Every other weekend at my house is affectionately referred to as "a kid weekend". Two weekends a month estrogen is outnumbered by testosterone five-to-one (four boys, one hubby). And I love every minute of it. I like to think of myself as a pretty cool step/mom and I think my kids think so, too. My husband and I plan one major family activity for the kid weekends and it's something we all look forward to. The activity for last Saturday was skiing/snowboarding.
I learned to ski at Breckenridge, Colorado about twenty years ago. Colorado, as you know, is known for its picturesque mountains. I became intimately familiar with the Breckenridge mountain because I slid down it many times, usually on my face. The next day I was terribly sunburned and I could hardly move.
Michigan, on the other mitten, does not have mountains. It has big hills. My skiing skills are much improved since introducing myself to the sport and I have become quite a little snow bunny. Nothing fancy, but I can get off the lift and down the hill without falling (unless my stepson happens to be riding with me then I inevitably knock us both over) .
A few years ago my stepson, 13, decided to take up snowboarding and that has snowballed into five of the six of us learning to ride, too. My oldest son, 17, tried snowboarding once and has decided he'd rather have his two feet strapped to two pieces of wood instead of one. Last year I decided to try the board. It's not as easy as it looks! The season ended before I mastered the skill of sliding down the hill in an upright (standing) position. All I had to show for my efforts was the nastiest bruise on my right hip and the inability to walk for a week.
So Saturday we loaded up all of our equipment and the kiddies and set off to our favorite hill. This was my first ski trip since the VNS installation and second of the entire season. Because my youngest son, 10, has not yet mastered the fine art of snowboarding my husband and I had agreed in advance that we would take turns staying with him on the bunny hill so we could both ski (me)/snowboard (him).
Henry and the boys took off to the bigger hill and Hunter and I walked over to the bunny's. (This is Hunter's second season on a snowboard but his first trip this year.) I got Hunter strapped into his bindings and on the magic carpet for a slow ride to the top and I walked along side. I had been looking forward to skiing but after the first five trips walking up and down the bunny hills I decided that, with the stimulator, I just didn't think I had the breathing capacity to ski down a hill. Although I had tucked a magnet into my pocket to turn the stimulator off, I didn't use it. I could have. I probably should have. But I didn't.
The VNS device is a permanent part of me and I have to learn to live my life around it. I'm not trying to make my own life difficult, I am just trying to be realistic. Sure, it's easy to swipe a magnet across it when it activates (removing the magnet turns it back on), but unless absolutely necessary (talking on the phone), I think it's a cop out. I'm not able to pick and choose when I take my meds, why should I pick and choose when to keep the stimulator activated?
I learned to ski at Breckenridge, Colorado about twenty years ago. Colorado, as you know, is known for its picturesque mountains. I became intimately familiar with the Breckenridge mountain because I slid down it many times, usually on my face. The next day I was terribly sunburned and I could hardly move.
Michigan, on the other mitten, does not have mountains. It has big hills. My skiing skills are much improved since introducing myself to the sport and I have become quite a little snow bunny. Nothing fancy, but I can get off the lift and down the hill without falling (unless my stepson happens to be riding with me then I inevitably knock us both over) .
A few years ago my stepson, 13, decided to take up snowboarding and that has snowballed into five of the six of us learning to ride, too. My oldest son, 17, tried snowboarding once and has decided he'd rather have his two feet strapped to two pieces of wood instead of one. Last year I decided to try the board. It's not as easy as it looks! The season ended before I mastered the skill of sliding down the hill in an upright (standing) position. All I had to show for my efforts was the nastiest bruise on my right hip and the inability to walk for a week.
So Saturday we loaded up all of our equipment and the kiddies and set off to our favorite hill. This was my first ski trip since the VNS installation and second of the entire season. Because my youngest son, 10, has not yet mastered the fine art of snowboarding my husband and I had agreed in advance that we would take turns staying with him on the bunny hill so we could both ski (me)/snowboard (him).
Henry and the boys took off to the bigger hill and Hunter and I walked over to the bunny's. (This is Hunter's second season on a snowboard but his first trip this year.) I got Hunter strapped into his bindings and on the magic carpet for a slow ride to the top and I walked along side. I had been looking forward to skiing but after the first five trips walking up and down the bunny hills I decided that, with the stimulator, I just didn't think I had the breathing capacity to ski down a hill. Although I had tucked a magnet into my pocket to turn the stimulator off, I didn't use it. I could have. I probably should have. But I didn't.
The VNS device is a permanent part of me and I have to learn to live my life around it. I'm not trying to make my own life difficult, I am just trying to be realistic. Sure, it's easy to swipe a magnet across it when it activates (removing the magnet turns it back on), but unless absolutely necessary (talking on the phone), I think it's a cop out. I'm not able to pick and choose when I take my meds, why should I pick and choose when to keep the stimulator activated?
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