Heart4Ash (Skwig)

What a weekend! My week was good too, but the weekend was off the chain!! First off, I spoke at the Donor Services Monument to all the families that had someone that donated either their loved ones or their tissue, eyes, bones or organs to someone like me. It was a pretty emotional ceremony, but I sucked up the tears and shared my story and my gratitude towards my donors families.  What an amazing gift to give someone, really though what else out there, can you give someone that can save and change someones life. No words to express how blessed and over my head, thankful I am for my ticker. It was so great to see everyone that came to support not only me but everyone that participated and those that had given the Gift of Life to someone. In the Intermountain area there were over 500 donors this year and think how many people were saved? I was saved!! Whoot Whoot! On the same day that I spoke which was Saturday I went to go kick the ball around with Real Salt Lake Women...

You know how I was saying that I want to be able to run forever like right this very moment but can't. I had a patient, this week that kind of reminded me to take a step back and to appreciate how far I have come from. The patient was doing her home exercise program (HEP) 3 times a day, going to the gym and doing pool workouts. She explained to me that she isn't getting the results she wants. Sound familiar? Yes, this is me to the T. Reality check Ashley Paige! The patient was me and I was my doctors. As I was explaining to her how the body works... DING DING DING!! I got my answer. Long-suffering and patience is sometimes what we need. Do you remember "Let's go for a hike" post. If not you can go back and see what happened. Yesterday I crushed Bell's Canyon trail and let me tell you it felt sooo  good!! It is so crazy to me how bad my original heart was and how well I am doing now. So thankful for my donor to saying yes to organ donation. No words can or c...

I did it!! I finished riding 50 miles on my stromer  yesterday at the Wildflower Pedalfest. Man was my legs tired after, but I completed the ride in one piece. I am so grateful for a body that is able to do such miraculous things. At the end of the ride, probably the last 20 miles. My body was saying, "okay I am done, you can stop now", but NO I kept on going. Our minds are amazing, we can tell ourselves we can, keep going even if our bodies are telling us to stop. If we can train our minds to keep us moving forward in life in whatever it is, we can tackle anything that comes in our way! What a great way to celebrate 5 months with my new ticker!! Can't believe it has been 5 whole months. So very blessed that I have been able to stay healthy, germ free and to stay out of the hospital. Even though I miss my good ol' ICU nurses. On Thursday guess what I had? Yup, another biopsy and echo. I think it was my 10th one. CRAZY BEANS!! My docs tell me after so many months...

Guess what?? The Dash4Ash 5k sign up  is up and running! Here is the link to sign up. https://runsignup.com/Race/UT/SaltLakeCity/Dash4Ash5k It's going to be a party so you don't want to miss out on this one. My week was another great week. Work was good, our aide got sick on Thursday and I had to see my patients and also all the aide stuff too, like clean the beds, change the sheets, put hot packs away, make sure the clinic looked nice and clean and schedule patients next visits.  I am very thankful for an aide!! It is so crazy how the small little things make such an impact. Anyone can set a goal, but can they always achieve that goal is the question? Here are some steps that may help and have helped me. Here is one of my goals: To be able to ride a 50 mile bike ride by myself with no pedal assist bike. Back in June I rode with my mom on a tandem bike in the Little Red bike ride and we rode 50 miles. Yes the tandem was powered by our bodies, but my mom was...

I had a pretty nice week. I love my job. The people I work with are two thumbs up amazing and I feel comfortable asking them dumb questions, because I always have a lot of those kind of questions. I leave work smiling and saying to myself, "I really like working there." On Thursday I had another clinic appointment and everything is looking good! My blood work came back all good. They lower my dose of predisone !! Only taking 10 mg now a total of 2 pills. This past week I have been struggling on my runs. Us lovely women have these things every single month and I was on it this week, so that's what the doc said about why I was struggling this week and my predisone  medication can affect my muscles too I guess. Can't wait to see how I feel when I am totally off it. This Friday we went up to Midway and visited our friends. They have 2 kids and wow they make me baby hungry. We went to the Heber Fair with Addi their daughter and she is the cutest, smartest, funniest litt...