February 23rd.....5 days until the end of the month

So it's been another couple of months since I posted last... Seems that sometimes it gets harder and harder to keep up with this blog.... As much as I want to keep it updated, I always seem to push it to the back burner and it gets forgotten about. Since my last post....on December 10th....I have had some things happen to update... On January 1st I had the beginnings of one of my old "episodes" I call them "episodes" for lack of anything else to call them....I have no diagnosis on what's causing them (yet) and I just don't know what else to call them.. They start out with me being overly tired and then the diarrhea starts in... At first it's uncontrollable....which isn't the most fun thing in the world...It pretty much sucks.. Hobbling to the bathroom every hour.... Loss of appetite, feeling overall like hell... Typically in the past I would get to the 3rd or 4th day and the diarrhea would start to become controllable which wasn't as bad but still sucked... and then by the end of the week, things were getting back to normal...but by then I was so weak because of not eating... In the past when I would get these "episodes" I would get them once or twice a month and this went on for two years... I was at an appt. with my GI doc one day and was describing these to him and after an EGD and a colonoscopy it turned out that I had excess stomach acid probably brought on by the stress of TM. So doctor put me on Nexium which worked like a charm....I thought all my troubles were over...Between that time and September 2013 I had two small episodes which lasted about three days... No biggie I figured....and then this one that started on Jan 1st hit....The first week went by and nothing was clearing up... My appetite was still gone...Diarrhea was still there although it was now controllable... Second week came and went and all was still the same...Appetite was still gone...I was losing weight pretty bad now... Third week came and went and I was still having issues although it was getting slightly better...At this point I was terribly weak. The diarrhea was still there but not near as bad....I was thinking that things were going to clear up but it still lingered on for a few more days... I ended up back at my GI doc and by then the diarrhea had ended but my appetite was still out of whack... Taste buds were not right....Couldn't handle anything but a bland diet....By now I had lost near 30 lbs.. My doc had all sorts of lab work done to check my pancreas and some other things... Everything came back fine. So, now my doc is sending me back for some more labs....this time to check for zinc levels...He says that if Zinc levels are off they can mess with taste buds and appetite. So I have to set up appt. at the lab and get the blood work done. Otherwise, I am feeling better....appetite is still not right but all else is doing much better... I was really bummed with this last "episode" since it lasted over three weeks... I am not going to live like that....There is something going on that is triggering these things but we have to figure out what it is... Let's see....Another thing I had...was that I got a letter from Social Security saying that I had to have a 5 year review on my case to make sure I was still disabled and qualified to continue receiving benefits... They were going to gather all of medical records from my doctors on things that have occurred over the last 12 months.. That was the last thing I needed was for Social Security to end up denying my claim....As much as I would love to go back to work, there was no way in hell that I could do it...My days are so up and down that I have no idea from one day to the next how I'm going to feel... It depends on the weather, the barometric pressure, my stress level....and so many other things... So, I filled out their big old long questionnaire and sent it back in....and then kind of forgot about things.. Last week I wandered out and got the mail and in it was a letter from Social Security.. My heart sank... I came in the house and sat down on the couch and opened the envelope..... The first sentence reads "That after examining your medical records and your claim, your benefits will continue" I let out a huge sigh of relief.... Otherwise.....I've been fighting the cold weather...We've had an unusually cold winter and also lots more snow... It's been a real pain dealing with all of this... The cold weather just plays havoc with me... My legs ache so bad sometimes... I go to bed by 10pm because I'm so tired out because I am up between 1 and 3 AM.....I wake up because my legs start to ache so bad.. I have to get up, take a pain pill, go downstairs, make some coffee and sit down and while I'm sitting, I stretch my legs and then get up and walk them out some....and usually within an hour or so, the ache has subsided some... This is my routine, each and every morning... I try to catch a bit of a nap in the morning after I've been up for a couple of hours....Sometimes I get an extra hour of sleep....sometimes not. Either way, I am always so tired out.... Not fun at all.... Anyway, I'll close this for now....I don't know what else to get into right now.... I'll try to keep things updated best as I can....I've had this blog going now for nearly 6 years....It's time to keep this going now for good... For my music video....something a little unusual... We all probably remember the band The Yardbirds....and they had the hit For Your Love.. The tune was actually written by Graham Gouldman of the band 10CC who had the hit I'm Not In Love... Here's Graham's version of the tune.... ......Until Next Time......