Joshy on the Rope

Joshy Gymnastics

Joshua's Gymnastics

Thursday

Just a quick catch up to say that there have been no hits since Monday and that late this afternoon is my appointment at the Dentist office. This is normally an anxious event for me, but I'm hopeful that today will be less-so.

Also, please share an email with me regarding this new look of the blog and if you like it as far as comfort reading and navigation and such. I'm pretty interested in your opinion and would really like to hear back about this template as opposed to the previous one. Email me at V12pilot@surewest.net

Looking forward to hearing back from you (it'll only take a sec...) :o)

peace

Yet Another Tuesday...

So far today, no attacks or hits but a couple heavy sweats which keep me staying alert for any other signs.  Typically, when I suffer the sweats, an attack of one degree or another will take form and knock me down, so we'll see how the rest of the day goes.

I went to see my primary doctor this morning and saw him this afternoon...we were there by 10:30 AM for my 10:40 AM appointment and then waited a little over an hour and a half before he came into my room at 12:15 PM, approximately.  Even with the frustration of having to wait that long, no attack manifested and I got in and out without an attack.  I still, after all this time, get upset at myself for having to ride in one of their "shopping-cart-wheelchairs" they provide (they have no cushions or padding and it feels like you are sitting on an overturned shopping cart), but without them or my motorized chair, I would not be able to walk that long of a distance and back to the car, and I know it.  Some days are better than others, in terms of my life's independencies, but I tend to struggle more when I have to be carried and am unable to carry myself independently of others.  It's just self esteem issues that come and go, depending on the day.  *sigh*

I need to put together another daily eating/nutrition/BP (blood-pressure)/ BS(blood-sugar) chart which will track my daily comings and goings in terms of foods, snacks, blood pressure, blood sugars and attack symptoms for at least 2 to 4 weeks or longer.

Ok, well so, there was another mild sweat and heavy exhaustion hit which made me just lean my head back onto the back of the chair so my head wouldn't fall forward while I waited to be able to lift my head again and type.  As much as I still hate the fact that I'm not allowed to drive any longer, it is the wise thing because these symptoms give no warning whatsoever and once they present, I have no choice but to wait until they finish.  Grrr...just happened again, only this time my fingers were still on the keyboard and when I'm able to look back at the screen, I see that one finger had been holding down the "enter" key and this had scrolled a stupid amount of pages.  RAR!!!  I didn't lose any info or delete anything I wanted or typed, but it's that feeling, granted simple and small, that I did something I didn't intend to do.

Missy has a track meet today, even right now, but the high school hosting it has no shade in or around their football field and track, so I can't go because of the heat and no possible shade; that SUCKS, in my quiet, yet bashful demeanor...

I ordered a few Styx DVDs that were available used for a very good price; "Styx: Return to Paradise" which captures their reunion tour, back in the mid-to-late 90's and is quite good.  Also, "Styx: Caught in the Act" which is from the 80's during their Paradise Theater tour and I watched most of that yesterday while recovering from the hit in the afternoon.  "Caught in the Act" showcases them in their youthful prime and I think was their best selling tour to date; lots of energy on stage and passion in their work, though some parts were more staged than spontaneous.  But I'm a Styx fan and have always been a Styx fan, so these videos help me escape a few hours at a time when I am unable to physically escape the house or my circumstances.  I cannot remember the name of the third video, which has not arrived yet, but I trust I will enjoy it as much as I have these.

Yet another rest from typing...I guess I will stop and recline in the LazyB for a while and wait this out.

Monday Night

Well, I made it through about half of the service yesterday before I realized I was in a battle to keep control before an attack hit, so we left early and came home. It hit full on when I was getting into the car in the parking lot and I was down for the rest of the day; it lasted over 8 hours. That's not saying that I was paralyzed for 8 hours but was unable to operate on my own, speak much or do anything. I see how it can be confusing when I say an attack lasted for "X" hours, when what I mean is that the first part of the attack, the violent or paralytic part, lasts up to 25 minutes or so, depending on how long it takes to get the potassium in me, and then the second part of the attack which is when I can't move much due to lack of strength or pain and my body remains down.

