Tuesday is Change Day

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Well, yesterday seems in retrospect to have been a very down day and fortunately, one of a kind at this point, or at least today isn’t as dark as yesterday was. It’s clear that the cons outweighed the pros, in my mind.
Today has been good so far; it’s 3:00 PM and I still feel pretty good and have not needed the cane yet. I have done all the laundry (4 full loads complete), a small amount of vacuuming, 2 loads of dishes and kept Annie entertained periodically. These may not seem like much, but each one was a risk worth taking to see how my muscles would react to the more complex use than just sit, walk, stand and lay down. Tomorrow will be the full grade of the test; either I passed and my muscles are progressing in healing or I’ll hurt and know that I’m pushing further than my body can handle, minor as those activities may be.

Some significant decisions were made yesterday and perhaps tonight I can write of them and their ramifications. That was part of the stress and trial I was feeling from yesterday.

I received two packages today; one from Amazon.com which contained the VHS video “Journey: Frontiers and Beyond” which is a film of Journey’s 1983 tour and it chronicles the tour from its very beginning to its end with a good portion of their JFK show for 90,000+ crowd. I have watched this video/movie a number of times since it was released and I have learned quite a bit from it each time I’ve viewed it. It takes the tour apart, section by section, showing the office work, the actual set up and set design in the build and then the many shows they did. Their ’83 tour was 100 shows within the year and you can see the wear and tear on them as the tour progresses and it paints what appears to be a very realistic picture of what tour life is like on the road. One of the concerts takes place during a tornado watch and the storm they wait out is amazing and the crowd stayed it out as well. It was during their prime. In my opinion, the video was and is a “must see” for wannabe rock stars, even now.
The second package was totally unexpected from my buddy Brian in Portola Valley. He sent some of his favorite concert/music DVDs for me to check out for a while. Seriously cool. “Rush” and “Dream Theater”. I’m truly looking forward to viewing these. I’ve never seen a Dream Theater show (since they became Dream Theater; I saw them when they were calling themselves “Majestic” back in the late 80’s, when we opened for them at Goodies in Orange County) and am looking forward to seeing the band in motion. Rush was a band that I had opportunity to see but wasn’t as interested in their music at the time as I am now. I think it is more of a respect issue that I have gained for them over time and I am interested in the intricate musicianship they display and use. Geddy Lee is the bassist, Neil Pert is the drummer/percussionist and the guitarist is Alex Lifeson. Alex took me time to appreciate, be a guitarist as well, I felt the major contributors in the band were Neil and Geddy, more so than Alex. I don’t think that way anymore, but it was a real block for a number of years.

Nana comes back this afternoon/evening from having spent 4 ½ days at CC’s brother’s home. A familiar living dynamic will return and we will adjust back to it. Also, we are heading back to karate tonight; the kids have been absent for nearly a month due to my situation. It will be good to see Sensei again and possibly begin a very controlled and light work-out regiment with him. I’m looking forward to that cautiously so that I don’t continue to end up disappointed week after week, constantly having to postpone any training because I’m suffering.

I just spoke to Chris, my boss, and shared with him some of the changes and decisions from yesterday. More on that later.

I can tell now that it will be a cane night, but I made to through the day without it, anyway. CC and the kids met me at red Robin for a lunch, something we haven’t done in several weeks now, and it was fun to be just the four of us out to lunch together. We enjoy each other.

…Part two…
It’s now 5:30 PM and I’m with Joshua at his Karate lesson and able to continue because Sensei installed a wireless internet in the Dojo. Very cool, though I haven’t used it until now. It’s convenient under the circumstances. I spent a good 10 minutes talking with Sensei at the beginning of Josh’s lesson while one of Sensei’s student teachers, Mark, taught the class. He shows a great amount of caring for our family and it’s very cool to call him friend as well as teacher. He brought up an interesting question; He asked about transfusions if the issue is potassium in the blood. Hhmmm…I hadn’t thought about that at all nor did my neurologist. I’m guessing since my neurologist didn’t broach the subject, that it is not a viable option or solution. Right now, I have to jump through another necessary hoop to progress in the Kaiser system, which is to get an official second opinion confirming the diagnosis of Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis from another Kaiser neurologist, and my neurologist has set me up with an appointment with one of his colleagues in Walnut Creek. He speaks very highly of him and my hopes are that we can expedite the process, get the second diagnosis and be able to move freely within the medical field, searching out proper care since our current medical system knows nearly nothing of HKPP; to an extent, they know more now from me than they did 6 months ago.

Missy’s class is about to end; it is nearly 6:45 and we are about to head back home, so I’ll post this now and then may add on to it tonight.

peace