Blog Title: Dancing with My Disabilities! This blog was I Already Gave My Right Arm to Be Ambidextrous prior to Read My HIPS, which is now Dancing with My Disabilities. I am doing some renovating and will begin blogging for the New Year 2024. Please be patient, and please continue to support this blog as well as my other blog Chronically Mommy, which is also being renovated to be more up to date. Pass this information on to anyone that you know may be interested in knowing...To be continued...

Dancing with My Disabilities!

Title: Dancing with My Disabilities! I had my shoulder and both hips replaced, and I am changing things up a bit on this blog! I began belly dancing in 2010! Yes, you read that correctly!! I am going to be blogging about my experience as a woman with several joint diseases and conditions who had her shoulder and both hips replaced who now belly dances, dances hip hop, performs, teaches dance to children of all ages and abilities, teaches belly dance fitness classes to adult women, teaches chair belly dance movement classes to people with mobility issues and disabilities, and takes a Pure Barre class as well! I still have pain, but I want to blog about how I have fun too! Please read Chronically Mommy (chronicallymommy.blogspot.com) for info on health/pain and being a mom to a 13-year-old son. I have avascular necrosis in my shoulders, hips, and knees, psoriatic arthritis, axial spondylitis, Sjogren's, fibromyalgia, hEDS, POTS, MCAS, vascular/ocular/hemiplegic migraines, pseudotumor cerebri, trigeminal neuralgia, occipital neuralgia, endometriosis, and chronic shingles. I found out that I have autoimmune arthritis in my cervical spine and a bulging disk in my lumbar spine. Fourteen years ago, my spine orthopedic surgeon told me I had a small amount of inflammatory arthritis in my SI joint. The question was if the spinal involvement was due to Psoriatic Spondylitis, which is a more severe form of Psoriatic Arthritis or is it a new diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis? Now, they have an updated term, Axial Spondylitis, which fits my symptoms and diagnostic proof. Whatever the diagnosis, the treatment will remain the same. I had my left hip replaced in 2003; my right shoulder replaced in March of 2010. I gave my right arm to be ambidextrous! LOL! Lastly, I had my right hip replaced on May 10th, 2012, and I began belly dancing two years prior to my right hip replacement surgery. Yes that's correct! I began belly dancing in 2010, just after my shoulder replacement, before my son was born. I performed for the first time in 2012, five days prior to my right hip replacement surgery. Pain is still another part of my life. It is just a question of when, where, and how much, but I would like to use this blog to write about my experience as a woman with several joint diseases and conditions who had both hips and a shoulder replaced and now spends her free time dancing, teaching, and performing! I began dancing with a troupe in February of 2014, Seshambeh Dance Company. I now take a Pure Barre class on Monday mornings, teach ballet, tap, and creative movement on Monday evenings to children of all ages and abilities, take a hip hop class with all adult women on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, teach a belly dance fitness class on Thursdays to all adult women, and teach a chair belly dance movement class to people with mobility issues and disabilities as often as I possibly can. Join me in my journey! At times, I take 16 to 20 pills a day. I give myself an injection each week on Fridays for my autoimmune/autoinflammatory arthritis diseases. Just when one thing is doing better, something else goes downhill! My attitude, however, is always going uphill! I am 49 years old, have been married for 24 years, and my husband and I adopted Mick in Dec. of 2010! I have a lot on my plate right now, but I take it one moment at a time. I believe that God will never give me more than I can handle. However, I do need to learn to ask for help sometimes instead of always doing it by myself!

Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I've never done before.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these daya are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

My First Guest Blogger!

I have met such a wonderful person and fellow blogger online. She also is a chronic illness blogger who wants to get the word out to people about health, activism and how illness affects us and our daily lives, while keeping it real and fun! Her name is Kelly Christal Johnston, and the name of her blog is Hurting But Hopeful. She describes herself as: "...a mother and wife first, and a patient with Ankylosing Spondylitis second...meant to be an AS Activist, and...take(s) that very seriously. [She] hope(s) [she] can not only teach the world what living with AS is about, but...[she] can help others like [her] deal with the toll it takes on not only our bodies, but our souls. So with this blog...[she] hope(s) you can get to know [her], [her] goals, and more about AS." I chose her as my very first guest blogger! So, please read this wonderful, blog post, by Kelly. She writes from her heart, mind, soul and body!

