NYC and Relationships

Hello All!

I am back once again. Like I said I had a wonderful and busy trip to the wonderful City of New York. My mom, sister, niece, and I took this trip to participate in the Achilles Hope and Possibility Walk with Team RSDSA. I absolutely love that the Achilles Hope and Possibility Walk was founded. It has brought together people who are able bodied, those who have amputated limbs due to war or other reasons, those in wheelchairs, and those that can walk but barely just make it across the finish line. This walk helps bring awareness of all of the conditions out there that people live with on a daily basis and brings every person who participates either in person or virtually, hope. I love participating in this walk and meet others who have RSD as well. The first time I participated in the walk was in 2007. My RSD just came back the January before and my mom believed that coming to the walk would be good for me to meet others who had RSD. I couldn't get over this overwhelming feeling I had that I felt normal. There were others around me who understood and felt the same pain I did. So when we went back this year I was excited to feel that again and meet others like me. The final numbers according to RSDSA were that 300 people showed up in person and 190 did the virtual walk, this was the biggest walk to date. I did see my good friend Marsha, whom I meet the first time around. We have stayed in contact since and we were both excited to see each other. I was able to finish the full two miles of the RSDSA portion of the walk. The previous time I could only walk the first mile and had to be pushed the second. I had set my goal for accomplishing the two miles so I was excited I was able to do it. I hope and pray Marsha and I will be able to walk the two miles together in the near future.

*Marsha and I at the Walk *

*Jim Broatch and I - He is the director of RSDSA*

* My sister, niece, mom, and I*

For the rest of the day the walk occurred my family and I explored the city. We took a tour bus and went down to Soho where we grabed some lunch. Later that night we took a night tour of the city which I highly recommend. For the night tour we crossed into Brooklyn over the Manhattan Bridge to see the lights of Manhattan at night. Since I ended up pushing myself at the walk I ended up with a severely swollen right foot and leg. So that my body could get a bit of a rest my mom, sister, and niece went on the rest of the tour the next day while Marsha and I met up and did our own tour. We went to Madison Square Garden and then out to lunch. Due to her initial injury she has a hard time on the phone so her and I text for the most part. It was great being able to talk like we never were apart for 3 yrs.

*In Little Italy*

* NYU Medical Center*

*Times Square*

*The WNBA Basketball Court at Madison Square Garden*

Having had a great time in NYC just showed me that I need to do something to help my family and friends understand a bit more about my RSD without scarring them. I feel like people either treat me like I'm 100% healthy or 100% disabled. There are many times when I can walk a long distance but I may not be able to the next day. That is simply the RSD and its hard to predict how I'm going to feel day to day. Its a hard concept to grasp, and would think it would be hard for some people to grasp. I'm going to addressee this topic more as I believe it needs addressed, not just in my life but for all of us who have chronic conditions .