I did have another hit today after my aunt took me to Kaiser labs to get some labs done before tomorrow's doc appointment with my primary. Interesting is that my potassium was at 4.5 but my phosphorus was reasonably elevated. Normally, I hurt more with elevated phosphorus than I due with elevated potassium. Low potassium, however, will create great pain in nano-seconds within me and that hurts for a long time, typically.
I'm quite surprised that I was able to get up and walk around this evening after the hit this afternoon, but I'll not complain as much as I don't understand...if that makes any sense.

I hate this weather! I hate the heat up here! I'm not ready for summer and wish we could just "skip it" this year; that would make me very happy, indeed.

Prayers for tomorrow's visit to be attack-free and productive.

peace

3 Days Briefly

I'm going to be less conversational in this post just because I want to get the info in, but don't want to spend long typing, so here are the bullets:

• Thursday:
• Stayed down and low key for the day
• No attacks or crashes
• CC & I Went to see Jeff Dunham at the Arco Arena; our dear friends, Craig and Beth Fetter, joined us for the evening and we had a fun time together.
• Blood sugar is still running consistently high (mid to upper 200s)
• Blood pressure is averaging high as well but not dangerously so: 140's to 180's over 90's to 107
• Friday:
• CC's mom, Nana, passed away in the earlier morning hours after several years battling Multiple Myloma Cancer.  All four of her kids (CC, Chris, Pam and Kim) are doing as well as should be expected.  I am saddened to lose her here, but am excited for her to finally be with Jesus as well as Pa (her husband who passed away several years ago).  We know, for a fact, that she is no longer in the terrible, relentless pain now that she is with Him and I am blessed to the core that God would consider sharing her with us for these last 6 years, specifically.  I love you, Nana and I miss you.
• Attack in the afternoon.  Took me out through night time.
• Blood sugar is still running consistently high (mid to upper 200s)
• Blood pressure is averaging high as well but not dangerously so: 140's to 180's over 90's to 107
• Saturday:
• Woke up early this morning with much pain, especially in my right arm and shoulder.  This lasted through the whole day, even until now...(it's 11:42 PM as I type)
• Went to see Joshua's gymnastics class and it was cool to see him working on the exercises and moves.  I was, however, an angry papa bear when I watched his coach and "assistant" coach become and remain disconnected from hands on training of the 4 kids in his class as well as the youthful, arrogant, demeaning attitude of the assistant coach who I think needs a little "parental-consultation" from me; I wouldn't need long...
• Got a call from my bro, Scott Rose (in North Dakota), which completely made my day and weekend!  He even has a webcam that I was able to view while talking to him for the latter part of the phone call.  I miss him very, very much and seeing him gave me a real boost (even though he's lost weight and weighs way less than me [jerk] :o)).  Without question, the best music I've ever written and the music I am MOST proud of (spiritually and intellectually)was written and even performed with Scott.  I'm a blessed guy to be able and allowed to call him my friend.  May God allow us to write some more together.
• Ok, I made a fruit smoothie (large)
• Played some Xbox with Joshy (got stressed from my character getting killed so much...)
• Had an attack because I made the large fruit smoothie and got X-stressed...my new term.  :-)
• 3 or 4 MAJOR sweating bouts (1 just before the attack and 2 or 3 while in the attack) to the extent that sweat was rolling into my eyes and down into my ears (I was reclined in the black Lay-Z-Boy) to which I could do nothing but bear it out...not fun.
• Would like to say that the hot weather SUCKS!!!

So there it is.  Church will be tomorrow morning and my hope and prayer is for no attack tomorrow and a miraculous sparing of logical and routine soreness in the morning and for the day.

g'nite

Before Thursday

Today contained no hits or crashes, though it ended with escalated pain throughout, so that's a drag. For the most part, today was uneventful and quiet, at least until the kids came home from school (we watch 2 additional kids from after school until about 5:30).

