#DAATFitnessGal (a hashtag housewife production) & A Back Story

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Hey y'all!!! Been a minute - I know! Entirely true to form - ALOT has been going on. Completely life changing things - in a good way! If this is your first time stopping by the blog I wanna say, "Welcome! So glad you are here!" I say that because I hope you have happened upon this lil space by way of searching for your change. There is SO much to say about that! Change.....

I'll start by giving you a little bit of info about some of my recent changes. To be honest, much of the time they have felt like struggles. The short list looks something like this:

-September 2013- a small mass was found in my breast - the mass was biopsied and found to be a benign fibroadenoma (hallelujah!)
-November 2013- I wake one morning with a "crick" in the neck type of pain in my left shoulder blade (source unknown at the time)
-December 2013- The "crick" has evolved into shoulder, left arm pain, tingling, and numbness and is becoming debilitating, I start physical therapy in order to try and decrease the pain - although at this point doctors are still unaware of the cause
-January 2014-@ a follow up ultra sound of the fibroadenoma, it was found that the mass had doubled in size and was told it should be surgically removed
-January 2014- my son and I develop the worst case of double pink eye that I have ever seen! It lasted for nearly a month and for me it was in BOTH eyes! We are talking Bob Costas pink eye here! Miserable! lol
-January 2014- have been dealing with back and arm pain for several weeks, physical therapy has not helped and I am beginning to lose function of my left arm and decreased sensation in a few fingers - doctors finally order an MRI and it is discovered that I have two ruptured disks in my cervical spine (aka neck!) I am referred to a neurosurgeon and am under the impression the next course of treatment would be anti-inflammatory injections
-February 2014- Upon seeing the neurosurgeon for the first time I am "encouraged" to pursue a cervical spine fusion surgery in order to remedy my intense pain and loss of arm function

SCREEECH!!!!!! I'm sorry say what?!?

I have to pause here and tell you how BLOWN AWAY and unprepared I was for news like this! I came into 2014 thinking "I am about to OWN this year! It's going to be awesome!" I had won a spot -through a massive random draw lottery- to run in the Nike Women's Half Marathon DC (which all finishers get a custom Tiffany Necklace!), my husband and I had a couples trip planned with some great friends to a tropical getaway (it would be our first time going away alone since our son was born!) and I was feeling confident and ready to conquer some long standing fitness and nutrition goals that I have struggled with for years now! There was nothing that could get in my way this year! Now, one mere month into the year, not only am I delayed on getting my goals started and feeling a bit defeated, I have a surgeon standing in front of me stomping all over my excitement, telling me that I need to have a surgery that is going to essentially put me completely out of commission for a minimum of 6 weeks - we are talking no lifting my child, bed rest, mushy foods through a straw, metal hardware permanently placed into my neck, incisions, rehab......blah blah blah and thats if all goes well! Full recovery, if granted that, is one year or more! Putting it simply, this was no small surgery.
When all of this started, there was no way I could have seen it ending in surgery. The flood of emotions were just that - a flood! I had been battling a slow trickle of sadness and discouragement throughout the past few months simply from learning what it is like to experience continuous pain from nerve damage and the ways that it can effect your day to day life. But the gates completely opened after the news. Isn't that how it always goes? The storm reaches its peak before it calms?  
The flood, the experience, the struggle would all lead me down a path to change! A path that I am hoping to walk down with others in order to help make the changes they desire too. And let me be clear, I am not talking about quick and temporary bandaid type of changes. I want for you and for myself to develop and discover long lasting change - beautiful life habits, right along side one another! Because let me tell you I have a LONG ways to go. I'm starting in the same place as you and I CAN'T wait! Thus, the birth of DAAT (day at a time) Fitness Gal!
Until Then.......