Thursday Day and Evening

Thursday, November 30, 2006

So it is Thursday now and I have avoided including some specific developments because the processes had not gotten far enough and pertinent people had not been informed or brought up to speed on some of it. Now, those folks are informed and we are in a place of needing prayer. On Monday we turned in the necessary paperwork for disability. It is effective from mid-November through mid-February. We are trying to expedite the paperwork process so we can see the payments as soon as possible due to the reality that once the disability process is begun, your normal work paychecks cease. My checks have been the primary coverage of the mortgage and with that stopping now, we need the disability to kick-in soon.
My request of anyone reading this is to be praying for a supernatural uninterrupted flow of paperwork so that our claim for disability will be accepted and appropriate payments begin. I’m nervous about this piece of the puzzle, which I think is understandable under the circumstances. Your prayers are greatly coveted.
Joshua has asked me each night, since I came home form the hospital, if I am going to work tomorrow and each time I have just answered no, I’m not going in tomorrow. Last night, after fielding the same question again, I shared with both of them that I am healing right now and cannot work while I am trying to heal from the attack a few weeks ago. I shared that I would not be going back to work until some time in February. Missy asked if I would still have a job then since I am going to be absent for so long and I explained that I would still have my job when February comes, though both kids didn’t really grasp the whole picture really, just the immediate, tangible picture they see each day and week.

CC and I went to see the Kaiser Nutritionist this morning and that visit was helpful (okay, I was going to write that the visit was fruitful, but thought better of it…Get it? Nutritionist…Fruit-ful…*sigh*) for sure and we learned that I’m not eating ENOUGH carbohydrates...I’m supposed to have a certain number of carbs as well as protein and as it turns out, my normal diet is too low on the carbs currently. So, I get to have a hamburger bun with a hamburger now, which is alright by me, as well as some other salad dressings for salads and even small amounts of regular pasta too. I felt the gal was nice and informed on my situation and helpful as well. She gave us her number and her email address and said to call/contact her any time we need assistance.

I forgot to include in yesterday’s post that we had Missy’s Parent/Teacher conference yesterday and that we had Joshua’s today. I’m concerned about Missy’s situation regarding the teacher and how Missy’s learning is impacted by particular approaches within the classroom. Not much I’m comfortable writing on this one; suffice to say that I’m not happy, I guess. Joshua’s went pretty well, except when he walked in to the classroom with us, he clammed up and had to be prodded by me or the teacher to answer some simple questions and to show us some of his work. After the 45 minute meeting, once we had gotten outside, he leaned into me and tried to cuddle up, to I sat down on a bench and held him as he began to cry and say that he had gotten embarrassed when we walked in and then fearful that he might answer the teacher’s questions incorrectly, so he just shut down, more or less. Talk about a heart-breaker…I just held him for a while and CC talked to him and consoled him as well.
Shortly thereafter, CC suggested that we go to Dairy Queen to celebrate both kids efforts and successes in the first trimester of school, so of to Dairy Queen we went where the kids ordered blizzards, CC ordered the Hot Fudge Sunday and…I ordered a SMALL Butterfinger blizzard, of which I ate about a third. We all brought some home with us because we didn’t finish there. It’s nice being allowed to have MORE carbs than what I’ve been eating…yay.

I went by work and saw some of my folks there and was warmly greeted, which was certainly cool. While I was there I picked up 3 of my guitars and my guitar processor and various other pieces of my music gear and brought them home so I can begin to check that out again, though our real estate within the home is pretty crowded already WITHOUT my guitars and gear. In fact, I took the majority of it to my office because my office has enough space to hold the equipment and the house didn’t…so this will prove interesting for sure. It’s all in the living room now, next to where I normally sit and work on the laptop, and since I’LL be the one HOME all the time, it will then be MY job to find an acceptable location for the gear so no “gaskets” are blown at home, including mine.

