MS, Music and Me: Catching Up

Just some bits and pieces and random thoughts since I haven't posted in a while.

I love this quote from Marc - his blog is amazing and everyone with a chronic illness can benefit from reading Marc's take on his own disease. He is real, brutally honest, and very very smart. Here's a link to the Wheelchair Kamikaze's Blog.

"I can advocate for and educate myself, but the actual healing is out of my hands. The only control I do have is to take the journey moment by moment, focusing on the good contained within each passing now, and accepting the bad as a particularly unpleasant traveling companion. With each day there is night, with each peak there is valley, for every gain there must be loss. Such is the way of nature; such is the way of life…" Marc Stecker aka Wheelchair Kamikaze

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Tampa CCSVI Symposium and Walk 'N Roll was a huge success. The Alliance exceeded their goal and both the lectures and walk were very well attended - far greater than expected. Everyone who spoke did well and we were warmly received. The auction was wonderful with a lot of fabulous items. I worked the auction and registration tables until it was time to speak so I missed some of the doctor's talks but I believe the CCSVI Alliance will be posting the video of the symposium.

Nicki Watts did an incredible job of organizing this pretty much on her own with the support of Michelle Brown (long distance from Connecticut). Congratulations to everyone for a very successful event and thanks to all the sponsors and donors who participated. And thank you to everyone who donated to my walk page, allowing me to far exceed my goal. I raised $985.00 and am sending in another $15 just to even it up! Here are the links to two photography sites who donated their services. The photos are wonderful and capture the spirit of both days.

Symposium Photos by Kimberly Yau Studios Walk Photos by Lucy Perl Photography

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One week of rest before 'hell week' starts again for our Verdi Requiem performances. We're performing with the Lynn Philharmonia in a partnership that will save us some money because two performances will be in the University's new theater which is gorgeous, and we don't need to rent space or hire an orchestra! Their conductor, George Schram, is very well repsected and I'm excited to meet him next Monday. We rehearse Monday through Wednesday and perform Thursday through Sunday. Hopefully we'll all have some voice left by Sunday because this is a demanding work, but one of my very favorites to sing. The seating arrangements may be better for me as my section is on the end, so I can sit for a lot of the performance and not stick out like a sore alto. Wish me luck!
----------------------------------------------------------------

My art classes are on a break this week but resume next Tuesday. I also signed up for a drawing class given by the same instructor because I really need to learn more about perspective, light, etc. I'm working on some pieces on my own during this break but I enjoy the ones we do in class because I can get input from the other student artists as well as Daniel, our instructor. Here's my latest effort which was taken from a photograph on a calendar page. Everyone did a different butterfly. I don't love how I did the background but the butterfly came out OK I think. At least it looks like a butterfly! In any case, I'm having fun exploring this new side of me and pastels are a pretty forgiving medium - you can erase what you don't like or go over it with a different color. Blending the colors gives some interesting results and I'm learning what works and what doesn't. (Use lots of white and avoid black!)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Be Here Now
Photo by Camikooka

Some MS related stuff: I stopped taking LDN because I didn't see any benefits from it. So at the moment I'm not on any drugs for MS. This is a little scary but there are really no drugs out there right now that can stop the progression of secondary progressive MS so I'm more or less on my own. I do like the idea of not putting more chemicals in my body; I already take medication for diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, and alertness. I also take some vitamins and supplements, so just keeping track of all these pills can be a project in itself. I guess it's up to me to keep exercising, stay active and try to follow Marc's advice to take the journey moment by moment. Good advice for everyone, chronic illness or not.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------