Update for 5/10/2011

Hi Everyone:

Things have gotten so busy at work here at the end of the term that I forgot all about the blog. I hope I didn't inconvenience anyone. I don't have much to report or anything particularly clever to share with you, but I'll give you a brief update, largely just to document things.

Although I still feel the disease in my shoulders and legs, the medicine is clearly still working. I have much greater functionality of my hands than earlier in the year before the medication. This is good because it facilitates the typing I need to do when I can't get things done just with the speech recognition software. Physically, I feel like I can get done what I need to get done, and things are going pretty well.

Where I get frustrated is with the perceptions I have in my head. When these are mostly inactive, I really feel pretty good. Mornings, after a good sleep, are the best times, and the times I feel that most normal. Right now as I write this, I'm pretty comfortable at my workstation at work. Later in the day, however, the symptoms seem to always return. I feel a little dizzy, there is what feels like sinus pressure right behind my nose, pressure in my ears (this feels like I'm on a plane or cruising the mountains), and pressure or even a soreness in my jaw (as if I have hyper-extended it or I've just been talking too much). To top off this little cocktail, I sometimes feel a bit fuzzy on top of my head, like sometimes when I have the flu. Any combination of these symptoms is pretty distracting and bothersome. When I get these in the evening I just want to get in the hot tub for 20 min., do my Qigong, and go to bed. So the cycle begins.

That's all I have to report for today. Sorry I couldn't be a little bit more interesting and fun. Before closing, though, I should point out that Sunday, on Mother's Day, Sandy took me to a Royals game. It brought back old memories. We used to go to 20 games a year, and we dragged the kids along with this (well, Marshall can willingly; Alyssa, we dragged). Sandy did some of her best mothering keeping Alyssa occupied while at least a little bit keeping her own head on the game. She was one hell of a sport, I'll tell you that, and it was really special thinking about those old times at the ballpark.

I promise not to be so late next week. Until next time.

Marc