Archive for the ‘News’ Category
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[caption id="attachment_3723" align="alignleft" width="195" caption="Our son with me and my wheelchair"]
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Forward, on with the adventure ! The time has come to reveal all (well, almost all – I do have some secrets). My previous posts alluded to some of these adventures in our nation's capitol. The experience was a bit different than we expected.
OOPs, I don't want to get ahead of myself so I'd better start at the beginning with our arrival at Union Station in Washington, DC (I tend to think way faster than I write and by the time I finish writing a thought I often forget the next thought so I'm trying to slow things down while I write). The weather was nice upon arrival. In fact the weather in DC was quite pleasant for most of our visit though on a couple of occasions it did get a bit windy and cool.
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[caption id="attachment_3156" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Grandpa Oddball at the FDR memorial"]
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We're back !! Our ten day adventure has ended and we're still alive and kicking (barely). As the regular blog readers know our original plans had to be scrapped so we had to devise a fallback plan. In hindsight this was a good thing because we made a lot of planning and travel mistakes. For example, while both grandma and I talked about taking along a gait belt in the end we both forgot to put it on our pre-trip lists.
Anyway it was a good trip to visit our son whom I hadn't been able to visit for years due to my illness. Our scaled back trip commenced with a three day ANTRAK train trip from Seattle to Washington, DC. We then spent a week in DC with our son visiting our nations capital before flying home.
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Burrrrr ! The wind off the lake cut right to my bones. My bones were swathed in clothes but it didn't help much. My fingers were numb, my nose was running and I was chilled. So started our participation in the Seattle 2011 annual MS walk fund raising event. I in my wheelchair and grandma with her arthritis along with our daughter, her husband, our grandchildren and my sister braved the elements in order to carry on the fight.
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"It's coming, there's nothing you can do about it. Might as well get used to it." Grandma Oddball intoned with disgusting cheerfulness.
I snuggled further under the covers and wished someone would remove that awful glare shinning through the window. My head ached, my body was tired, and I was in no mood for cheerfulness. I just wanted to remain warm and cozy, sleeping until day passed on into night when I could remain peacefully and comfortably buried in bed. That didn't deter grandma. With mock sweetness she started singing,
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Hard to believe I know. I can hardly believe it myself. Time doesn't march on inexorably; it simply evaporates leaving behind a residue full of memories, emotions, and past regrets !! Just yesterday we were married and now two children and two grandchildren later we are celebrating our 44th wedding anniversary.
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Welcome, welcome, welcome 2011. We look forward you what you have store for us. Grandma Oddball is ready for the new year as you can see from her inner child pictured here. Let's hope that her inner child doesn't melt away too fast !
It's been an eventful month. Well, for that matter, it's been an eventful year but I'll just stick to the last month or so. During the month's course several things struck me as amusing, interesting, significant, and, on occasion, sad. I'm not sure my leaky brain can remember everything but I'll try.
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Wow, It's been awhile since I've added a post to my website. I've been very, very busy during my limited waking hours and been unable to find the time what with the rapid changes in my medical condition, the holidays, numerous birthdays (frankly my grandchildren come first), and other projects that I'm working on that has demanded my attention. I guess it's time for a new post but where to start ??
How about I start (more...)
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Here is a quick update of my recent medical activities which is causing me to take a temporary haitus. Hopefully I'll be back in about a month.
The surgeon in charge of my treatment has semi-retired and moved to Idaho. We were without anyone in charge of my treatment for about six weeks but eventually we got a new surgeon to take charge. He's worked out a new treatment to compliment my earlier radiation treatment but we postponed the implementation until he would be continuously available for about three months in case any problems should arise.
Anyway recently my pancreatic drain has become very erratic so we had to start the new treatment a bit earlier than anticipated. About a week ago the drainage completely stopped temporarily. We didn't know if the drainage had finally stopped or if the drain tube had become clogged. Only one way to find out so last Wednesday I went in for a CT scan and a tube change. The procedure was fairly routine (for me) but my allergic reaction to the CT contrast dye was the most severe I've experienced. It may have been worse than usual as I appear to have coincidentally developed a cold at the same time. As a result I have spent most of the last three days in bed with a fever. I'm still feeling very weak.
I probably will not be doing much for the next month as we monitor the new procedure. The drainage seems to have stabilized at a much reduced amount (maybe the radiation treatment is finally having a positive effect !!!). If it doesn't stop completely then the hope is that the new treatment will create an internal “abscess” of sufficient size that it will form a target for positioning an internal drain tube from my pancreas to my stomach. If that works then we will not be tied to our local area and we will be able to get on with a somewhat normal life or at least as normal of a life that someone with MS can have.
FYI: I'll probably not be available or post any updates for much of the next month as we work through this new treatment. I have to go back for another CT scan in a few weeks so I expect another allergic reaction to lay me low soon.
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They took my Ducky diaper pin! I laid on that narrow table under the fluoroscope as they were getting ready to prep me for the coming procedure when they removed my drain bag and took my ducky safety pin along with it. I didn't notice the loss until later when I couldn't fasten my new drain bag when it was time to leave. What a time to lose my diaper pin. I needed that pin to hold my drain bag so I didn't rip out my drain tube.
Perhaps I should start over from the beginning. (more...)