Foods were pretty simple:

Breakfast: bowl of mixed yogurt

Lunch: medium-sized bowl of rototini (sp?) pasta with CC's meat sauce (reduced sodium)

Snack: 1 large glass of Berry-Cherry Smoothie (110 mg sodium & 42 g carbs)

Dinner: Again, a medium-sized bowl of rototini (sp?) pasta with CC's meat sauce (reduced sodium)

Drinks: 4 bottles of water and no soda

We are planning to buy a digital scale so we can measure out the different necessary portions of foods and such.

That's it for now-

peace

Tuesday Night's Addendum

I'm feeling that I must write out my immediate thoughts regarding all the information now being made known about the rescue of the Captain from the Maersk Alabama, as well as the whole pirate movement being currently recognized and publicized. I'm including two different reports (in their entirety); one focused on the event itself and the second focused on how the hijacking ended. If you go to CNN's website, you can look up both of these stories with little searching.

Here is the first story from CNN tonight:

(CNN) -- The Liberty Sun, a U.S.-flagged cargo ship bound for Mombasa, Kenya, was attacked Tuesday by Somali pirates, according to a NATO source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Pirates attacked The Liberty Sun, a U.S.-flagged cargo ship, but were unable to board.

"The pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the vessel, which sustained damage," said a statement from New York-based Liberty Maritime Corporation, which owns the vessel.

The ship was carrying U.S. food aid for African nations, the statement said.

The pirates never made it onto the ship and the vessel is now being escorted by a coalition ship, still bound for Mombasa, officials said.

Two senior defense officials said the Liberty Sun was being escorted by the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge. It is the ship carrying Richard Phillips, the captain of the container ship Maersk Alabama, which was hijacked last week. Phillips spent days as a hostage of the pirates before being rescued Sunday.

Katy Urbik of Wheaton, Illinois, said her son, Thomas, was aboard the Liberty Sun at the time of the attack. She shared the e-mails he sent as the ship came under fire.

"We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets," said one e-mail sent Tuesday afternoon. "We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. [A] rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out.

"Navy is on the way and helos and ships are coming. I'll try to send you another message soon. [G]ot to go now. I love you mom and dad and all my brothers and family."

"My heart stopped after I realized there wasn't going to be a 'just kidding' after his comment," Katy Urbik said.

About 1½ hours later, Thomas Urbik sent another e-mail to his mother, which said, "The navy has showed up in full force and we are now under military escort ... all is well. I love you all and thank you for the prayers."

In an e-mail only hours before the attack, Urbik's son tried to assure his mother that his crew was safe and taking precautions.

"Don't worry too much. I am fine and we are being well monitored by the U.S. Navy, who is demanding we send them a report every six hours on our position and status," Thomas Ubrik's e-mail said. He added, "We in fact are going to be the second American ship to arrive into Mombasa after the Maersk Alabama. It should be interesting to say the least. ... We have had several drills to prepare ourselves to secure ourselves in the engine room. [W]e can do it pretty quick by now."

The company said the ship had dropped off food aid last week at a Sudanese port and the ship was going around the Horn of Africa to reach Kenya when it came under attack. However, the exact location of the attack remained unclear.

Earlier Tuesday, pirates off the coast of Somalia seized two freighters, proving they remain a force to contend with just days after the U.S. Navy dramatically rescued an American captain held by other pirates.

First, pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday hijacked the MV Irene EM, a 35,000-ton Greek-owned bulk carrier, according to a NATO spokesman and the European Union's Maritime Security Center.

The crew of the Greek carrier was thought to be unhurt and ships have been warned to stay clear of the area for fear of further attack, the Security Center said.

Later Tuesday, pirates on four skiffs seized the 5,000-ton MV Sea Horse, a Lebanese-owned and Togo-flagged vessel, said Cmdr. Chris Davies of NATO's Maritime Component Command Headquarters in Northwood, England.

Details about the ship and its crew weren't immediately available.

NATO has an ongoing anti-piracy mission off Somalia called Operation Allied Protector. The mission involves four ships covering more than a million square miles, Davies said.

A U.S.-led international naval task force, Combined Task Force-151, is also patrolling in the region.

Tuesday's hijackings came two days after sharpshooters from the U.S. Navy SEALs killed three pirates who had been holding Phillips hostage on the water for days.

