They said it could not be done, they said it should not be done. But in true Teri form, I am out there doing it.
Many thanks to Pablo for showing me a way thru the pain and to Dr. Susan for making the pain so much less.
This is my blog, my chronicle of the preparation and execution of the Gamblers Classic MS 150 bike tour in Las Vegas Nevada.
I was supposed to undergo spinal fusion surgeries this summer because the pain had gotten so bad, walking was unbearable. I have extruded disks between C6 and C7 and between L5 and S1, along with a bunch of spine doc alphabet soup that means my vertebrae are grinding on each other.
Pablo is a great physical therapist who was able to teach me that the pain wouldn't kill me if I would just put air in the ball and begin. I spent several months at White Tanks Physical Therapy with him and his wonderful staff working on muscles that had long since atrophied due to my fear of causing more pain.
Even with the progress I had made with Pablo, the spine docs said surgery was necessary but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Fear won out!
I live less than a quarter mile from Dr. Susan's office at Total Life Chiropractic and have driven past for a year without ever stopping in. Not sure why, but one day in June, I did just that. Dr. Susan is a wonderful and compassionate professional and she has helped to relieve an incredible amount of my pain.
Family friend, Charles, brought a bicycle over for my 16 year old daughter, Rachael, to ride and she was blessed with sweet freedom. At that point I was riding my bike very little. There was a short period where I was riding pretty slow every other night to exercise my dogs but I hurt a great deal after and just quit. Rae's excitement with her bike and some teenaged behaviors (naughty, naughty!) led me to dust off my bike again toward the end of June. Just to get some bonding time in with my daughter.
Working with Dr. Susan made me feel so much better that I was able to increase my rides to 5 miles and I set a kind of date with Rae to go riding every Tuesday and Thursday night. It felt good, for the most part.
I knew of Bob Ciapini way back when, but I don't know that I have ever met him formally. He owned the McDonald's in Ely Nevada and befriended my son, Patrick, when he was very young and very ill with leukemia. When asked how he was doing, Patrick would always answer, PERFECT! This answer so impressed Bob that he started calling Patrick his hero. Any kid who could be so sick and still say he was PERFECT should be someone's hero! As it turns out, Bob was once a cyclist, a long distance rider. Patrick was drawn to BMX riding and became highly ranked in BMX racing. Now nearly 18, Patrick is a bit big for the tiny BMX racing bikes but still kicks serious butt when he hits the track.
Bob has MS and is nearing death. A sad, sad thing for anyone but especially for a long distance cyclist who was in exceptional physical shape and quite active for most of his life.
In Bob's honor, I have created the cycling team "Bob's Hero" for the Gambler's Classic MS 150 bike tour from Las Vegas Motor Speedway to Mesquite, Nevada and back. It is actually 167 miles, but who's counting? Bob will likely be gone, if there is any justice in the world, Bob will be gone, before the tour begins November 7th, 2009. We will ride in his memory and his honor.
Each day when I load my bike up to go ride with my wonderful friend Leslie, I feel the pain and discomfort my own body has and I think about Bob. How he can barly whisper now and has to be fed because he can't do it himself, cannot do anything for himself, and the bike gets loaded and I ride. Most days I feel pretty good. Now that the monsoon has kicked in here in Phoenix my arthritis is pretty painful and lately it is difficult just to get out of bed. But I think about Bob, and I ride.
I am hopeful that Patrick will join me for the ride to honor his friend. Leslie, though very well intentioned, has a wedding to attend and will not be in Las Vegas but has comitted to Team Road Kill for the Florence Arizona MS 150, and so we ride the Arizona Canal system in preparation. Her friend, Duff, may join Team Road Kill. Can't wait to meet him, Leslie says he is quite a guy.