Wow. CC just put to paper what had been only in our collective minds and memory, but seeing it in black and white is thought provoking; since March of this year, I have been to the ER in March, May, July, August, (twice in) September, October, and November. I have been admitted in May, July, September and November. Do ya think maybe there’s something wrong with me? Um…I think so. I was diagnosed with HKPP in my August visit to the folks in the blue scrubs.

A few days ago I was reading some of the experiences on the HKPP list serve I’m on and I was motivated to recount my July adventure and thought it would be worth putting on here too since it’s part of my history and a definitive piece of this medical puzzle I’m currently working on. Here it is:

Back in July of this year, BEFORE I WAS DIAGNOSED, I was attending/speaking at a conference in Long Beach, CA and being that I live in the Sacramento Area, my drive time was around 8 hours down there with some stops for gas or food included. I drove down pretty pumped up and anxious since I was speaking at the convention and I did get through the long drive down and the 2 days of lecturing without noticeable incident.
I was planning on coming back the following day (Saturday) and making it a leisurely trip until I spoke to my daughter (11at the time) who reminded me that the following morning was the grand finale of a week-long Fire Camp she was participating in. So you’ll know, Fire Camp is sponsored by SacMet Fire department and it welcomed a certain number of kids from the neighborhood to come for a week long camp where they would spend almost 8 hours a day for 5 days learning the basics of fire and water safety, i.e. putting out controlled fires , climbing ladders, learning how to carry injured people as well as competing in a series of exercises. So, Saturday was the finale and the day of competition between the different smaller groups of would-be firefighters and was being held out at McClelland Field Air Force Base, which has been closed for some time. They were going to use a tarmac beside a big open hanger for the competitions and then have everyone go into the hanger for the awards and then food, so we could be in the shade.
So, Wade thinks, “Wouldn’t it be cool to tell Missy I won’t make it and then leave late tonight and get there in time for the events and surprise her! It’s less than an 8 hour trip if I don’t stop much and cruise at a ’reasonable’ speed.”
So, with “thinking” not really being my strongest suit at that moment, I decided that I would drive back to be there in time for her competition…7 hours straight with a single stop for caffeine ½ way there. I drove starting at midnight and was drinking Snapple lemon Iced Teas (tons of them) and eating salty chips/pretzels. I then picked up a Chai Crème Frappuccino from Starbucks half way home to keep me awake. Here’s the link if you want to see what’s actually in one and the nutritional facts for it:
http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_beverage_detail.asp?selProducts=40&strAction=GETDEFAULT&cookie%5Ftest=1
(108 grams of carbs in just 20 oz.).

So, I arrived in almost 7 hours exactly and made it to the house as they were loading up to leave for the finale, so I joined them in their car and away we went.
Now, I was starting to feel as though maybe I made an error in judgment at this point since my stomach was not pleased and I was feeling a little weak and light-headed. We were there with my Aunt and Uncle, I think he came later, and were sitting under a couple big yard umbrellas because of the sun and heat of the morning and day. I made it through the out-door competitions and Missy was thrilled I came back for her big day to see her compete. She didn’t know I was going to come back, so I surprised her by returning. After the competitions, all the kids, their families and the firefighters/EMT and ambulance personnel went into a hanger set up with tables and chairs for the celebratory BBQ. I went in and remember watching her receive her award and then things got really fuzzy and I started loosing vision. My wife, who’s very observant to begin with, saw that I didn’t “look right” and asked if I was alright. I apparently didn’t answer, though I thought I did, and in no time, I had 2 EMTs who arrived very quietly, on either side of me and they picked me up and helped me (kinda dragged me since I couldn’t walk) out of the crowd and brought me to a truck and laid me in it so they could assess what was happening. They also had 5 or 6 other personnel stand around the truck where I was to obscure the view of the crowd inside and made it look like they were just hanging out talking together. They were minimizing the distraction and my daughter’s potential panic should she see what was going on, which I thought after the fact was so very cool and caring of them to intentionally do. My blood sugar was 400+ and I was unable to speak or communicate and they quickly moved me to one of the ambulances that had been present for the finale, and away I went to the ER, rapid transit style. I could hear and do remember some of it, but couldn’t see or talk.

