A Quick Update

Daughter Janna, told me I had to do an update because I have been lax in my duties.

First, I am doing pretty well. The BPV seems to be under control, however the CRIS has kicked up a bit lately. Regarding the BPV, we did the exercises over again, changed my pillow this seems to have worked.

My only problem recently has been a buggered left shoulder. I did something on the weekend and have been paying the price ever since. I was trying to be a gentleman stretching to open the gate on the deck for Merete. Teach me to try and be a gentleman. What was I thinking!


This heat wave has been wiping me out. I used to love the heat, working in the garden, building things and other recreational activities. Right now I can't handle it, my heart rate goes up and I hear the valve clicking away. Quite irritating. The best part today was I went to town and found something for my shoulder at the pharmacy. It's acetaminophen with a muscle relaxant, boy what a pain reliever. Fortunately right now I am just between doses, so I can type. This drug mellows you out and relaxes everything. I had been having some issues with nerve damage in my chest and the cracking of my ribs, this has relieved everything. What a change to be pain free, hopefully I will be able to do more of my exercises without hurting keeping in mind not to over do it as well.(that's for Janna)

"Sorry, I suffer from BPV."

I mentioned in a few postings about weird side effects, trying desperately not to sound too much like my Mother. I love my Mother but she has a genetic predisposition to focus on health issues that may or may not be totally real. After all she does have “fibre myalgia”. In my opinion a manufactured disease that doctors made up when they can't figure out what is wrong with a patient. This condition is usually diagnosed when the patient hasn’t been totally honest with the doctor and the doctor becomes stumped by the weird list of symptoms. Sort of like a bad episode of the TV series House. I have tried my best to suppress this genetic predisposition, not that I haven’t caught myself a few times getting carried away with self diagnosis.

I thought the dizzy spells I have been having since the surgery were caused by this blasted sinus infection. Not so, according to my GP, I suffer from BPV or Benign Positional Vertigo. Quel Surprisssse! According to the Internet, small particles of garbage have come loose in my head. They have lodged themselves in the area of my inner ear that controls my balance. This area looks a bit like a snail shell. The Epley Maneuver is a set on exercises that cure this condition in over 85% of the cases. I have yet to complete the Epley Maneuver, instead I have come up with a few ideas where BPV could come in handy as an excuse for questionable behaviour. Feel free to add to the list.

Perhaps you have had one or two too many glasses of wine. When you stand up you are unsteady with your movement and perhaps slurr a word or two. This could be caused by BPV. Perhaps you are driving and have been distracted by conversation and something shiny on the side of the road. The local constable has pulled you over for driving erratically, this too could be caused by BPV. You bump into someone suggestively that you find attractive, this could be a caused by BPV or Cranial Rectal Insertion Syndrome (another condition that I occasionally suffered from).

The Cranial Rectal Insertion Syndrome is something alas that I will suffer from until I leave this planet for a better place. I’ll let you know how the Epley Maneuver goes, hopefully it will correct my Benign Positional Vertigo.

http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/disorders/bppv/epley/first.html

Tandem Nightmare & Head Colds

Brother Jim arrived last Wednesday night. My head cold arrived Tuesday night. I finally figured out what was causing my dizzy spells.

Apparently my head is full of crap. (just keep your smart remarks to yourselves). Crap makes me crabby. We actually managed to have a pretty good visit and then on Saturday we drove Jim to the ferry so he could go visit Mom.

I learned a few things on Saturday. Number one, it is impossible for me to be a passenger in a car for more than 40 minutes at a time. Not only is it difficult in my 'tender' condition but my nerves take a beating like you wouldn't believe. The trip to the ferry is one and a half hours each way. So you just imagine the aching basket case I was by the time we got home. To compound this torture, Saanich was invaded by a group of American Tandem Bicyclists.

They were on every road we drove down, coming from every imaginable direction. Using bizarre hand signals that only meant something to them. Some even had small children strapped on the rear bumpers like some kind of trophy to indicate their breeding abilities. It was hideous, Tandem bikes everywhere, with Americans dressed in brightly coloured stretch biking outfits. To make it even worse we got trapped behind some maniac driving a tour bus, that was determined not screw up his schedule and reach Buchart Gardens by his designated time. He roared up behind the Americans, then passed them on hills and blind curves. Finally in Brentwood Bay he turned off, but by then the damage was done. I thought I was going to puke.

There was a glimmer of hope, we thought we had out run the brightly coloured Tandem Americans. But noooooo there were more. Finally I had to close my eyes each time Merete passed a Tandem, just to keep from screaming and puking. We got home safely but I was severely damaged and probably won't ride in the car past Sooke for the rest of the month.

The Sea of Weird Side Effects.

Well for all my friends and family worried about my eyes, the problem seems to have eased off a bit. I will be seeing the doctor about it though.