I Want

By hurtingbuthopeful

I want to be a grandmother one day, I want to sit in a rocking chair on my front porch next to my husband, while I watch my grandkids play in the front yard and drink lemonade.

I want to give all my worries to God, to never have to carry their weight on my shoulders again, to know He will take them and replace them with absolute Faith.

I want my family to know that I will always be here for them. That I will do anything and everything in my power to make this life the best I can.

I want to be able to take my kids to the park, to the zoo, to the beach without having to worry about medications or the weather or how my body is going to feel that day.

I want the world to know that there is a group of diseases called Spondylitis, and I have one of them, Ankylosing Spondylitis. I didn’t ask for it, I don’t want it, but it’s here so I need to make the best of it.

I want my body to know that it can fuse my spine, and it can damage all my joints, but it will not damage my spirit and my soul that lives within.

I want my kids to know that I didn’t have this disease before I had them, but I do have it now, and even though I know how hard it is to be a mom with AS, I would never not want to be their mother and I will always try to be the best mom I can be.

I want my friends to know that I hate having to cancel plans, and I hate not being able to answer their phone calls. I wish I wasnt that sick friend who flakes out. I will always do the best that I can to be there for them, disease or not.

I want my dad to know that I love him, and I am so proud of him. I want him to know that even though I can’t work like I used to, that I am still me, and I will still try to make him proud.

I want everyone to know that my mother is in Heaven, and that she has been there for over 10 years, and I still can’t think about what that means. My heart will never be whole, and I walk around expecting people to see me falling apart.

I want all medical professionals to know that people with pain didn’t ask to hurt. Please treat us the way you would treat your own parent, spouse, or child, and when a patient tells you they need help, help them without judgement.

I want to wake up without pain, I want to get through an entire day with nothing but happiness and joy. I want to be carefree and just have fun.

I want to fall asleep with ease, and to sleep like a baby, then to wake up feeling rested and healthy.

I want to look to the future with hope and great expectations. I want this disease to know it will not keep me from making goals, or from accomplishing them.

I want to be free of bitterness and anger. I want to let go of the attitude that I am generally unaware of. I want everyone to like me, I want everyone to know who I really am on the inside.

I want to be healthy. I want my body to work right, and to be at a healthy weight, to be able to touch my toes, and to pick up my kids.

I want my body to be the 32 years old it is, instead of the 92 years old it feels.

I want to know that all my friends are happy and healthy. I want them to know they will never be alone, or in pain, or sad again, that we will always have a solution for every problem.

I want to be understood. I want to be able to communicate my feelings accurately and to be able to help others with my words.

I want my students to know that I cherish the years I had with them. I want them to know I am proud of them and I love them like they were my own children.

I want everyone to know that the sky is the limit. Life is what we make it, so lets make it great.

I want my husband to know that I love him more than anything in this world. He completes me, and our lives may not be perfect, but I am completely in love with him, and I will never give up on us.

I want those of you who read my blog to know that it means so much to me, your comments and encouragement gives me strength I didn’t know I had, and you are not alone as long as I am around.

I want the future to be amazing, I hope it is full of good surprises, full of family and friends, and full of perfect memory making moments.

I want to remember that sometimes things won’t turn out the way I would have wanted, and that I will be ok with that. I want to always keep in mind that life has this funny way of working itself out.

I want a cure for all illnesses, but especially for Ankylosing Spondylitis, and for the ignorance that surrounds this disease.

What do YOU want?

Did you like the idea of having guest bloggers? If you are interested in being a guest blogger, please send an email to: danamarton74@gmail.com or reply to the comment section of the blog post. Also, start thinking about topics for blog carnivals. I am going to begin hosting blog carnivals with Kelly!!! Yay!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Dana, I loved this! Kelly wants what we all want...but she put it down in words beautifully!

Mo

Give Michael some kisses from me!; June 2, 2011 at 12:46 AM

It's Time You Understood.

I want you to understand that your arthritis is not the same as mine if you tell me "I have arthritis too in my knee sometimes." That is not what I have. I have autoimmune arthritis. I have fatigue, pain, and stiffness in every joint in my body, take very serious medications like biologics which is in IV form every 4 weeks at the hospital's infusion center and chemotherapy pills. The type of autoimmune arthritis diseases that I have affects my eyes, my lungs, my heart, my skin, my ligaments, my tendons, my salivary glands, as well as my joints. Please visit www.causes.com/WorldAutoimmuneArthritisDay to donate $5 for the cause.