Well, Hello World.......

My last post was July 5th...and today is August 17th....what a long strange trip it's been since my last post....no, not really.
I've just decided to scale back my postings....for a couple of reasons...first, I got tired of my bitch sessions...complain, complain, complain...Seems that TM can make you complain alot about many things... That creates a very negative feeling and I didn't like it so much.
Second, I've been puttering around with my wood carvings and cane making...not that it has been taking up a ton of my time, it's just that it is a bit more constructive, helps relieve some stress and allows me a chance to escape from the day to day drama of this house.

Here is my latest cane.....



I'm going to make a few more canes and then start posting them on a couple of craft websites and see if I get any hits on them so that maybe I can sell a few....keep your fingers crossed..!

Otherwise, as far as me and my TM....pretty much at an even keel now...I've grown accustomed to the pain and the achy legs. Although there are days that the pain is considerably higher than others and I do have to resort to my pain meds.
What I mean by the pain...just to give you an idea....is that it radiates from my tailbone...and it is a burning/fiery pain that goes down through my butt and down the tops of the backs of my legs where it feels like my skin is being ripped open. That is nerve pain. It's a really weird feeling/sensation to have all the time.
I also have one muscle in my left glute that runs down to about halfway to my knee that is almost always in a constant state of spasm. Usually, more so first thing in the morning and late at night.
The humidity of the summer is playing hell with me...I can tell the slightest change in humidity in my legs...the more humidity, the more achy my legs are...weird, huh..?
Also, with the heat/humidity...fatigue is really bad. I sweat like a fool and I wear out in a matter of minutes.

Lately I've had pretty good luck (knock on wood) with the migraines....I've not had any of the real bad ones at all. Just a very low grade headache that ran from August 10 - 13 but it didn't affect anything that I did. Hopefully, this new medication the doc has me on is doing the trick....

Well....I guess that's about it for now....I'll close with this and maybe write a bit more soon....
With us being in the middle of August....and the weather being hot...it makes me thing of an old album by a great artist...the album...Hot August Nights...Neil Diamond
Off of that album there was a song that I love to this day.....so....with that..here we are.


Till Next Time......

5th of July

No particular reason I'm updating today...I guess I just felt like it.
Nothing has really been happening as far as the TM goes...the biggest thing since my last post was yesterday, it must have been the weather.....the temp was about 75 but we had 98% humidity...and it was killing me...I was sweating bullets doing nothing. My wife was saying she was kind of cool and here I was, miserable from sweating. If this is any indication of what the summer come August is going to be like....arrggghhh....just shoot me now.
Today is better...it's nice and cool outside and the humidity is back down some...thank goodness.

It seems that overall things have been going a bit better for me as far as being able to get around.. This past Friday my wife and I went to what is called "First Friday" http://cantonfirstfriday.com/default.aspx where on the first Friday of each month the city closes off a few streets downtown and there are street musicians and artists and food booths and bands and so on. There is quite a bit of walking involved and I did pretty well. Only once did we have to stop to let me sit for awhile. We found a picnic table and relaxed and grabbed something to eat and drink and I was re energized and off we went again.

Lately I've been trying to dedicate a bit more time to my carvings...I recently just finished my first cane to sell. ..picture...-->>


I also had posted some pictures of my carvings on one of the email TM lists that I belong to and I got a note back from one of my TM cohorts. She is a renowned artist, writer and poet and musician based in New York City. When I say that she is a renowned artist...she is known around the world and I was looking at some of the work she has done and it is incredible. Well, the note I received from her, she said that my carvings are powerful and handsome and she wants me to send her more pictures of my carvings as I complete them....how cool is that..???
I guess I really need to work on my carvings and really get better at it...this could turn out to be a pretty cool thing.

Well, not sure what else to write about...I suppose it's time to get a few things done around the house...I need to get some weeding done outside and and work on my latest wood spirit carving. Since it's supposed to be nice outside today I'll be sitting at the picnic table on the back deck. It is so nice to sit out there while I'm carving...

So, I guess I'm done for now...I'll update again soon....and until then...a musical selection.
How about a little Mungo Jerry...In the Summertime. I know we're not that far into summer yet...but what the hell...I like this song...it was always one of my faves as an early teenager and it's a catchy little song...
enjoy..!!


Till Next Time......

Just about

a week shy of a month since my last post....Hmmmmmmm....what'sa been happenin'..?

Well, had another friggen migraine episode...laid out for 5 days before I could function normally again....dammmit I'm getting to really hate these things. Next doctor appt. he and I are going to have a comin to Jesus face to face because this is nuts. ............Okay...so, that's that with those...

Back on the 10th of June I had an amazing surprise visit from my youngest son that lives in Tennessee. He called me the night before at 10:30pm and said he and a friend were 4 hours away in Cincinnati at an amusement park and were driving up the next morning. I was ecstatic....I hadn't seen him in a number of years and, well, let's suffice to say that this was a wonderful reuniting.

This past Friday my wife and I went out to dinner with two other couples. This was our Canton Ohio TM group. This was Lora that got hit with TM in July 2008 and her husband and then also Lizzie's boss and his wife Nancy who is also a TM'r. She has had it since 2006. This is really bizarre because we all live in Stark County Ohio which encompasses a fairly large area and even more specifically, Nancy and I live in Canton and Lora lives in East Canton which is 15 minutes away. Stark county has a population of about 400,000 and Canton and the surrounding area is about 300,000 of that. So there are the statistics of about 3 to 5 per million that get TM where here we have 3 per 300,000 that have it. What's up with that...? We all even had the same Neurologist and the same physical therapists in the hospital. Anyway, we had a great dinner and it was wonderful to talk with them. Hopefully this was the beginning of many more little get togethers with them and possibly getting in touch with at least three other TMr's that I know of that live here in N.E. Ohio. That would be nice.

...K...this weekend was the weekend for the Canton Blues Festival. http://www.cantonbluesfest.com/
This happens every year and they get some pretty good name blues bands to come in on Friday and Saturday. This year...Friday was Johhny Winter and Saturday was Taj Mahal. Well, after dinner was over Friday it was too late for my wife and I to head downtown so we made plans to go Saturday. This is an all day event but I knew I couldn't make the whole day so we wanted to go at least to see Taj. We got there about 6:00pm and watched the band before Taj....and then he came on stage at 8:30pm. Now, to say the least...he was amazing...and the evening was soooo wonderful, the weather was picture perfect to even just a tiny bit cool after the sun went down. A slight breeze was up and the crowd was incredible. We had taken fold up camping chairs to use and it was pretty comfortable but with the pain I have and the legs cramping I had to shuffle my butt around quite a bit. Now, when we got up at the end of the night..and that was about 10:15pm the legs were shot. I had to have my wife hold me up for a couple of minutes to get my stability back. i had doubts also about how the legs were gonna feel this morning too...but to my pleasant surprise...they are not too bad. A bit tired but not bad. That's a good thing.

So, we had two wonderful days in a row...and I'm kind of getting a good feel for what kind of activities and the level of activity that is going to affect my legs. This is good info to know.

Getting ready for a nice cookout today for Fathers Day...

Music to complete my post for today....why not something that Taj did last night....and boy, dummy me...I didn't even take my camera to the show...I coulda got some great pictures....oh well.



Till Next Time......