Well, today I could have been a poster child for a Nike commercial and wanted to share the experience with all of you.
As you may know, I'm in the Rockies going on 5 weeks now, and I'm trying my best to regain my strength and stamina, which I lost a lot of this last year when dealing with healing my MC (with diet alone). I reached a low point on December 12, 2010, as I had narrowed my diet down to 4 items in an effort to get rid of the D. When this still did not resolve the D., I knew something had to give. My biggest problem was that I simply could not figure out a single "safe" item, and I later discovered that 3 of the 4 items in my "elimination diet" where reactive.
A couple of days after I felt I hit an all time low (I had lost 25 lbs. in half a year, and was feeling fragile and desperate) I went to see a dietitian and ordered the MRT test. Getting the test results was a real eye opener, since I discovered that I was highly reactive to several items I was ingesting regularly (for instance bananas, coffee, eggs, asparagus, tomatoes). Eliminating all the reactive foods from my diet resulted in an instant improvement in my BM's, and on Christmas day I experienced my first "Norman" in over 10 years. That was an incredible Christmas gift, but it was far from the end of the road in my healing.
Eight months later, I am still in the healing process. I would say that I'm about 75% there, and am hoping that in another year, I will be closer to healed. I'm still eating a very limited diet, but since I'm getting food from so many nutritious sources (veggies, fruits, nuts, chicken, seafood and beans), I feel that I'm eating well (incidentally, I eat almost no "processed" foods, and rarely go out to eat). So, together with my healthy diet and stamina and strength exercises I'm doing here in the mountains, I'm feeling strong again, both mentally and physically.
Back to today and my "Just Do It" commercial
. I woke up this morning feeling strong and healthy and ready for a hike. I knew Bill (my SO) did not want to hike today, as he was heading to the lake where they were having some kind of festivities, but I tried to get him to come along anyway (to no avail). There is this massive mountain called "Buffalo Mountain" featured prominently in this area. I have been looking at it from my little condo terrace since I came up here 5 weeks ago, but didn't think I was strong enough to hike it, as there is a 3,000 foot elevation gain and plenty of rock scrambling.Anyhow, something got into me this morning, and I decided to give it a try by myself - solo hiking. This is something I rarely do, since I have a lot of respect for the wilderness, and would certainly not like to meet up with a bear or mountain lion when alone. The other factor to consider was the weather - as there was a cloud cover, and the forecast called for afternoon thunder showers. On the other side of the equation was the fact that my dear sister, who is struggling with bone cancer, was having hip replacement surgery today. Also, it is my mom's birthday - she was born 8/19/1908 and would have turned 103 today if she was still alive.
To make a long story shorter, I felt absolutely impelled to do the climb by myself today, and headed for the trails. Something Tex once posted kept running like a tape recorder in my head "once you conquer MC, you will feel like there is nothing you cannot do". Although I don't feel I have completely conquered MC yet, I am absolutely certain that I will get there in due time. So I did the climb (5.5 hours), for my MC victory so far, for my sister, who is struggling so, and for my mother, who I believe would have lived longer had she dropped gluten from her diet (she had all the classic symptoms of gluten intolerance).
I met some young guys from Nebraska on the trails, and they took a picture of me on the summit and emailed it to me - so I attached it below.
Anyhow, my long winded message is to encourage all you fellow MC sufferers that you CAN get your life back!!! Never, never, never give up!!!
Love,
Kari
