After days of thinking of an important topic to bring up with you, I realized my own achievements must be noted. They MUST! Because not only are they incredibly significant to my health and issues with arthritis, but I'm pretty dang proud of myself and I like sharing.

Full of it? No. Just hoping I can spread the cheer!

As some of you know already, my difficulties over the last year concerning my RA have been numerous. Mainly having to bounce back from the months of joint-attacking arthritis bugs and the damage caused. I could easily go on about the €down times€ but let's keep things a little more light-hearted, shall we?

The Infamous Prescription - More Gym Time

My main goal was to get my body back in shape after the months spent on the couch when swollen joints reduced my muscles to jello and some extra belly was added just for fun. My doctor noted the damage done to my muscles and knees in particular from the lack of physical activity. This is when he wrote me the infamous prescription to get my little tush to a gym and start pumpin' some iron. Okay, well maybe that wasn't exactly the wording he used.

Around this point in my story is when a lot of people with health conditions turn away. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say they can't do something because of their arthritis (or insert health condition here). It's like they immediately shut down. And I know how it is... I've been there. I still am there sometimes. It's difficult to even imagine being physically active when you deal with such chronic pain. Why would I want to go for a run if I know it's going to hurt? Who would sign up for kickboxing if they could already predict the pain they'd be dealing with for days after the first class?

It took me years of saying €No, I can't do that.€ and then eventually having an arthritic meltdown to realize that I need to change something. I had the motivation to get myself in shape, but I just didn't have the tools to do so. That's when my Doc got me in touch with Ginny Spooner at Fairhaven Fitness and Tennis Club. Ginny is a personal trainer who has been trained specifically in dealing with people with all types of medical issues. So when I came to here with my story of arthritis at an early age and joint pain like nobody's business, she didn't even blink an eye. She knew exactly what do to.

What does it take? A heck of a lot of work and a good support system. What I needed was someone who could give me exercises that I could do that wouldn't put any strain on my problem joints. That seems easier said than done, especially since my main goal was to strengthen my legs and two of my worst joints were my knees and hip. Ginny had her work cut out for her.

But all it took was a matter of slow workouts, easy-to-do-at-home exercises and some suspension training. She started me on the TRX System, which uses straps hung from the ceiling as a way to strength train. It seems intimidating at first but I can't say enough about it since I've been able to progress to a pretty decently hard workout, all the while with little-to-no joint pain. I highly recommend finding someone in your area who is certified to teach TRX and give it a shot.

The Results

Now I'm not trying to just advertise this form of RA-friendly workout for no reason. This last week I noticed progress that I never would have imagined. I have energy I didn't have before. I have muscles I didn't know would be possible. And my amount of daily pain has significantly decreased. I'll prove it to you with this little story from the past weekend...

There's a walk that my husband and I like to do through a particular neighborhood of our town. It's a hill where all the €fancy houses€ are and we get a kick out of checking them out and it gets us a little exercise on a beautiful day. It's a great walk with views of the bay, but my biggest problem is one hill at the very beginning of it.

This hill is a pain in the butt. It's steep, it's long, and I always lose my breath about halfway up, trying to come up with a reason to stop and say €oh look at that over there!€ Then I continue to gasp for air while rubbing my hip and wishing my legs would fall off already so I wouldn't have to keep going. Let's just say this hill is daunting. The last time we went on this walk was a few months ago... Before I started working with Ginny.

On Sunday, it was a particularly gorgeous, sunny day, and my husband suggested we go for a walk. I agreed to go along since I was in a good mood at the time, but when I saw that hill in the distance, I immediately regretted the decision.

By the time we got to the hill, I was nervous. I stopped talking and started moving. About halfway up, where I normally do my €stop and smell the flowers€, I was still going strong. I was shocked to notice that my breathing was normal, I was walking rather quickly, and I wasn't even thinking about my knees or hip! I kept my head to the ground and my mouth shut until I made it to the top. Then I stopped, turned around, and almost started to cry. It was the first time I have ever made it up a hill without any pain.

I have spent my life assuming that my future would always be full of pain and suffering. I figured I would never be the active person I always wanted to be. I would never be pain-free so why bother to even try to be healthy? I've proven myself wrong. It's definitely possible. And the view from up here is fan-fricken-tastic!