Perspective and Adaptation

I'm in Vail, CO at the moment snowboarding. It's really a good get away. I have come here on my own, and I'm getting much rest, exercise, alone time, and plenty of time connecting with nature. It's everything my Crohn's needs to heal.

When I travel, I now bring my small steamer and blender so I can prepare most of my meals. I arrived on Thursday, and other than lunch with a friend, I have prepared all my own meals. It not only is good for healing, but it saves a lot of money. I just stopped at a Whole Foods on my way from the Denver airport to Vail. It really is the only way to ensure I get the nutrition needed while traveling. I'm beginning to get used to it.

I'm very blessed to be healthy enough to be here but I feel like such a light weight.

In July 2011, I weighed 155 lbs, and between then and now I lost 30 lbs, and much of it was very suddenly when I had my first Crohn's flare up. The two weeks that I was my worse, in bed, only drinking liquids and detoxing, I lost about 20 lbs. I'm certain that I lost a lot of muscle during that time because I have never been this sore from snowboarding ever. My quads are so sore today after two days of boarding that I only made it about 3 hours on the slopes and I had to return to my room to rest and get in my whirlpool tub in hopes to help them feel better so that I can make it longer tomorrow.

My calves are sore, too. I've never had my abs sore from boarding that I can recall until now. Even my arms are sore. Haha.

Now it doesn't help that yesterday the conditions were a bit icy and you have to dig deep to cut an edge so it takes more muscle than if there was freshly packed powder. Today, we had 6-8 inches of snow so far. Yay. Conditions are soooo much better. I could handle a black run today:) Yesterday it was too icy to ride a black. It was great today, but again, it simply takes more effort to ride choppy powder than packed powder, so my body again had one hell of a workout.

 In the past I would have been disappointed because of the icy conditions over the past two days, and the fact that I'm so sore I cannot ride 7 hour days like last year.Ultimately, however, I recognize that I'm blessed to be here. My health is greatly cooperating. How many people with Crohn's or ulcerative colitis ever feel good enough to take a ski or snowboard trip, and even if they do, they're gut is always bothering them, and a bathroom needs to be close by. It certainly puts a damper on the trip. None of this am I experiencing right now. Cross your fingers that I stay feeling this well for a very long time!

I read that exercising at high altitudes prompts your body to increase production of red blood cells because the body needs to be able to carry as much oxygen as possible due to the lack of oxygen in the air. I seem to have adjusted to the higher altitude, so I am hoping that this occurred with me.

If you have been reading my blogs, you might remember that I have been anemic. Well, I return back to Charlotte on Monday and on Tuesday I get have a doctor's appointment. I will get my hemoglobin, sediment rate, and b-12 tested. I'm hoping that the increase in red blood cells actually occured because this will result in an improvement in  my hemoglobin and hopefully be enough so that I'm no longer considered anemic.

The view from my room right at the Vista Bahn Lift :)

I sincerely hope and pray that the many of you that read this blog that are suffering from an IBD one day are as fortunate as I am this day!