Diapers. Really? Snaughling and Incontinence for adults

The day has come.
Diapers? But I want to Snaughle with confidence!

Really?
Yes, really. Nervous bladder nelly here has recently been living in her disposable diapers and pads. These things are nasty for the environment. They must be. And if you wear one once but not soil it, well, that's kind of gross to reuse it. And then the red rash comes. I bathe. I clean. I dry. But one day in those disposable wraps will get me every time. Especially now that it's bikini weather.
But wait, I can't completely bash the disposables. Without them I would be a mess! Like just last week when I was serving jury duty in Burbank, California. Usually I have a doctors release. And I did this year. But it came the day after Memorial Day. How could I at least not try this year as I have been recently blessed with better days? Think of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers over the course of history and what they have done or are doing for their country. Time to step up to the plate Ms Craven. Time to step up to the plate.

Well I made jury duty and the case was dismissed by noon. Phew, I made it! And hadn't peed my pants. I took advantage of the restroom then went to my car and drove ten minutes to the Los Angeles River. And decided to do a little fly fishing. I wasn't really feeling it. Body and mind were out of sync. I watched the water for a bit. Made a few castes. Then headed back to car. Either way, Uh oh. Bad choice. Quickly I got to the front seat of my car. Time for the coffee cup. My bladder needed evacuating NOW! And I could tell the diaper wasn't going to hold it all. I hadn't had anything to drink. Where was this all coming from? So I tactfully positioned myself over the cup and then proceeded to overflow all over the front seat of the car. The diaper was used, the mess was mopped. Well, That was interesting. I cleaned myself off best I could and realized how thankful I was not to have been in the courtroom. Ack!

So, although my disposables have saved me time again, the desire for reusable protective underwear is intriguing. And now very accessible.

I am getting ready to try out my first pair of reusable peepants. They look OK too. I should have them this week and will keep you posted on how I like them. I will be trying two of the following pairs from WearEver.
I am Excited to try something new!
I ordered the smooth and silky and the black lace ones. And for every pair I order, the company will donate $1 to the MSFoundation. Wahoo!
Check out this program with MS Foundation and Wearever:
This is great news! Talk about a win win for everyone. MS Foundation has partnered with Wearever this June to raise money to support MS Foundation’s efforts. Wearever is a health and wellness apparel brand with lines of incontinence underwear that assist those living with incontinence maintain their dignity while also being protective, comfortable and affordable. These innovative undergarments can be washed and re-used 250+ times, saving the user hundreds of dollars on disposables.
Wearever is donating $1 for every purchase of men and women’s undergarments made in June back to MS Foundation.

Thank you Wearever for helping us all with MS live a better live with our various illnesses. We appreciate you!This great program ends June 30 so let's all act today and see how we can help our bladders AND help others!

UPDATE: the panties came and I am sporting the smooth and silky as we speak. Go ahead, make me laugh and snaughle! While I know the underwear won't hold a pint I do know that I can leak with confidence! And that's a huge confidence builder. In fact I'm going a walk right now and now plastic diaper on my bum.
Thank you MS Foundation for all you do to help us With MS. Check out their website and to see all the great events, research and activities going on around the U.S.
Let's do this!

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A Day of Rest, Rejuvenation and Random Surprise!

Fortunate to be at my friends little hideaway. Resting and recouperaring from the last couple of weeks. Energy is just low. Drained. Wiped out. But here I am in a little piece of heaven while my body rejuvinates.

This is Leroy. He is my dog of the day. He lives here and let's me come over and rest with him. He seems to know just how much ball I can play before I get too tired.

Last evening was spent by a beautiful fire. It's an original Batchelder fireplace. This is quite the bungalow and could easily live here. Lots of great reading around. No chance of getting bored here!

Yesterday we celebrated the life of a community trails advocate, fellow board member and friend, Elizabeth Blackwelder. It was a beautiful ceremony and saw many friends and acquaintances. But needless to say I was wiped out. Last night and this morning. Legs on fire. Time to rest.
Today was a full day of rest. Other than a doodle here or there, a fledged attempt at a wall etching, this has been a pretty chill day.

Batchelder fireplace 1924

And then the random surpise.

Received a Facebook post about a new website/business called homehero.org. Basically it connects those needing in or out of home health care and those with health care providers. This is huge in my hood. So I contacted my old friend and boss, Mike Jones, of Science, and congratulated him on the launch. Next thing you know, I have a conference call Monday afternoon with Home Hero to see where I can help out. I have so much passion toward what they are doing it has me absolutely psyched! I will keep you posted.