Phillips had offered himself as a hostage when pirates attacked the Alabama on Wednesday, officials said. The ship had been on its way to deliver aid to Mombasa, Kenya.

A fourth pirate had been aboard Bainbridge when the shootings occurred and was taken into custody. Video Watch the tough tactics the Navy uses »

The incident follows four freighters being seized over the past two days by pirates off the Somalian coast, proving they remain a force to contend with.

Pirates on Monday hijacked two Egyptian fishing boats carrying a total of between 18 and 24 people, the Egyptian Information Ministry told CNN.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry is working to end the hijacking, the ministry said.

Egyptian boats are known to use Somali waters illegally for fishing, taking advantage of the lawless state of the country and the lack of enforcement of its maritime boundaries.

Those who have tracked pirate activity in Somalia say it started in the 1980s, when the pirates claimed they were trying to stop the rampant illegal fishing and dumping that continues to this day off the Somali coast.

Piracy accelerated after the fall of the Somali government in the early 1990s and began to flourish after shipping companies started paying ransoms. Those payments started out being in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.

Some experts say companies are simply making the problem worse by paying the pirates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is the second CNN report regarding how the hijacking ended:

(CNN) -- In the end, it was a single moment that brought the hostage crisis to its dramatic finish.

Three gunshots. All three fatal. Fired in the dark by three specially trained U.S. Navy SEALs as the pirates' boat rocked in the water off Somalia.

"Phenomenal shots -- 75 feet away," said Navy Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, who oversees the region.

A senior defense official said each was a shot to the head.

Gortney, in an interview Monday with CNN's "American Morning," described critical steps that led to the rescue of U.S. Capt. Richard Phillips, who was taken by pirates after they boarded his merchant ship, the Maersk Alabama, east of Somalia on Wednesday.

Four pirates had been holding Phillips in a small lifeboat, which had run out of fuel. "One of their pirates had left the lifeboat, needed medical attention and jumped onto one of our inflatable boats," Gortney said.

Gortney told CNN's Barbara Starr that the USS Bainbridge rammed the lifeboat Saturday to keep it from trying to return to the Somalian shore about 20 miles away.

"At one point, actually, the two vessels collided" as the captain of the Bainbridge tried to hold off the lifeboat, Gortney said.

Gortney, in the "American Morning" interview, said one of the pirates needed medical attention and "jumped onto one of our inflatable boats."

The pirate's need for medical help was a credit to the Maersk's crew. When the pirates boarded their vessel, a tussle ensued, during which one of the crewmen stabbed the pirate in the hand. Four days later, the pirate's departure from the lifeboat to accept U.S. medical help -- and try to negotiate the captive's release -- left only three for the U.S. snipers to keep their eyes on.

The three were tired, Gortney said. "The sea state was picking up. They agreed for us to tow them into little better waters as the ship was bouncing around. It was very tense."

The on-scene U.S. commander of the Bainbridge, which had come to try to negotiate the captain's release, could see the three remaining pirates "were very, very intense. One of them held his AK-47 in the back of the captain. We were always concerned about the imminent danger to the captain."

The pirates had repeatedly threatened to kill Phillips, Gortney said.

A Navy SEAL team had parachuted in and taken up positions on the Bainbridge's back deck.

The military had orders from President Obama authorizing lethal force if there was imminent danger.

"At one point, as uncomfortable as the pirates were, they exposed themselves where there was an opportunity," Gortney said.

He gave details of that "exposure" at a news conference Sunday. He said two of the pirates had their heads and shoulders exposed, while the third was visible in the boat's pilot house, through a window.

"The on-scene commander saw that one of the pirates still held that AK-47, was very, very concerned for the captain's life -- and he ordered the shots to be taken," Gortney said Monday.

Even with the small boat "moving up and down a couple of feet," the SEALs hit their targets. "Remarkable marksmanship," Gortney said.

The moment came at 7:19 p.m. (12:19 p.m. ET) Sunday -- after sundown, military officials say.

In the minutes after, a special operations team shimmied along the tow rope to the lifeboat, confirmed that three pirates had been killed and took Phillips back to the Navy ships that had gathered nearby.

The fourth pirate was taken into custody.

