we got to get a bucket!" Then "Thumbs" rushed in behind me with a look of horror crying, "forget the bucket!" and dashed back out. In the bedroom I was frozen with disbelief. The ceiling had opened up and it was a water falls pouring down on the door and filling the room with water. "Thumbs" opened the sliding doors to the deck to let the water pour out - we had 80 pounds of water pressure per minute gushing at us and I just stood in shock for a life time before moving into action. By the time we turned off the main water valve the damage had been done and life as we knew it was changing rapidly. The emergency crew was there within an hour to clean up the mess. "The Man from Nationwide was on our side" from the moment we called and we are now trying to rebuild what was destroyed and it although appears like the whole house is under construction, I am actually getting a whole new bedroom. Tonight I write this from a hotel room where we have lived for the last week. It appears it will be a week or two before we go back home and in the meantime I am trying my best not to have an MS meltdown. I am going through heavy fatigue and have just learn that the extreme pressure around my upper torso is indeed an "MS hug" and not a coronary. Aside from these two MS symptoms I am doing rather well considering the stress that I endure this past week. Maybe it's the protein drink... or the low-carbs... or the salmon. It might even be the Monavie juice I started last week.

I do know this...having MS and surviving a major flood without totally crashing is a sign of encouragement for me. Now that I have been "jump started" - I am committed to running!!!

Jump Starting

2009-02-20T11:56:00.001-05:00

Today I am attempting to "jump start" this blog along with "jump starting" myself. We that walk with MS have trouble with our nerves endings being destroyed and we compare that to electrical wiring that malfunction when the current gets shut off - like a car with a dead battery, I am taking the cables and "jump starting" to try to get moving again. I am excited about getting a new DVD called "Sit and Be Fit". I discovered this program last week when flipping channels on the TV and found it on the PBS channel. It's a work out program for older people that cannot stand for long and it is slow enough that the energy level is maintained throughout the exercise. I tried it while watching the program and got so excited that I ordered a DVD to see if I could get some of my muscles back. I am hoping the DVD will arrive today so I can get started. I will keep you informed on how it goes. I have also started a diet program about five days ago. This was a radical step as I am a great lover of good food. I am eating a can of tuna fish in the morning and doing a protein shake in the afternoon followed by a light dinner in the evening. It has been five days and I haven't lost a pound but I am feeling really good and positive simply in knowing that I am trying. It is my attempt to keep the "juices" flowing now that I've attempted to "jump start" this battered hunk of clay. This will be different for me as I bring the world on board and sharing my success as well as failures. Maybe it will be a big help having the world as my accountability but I envision my success with both the exercise by "Sit and Be Fit" and my diet and know for certain that this house is going to rock!! Now for the cables to start this battery - Let the engines roar!!!!

MS

2009-01-14T13:03:00.001-05:00

It is January 2009. Soon will be my 8th anniversary of living with this intruder known as MS. I have learned much through "crash courses" during this time period, and yet I know I have so very much more to learn. For those of you that have lived with MS for twenty and thirty years, I lean on you for wisdom and understanding.

Since my diagnosis I learned quickly the hard lesson that I can always expect the unexpected. I have discovered that one area of my body will always malfunction even when everything else appears normal. I have experienced that catching the normal cold can takes weeks to a month to get over. What baffles me, is how strange my body has become to me after living with it for 58 years. And to think it all started when I turned 50!I want to go back to normalcy but Reality screams at me. From the onset of this intruder I experienced double blurry vision, extreme fatigue, weakness and numbness on the right side of my body. These are now things that I live with a daily basis but the degrees fluxuate from day to day. Some days the eyes are worse than others. There are days when I just want to sleep forever. It is a rare day when I can go full steam ahead without an afternoon nap! I still know not to take a warm bath or shower or to attempt to write, type or over stress my right hand - these areas have never changed after eight long years and have simply become a part of who I am.

I want to use this blog to terminate this dreadful intruder known as MS. I have no education or knowledge to find the cure but I can help terminate the disease in other areas such as dealing with frustrations, defeat and despair. I want this blog to be a place where people can come together to encourage.. .to vent... to scream...laugh...cry... I want this page to become a nuclear bomb made up of special people that have the same attitude to terminate this disease.

I am the MS terminator and I simply say... "CHARGE!!!!!"