Going on Vacation

Hi Peeps: I am going on vacation for 2 weeks until the seventh of August. Hayley will get the results of her MRI on August 10th when she has her next appointment with the Doctor. They will decide if everything has cleared up with the CNS and if she can come off the Prednisone. Hopefully, everything will go well with that.
I'm off to Markham for the first 4-5 days as I will go see my Guru Amma on Friday and Monday, staying overnight with Maureen in Markham. I will probably be home sometime Tuesday. I will also be staying a couple of nights maybe at Scott's with Hayley, babysitting in the daytime, watching movies and doing Turbo. Oh yeah and swimming in the pool. I may get together with the rest of the family as well. See you then and hope to have some pictures to post as well. Hooks Susan

DawnaM Certification

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JAB! CROSS!! HOOK!! UP! x 100 TWIST!! x 50 FRONT PUSH KICK!! BACK PUSH KICK!! SIDE PUSH KICK!! ROUND HOUSE!! KNEE!! OMG!!! HELP!!!! YAY!!OK...Soooo...WOW!!!!! This'll be a long one, so get comfortable if you'd like to read it!! Or just scroll down to TK Day if you just want to know how the day went. Sue and I had a GREAT weekend! Our plan was to leave early enough to shop on Saturday, then settle in for a good night's sleep. Well, I was quite tardy in picking her up on Saturday but after filling up tank we hit the road by 1:00pm or so. Off we went, down the road to hit the highway, where I promptly jumped onto the wrong on-ramp!! So instead of heading West, we went East!!! I realized it right away...well, at about the same time Sue said "that's Eastbound!" . Too late to do anything about it...however, for those of you who know anything about traffic in Toronto (and any big city really) you'll appreciate how I REALLY didn't want to jump onto the Gardiner Express Way, somewhere past Parklawn, Eastbound BACK into the downtown core . UGH!!! So we sped along at the break-neck speed of about 40 KM/H (I guess that's around 25 mph for my American friends ) and it took about 20-30 min to the next exit, which is actually only about 5-6min away!! For those of you who aren't sure about the geography of Toronto to Niagara Falls, I'll tell you this much so you can appreciate this silly story. It's essentially a STRAIGH SHOT from the T-Dot (Toronto) to Niagara Falls! One Highway and a gazillion signs that say "to Niagara Falls". You CAN'T MISS IT! So it's quite frustrating when I can't even get OUT of the CITY!!!! lol! Sigh....well, 2pm and we FINALLY got turned around in the right direction and headed back WEST to Buffalo! The ride down was smooth and uneventful (thank goodness! lol!) and we listened to R-28 for kicks while Sue flipped through the study manual I got with the home study pgm. I know R28 pretty good now so it's quite a challenge NOT to do some of the combos when listening to it. I mean...you can only do so many jab/cross/jab/knees while driving before it starts to get dangerous!! We get to the border and make our way to customs...passports all ready! The nice man steps out of his booth, we hand him our passports while he asks and we answer the standard questions:Customs: Where do you live?Dawna: TorontoCustoms: Both of you?Dawna: YesCustoms: Is this your car?Dawna: No, it's a rentalCustoms: Who rented it?Dawna: I didCustoms: Where are you going?Dawna: Niagara FallsCustoms: Where are you staying?Dawna: The Best WesternCustoms: Purpose of your trip?Dawna: We're going to a Turbo Kickboxing workshop...(so, at this point, we got his attention, as you can imagine...) Customs: A what???Dawna: A Turbo Kick workshop! It's a Kickboxing exercise program that we'll be doing all day tomorrow.He leans down to look into the car more closely at myself and Sue Customs: BOTH of you?Sue replies, emphatically, "THAT'S RIGHT!!!!"Customs: (eyebrows raised, with a smirk on his face as he hands back our passports). Woah...glad I have a gun!!! LOL! LOL! It was too funny...you should have seen his face...like he has a story for 'the boys' at break time. "Hey guys...I had a Black girl with braids and an white grandmother come through telling me they were BOTH going to some all day kickboxing event, can you believe that???" Thankfully, he bought it...especially since it was the truth! And he let us through.So now, while we were busy laughing and looking for the directions to the hotel, we blew past the exit we needed!!! Of course, we didn't realize this until we hit Bufallo (therefore leaving Niagara Falls behind us). So I pull off the Expressway and into a drug store parking lot. Just as we park, this Black guy pulls up in a nice new truck pumpin' some crazy tunes! He was obviously lovin' whatever song was playing because he sat in the car for another couple of minutes just bobbin' his head and singing away right there in his truck! He finally get's out and I say "Excuse me!" Stops dead in his tracks and gets this huge grin on his face and says "I'm gonna FLIRT with you, beautiful! What can I do for you?" I’m thinking, Oh boy...here we go. All I want are directions back to the hotel so we can shop, eat and sleep! But! I went with it anyway and said "OK...can you flirt and give us directions at the same time?" He was quite happy to help. So after he spent a few minutes showing us on the map where HE lived, he finally showed us how to get back to Niagara Falls and to our hotel. He was a really nice guy though. . We finally got to the hotel....and by now it's