I will give this project more attention but wanted to get it on the blog! Many of us are going to need this one day or another.
Rain is slowly making it down the State of California. Hoping it hits here. We need it. Desperately, we need some rain.

Off to do a rain dance...of sorts!

And to enjoy yet another fire...

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Feeling a little MS, but bring it on!

Dogs, good friends, a fire and some stunning wine make for a lovely afternoon and evening during the rainstorm.

Cowboy and Tucker

Some local flavor as well as something stunning from the cellar.

After an amazing salmon dinner with friends, we brought the horses in from the rain as the fields looked like they could flood a bit when high tide came in.

I was tired by the end of the day and settled Into an early evening. While I slept pretty well, I did awake around three am and took awhile to fall back to sleep. Wasn't anxious or anything just mind wandering.
For the first time since I've been in Oregon I could feel the MS in my legs. The fatigue and weakness creeping in. Oh crud! I haven't even fished or ridden yet. But that's OK. After a little stretching they seemed better. I got dressed and ready for our morning walk.

Today we walked with the ladies on Beaver Creek. The weather looks a bit threatening so I left my camera at home. I considered my rain pants. Hmmmm. Not sure why I only considered them. Would've come in handy.

The creek was swollen and the weather seemed ok. Then the skies opened up. And boy did I wish I had my rain pants.

A little flooding but there is blue sky! Looking forward to a ride tomorrow on the horses.

Let's do this!

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Seeking Quiet to Restore Battery

When the body and mind are fatigued to the point of exhaustion, we seek solutions for our Multiple Sclerosis. Some are quick fixes, such as caffeine, sugar, alcohol, prescriptions such as provigil. But what we often need is solid down time. Time for our battery to restore and rejuvinate.

It amazes me, the power of shutting down one's sensors in order to feel stronger with MS. Sensory overload is tiring. It saps the energy from our batteries at a rapid rate. Sensory triggers such as light, sound, movement from people, crowds, events, television, can all effect our MS symptoms by putting our nerves on high alert. And our nerves are already on high alert.

Twenty four hours can make all the difference, even a twenty minute "time out" can help. But these breaks are not easy to find. With family, work, community, household demands, how do we fit in healing time for us?

I had a sad experience this weekend. And one I could have fixed, maybe. My dad and I had a couple of nights at home and mom was gone. We wanted to watch Dallas Buyers Club. Problem is he won't use a hearing aid and watches TV at volume 75. I am sensitive to noise. In addition our television room is not the best set up so you either have to sit pretty close to the tv to see it or far away which is hard on the MS vision. And by the end of the evening my senses are already tired so television is not a good option for me. It was tough. Decisions like that seem small but they're not. MS symptoms effect our lives everyday. I could have worn earplugs and sat in the room with him but I was already having an issue with my MS and didn't want to push it. Bottom lime, no Dallas a Buyers Club and no movie time with dad. We made up for it by spending time in the garden together. Where it was peaceful and quiet.

As the weekend continued So did my aversion to all things noisy. While dad was catching up on his tennis, something I usually enjoy, I found myself seeking the quiet of the garden where the air floated between blue skies and the colors of spring.

How do we find time to heal? We find the opportunity and make choices. Sometimes they are not easy choices but they are important choices. I knew I had an opportunity for quiet time last night. My last chance before my next MSontheRoad adventure which starts tomorrow. And I took it!

After brewing a pot of herbal pomegranate tea with some local lemon and honey, I stretched out on the sofa and fell into a book, Divergent, by Veronica Roth. Pure entertainment. Mindless yet curious, the perfect distraction.

The house, quiet. Through the windows the birds chirp and chatter about the garden. Encased by glass and redwood, I peer over the pages scanning the tops of a deodar and a palm tree through the filtered pink light-shades of the angels trumpet tree.

Angel's Trumpet

For hours I rest. Reading, sipping tea. Closing my eyes as needed. All day until my eyes chose to stay closed which was only about 9pm. After some water and an evening melatonin I slipped into a beautiful, restorative sleep. Waking at about 3-4am to relieve my bladder, sleep was easily found again. A much needed night of rest was had.

When I woke a couple of choices presented. Attend church, (which I often do but missed the last few weeks) or stay in the quiet zone (take advantage of this rare opportunity). I chose quiet zone. I can watch the sermon online which are helpful. But the quiet zone is a rarity. It's important that my battery be fully charged before tommorow. And honestly, it feels pretty darn good!

The day ahead is planned between a mix of quiet and productive time. A few more tasks to attend to before leaving town. Family will be returning so will the responsibilities: dinner, dishes, conversation. The goal will be to use the least amount of battery power while finishing things up. And to take as many "time outs" as possible

Time to do this!
Time to Rest. Relax. Restore.

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