Right back at it...

It's been a little over a month since my last post. Unfortunately, my Ulcerative Colitis flare did not leave as fast as it came. First I tried prednisone. No improvement. Then Flagyl (an antibiotic). Mild improvement followed by a stand still. Finally, I got my Remicade treatment moved up three weeks early and that seemed to do the trick. Such a relief. Five weeks of misery, pain, and thoughts of "okay, should I just go the ER now" running through my head each night. Suuuucccckkkks.  However, I am now thrilled to say that I am 100% back to good ole me. And I'm so grateful. When you are sick week after week, you start to forget how nice it is to sleep through the night without having to get up 8-10 times to poop. You realize that having a solid poop is such a treat. (You're welcome to all of you that got texts from me telling you as much!) And you forget how nice it is to wake up and think "Whoa, I feel good today." It's a feeling I certainly don't take for granted.

In those five weeks of being sick I just wasn't myself. I was in constant pain, dehydration, and fatigue. I couldn't do the things I loved like running, spinning, lifting, eating out, etc... I even had to cancel my trip to Washington DC to run the DC half-marathon because I was too sick. That was a huge bummer. I had worked really hard training for that and had a good feeling about it but alas, my body wouldn't let me and I had to cancel. Throughout this whole flare, I really tried to stay positive though. I kept reminding myself that I would get better.  I also knew that in relativity to some other flares, this wasn't that awful. Sure I was miserable, but compared to some other horrible flares where I really couldn't leave my house or do much else, I really tried to go about my daily life as much as possible. People around me noticed I wasn't really "me," but at least I was trying to keep normal as much as I could. Sure I couldn't eat out in public and had very little energy, but I made it through work each day with the hopes the next day would be better. I had to keep reminding myself I will get better. And thankfully I did.

Although I am finally feeling back to normal again, I lost a lot of the strength that I had worked so hard to build up the last two months. Because I was in so much pain and had so little energy from not eating much, and not maintaining the little I did eat, my workouts fell to the wayside, naturally. This is not the first time this has happened, and unfortunately, I'm sure it won't be the last. However, I know how to start from scratch and I will rebuild my strength and my endurance. Just because I couldn't run the DC half, I feel the need to really redeem myself in the Brooklyn Half next month. Hopefully my body will continue to cooperate as it has recently and I will get back in my groove running rise, spinning wise, and even socially.

Spring has finally sprung around here and I am hopeful that this means along with the weather, my health will also continue to improve. And with that, so many more good things!