after 4pm!!! Limited shopping time!!! Oh no! Well...maybe that's a good thing...good for my credit card/bank account ! We found one of the many "outlets" just around the corner from us and whipped through it both finding some great stuff for summer! We then had dinner and headed back to the hotel to settle in for the night.TK Day!!! The next morning, we were up bright and early so that we could eat breakfast and head to the fitness centre with plenty of time to digest our food. We didn't know what to expect at 8 o'clock in the morning! When we finally found Summit Fitness, we walked into the room and there was Christine....zipping around the room setting up all the Turbo products she'd brought with her so we could satisfy our shopping addictions right there all day! After signing in and picking up the kits we'd reserved earlier (they included a bunch of great tools to get started as an instructor!), we all sat down and got to "work".Christine talked about the history of Turbo Kick and Turbo Jam, where it came from, how it's evolved and where it's going. We did a little more "housekeeping" then took a break before getting down to the workouts. She would basically be "testing" us throughout the day but would actually be scoring us at the end of the day during the 2nd Master Class. Yup, I said SECOND! One in the morning and our testing in the afternoon. By the time lunch came around, we were all exhausted!!! It was definitely time to refuel! But a light lunch was definitely in order because we knew there was more of the same to come.After lunch, we actually sat for a bit, going through the Study Guide and talking more about Turbo Kick, teaching techniques, TK format, how to actually make your class a party, and the industry in general. Just enough time for our food to digest! Then we were up and at it again. We were broken up into groups, each responsible to learn one section of the round, which we were then going to lead the class through! YIKES!!! Well, we all went up there on stage and each person in our group took turns cueing, which was FUNNY and GREAT! Nerve-wracking as it can be, the absolute BEST thing in the world to do is just to get up and do it! So after ANOTHER HOUR or so of THAT, we were then put into lines in preparation for our practical. She started the round AGAIN and would put us in "holding patterns" when she wanted to take a minute to check us out and make her notes. So sometimes we were doing the punches for a while and later we were doing the kick segments for a while. WOW!!! Did we ever push it! I mean, she could be looking at you right? So you HAD to give it your all...ALL THE TIME! WHEW!!! That was tough, but it was fun! Thankfully (or mercifully ) she finished scoring us BEFORE getting to the turbos....which we did about THREE times...just for fun. LOL! We did the R29 turbo....then she previewed the R30 turbo so we could see it. It was cool...and oh....it's almost THREE MINUTES LONG!!! Then we did R30's Turbo AGAIN full out, for real. Everyone gave it everything they had….under threat of doing it FOUR MORE times if we didn’t! HAHA! Wholey Cow!!!! At the end of that third turbo, Christine asked how everyone was doing....you could almost hear a pin drop except for the music since we were all SUCKING WIND and PANTING!!! LOL! I’m sure most of us were trying to respond, but simply couldn’t just yet! So, that pretty much meant the turbo(s) did its job, right? When we recovered enough to do the Recovery section and beyond, we got started again and went through to the Finale and Legs sections. What was cool too, was seeing all the variations of how to do the round. Robbie has been doing Round 29 for some time now, so we'd see some variations of it with him. Doing it with Christine showed us even more variations!!! Which really illustrated how flexible the Turbo Kick format is and how much personality you can put into it, but still have it be a Turbo Kick class that anyone can follow!After another short break, we settled down to do the written test. No Problem! No one should worry at all about this because you go through everything throughout the day. Christine always led us to the right answer and HINTED STRONGLY about what to remember for the test. And that was the day in waaaaaay more than a nutshell! All in all it was a great day. We had an AWESOME presenter with Christine!!! She is actually in Round 29. Sue and I both picked up some Turbo Wear, met some great people and really enjoyed the day! After the certification, we went to get some dinner (FAMISHED by that point...funny though...I didn't really notice until we were done for the day!). Then we went back to the hotel, had a swim and a few minutes in the sauna to stretch. Then I remembered that I had my laptop with me, so what did we do? Threw in the Rounds, of course, and watched them till we couldn't keep our eyes open! LOL!It's Tuesday (I started this last night, but was waaaaay too tired to finish) and I'm, of course, still pretty sore, but it's all good! I got into the pool last night, then the whirlpool and the sauna which helped IMMENSELY!!! If you go get certified, but don't have a pool/sauna or anything like that, I definetly recommend a hot shower AND stretching right afterwards, the next morning, the next evening, etc. until you feel more 'normal'. WHEW! Well, that's all for me, for now! More than enough, I'm sure!Have a great day everyone! We'll let you know when we actually get the "official" word about the cert!!! Dawna

