Weekly Mileage #90 and the Diagnosis

heading to the mailboxes

The 9" of snow we got on Sunday meant we had a snow day on Monday. River and I went snowshoeing while Mr M dropped the mower deck and attached the plow to our lawn tractor.

He always seems to do it when it's cold and snowy. The one year I took care of it, and got it done early, it never snowed enough to need it. So I guess doing it later is better than sooner, if it means we actually get snow.

view from the mailboxes- so pretty!

We bought snowshoes two years ago, but this was the first time we've actually gotten to use them. It was a lot of fun, and a good workout. The only issue we had was that River's snowshoes wouldn't stay on- the straps kept loosening up. Considering that they're plastic snowshoes for preschoolers, this wasn't actually a surprise.

Tuesday I rode my bike. I missed it last week because of the sleep study, and Monday night I realized my foot hadn't hurt in several days. Then I rode my bike and found that my foot still doesn't like all the flexing. It's still a bit stiff if I bend it in certain directions, but even that is improving and it's doing good otherwise.

Wednesday I had my sleep study followup. Remember how I said I didn't sleep during the first nap and only dozed off at the end of the second one? Yeah, that's not actually what happened. I fell asleep in the first 2-3 minutes of all four naps, and dreamed during all but one of them. That was enough for a diagnosis of narcolepsy (fast sleep + REM sleep).

No, I don't fall asleep mid-sentence, nor do most people with narcolepsy (that's a Hollywood exaggeration). I have a fairly mild case right now, and my main symptoms are excessive daytime sleepiness and disordered nighttime sleeping. I can be tired all day (usually the worst is mid afternoon and when I'm putting the boys to bed around 7, which unfortunately is way too early for me to go to bed), but come 9 or so, I'm wide awake and won't fall asleep until after midnight.

It's an auto-immune disorder with no cure (like celiac disease), but there are medications that can help you sleep at night and stay more alert during the night. They're not perfect and you can build up a tolerance, or they may not work at all, but at least there's things to try. I started off with a daytime medication that I actually took years ago, after my mission, when I was dealing with insomnia and daytime sleepiness. I took it and something else to help me sleep for about a year or so, then stopped taking them, and when I stopped I was mostly just tired all the time, without the insomnia.

I've got a post in the works about what I've learned from research and support groups, and my thoughts as I'm reframing past experiences through this new lens. In the meantime, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I fell right to sleep in all four naps, even though my brain told me otherwise. So weird.

snow and moss-covered rock wall in the woods

Thursday Sunshine led us on a hike to where her nature class was held. There was still snow on the ground, but it was warm enough that the ground was soggy. We did some slip sliding down a couple hills, but it was a nice little hike.

the vine swing she and her class mates would swing on

Saturday I hit the 365 mile point (for foot miles) while hiking after running some errands. Note to self: never run errands in town on a Saturday in December. The crowds were exhausting.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.57 mile snowshoe hike
Tuesday- 10.0 miles biked
Wednesday- 2.07 miles hiked
Thursday- 1.03 mile snowy hike
Saturday- 2.32 miles hike
total- 16.99 miles

43 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

366.82 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
345.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
713.96 miles total