Next is the hospital experience, but before getting into that, what a blessing in disguise to find myself having medical issues while SURROUNDED by EMTs and firefighters. I felt as safe as I could be, though scared by what was happening to me. It was a strange combination of feelings; panic and yet confidence that I’ll be taken care of. CC said they were so caring and kind and one of them spoke to my daughter to explain what was happening to her daddy and how I was being taken care of by the best of the best.
Turns out that one of the EMTs who was triaging me was the mother of a girl in Missy’s squad of would-be firefighters, so she was the one who spoke to Missy, I understand.

During transit, it turned out that the ambulance was told that Kaiser Roseville was closed due to being packed so I was taken to Sutter General, a little further away from the intended destination. I was brought in and labs were taken immediately and an EKG started as well. CC and my aunt arrived and explained that I’ve had similar symptoms and situations to this and that we don’t know what the problem is. The nursing staff and a ER doc came in fairly quickly and in haste, hooked a small bag to my IV pole and began introducing that liquid at a fairly rapid pace. In no time at all I was writhing in pain from the potassium going into my arm and just wanted them to cut it off, it was hurting so bad. While I was being hooked up for the K+, my wife asked them what was going on; what’s wrong? They said my potassium came back at 2.5 and my heart was crashing. She asked them to give me something for the pain and the first medicine they gave did nothing, so they came back with a pain killer I’d never had called Dilauded and it knocked me down and numbed me from 2/3rds of the pain I was enduring. FYI: IV potassium BURNS the inside of your veins when it is being infused and causes unbelievable and unbearable pain. It is normally combined with a painkiller called lignocaine, which unfortunately for me doesn’t work on me, so when they put the potassium in, I experienced a new kind of pain, unlike any I could remember and it was in my arm and traveling up into my shoulder as the potassium burned its way into my system. That’s an experience that has been repeated a couple times now, but they didn’t lose me, so I’m not going to complain much more.

Anyway, the rest of the story is that I spent a total of 26 hours total on a gurney, split between two emergency rooms and was admitted into Kaiser after the 26th hour and just as my wife had loudly stated near the ER nurse’s station, that she was heading to Member Services because of the situation. Within minutes of her departure down the hall, I was whisked away to a room on a different floor. Don’t piss off a wife…that my friends, is good advice (…uh…even for husbands too…)

They did not diagnose my disease then; it was the next attack and ER visit that an ER doc suspected the rare disease/disorder called HKPP and called a neurologist to consult with.

Knowing what I do now, I set myself up for a nasty attack during that ride home and I’m thankful I made it home before it hit. What a HUGE blessing. Interstate 5 between LA and Sacramento is NOT the place I would want to have problems.

~Fini~


Oh, I forgot to mention earlier that, arriving today, was my DVD and CD of Journey Live Escape Tour in Houston, TX in ’81. A pretty cool video with somewhat questionable audio, at least through the TV anyway. I’ll see if I can check it out more thoroughly tomorrow. It’s worth noting that music is the conduit to my emotions, my spirit (in many ways) and my release, so having the concert videos allows me the opportunity to be inspired, to get away (mentally) while I get into the video, to relax and to appreciate many of the artistic contributions that I missed in the past 40+ years due to my simply not knowing what to look for or be sensitive to. It’s like “Okay…I get it now. Can I see that again, please?” and being able to check it out again and sincerely appreciate it. Journey, Def Leppard, Kenny Loggins, 38 Special, Rush, Dream Theater (hopefully I’ll find the elusive “Rippingtons Live From LA” video for less then $30.00…not that I can afford it now, that’s for sure), Satriani, Vai, G3, Genesis, Phil Collins, The Police, Peter Gabriel, The Eagles, Rescue…I’ve got a huge amount of music to appreciate and look forward to checking them out, some again and some for the first time.

Well, it’s my bedtime now, so we’ll see what tomorrow holds…
Peace.