One Day at a Time

I've been missing in action for a little while, but for good reason. I managed to shake my cold and get moving again, unlike a number of people I've encountered recently. This was a doozy of a bug that resulted in pneumonia for one acquaintance and several friends missing several days of work. Anyway, I'm back to my old self (I think), ranting and raving at some stupid politicians' behaviour and the conspiracy theorists out there who think that neurologists and big pharma have it in for Dr. Zamboni and his new theory of MS.

There is some interesting information on the Zamboni front and the latest study figures. 62.9% is far from proof but that's all I'll say at this point. I'm working on another post to address that in the next day or two.

This post is about what I'll be doing over the next couple of years.

Last fall, my friend, and resident manager of the building I live in, asked me if I was interested in becoming the superintendent. I wasn't at that point, thinking full time employment was just around the corner. Since a job hasn't materialized I started to look at various government programs I could take advantage of, and am in the process of applying for one and navigating the various agencies that exist for people like me. It's looking good right now, and I should be attending community college in the fall to study business administration (concentrating on accounting). At the same time, my friend offered me the super position again but as a job share with another woman. Perfect fit. In exchange for handling the tenants and showing the building to prospective tenants (and a few other duties) I get a break on my rent. The other woman I'd job share with will handle all the cleaning around the building. So I'm quite happy about this. Going to school and a part time gig is a pretty good deal.

So I've been fairly occupied for the last two weeks trying to get everything all set up (there is a move required, but just across the hall). One friend asked me if I'd wear a tool belt ala Schneider from One Day at a Time. I don't think so. But I do know how to use a plunger....

S.
PS: Keep this info under your hat until Friday when we tell the rest of the building.

Cold and Flu Season and Max

Like a lot of folks this time of year, I have had a cold. Just your normal run of the mill head cold that started with a sore throat, then progressed to a cough and finally into my sinuses. I still have it a week and a half later, though there have been definite improvements. The first two days I spent in bed (mostly), taking it easy. In fact I even missed a home game of the Halifax Rainmen, for which we have season tickets. I didn't go for any walks for a couple of days, but even when I began my exercise regime again, it was like I had been down for a year. I only did short walks at first (and just as well as it was minus 20 degrees with a wind chill some mornings) but by last Friday I was back to my normal walking distance. And it pooped me out like I had just run a marathon.

I did a couple of more walks over the weekend but I'm still kind of weak. This morning, I did a short walk, came home, and then biked around the neighbourhood for 30 minutes. I have another bike ride to do this week to make up for last week (remember I'm doing the 52 Week Biking Challenge) and happily my legs weren't as shaky as last month. But, man, this cold has knocked me for a loop.

During the first 7 years of my life with MS, I didn't get so much as the sniffles. But for the past 5 years I have had to put up with one ear infection the likes of which I haven't experienced since I was 10 with tonsillitis, a bout of laryngitis, a couple of colds, and I think one bout with a flu (even though I've been getting flu shots for several years). I haven't felt so weak in.....actually, I don't think I've ever felt this weak before.

Is this MS? Or is it.......gulp......age? Sadly, I have to admit it's probably the aging process. And maybe it was a harder hitting cold than others I've had. Other people I've talked to have remarked how their cold seemed to drag on forever. Whatever. It's working its way through me.

There's a local coffee shop in my neighbourhood that I frequent and since the fall I have gotten to know one of the regulars, Max. Max is almost 85, retired, and a world war 2 vet. He was in the merchant marines during the war and joined the regular army in the 50s. I have been getting some great stories out of him. He grew up in foster homes but had a bad case of wanderlust as he ran away a couple of times before he was able to sign up with the merchant navy. I don't believe he had a hard time in the homes, just that he wanted to go places. He had a twin brother who died 5 years after the war because of injuries sustained during the war. He had two other sets of twin siblings (out of 15 children in that family, 6 were twins). Max told me that his father was only ever home long enough to get his mother pregnant, then took off again. Max and his twin ended up being raised together in foster homes and both joined the merchant navy. Max's brother was on a ship that was sunk by a German U-boat in the Caribbean in 1942. Accounts aren't quite clear as to the number of men on the boat, 36 or 37, but only one was a casualty of that sinking. That sailor's name is on the monument in Point Pleasant Park in Halifax. Here's what Max told me about the sinking as relayed by his brother when he got back to Halifax:

"All the men (except one) made it into the lifeboats. As they were sitting there contemplating what they were to do next, a German U-boot surfaced right next to them. The hatch opened and the captain came out to speak to their captain. He asked if they had water. They did. He asked if they had food. They did. He then gave them their bearings, latitude and longitude, pointed them in a direction and said they'd get to land if they rowed that way. Then he was gone into the sub and the machine itself disappeared into the sea.