I am currently working my way through all the possible side effects you could ever want to encounter. You know when they put those disclaimers on medicine that start with, "May cause......." and end up with you thinking, Boy are they ever covering their butts.


That's sort of the land I'm stuck in right now, the Sea of Weird Side Effects. I don't want to sound to much like a hypochondriac but apparently my body has figured out it has gone through some sort severe trauma and it's trying to get the point across to my brain in any manner it can.

I am obviously getting better, because the two of them are talking. It started about a week and a half ago with a little nausea, along with constant back and arm pain on my right side. Then I got the light sensitive eyes, which has eased but has been followed by dizzy spells. It took me forever to figure out what was causing that. The source seems to be my neck, again I'll have to talk to the Doctor. I have been treating them with a longer rest period. So far so good. Lee and Joan's brother in-law gets dizzy spells that puts him in bed and there is nothing they (the doctors) can do about it. I can't stand mine, I can't imagine having to live with these all the time.

All we're going to do is slowly paddle through this weird stuff. It may take a few more weeks but I know I'll get to the shore normal (or as normal as I can get) and start to carry on with my life. In the meantime we'll keep paddling.

Weird Science & Road Trips

Big day yesterday, went on a road trip to Superstore and got to do my feeble old guy routine. I hung off the cart as we gathered mostly Dog food and some other provisions.

When I wasn't holding myself up by giving the cart handle a death grip, I kept wondering where Merete went to. It wasn't all that bad but the reality of shopping and dealing with people again was a bit of an eye opener.

But then I knew it would be, because I've preached this for a little while. You don't really recognise day to day stress on your system until you are aware of every beat of your heart.

Yes, I did feel like a little old man, gripping my cart handle and walking at half my normal speed so I wouldn't run out of steam and fall down. Even more so when we got to the car and Merete told my to get in and leave the bags of groceries alone. Fud.

Here's the weird science part, during the first week after the surgery I had a little episode driving home. Have you ever had those eye drops that dilate your pupils and make them feel like they're getting stretch marks from the bright light outside? That's what happened to me during the first week, it felt like my pupils were stuck on pitch black night mode. I thought I was going to pass out.

For the past few weeks I have been in and out of the house walking around the yard. However, I haven't been out for extended periods, mainly because of that stupid wind we've been having. Yesterday, I was out for some time and after a rest in the afternoon we went down to the shore to visit our friends Lee and Joan. After about an hour and a half I thought my head was going to explode. I thought I had some kind of sun stroke. It happened again within the last hour, we were sitting on the deck and after about half an hour it felt like my pupils were dilated, Merete checked and they were.

Now that's some kind of weird science. Is this a drug reaction or am I going to have only come out at night? I guess I have something else to ask the doctor about next week.

A Question of Balance

6:45 am, this just in, from the muscles in my back; 'Time to get up again and move around a bit'. The back spasms are getting better, but when I sit too long or lay in bed too long I get stiff and not in a good way.

I have been out walking around the yard and even cooked a full dinner last night. Unfortunately the Mango Curry Chicken ended up a little dry. Too much time away from the kitchen I suppose.

My strength has improved everyday this past week, there have been no set backs whatsoever. I thought there might be last night when I sneezed twice but I survived, it felt like somebody kicked me in the chest with steel toe boots. After about ten minutes everything settled back to what could be deemed normal.

We are going to have to get out next week. You really can't judge your progress properly unless you interact with the real world. Living on top of a mountain is great for a lot of reasons but it is not real compared to going into the town or city. On our mountain I can feel good and strong but I am only dealing with Merete and the two Cookie Leaches. Actually having to interact with people in real situations like grocery shopping, driving(which I'm not), listening to the din of a store or people in the store is whole different reality.

I still remember these experiences from my original heart episode. I believe I am strong enough tor try some bold experiments next week. We will have to strike a balance between the mountain and the outside world. This question of balance between mountain and town or city will determine my actual recovery level. It will start with the actual drive to town, so far I've been a pretty good patient and passenger but my jaw does get a little sore from clenching my teeth.

Sleep Deprived & Dogs

In the previous post I failed to mention my two pals. In an effort to get some sleep we have moved the dog bed to Merete's side of the room. The other thing we have done is kept Brando off the bed. The night before last when I still had sleeping pills Brando slept in the bed with us. His snoring problem bothered me so I suggested that he sleep in the dog bed with Molly. Merete wanted them out of the room completely, I thought that was too much. Guess who was right?

You got it, not me.

Brando sounded like somebody on a 90cc Honda Mountain bike or a pack of drunken Shriners on Mini Bikes. Finally at about 1am, I wined you're right and moved the pair to the living room, thinking this would solve the problem. When Brando wasn't snoring, the two of them would walk down the hall to bedroom and stare through the gate wondering what they had done wrong to get kicked out of the bedroom. They would stand there for a few minutes and then click their way across the laminate floor back to their beds.

Today, they are still wondering what went wrong and are stuck to me once again like two hairy leeches.