Living with Sjogren’s Syndrome: Part 2

While reacquainting myself with my blog I reviewed some past blog entries. An entry from February 2011 Living with Sjogren’s Syndrome was one of my last posts before I went on my, ahem, sabbatical.  I figured an update was due.

In that entry I explained how my outlook had changed due to my recent diagnosis. I’ve been doing my best to continue to do these things:

• I carefully plan my days to bank extra time and energy for evening dinner or happy hour plans.  I also know I need to schedule down time for myself.

• I work hard at work, use my comp time to go home early when I can and try really hard to leave work at work!

• I eat healthy as much as possible when confronted by bad choices I try to remember how awful I feel after I indulge in something delicious- but bad for me.

• I try to exercise regularly. This is probably the hardest because I feel better when I’ve been exercising regularly.  But, when I feel like crap it’s hard enough to find my work-out clothes much less get out the door!

Regular exercise continues to be challenging and eating healthy is probably the biggest and best variable to predict my energy level. (As I sit here with a giant piece of cake...)

I didn’t realize until very recently that my ability to plan, create lists and prioritize are the skills keeping me afloat in all aspects of my life. Whether it’s work, Thanksgiving dinner or planning my blog posts you can bet I have a list, a timeline and benchmarks to make sure I successfully reach my goal with the least amount of stress.

So I found it ironic that I read that post when right now, I’m incredibly run down and have persistent muscle pain permeating my body. I’ve been feeling pretty down on myself for not feeling well: I should be pushing through this, I should have been eating better and doing a better job of (fill in the blank).

Today I realized I need to add a bullet to that list I made back in February:

• I will acknowledge my bad day, days, week or weeks.  Having a bad day here and there is allowed, understandable and is NOT failure.

It sounds silly but it was a very liberating realization.

River Bend 5K

Last weekend was River Bend Nature Center's 5K fun run.  A group of us have been running in it for the past few years- this year Chris joined us!  Here's the crew finishing the run and right before we headed over to the shelter for a pancake breakfast!

When you go for a run...

... and leave McClane behind, this is what happens:


I wish I could have captured the immediate effect! He was LOUD! Right now he's curled up at my feet, huffing and puffing and listening very intently for any sign of Chris's return.

Two wet runs

Yesterday was a cold and rainy Sunday. I was up by 7 am for a bit of yoga (this time the dog didn't try to lay on me during relaxation!) and out the door by 8 am to pick up Autumn. We drove down to River Bend Nature Center in Faribault, MN (FAIR-IH-BO) for a 9:30 am start time. The race started with an unorganized "BANG!" and a mass of chaos started moving down the trail. After the first 5 minutes or so everyone seemed to sort themselves out!

Post race we're all wearing our Simple Steps t-shirts (a walking program in Dakota County). Pictured left to right are Lynn, Angie, myself (no braces!) Autumn and Katie.

My second wet run of the day came after an afternoon of lounging around. Chris had just left for his afternoon run when McClain started complaining about not being invited along. The beagle in him was getting REALLY loud, so I went to let him in. He slipped from my grasp and took off down the sidewalk after Chris. I bellowed for him to come back, but on he sprinted. He stopped at the corner to investigate, and mark, the fire hydrant before slipping out of sight. I was following as fast as I could in my slippers and was relieved to find him sitting about half way up the block when I rounded the corner. As soon as I called his name he knew he was in trouble, but I was relieved when he immediately came galloping over to me. My heart was beating like a freight train as I dropped to the sidewalk to hug, scold, yell and pet him.