Weekly Mileage #148 and Snow Tubing

Monday there was no school, but I'd planned on going for a trail run and hike as usual. Spraining my toe Saturday night put a stop to that. So no running, and I babied my toe since I knew I'd be walking and standing that night. It was feeling a lot better than on Sunday at least.

Monday evening we took the YW snow tubing. The weather cooperated with cold weather (it was actually in the high 20s when we were there) so there were no problems running the snow machines. We had a great turnout and the girls all had a lot of fun. Definitely not the cheapest activity, but it's fun to do something out of the ordinary once in awhile.

waiting my turn at the top

Wednesday we went to the Scout Shop to get a couple things, so on our way back we stopped in Shenandoah NP for a hike. The trail was a lot rockier than I'd anticipated, so my foot wasn't super happy the rest of the day. Nice views from the summit, though.

trying to get a smile out of everyone at the same time

the best they managed

the marker at the top- just under 3000 feet elevation, which is a lot for around here

Thursday I finally did my first bike ride of the year. Skipping the first few weeks of the month put me off track, but I'll be able to catch up as long as I don't skip any more weeks for awhile.

I had a lot of headaches the last half of the week, which greatly affected my ability to be productive and high functioning (boo!). I'm not sure if they're from changing up my supplements, sleeping weird, all the rain storms that have been moving through, stress, or the weight of my hair. I'm getting my hair cut on Wednesday, so I'll hopefully find out soon. The headaches affect my narcolepsy in weird ways- I find it soo much harder to keep my eyes open when I have one of these headaches. I try to avoid naps because I never know if they're going to screw up my nighttime sleep routine, but I actually took a nap Friday (without repercussions thankfully).

Friday morning we went to the fire station with our play group. All the little boys loved it! Ocean now wants to be a fire fighter. River wants to be a police man and own a pie and donut trailer.

Jeremy had drill this weekend, which made Sunday extra fun. I got the boys ready, went to Ward Council, ran home and picked up the kids, and ran back to church. And we were actually on time! After church we had ward youth council, so I brought the boys in for that with mixed success. Next month I'll have Sunshine take them to the nursery. We've had some leadership changes in some of the groups, but hopefully we'll soon move to once a month ward council instead of twice a month, which will make my life a little calmer.

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Thoughts about the definition of disability and how it applies to me.

I know some narcoleptics receive disability benefits (though it's hard to get approved, despite how difficult it can be to function normally and be a productive employee), but I hadn't thought much more about it. I don't plan on applying for disability, so it's just been on my periphery, not a major concern.

This week I came across a comment my sister made about applying for the National Parks Access pass, which is for people with disabilities. She has one because of her MS and she was telling our friend to apply for passes for her son and husband who both have type 1 diabetes, as does my sister's daughter. That's when I realized I'd probably qualify for a pass as well. I'd always thought the pass applied mainly to people in wheelchairs. My definition of disabled (or differently abled, if you prefer) was skewed way too narrowly.

To qualify for the pass, you have to have a permanent disability that severely limits one or more major life activities, and you have to have a letter from your doctor stating your disability and limitations. That got me thinking about how exactly my life is limited and how I'd communicate that to my doc for the letter, though I still wasn't completely convinced. The examples I came across included breathing, walking, hearing, learning, seeing, and such.

Then I read how the Americans with Disabilities Act defines disability. "A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual" with major life activities including, but not limited to: "caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working". It goes on to list major bodily functions that are also considered major life activities: "functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions".

And it goes on to say that even if medications have an ameliorative effect or symptoms are in remission, the disability is still there.

So yeah, I guess I am disabled. My sleeping is definitely affected, which in turns affects my ability to learn, concentrate, think, and even communicate. Searching for the right word that I know I know but can't come up with is a common and frustrating occurrence. Coherent conversations do not always happen.

Anyway, I need to go in for a physical soon, and when I do I'll ask for the letter so I can apply for the pass. Unlike our military pass that we both sign and either of us can use, only the person named (or their caregiver) can use the pass, so Jeremy wouldn't be able to use it if I wasn't with him. But he's eligible for the military pass as long as he's in the Reserves and by the time he gets out he'll have his disability stuff squared away and will be able to get his own Access pass. He could actually apply now, given the state of his back, but he wants to wait.

All that brought some thoughts about being defined by your chronic illness/disability. Some people say they don't want to be defined by their ----- (fill in the blank). But I think we are defined by it, even if we don't want to be. Dealing with the symptoms/limitations/etc caused by chronic illness or injury/disability make us who we are. We would be different people if we didn't have to deal with those things. So yeah, we are defined by our disabilities.

And all this comes on the heels of an article I read about people who are dealing with invisible disabilities and the discrimination they face versus people with visible disabilities. Think handicap placards and people being judged because they don't "look" disabled. There's actually a change.org petition going around to issue orange placards to people with invisible disabilities to cut down on the judgmental attitudes and nasty notes they've been receiving. Go here to learn more about it and sign the petition. And go to this link and share the video with others. Thanks!

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday- 2.57 mile hike
Thursday- 10.00 mile bike ride
Saturday- 1.50 mile treadmill walk
total- 14.07 miles

2020 totals

4 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

18.07 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
1.50 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
10.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
29.57 miles total