Dancing with My Disabilities!: IAAM/WAAD is teaming up with the Arthritis Foundation (US) and EULAR to make WAD!

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, July 18, 2012

IAAM/WAAD is teaming up with the Arthritis Foundation (US) and EULAR to make WAD!

I am Dana. I have Psoriatic Arthritis, Sjogren's & possible Lupus & Ankylosing Spndylitis. IAAM Waving for WAD!

IAAM/WAAD is teaming up with the Arthritis Foundation (US) and EULAR (European League Against Rheumatism) to make World Arthritis Day (WAD), October 12th, a ginormous awareness event for all the groups of arthritis. In doing this, we are asking you to participate in the WAVE for WAD campaign!

It's simple:
1. Take a photo or video of you waving OR doing the wave OR riding a wave, etc. It is your changce to get really creative!
2. Submit it to: http://www.worldarthritisday.org/waving-photo-upload
3. Each wave counts for a wave from your country! Periodic mentions of which countries are in the lead will be mentioned. Let's each work hard to get our countries in the lead! Let's lift up those rankings, people!

IAAM is making it even more fun by posting CALL TO ACTION Challenges. Should you choose to accept, you are in for loads of FUN!!!!!!!!

WAVE for WAD: Challenge #1- Take a photo of yourself or others waving while holding a sign that states the type of arthritis you have. This challenge is aimed to show that the arthritis diseases affect diffferent ranges of age,--a whole spectrum of ages from babies to the elderly--and there are different types of arthritis as well which can help to differentiate different branches. Feel free to use the specific name of the arthritis type(s) (ie: Psoriatic Arthritis, Osteoarthritis) OR a descriptive name (ie: Autoimmune Arthritis, Degenerative Arthritis, etc).

Submit it to: http://www.worldarthritisday.org/waving-photo-upload and see it posted live soon! Follow them on the WAD facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/worldarthritisday) as well as the WAAD facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WorldAutoimmuneArthritisDay) and IAAM facebook (pagehttps://www.facebook.com/InternationalAutoimmuneArthritisMovement). Use it to challenge your friends and see if they will also take the Wave for Arthritis Challenge #1!...and when it comes to IAAM, it there is a Challent #1, you better believe there will be a #2, #3, #4, etc. etc., etc.,...

ATTENTION AUTOIMMUNE ARTHRITIS'ERS:
THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO START CHANGING THE WAY THE WORLD VIEWS "ARTHRITIS"!

IAAM was brought in to the 2012 World Arthritis Day (WAD) campaign to help bring more awareness to Autoimmune Arthritis so LET'S DO IT! While you may always simply upload a photo of you waving, IAAM has put an awareness spin on the Wave for WAD campaign by posting Call to Action Challenges!

Challenge #1: We are starting out easy, but in true IAAM fashion they'll get more challenging and more FUN ;). Take a photo of yourself, your friends, anyone with Autoimmune Arthritis, wave to WAD BUT ADD SOMETHING TO SHOW WHAT TYPE OF ARTHRITIS YOU HAVE. If you have an Autoimmune Arthritis disease, show it! If you have OA, write down Degenerative Arthritis and show that- The purpose is to start DIFFERENTIATING THE TERMINOLOGY FOR CHALLENGE #1.

Once you've done this and downloaded it to www.worldarthritisday.org your country will get another "wave" added to their total, so in addition to awareness you are also helping to make YOUR country the leader in the awareness campaign.

Come on Autoimmune Arthritisers! NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO START CHANGING THE WAY THE WORLD VIEWS ARTHRITIS!

World Arthritis Day 2012 Homepage

www.worldarthritisday.org

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.