Posts: 883 Registered: 07-03-04

My Account of Turbo-Kick Certification

Re: Certification in Niagara Falls, New York, with Christine Dwyer! WOW! What a time we had! I can't believe I made it through the course. I figured that at some time thru the day I would "bonk" and just run out of energy but that wasn't the case. I must have eaten enough the previous day to carb-load myself to last. We arrived in Niagara Falls, NY., after getting lost got instructions from a nice gentleman and found our way back. Checked into hotel and went looking for the Summit Fitness Centre and mall. It turned out the Fitness centre was across the street. Arrived next morning and got registered. There was 19 people registered for cert. That Christine is even more of an Energizer Bunny than Robbie!!!!! She never stops and has so much power! Wow! I have never done Turbo using all that power! I don't think I ever thought I could find that kind of power. It was an eye opener I'll tell you. She had me doing things I thought I would never be able to do.

End of day she gives us a combo of (4 crosses while squatting down, then Jumping jack back to centre and out again), & keep repeating. I don't know how many we did. But it was wild. I have never pushed Turbo that hard in 2 Turbo's. I ended up burning over 1000 calories in the 2 sessions. I thought I wouldn't turn it on because of my arms, but we did it all through the practice sessions as well. My shoulder joints are sore and my abs as well. I worked on all my other sore spots on Sunday evening with my Dr. Ho and we went into the Sauna for about 15 min and then swam. It was great. We lay on the bed looking at the DVD's for a couple of hours. I saw Ellen, Robbie, Heather, and Christine in Turbo Camp. Yah! It looked like a great time there as well. I opted to stay home yesterday. I didn't think I should push my luck after doing 3hrs and putting my back out a couple of weeks ago. I will be in on Wednesday for sure. See you all then. Luv Sue I think I should celebrate with a drink

It's about time for an update!

From my Son Scott:
Hello again everyone!

It's been months since my last email and I'm not sure where I left off...

Hayley had the brain biopsy done in December, and with the results of swelling in the sample they extracted they diagnosed her as having CNS Vasculitis. (Central Nervous System Vasculitis).

As a treatment the doctors were satisfied that we agreed to putting Hayley on a 3 month cycle of Prednisone steroids to help reduce the swelling in her brain. They then would re-examine her status, and then decide what next.

So after 3 months of steroids, and the mood swings that come with them we're happy to report that our little Hayley is doing great. She's packed on a few pounds, mostly in the face and tummy, but with all the dancing she does she's managed to stay in pretty good shape. Some say she looks better with a little more meat on her.

