I work at Nevis Labs, a 57-acre estate in Irvington NY, on the eastern shore of the Hudson River. Today I decided to take a walk. It was the longest walk I'd taken since this whole medical drama began. I had no trouble, no shortness of breath, no pain in my legs. In late September, I have…
Today I went to a party at the home of Emily and Tim. They were celebrating the second birthday of their daughter. It was not really a birthday party, as much as it was an excuse for folks to hang out and have a BBQ. At first I told them that maybe I'd come. Then I changed…
I don't like to write these medical status updates without something positive to include. I see far too many LJ posts from people on my friends list who post nothing but the unrelenting misery of their lives, with no hope. So I always try to find that element of hope to counter-balance and overcome the difficultly. I…
I drove today! OK, it wasn't the first time in the past two months. I've driven to the local drug store when there was no one else around to take me. But that's a trip of less than five minutes. This was a fifteen-minute trip to my cardiologist. My father was in the car with me. The…
I visited the eye doctor today. He told me my intraocular pressure was 21. This is good news. It means that I haven't had any episodes of high pressure in my left eye for at least two weeks, the longest stretch since I had the vitrectomy. It's a strong indication that my eye is healing. It's also…
The past two days have been very hard. I was at my lowest ebb physical and spiritually. The pain from eye was constant. I learned the heard way that I've become physically addicted to the painkillers. Almost all my friends were busy this weekend, at festivals or trips or whatever. I thought I had no one to…
It can be risky to write a post like this. You feel as though you're jinxing yourself. I'll say it anyway: I feel like I've turned a corner in my health issues. My eye hurts less. My excess white cell count is dropping. My blood sugar is under better control now that I understand that sucralose (Splenda)…
Today a group of friends came over to play some games. We played Cards Against Humanity (twice!) and Settlers of Catan. It was the first time I played either one of those games. I enjoyed myself, though I won neither game. Good company, good games, good times. It was a healing experience. Once again, I thank all…
I just came back from my primary care physician. He prescribed tramadol. I took some 30 minutes ago; no pain reduction yet, but I'm still hoping. I've also lost 30 pounds in the past two months. I don't know if this is stress, the result of taking two diuretics (one for high blood pressure, one for intraocular…