"These guys [the SEALs] are very well trained, they have a lot of experience and there has to be a lot of communication between the shooters and the people making the decision that they all three had shots, that they could make their shots successfully," retired U.S. Navy SEAL Dick Couch said on "American Morning."

He added, "Credit that on-scene commander with making a timely decision."

Hijacking and its close "relative", kidnapping, hold certain dark places in my view of humanity. On the one hand, the hijackers were armed with very deadly AK47s and made it abundantly clear that they were going to control the situation with their use of deadly force and even to the point of killing a person to get what they wanted. That they were killed instantly is some kind of "gift" to them, considering what could have happened to them had the crew been able to overpower them and regain control of the ship, let alone what would have happened to them had they been given over to the families of those they or their fellow pirates had slain previously on other hijackings; they would not have died quickly, I would expect. Now, on the other side if this, you have the reality that none of the four hijackers was older than 19, so we're talking about kids-young adults. This whole scenario grieves me all the more. Not just because young lives were ended abruptly, but more so because those three SEALs and their superiors have to cope with taking the lives of these "kids", to which they had no real choice in the matter. As far as I am concerned, these "kids" weren't acting like kids at all, but were acting as they have been taught to act in order to get what they want, from whoever they wanted it from. I expect their *youth* ended quite some time ago, long before getting into a speedboat with an automatic rifle. This will sound harsh, I know, but I'm glad that each of the SEALS hit their marks in their only shot because that meant immediate death versus a possible critical wound that would have possibly have had them bleed out, slowly and very painfully and even more likely, killing the captain before they died themselves. The pirates had created this situation as well as its ending. Their actions became their convictions and their deaths were their own judgement, if that makes sense.

Make absolutely NO mistake; I am immensely proud of of our military and even especially our SEALs and these three SEAL snipers performed a task that no one wants to have to do, yet they train for it every day of every year of their service. The burden on our military is incredible and yet young people are always enlisting to serve, showing that they are willing to step into harms way to protect the rest of us, whether here on the US soil, foreign soil or out at sea.

I don't know if I will keep this post on the blog or not because my emotions are fueling my perspective on the matter, but I knew I needed to, at the least, write them out and see them in front of me. the question, come tomorrow, is whether or not I need my opinions on this to be public or not. I'll post it tonight and then decide tomorrow whether or not it will remain.

Peace at 11:33 PM-

Tuesday: Symptoms Shared

I've been thinking of what my symptoms look like to the person with me as well as what they are in terms of how I feel when it is happening, so here are some of my conclusions; it is a work in progress, you understand...:

• Feeling light-headed or confused
• Numbness or tingling in my hands, lips , fingers or hands
• Sharp shoulder pain, above the joint, in the heart of the shoulder muscle
• Heavy fatigue
• Chest pressure (not pain, necessarily, but chest wall pressure from the muscles around the ribs and upper body constricting
• Sweating all over; from top of the head to the feet
• Lack of physical independent stability
• Locking jaw
• Closed eyes
• Unable to move parts of the body or even the whole body
• Being rigid and locked up, muscles tight
• Being completely limp, like a rag doll
• Localized spasms to seizure-like spasms
• Unable to get up from a sitting or lying down position
• Unable to answer if spoken to
• Neck drops (where, all of a sudden, your head drops down, chin to chest, without your control in the moment)

Well, that’s all I can think of at the moment, but I’ve dealt with each of these and do deal with these at different points each week. We’ve minimized the number of attacks to some degree by changing my diet and always having liquid potassium with me wherever I am at any point in time. I also take an Ativan at the onset of spasm symptoms with chest pressure or pain, as well as some Percocet to get a jump-start on the soon following muscle pain.

I added this into a discussion board on Facebook and thought that it might be enlightening to some who read this blog from time to time.

btw: today's PT appt came and went without incident but I'm still definitely recovering from the previous hits; feeling physically beaten up and sore, along with tired and weak. Profuse sweating still occurs to me on a daily basis but after each episode of the sweats, I just have to wait and see if it's the "prelude" or just a small "anthem" in itself (like now...).

Keep on, keepin' on.