This week, Monique & Denise took Hayley back to Sick Kids for another MRI scan.
The next day we went back downtown to meet with Dr. Benseler and who had already looked at the results.

Right away she asked if we wanted to see the MRI results, and we were very pleased to be able to see the scan side by side with the scan of 3 months ago.

The difference was amazing! And not just because they finally got a new MRI machine to replace the one that broke when they had a flood in December.

Swelling shows up as white areas on the scan. Comparing the two scans, if I had to give a percentage of how much of the "white area" is gone since the last scan 3 months ago, I'd say the scan is 85% better.

We are waiting on an email photo of the scan but haven't got it yet.
When we get the email photo we'll we able to show some of you the before and after pictures.

Anyway, pictures say a 1000 words, and we didn't need much more than that to know that we're doing the right thing.

Even though there have been a few minor headaches and body pangs, these seem to coincide with changes to her Prednisone dosage. Usually about 2-3 days after the change. The doctors agree that this is common but are very pleased with how well she has responded to treatment. In fact she commented on how well she has just kept on going as nothing was wrong. Oh to be a kid again!!

Being that there is still some evidence of swelling, and it's not recommended that you stop the steroids "cold turkey", they want to be safe they and have her stay on the same dosage one more week, and then continue with a slower "drug taper" over the next 22 weeks. 3 weeks @ Xmg, 2 wks @ Ymg, etc.

If all goes well that makes the magic day August 10th!

Eventually she'll be down to a mere 2.5mg or 1/2 pill a day.
Compared to the 10 pills a day she started with before Christmas this will be, as Hayley would say "easy-peasy" <- spelling??

By my count that's about 33 weeks. I think that the doctors told us "3 months" just to get her started. Knowing full well that once you start you can't stop quickly.

Anyway, we're so happy that she hasn't had any real adverse reactions to the drugs, and that she's doing so well, and that the MRI revealed such a marked improvement, that it's OK with us if she stays on it until it's all gone. By that I mean when the MRI's show no white/light spots on the scan.

When I think back to the day in the critical care unit when Hayley had tubes in her, couldn't speak to us, or even see us, and was hooked up to all kinds of machines I think about how lucky we are that she's OK and seemingly getting better every week/month. Having a hospital like Sick Kids so close by is also a godsend.

There will be another MRI in 3 months to check on things and I think that if the swelling is gone they will stick to the August 10th date. If not they may extend if some time longer. We will be keeping our fingers crossed.

Monique and I want to say THANK YOU AGAIN to everyone who has been thinking about Hayley.


Scott Roe

Granddaughter Hayley in critical care unit sick kids!

Wow! What a week we have had. My granddaughter Hayley was admitted on Nov 1/06 early morning to Ajax hospital having a seizure. They got her stabilized and took her via ambulance with siren going down to Sick Kids hospital. It seems she has encephalitis. (Swelling of the brain due to an infection probably viral.) They treated her and took a Cat scan and MRI and late that night took her off life support as she was breathing on her own.
I was at the hospital until 11:30 pm on Wed. Nov 1.
At hospital until 9:30pm on Thurs. Nov 2. Up and down with temperature, headache, and vomiting.
At hospital until 7:30pm on Friday Nov 3rd. as I left to go wish my fellow Turbo girls good luck on there certification in Rochester. I was supposed to go as well. Wasn't in the cards this time.
Saturday Nov 4, I stayed home and relaxed and slept.
Sunday Nov 5, back at the hospital she was up and down that day.
Monday Nov 6, went back to work and then to Turbo-Kick, and she was up and feeling better. Ate good and no headache.
Tuesday Nov 7 worked, then went to see her and she was great. Cuddling with Mom on the Bed. Even went downstairs as I was leaving to do crafts with the Girl Guides. Made a Fish and a Flower. Obviously feeling much better.
Wednesday Nov 8, she had a Lumbar Puncture, as well as other tests. Have to wait at least 48 hours for any results.
Thursday Nov 9, no word yet. I will update soon with the results and on Fri Nov 10 she is due to have an Angiogram. What for, I don't know. Heart I think. I will update when I get more news.

