Acceptance is the key

Our entire life consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.       - Jean Anouilh

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
and Wisdom to know the difference.       12 Step Prayer


The Back Story

When I was 10, I was diagnosed with iritis or anterior uveitis, which is inflammation of the coloured part of the eye.   Of course, at 10, I thought it was "eye"ritis.!  Many kids with JA develop iritis which involves pain, swelling and redness and is treated with cortisone.  At that time, a petroleum jelly-like ointment was prescribed--now there are eye drops.  I still get about 2 flare-ups per year.

In the summer between Grade 7 and 8, kneeling on the ribs in a wooden canoe triggered a flare that lasted a year.   For all of Grade 8, I limped, wrapped my knee in a tensor bandage and took 8 aspirin per day.   I had to organize all the school intramural gym programs to be given a gym mark.   In the year of "ParticipAction" awards, I was singled out by my gym teacher as the only one in the class that did not receive a gold, silver or bronze.  I never took gym again as there were so many activities I couldn't do at all, I never knew when the joints would act up-----and I didn't want to be humiliated or embarrassed anymore.  It was a turning point---I thought I was uncoordinated, unathletic and unfit-- and would always be that way.


The Current Journey

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.  - Brendan Francis

5 weeks and counting.  Filled out the Visa Application.  Started physiotherapy 3 times a week.

On Saturday April 2nd, I participated in the Harry Rosen 8 km Spring Run-off for Prostate Cancer
My friends Kennis and Jeanice, two of the people that regularly get me out on my training walks, were there with me.  More about them in the next post.

Of the 2226 people who registered in the 8 km "run", only about 10 were walkers.    I had lots of time on my own to think.      I placed 2220th of 2226........and I'm happy.   Why?

1) My knees were working.
2) I' wasn't sore the next day.
3) I maintained approx. 6 km/hour pace.
4) I know my story and other people may not, and I've learned (over MANY years) I'm not racing against anyone else.

ACCEPTANCE IS THE KEY

The difference between the 12 year-old  me and the 48 year-old me is ACCEPTANCE and the WISDOM that comes with it.  The thing I can change is my ATTITUDE.   My knee is better now, but if it's not okay when I get to China, I can always change from the 1/2 marathon to a 10 km or 5 km walk.   But I need to show up.   It isn't giving up, but learning to modify and adapt.

(Take a close look at the background.....my magnetic board with Chinese characters and Pinyin)...I can practice while I walk!

Check out those stairs...and this section has rail!

The Ongoing Challenge - Awareness

This is not just an old person's disease.
The Public Health Agency of Canada’s 2010 Life with Arthritis in Canada report listed 55,777 Canadians aged 15-24 as diagnosed with arthritis.

This is not just a joint problem.
JA can affect vital organs, including the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain.

Continued education, research and programs are necessary.   The Arthritis Society website  offers excellent detailed, yet accessible information on JA (as well as many other types and many resources).   It was only recently that I learned that my subset of JA is called Pauciarticular Onset Juvenile Arthritis and it differs a lot from other types.  

Let the Journey Begin...or Continue

Kathryn, 3 years old

   **Inspired by a fellow Joints in Motion Great Wall Team member Elise (Thanks) and Julie (from the movie Julie & Julia), I am really starting my blog.**  

Why did I decide to create a blog?

1) To share my story about my life with arthritis (The Back Story)

2) To say thank you and share my journey with all those who have supported me financially, emotionally and/or spiritually for my Great Wall Challenge (The Current Journey)

3) To continue to learn and inform others of the many faces of arthritis and how the Arthritis Society helps(The Ongoing Challenge)

Those of you who know me well know that brevity is not my strong point.  But the first step (or in this case) post, is the hardest.  Each week, leading up to, during and after the Marathon, I'm going to update this.

The Back Story

    This photo of me was taken on the day I came home from the Hospital for Sick Children in September 1966 with a diagnosis of what was then called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.  

    I"m still wearing my hospital ID bracelet and my right knee is still swollen.  I'd spent a week away from my family who lived at Whaley's Corners near Brampton;   if you ask what I remember, blessedly it wasn't tests and needles and such.   Here are the main bad things:   I was mortified that they had put someone as grown up as me in a crib! (with cold, ugly green metal bars, no less); that a STRANGER (ie. nurse) stared at me while I had a bath in only an inch of tepid water; my Mom couldn't visit because she had the flu.

    The GOOD things: my grandmother visited everyday because she lived in Toronto and my Dad came most evenings to colour with me and show me what my sister had done at school.   At that time, treatment consisted of 8 aspirin a day.  My mother would crush 2 at a time in a teaspoon of raspberry jam.   At night, my leg was strapped into a plaster half cast from my thigh to my toes to keep my leg straight while I slept.  One of the things that led to my diagnosis was I tended to curl up when I slept and couldn't straighten my leg in the morning without lying in a warm bath.   I can't remember how long I wore the cast to bed........long enough that I had one or two new casts built as I grew.  I'd have to call my parents to carry me to the bathroom because the cast was too heavy and cumbersome for me to manoeuvre on my own.

The Current Journey

    Most of you will have seen my sponsor web page....but do you understand what an undertaking the Great Wall Marathon is?   Just look at some of the steps I'm going to have to climb.

"This is NOT a race, it is DEFINITELY a journey!" 

- Kathryn

If you look at the video, notice at 2:28...it's a Joints in Motion participant! And at 2:53 a JIM volunteer !

I will continue to fundraise until they tell me I can't. (I believe that's 2 months after the event.)  I believe when I reach one goal, I celebrate, give thanks and reach even higher. 

My training started in January.   My main walking days were Monday Thursday and Saturday.  Guess how many of those were freezing cold or slippery?   We took to indoor tracks when necessary, which was often.

I got the flu on February 28th, then a flare-up in my left knee and I haven't trained since.   Worried? Yes.  Giving up? NO.   Test-driving my leg this week and back to the doctor on Friday.   We've got time to get this sorted out.

The Ongoing Challenge

   Did you know that March is Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month?  Among children in Canada, one in 1,000 boys and girls under the age of 16 is affected and it is one of our nation's most common chronic diseases.

I was lucky enough to be diagnosed quickly and although for me it is a chronic disease with periodic flare-ups, it has never become as aggressively debilitating as it can be for many children.  Research for early diagnosis, improved treatments and ultimately a cure is necessary.