Wow....I've never gone this long without posting

Well....I last posted back in August....and today is the 3rd of November.... I guess for two reasons that I have not posted....one, is that I have had a bit of blog burnout...and two, I have been busy with my TM advocacy. So, let's back up to August/September time frame....I'm trying to remember what has happened during that time.. and honestly, I'm not sure I specifically recall exactly what has happened...but I'll paraphrase a bit to cover some of the major stuff....

As far as my TM and my TM issues.... I guess the biggest things are that I have been having some real hard times sleeping... It's not getting to sleep that is hard..I can drop off to sleep at a moments notice.... It's staying asleep that is the problem. I have been waking up anywhere from 2:30am to 4:30am, consistently for quite awhile. It's my legs that wake me up...they ache, they're stiff, they hurt....and I wake up.
The first half hour I'm awake, I can barely walk...I usually take a pain pill as soon as I get up, and between that, and getting in a little movement, my legs loosen up some.. I've been trying to get outside and take my dog for a short walk when I wake up in the morning.....I'll get up, let the cats out, get a cup of coffee and then go outside with my dog and we will go for a short walk up and down the road... Some mornings that helps loosen the legs up, other times, it just makes them worse.. but my dog looks forward to it every morning (unless it's raining), and I kind of look forward to it also.....I mean really, at 3:00 in the morning, there is no one up....no traffic, nothing.. So we can just wander around at a nice leisurely pace and I can drink my coffee.... We can spend a good 15 - 20 minutes walking around...and then I'm about done for...so we head back into the house, so I can sit down for awhile.
Lately though, of course the weather is a bit colder and I have noticed that I am not able to make the walk as easily as before...my legs have been getting stiff with the colder temps.... So, we'll see what the rest of the winter brings....

Anyway, regarding pain pills....my pain doc had changed me over to Oxycontin from MS Contin because I had told him that I didn't think the MS Contin was doing that much anymore....I had been on it for a couple of years...and I think my body had really grown accustomed to it. So, my doc changed me over to the Oxy....and I really didn't like it to begin with..I was afraid partially, because of all the horror stories of people becoming addicted to it and also, I didn't feel that it was doing as much for me as I thought it should....but I stuck it out for 3 months or so.... I just went in for a follow up with my pain doc a couple of days ago....and we discussed this....and I am now back on MS Contin..and so far, I am actually feeling that maybe it is working a bit better...so maybe that break that I took from it, cleaned my system out and now I can start fresh again...
My doc also started me on another med...which I can't remember the name of right now...but it is typically prescribed for heart conditions, but one of the side benefits, is that is also works on burning type pain, which is of course, what I have. So...I will give this a 3 month trial and see what happens....if it's going to work...this is the time of year that I really need it to do something...I remember last winter...and that sucked. The cold just isn't TM friendly at all....

Okay...what else..? Let's see......Hmmmmmm Oh yeah....At the beginning of last year, I started on a little project of putting together a book. I finished it and got it submitted to a publisher and got it published... It came out about a month or two ago....and I have had an initial success with it, within the TM community... What I did was to ask a bunch of my online TM friends; who wanted to participate in this project and what I was going to do was to put together a book of stories from a group of us....instead of doing a "me" book....which has already been done by a couple of other people... I had no interest in doing a book about "me"...I wanted to tell the story of TM from many different viewpoints...with people from all over the world.. So I ended up with stories from 20 people...from as far away as Germany, Australia and India.....and also the U.S. of course. It's available through Barnes & Noble as a paperback and also an ebook for their Nook e-reader... http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/transverse-myelitis-kevin-d-weilacher/1105835166?ean=9781462632961&itm=1&usri=transverse%2bmyelitis and it's also available through Amazon as an ebook for their Kindle e-reader... http://www.amazon.com/Transverse-Myelitis-Our-Stories-ebook/dp/B005UPGY3M/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1320346049&sr=8-10 and what I've decided to do, it to donate the proceeds of this book, to support TM research.

Otherwise.....I've been busy with my TM Facebook group....it's as active as ever and there is always something going on...questions to answer, information to post, so on and so on...... so unfortunately, my wood carvings have been suffering...I haven't gotten a carving done in 4 months....which is terrible. I have a piece chucked up in my vice right now, that I started on long ago...and it still sits there, just waiting for me to get back to it...to finish it...to make it a whole carving...to become a real wood spirit....and I will get it done. Soon I hope.

I had also been working hot and heavy on enlisting the help of people in various states around the U.S. to try and get a TM Awareness Day in that state...and back in August or September...( I really don't remember) we got Alabama passed.... I've had many other people in quite a few states attempt to do the same, but for one reason or another, the legislators just don't think we are serious, or that this is important enough for them to address.... but we keep trying... I even went to the extent, that I was going to push for National TM Awareness Day.....one single day that all the states could use to observe.... but I come to find out, that something like that has to go through Congress to get to the House to be voted on....and good old House Speaker John Boehner put a cabash on any kind of "appreciation..celebratory...recognition...type day" They would not even address it if I got it submitted....so, back we go, to working on state by state....

Anyway...I suppose I could go on and on with who knows what else...I could probably sit here and type more drivel but that is really kind of useless at this point...as, I just don't what else to talk about right now... I will not let this go on as long again, without posting something....but like I said, I kind of had blog burnout....and truthfully...I was kind of burnt out all around....I had expected my summer to be pretty good as far as the TM situation...but for some reason, it just wasn't a very good summer... I don't know if I'm getting soft in my older age and the pain is now bothering me more...or what's going on.. I've always had a very high tolerance for pain...and could grin and bear it on bad days...and even manage to keep a smile on my face.. but this summer just wasn't a very pleasurable one regarding the nerve pain. I am not looking forward to winter. but regardless.....I'll make it through..I always do. Somehow, Some way.

So...to finish off this post...as always...some music for your enjoyment... A tasty little blues tune.....The late, great Paul Kossoff (from the band "Free") doing a tune with that great blue eyed soulman....Frankie Miller. I Know Why The Sun Don't Shine..... Till Next Time......