The men rowed and three days later they saw land. They had arrived at the Turks and Caicos islands and a few days later, they were picked up by a passing American ship enroute from Curacao to Halifax."

Cool story. And Max showed me a picture of (most of) the men taken at a gathering in Nova Scotia when they arrived. His brother was only 17.

Max's brother later went on to take part in the Murmansk convoys. And Max himself sailed on Norweigan ships aiding those convoys.

My next Max story is about how he met his wife. That's cool, too....

S.

Ode to a Code

Of all the ills to plague mankind
This is one that eats your mind.

You hack, you sneeze, your eyes they water
You blow your nose (at least you oughter).

Hot, then cold sweats drench your torso
Like men-o-pause but only more so.

Your head it pounds, your body aches;
Upon your bed you lie awake.

You cough up stuff with amazing trajectory,
Your sinuses drain like a major snot factory.

Hot tea, cold juice, warm socks, kleenex
From this grippe, oh Lord, release us.

S.

The Truth is Out There

Finally. The truth is getting out there. And it will continue to be revealed. Too bad my fellow members of the media failed to do their jobs in the first place and present all the evidence.

I direct your attention to two articles recently published that discuss all of my previous concerns about Dr. Zamboni's Liberation treatment for MS.

Article one.

Article two.

I spoke with a woman last weekend who held out hope for this treatment. When I explained to her that the evidence to support Dr. Zamboni was not there and that there still remained too many unanswered questions for people to be jumping on his bandwagon, she was greatly disappointed. I explained to her, as well, that even if this treatment actually worked, she would not get any better as far as her MS went. It just would not progress. (She is already greatly dependent on a wheelchair)

I asked her if she was a member of the MS Society, had she signed up for any e-mail lists to get up to date and reliable information about MS? No, she told me. Why not? She didn't really give me a good answer. A person with MS for 20 years not asking for information from the MS Society? Where did she get information? From the internet and from people who "cared" about her who heard about different things she should look into.

I am so frustrated, I am almost at a loss for words. Can you say "denial"? What does it take for people to open their eyes and use their minds for themselves? When will they realize that they alone are responsible for their health and they have to research for themselves what they are ingesting or submitting to?

Arrgh. OK, here's an example. A well meaning person years ago told me that I should try Noni Noni juice. So I checked it out. It's an interesting fruit found in the Pacific with a good bit of Vitamin C, though not as much as oranges. That's about all it's got, besides an apparently nasty smell. Claims of its medicinal uses ranged from treating ADHD to menstrual cramps and immune deficiency. Immune deficiency! MSers don't have immune deficiencies, we have overactive immune systems. Do I want to take something that might stimulate my immune system? Nope. My point is that I looked at this juice from both sides. There was no medical literature to support any claims of it being of benefit to me and if I want Vitamin C I'll have an orange. It's cheaper. So I made an informed decision about whether or not to use it.

We do this all the time when we get prescriptions from our docs. We are told why we should take a drug and what might happen if we don't and then we ask about side effects. We then have both sides to determine whether or not we should use the drug.

The other thing that is getting to me about this whole Zamboni affair, are the conspiracy theories that are popping up everywhere. "The docs and researchers are in the pockets of Big Pharma" is the mantra of these folk. "The docs and researchers don't want to look at anything that might put them out of business" is another line I hear. Bull feathers!! Any doc or researcher worth his salt will look at any idea that has merit and ask questions about how it works, and why it could or couldn't be of use.

