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!

Blog Title: Dancing with My Disablities!

Formerly Now Read My HIPS, and before that, I Already Gave My Right Arm to Be Ambidextrous.
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.

Dancing with My Disabilities

Dancing with My Disabilities
Asmara "Beautiful Butterfly"

Blog with Integrity

BlogWithIntegrity.com
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Could The Pain Get Any Worse...

This is one of 3 blogs for me. I have one for my path of self-discovery, one for use mainly to communicate with my young adult arthritis group, and now this one. This one is going to be different though. This is going to help me get through the wait for my right shoulder replacement. It is scheduled for March 29th, and it cannot get here soon enough!

Today is a particularly painful day for me for some reason. I have short acting pain meds that I can take at bedtime to get me through the night, but today, I got home and took one as soon as I got in the door. Now, as I type this the words are getting blurry, and any other pain that I have is disappearing very quickly, but not my shoulder. The meds are not even touching the pain! Incredible! It amazes me that nothing can soothe this pain.

So why would someone at age 35 need to get their shoulder replaced you may ask? Well, it isn't because I just want a new model, but I really don't feel exceptionally attached to this one either. I have a rare joint disease called avascular necrosis where the blood flow does not reach the joint, the joint dies, and the joint collapses. The only thing that can be done is to replace the collapsed joint. I had my left hip replaced in 2003, and now I will have my right shoulder replaced. I also have the disease in my other hip and shoulder and both knees. On top of that I have a form of arthritis called psoriatic arthritis and a connective tissue disease called sjogren's. Both affect my skin, joints, salivary glands, tear production, and lungs. I also have hypermobility diseasein my fingers, knees and elbows. I have high blood pressure as well as asthma and allergies.

So this morning I woke up with the pain so intense in my shoulder that I thought I wouldn't be able to even face the day. But ya know I did face it. I took a shower, fed the dogs, took them outside, and went and volunteered at the pregnancy center that I go to once or twice a week. I stayed there for the whole 4 hours.

I made it. Then I got into the car to drive home. How the hell did I drive in this morning? I cannot even put my hand on the bottom of the steering wheel today. How am I going to get through this week?

Sometimes I ask myself this, and somehow I muster up some strength to get through, but I really don't know how I'm gonna do it this time. I am being totally serious. I have strength sometimes that I never thought I could ever have, but come on, sometimes you just have to give up and stay on the couch.

I think I'm giving up. Is it giving up though when there is just nothing you can do? Well, the nausea is starting to set in. I remember why I told the pain doc that I cannot take pain meds during the day. I can't function. I get too sick when I take the pain pills during the day. But when you reach a point where you can't move anyway, why not take the pills and just go to sleep? What else would I be doing anyway? I mean could this pain get any worse? Oh God, I hope not!...

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2012

2012
Performance 5 days before my Hip Replacement Surgery!

2012

2012
Performance 5 Days Prior to my Hip Replacement Surgery.

Belly Dance

Belly Dance
Before the Performance 5/6/12
Watch live streaming video from arthritisfoundation at livestream.com