I'm having a time with my eating lately but I am still going to my Turbo classes 3 times a week and today I pushed myself to get out of bed at 5:30am and did 3T Totally, Tubular, Turbo. Only 30 min. but it was good. Working with the tube is a challenge for me at this time with the injury to my upper left arm and my right wrist being weak. I started to do exercises for the wrists the other day and will continue since it seems to have improved. It ached a bit afterwards but seems to be better. Hopefully working with the band will challenge the muscle in my bicep and strengthen it and alleviate the pain when I use it or reach for something. It has been a real pain when I want to carry something really heavy.
Well, that's all for now. Hooks, Susan.

30 Days have past

Well a whole month has past and I am just now getting back to update my blog. I have been working at getting the weight back down and am getting close to my lowest weight. Only 5lbs. more to go to get back to 167lbs.
Oct 4/06 Weighed in at 172lbs. this morning. This means that I am down 8 lbs. from Aug 25th.
I have been going to Turbo-kick 3 times each week which I am finding really good. Last weeks class on Wednesday was cancelled due to them laying a new carpet. I was sick the last part of the week with an allergy attack again but the good part is that it has been quite a while since the last one. I haven't had a day off work sick since Jan 1 until last week. I stayed home on Thursday and Friday and again on Monday. Things are slowly clearing up but I am still showing signs of wheezing. I managed to do Lower-Body Jam on Sunday for 20min. and the 20 min workout. Needed to do something! I was stir crazy. Exercise really helped make me feel better. Got some energy back and felt like doing something instead of just lolling around on the couch.
I am heading off tonight to the Wed. evening class for T-Kick with Michelle teaching tonight. It will be interesting to see how she does. Her first class to deal with leading and cueing at the same time. Hope everthing goes well for her. I will have to work out good tonight as Judith brought me in a piece of cake from her birthday party. Jamaican Rum Cake. Oh so Good! Did I say NO! Hell NO! So now I need to burn off all those calories in class tonight.
I think I have finally decided to hold off on the certification in November as money is going to be short over xmas and Robbie is saying that certification will be coming here in the new year. I would have to come up with $135.00US for cert. then pay for my rounds, a hotel for 2 nights and also drive to Rochester. It will be infinitely cheaper to do it from here. I won't have to drive all that way and pay all that money as well. I will tell him I am going to hold off and do it when it comes here in 07. This will only be a post-ponement, not a cancellation. I will have all that time to work on losing more weight and getting into better shape. I would like to be around 150 -160 if possible. Well, that's all for now. I will try and check in more regular and update you on my Heart Rate Monitor results I have been compiling. Hooks, Susan

Success for week 1

Well it is now into the 2nd week of my getting back to basics! Week 1 was a success as I let go of 5 lbs. I ended up doing Turbo-Kick on Mon, Wed, Fri, and Sun. This week so far, I have done Dance Party #1 on Tuesday (45Min.) in the morning and Turbo-kick on Wed. evening. Food wise I didn't always make the right choices last week but at least I was eating better than previously.
This week I am attempting to not give in to temptation and eat better. The scales said 175 on Saturday and Sunday and this morning they went to 176 so I obviously didn't need the date square and Iced Frapuccino I had yesterday before Turbo-kick or the amount of French Fries (baked) that I ate with my Salmon fillet the night before.
Today is payday, so I will be able to go shopping for some of the things I haven't had this week and get all set for the next couple of weeks. I need to have some more variety in my food. I am getting sick of eating the same things all the time. I am going to attempt to try one of my Core Secrets dvd's tonight and give my muscles a blast as well as the abs. I had a 45 min workout sent to me and I was so tired when I watched it that I fell asleep. Maybe I should try it this evening and see how I make out. I will report on that later how I do. Am looking forward to T-K class on Friday evening and now the Saturday class is changed to 9:30am so maybe sometime I can try that one as well. Hopefully this week I might end up losing a lb if possible. Then the trick is to not put it back on, on the weekend. Hooks Susan