I was wondering why CTV had not interviewed neuros who had opposing views to Zamboni, as that would have been the ethical journalistic approach. Apparently they did! But they didn't air those bits, which is just as unethical as not asking for opposing views. From this point on I'm afraid that I cannot trust the reporting of CTV on this or any other matter. (My personal boycott of CTV's program W5 will have little impact on them, I'm sure.) To be honest, if I hear a story that makes me think there's more to it than is being broadcast, I will research it. There is little I take at face value and I'm critical of the bigger news machines, especially when they omit information or distort facts. What else have they not told us? What else have they distorted?

As a member of the media for 25 years I had always joking said, "Don't trust the media". In other words, look it up for yourself. Get all sides of a story. Then decide.

Eagle Watch

We had a pretty busy weekend. The Halifax Rainmen started the PBL season earlier this month and we went to the second home game Friday night. Saturday morning we were up at 5 and on the road to go the Annapolis Valley for the Eagle Watch. I blogged about this event last year and since the Wookie has even more complex camera gear since then he wanted to take more pictures. Sadly, it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay below freezing so neither of us lasted long after the pancake breakfast so he went back on Sunday. In the meantime we stopped in at a trout ice-fishing tournament to see what was going on. Pretty cool actually. I went into one fishing hut (really a tent) and chatted with the two guys in there. Very friendly. And the inside of the tent was extremely warm as they had a portable heater with them (sitting on a block of styrofoam, of course, so the propane tank wouldn't freeze sitting right on the ice, like it did last year - heh).

So without further ado, some pics of the weekend:

The ice fishing tournament:



Me in the ice fishing tent:



Hole in the ice with a sonar or radar type device called a fish finder:



A bunch of eagles in flight:



One in particular:



While the Wookie went back to the Valley on Sunday I went for a good long hike between Jack, Sandy, and March lakes. I saw plenty of rabbit and deer tracks and the temperature was much more pleasant than Saturday.

time to batten down the hatches as we've got quite the rain storm on the way for tonight.

S.

Apple Crisp

No News is Good News

Things have been relatively quiet for the past little while, thankfully. Most of the world is focused on Haiti right now, as it should be, so any complaints I may have are quite minimal. I thought I would share with you a couple of things:

One of my Christmas presents from one of my several friends named Kim. It's a Christmas Tree in a Box. Last year, Kim gave me a lovely ornament and I said I'd hang it on my bike (in the living room), as I didn't have room for a tree. So Kim found me a tree small enough to put on a coffee table and I assembled it on Christmas Eve.



I adore this tree. It's the perfect size and is easily assembled and disassembled. When the holidays are over, you just put it back in the box. And even though we now have a bike barn for our bikes and mine is out of the living room, I still don't have storage room for a big tree, so the Tree in a Box is just the thing!

On my daily walks or hikes, I have been taking an MP3 player with me. It was a Christmas gift from the Wookie. Now I can listen to all those audio-books I've been wanting to absorb. Since my first MS episode, I have had difficulty holding a hardcover book (or anything larger than a regular paperback) with my right hand. There are a whole slew of books, mostly non-fiction, that I've wanted to read but couldn't, when the audio-book idea came to mind. So I've been downloading and absorbing. And it's great! Plus, I've been listening to a few tunes and sometimes get a little dancing in on my walks. Sadly, no pictures of me dancing.

One morning was particularly calm as I trekked to the Bedford Waterfront. It was 7:30 in the morning but all the street lights and walkway lamps were still on and I stopped to sit at the end of the pier. The temperature was rather comfortable and had I planned for it, I could have had a picnic breakfast there.



I have also been observing several ducks on the waterfront. There are about 8 or 9 of these birds and they're rather shy. They dive under water if I get too close and come up 30 seconds later about 100 feet away. I can't seem to get close enough to determine what kind of bird they are, but I'm leaning towards golden eye. With any luck, one of these days I'll find out. My mission for this week I guess.

I had a job interview a week and a half ago, and although I didn't get the job, I can definitely say it was a good experience. It made me realize how much I depend on the written word to keep me on track. Note taking will be my secret weapon from now on. I certainly can't depend on my memory.

On the same day as my interview I brought some lemon loaf to the MS Clinic to mark my anniversary. 12 years now. If my MS was a human, it would just be entering that teenage angst, hormone pumping, pimple popping stage. I just hope it's better behaved than teenagers.

S.