The Lessons Continue....

I think our bodies handle stress in different ways.  Some people have heart attacks, strokes, specific diseases etc.  Mine happens to deal with stress by attacking itself…an autoimmune disease…rheumatoid arthritis.  In 1997-98, my parents and I had some difficult challenges as far as our difference in opinion on religion.  It was very intense and difficult.  This time my body shut down.  My hands were curled, I could barely hold a pencil or a piece of chalk, and I actually got locked in the school bathroom at one point.   I couldn’t turn the door knob.  I started using the overhead projector instead of the chalkboard since I couldn’t raise my arm to write.  It would take me almost two hours in the mornings to get “warmed up” enough to move without pain.  Getting showered, dressed, do my hair etc. etc. then drive to school were all taking every ounce of my energy that I could muster.

This time my crises lasted the full school year.   Once again, I had amazing supporters and encouragers between my husband, now teenage children, and my teaching partner.  Handles were put on all the doors of the school so I could move around easier, and my principal was extremely understanding and supportive, and my students were amazing.   All blessings!! 

The school year ended, we celebrated our son’s high school graduation, and I took the summer focusing on me.  I slept, without guilt, I let others do things that before I felt I needed to do, and I spent time realizing that the only person I could control was myself and definitely not my parents.  Duh!  There were and still are challenges, but the good news is I have not had a crises since 1998. This time I learned!

Thinking back, some of these demands on any of us who are working and are also parents it’s just the way it is. When you have a new born, or a toddler, and later when they’re middle and high school the focus is on them.  There’s a small window of time to be with them, create memories, and teach life lessons.   It goes by so quickly.  I loved and enjoyed every stage of their development and would not want to change the experiences and memories we have had as a family.

Life Goes on and Old Routines Return

As this brief background has been laid out, I started to learn more about nutrition and how to eat better.  A little bit of different reading material now.  As the inflammation decreased, the pain decreased, my hands and feet returned to normal, and life moved on.  I wasn’t on any type of medication except for an occasional Advil.  All is good…hmmm.

Isn’t it interesting how quickly we can get back into our old patterns?  Other than I was doing a better job with our family nutrition, I was still working full time, the kids were growing up, they were involved in competitive sports now, and we had farm animals.  I mean big farm animals: pigs, lambs, dairy heifers and calves, and then goats.  That meant we were full into county fairs, state fairs, and everything it takes to get the animals ready for that time.  LOVED IT!!!  It was a way our family spent time together.  We worked together, we fed the animals together, we shared so many experiences which have given our kids life skills and memories that will last a life time.  Oh yes, and there was also football, basketball for both kids, and volleyball - practices and games.  Did I mention the fact that my husband’s job was on the business side of athletics?  That meant he had football, basketball (men and women), and volleyball games too.  Often times the games, bowl games etc. etc. were family affairs although the kids and I got to play while my husband had to work.   

You can guess, however,…the focus once again became what everyone else needed, and I began to slip into some of the old routines. 

Rheumatoid Arthritis at age 36?!

At age 36, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It started in my feet later spreading to my hands.  God has an interesting way of getting my attention once again… I wasn’t taking care of myself.  That episode lasted about 4 months where I paid more attention to my body, what I was eating and getting some exercise (besides running after kids).

The tough thing about paying attention to my body and what it liked and didn’t like was this was all new to me.  I didn’t have a clue what that meant. Listen to my body?  What was I suppose to feel?  What were the specifics?  Really?  I wasn’t raised knowing about those types of things.  Guess now’s my time to learn. 

One of the side effects was I was extremely tired.  How do you take care of two children ages 6 and 9 who are full of energy and a husband that can go full speed all day?  I was picturing myself being an invalid and being a burden on my family.  I’m use to waking up with my To Do list and getting everything done before going to bed at night.  Now I have to take a nap.  What?!  The physical and emotional challenges were intertwined.  Fortunately, I have the most amazing friend, partner, and soul mate as a husband.  He was an encourager, took over many things that I couldn’t continue doing for awhile, and kept up a positive attitude for all of us.  The kids were the nurturers now too.  WOW!

One day a week and one weekend day, I would go to a therapy pool.  The water was warm, I went through the exercises my PT had given me, and did feel better afterwards as my body was getting stronger and the inflammation was decreasing.  My challenge was not in the exercises, it was being there with other women – much older – who had deformed feet and hands and could barely walk.  I was 36!  Is this what I had ahead of me? 

Introduction to Nancy Burianek

After teaching elementary school for 30 years, reading for me were the books my fifth graders were reading which really were  awfully good especially when it was the Harry Potter series.  Then there was a lot of reading for teaching and staff training.  Again, really good.  The type of reading I did most of my teaching career was to learn and grow as a teacher, a trainer of teachers, and to support parents.  Interestingly enough, now my reading focuses on me.  How can I be the best I can be still with my focus on learning and growing? I find myself still teaching, still training and coaching, and still supporting others.  My audience is just different now.

So who is my audience?  First and foremost it’s me.  I spent so many years being a wife, mom of two, and teaching full time. There was still, in my mind, the expectation to be everything to everyone.  Hmm…take care of myself?  That was usually on the back burner.  At 30, after getting a few “hints” that something was wrong and not paying attention, I had a jolt.  I kept losing weight despite the fact that I was eating ALL the time.   I just rationalized that I had a 3 year old, a 6 month old, and I was going back to work.  However, I got to the place where I couldn’t ignore the weight loss any more as I looked anorexic.  Several tests later,  I get the news that I either have a thyroid problem (hyperthyroid) or it’s cancer, or…  so more tests were needed.  Fortunately, it turned out that it was a hyperthyroid problem and that was taken care of fairly quick.  The results are I’m on a very low dose of synthroid.  So life went on without any real changes until…