Latest News for the Month of
March 2008
I wished I could say that March is starting out with a bang, but that would be a lie. Instead it started off with a big Thud. :) I was a bad boy for the last few weeks and didn't stay on top of my blood chemistry with frequent lab tests. It finally caught up with me last Sunday ( Feb 24th ). Ally and I rode our motorcycles to Sam's to pick up a few things and that's when things went downhill. I started getting the same symptoms I have had before when I suffered mini-strokes ( blurred vision, a little confusion, severe tunnel vision, dizzyness, etc. ). We checked out and sat at the food court inside Sam's waiting to see if the symptoms would pass, but they didn't. Ally gave me some aspirin right away to help dissolve the blood clot and I told Ally there is no way I could ride home and she basically told me " good, because I didn't plan on letting you on your motorcycle ". We started calling friends back at the resort and reached Linda. She just happened to be near Sam's so she came right over. We finally got a hold of Bruce who made a bee line to Sam's with his fiancé Sandy and he rode Mojo ( the bike ) home for me. Linda drove me home and Ally followed Bruce back to the resort.
Once back at the coach Ally went and got Jim our next door neighbor and retired Doctor. Jim came right over and examined me and had me take two more aspirin. I started feeling better later that evening but the next day got hit again with the same symptoms, but worse. So I injected a syringe full of Lovenox, a quick acting blood thinner used to combat the forming of blood clots. That started working right away and I felt better. My lab tests came back from the previous Thursday ( this Doctors office and lab here in Florida is worthless ). The tests showed my blood clotting factor was way off and my blood was super thick. To top things off the Doctors office screwed up and never ran the CBC test. To add insult to injury, the Doctor called me and said " Hey buddy, your good to go, your INR was 2.1 ". I explained to him that it was way off and way to thick and the target set for me by Dr. Brockmyre was a minimum of 3.0. Actually I feel better at 4.0.
This entire episode made me miss Dr. Brockmyre terribly as he would have never let this happen. The minute he seen my INR was that low he would have been on the phone to me. As I said before, the Doctors down here are horrible, scatter brained and derelict in their practices ( except for sending out huge bills ). I also miss the lab girls back at Dr. Brockmyres office. They process everything right away and have the results in my hand before I walk out the door. Live and learn. I am still battling my INR at the moment and hopefully will learn today what my latest lab results are.
In other news, Ally passed three of her 5 State teacher certification exams. They give the tests in segments so she will take the remaining 2 this weekend in St. Petersburg. I know she will be glad to get them all done and behind her. I have no doubts she will pass them with flying colors.
In other news, Jim and Mary ( our next door neighbors ) gave us a certificate they had from an RV show which gives us 4 days and 3 nights of free camping at one of Florida's top RV resorts. Its located in Port St. Lucie and we cannot wait to get over to the Atlantic side for some serious R & R on the beach.
I did want to mention that I finally released my new motorsports marketing program to the public called - The Race For Sponsorship. Sales were very brisk the first few days but have slacked off a little since. Still I am happy as I have not advertised or done any press releases yet. You can read more about the program by clicking here. I have another CD in the works and hope to release that this fall.
Happy St Patty's Day
I thought I would give you all a quick update as to how things are going in the land of sun and fun.
Besides a few days of rain, the weather has been great, nice temperatures and pleasant for the most part. We are starting to get into the air conditioning season and have been running it sporadically when it gets hot. Overall, its been real nice though and I have enjoyed the weather.
After my episode at Sam's a few weeks ago, I have stayed off the bike till I felt more stable. I took this time to tear the bike down and do some much needed maintenance on it and finally finished it and got it back together. It took me a while as I do not have the energy to stay on task for long periods of time. But I got it done and everything came out right. I did finally have a few days where I felt good and got a short ride in and I must admit, it felt great being back in the saddle again.
I started the dreaded chemo injections again and that has really kicked my butt as of late. I wont bore you with the chemo blues as most of you know its not a fun or pleasant experience. I nearly forgot just how much I hate that crap. :) But it's just one of those things one has to go through so I get on with the program. Overall, health wise I felt it was time to start it again as my bone marrow was really rev'ed up and spitting out huge amounts of red cells. Hopefully this new round of Interferon will slow things down and get my bone marrow back into remission. Because of the high hemoglobin levels, Ally did a phlebotomy on me and it went perfect. To Perfect in fact. :) She nailed the shunt ( artery ) in my wrist the first time but we ran into a problem right away. We used the big horse needle this time around and the blood just poured off me, actually so fast I started getting faint and my heart went nuts with arrhythmias. We pinched the tube off and slowed the blood flow down and my body seemed to settle out. Still, it was a very fast phlebotomy. Next time we will know better and pinch it off at the start and go back to a smaller diameter needle. :) I can see now why the surgeon told me if I ever cut my arm in that area I better dial 911 real fast. It would take just a few minutes to completely bleed out. We seen on a medical show where a guy tore his shunt open and he bled to death while calling 911. It took a matter of a few minutes. So I try and protect that area as much as possible because it is so close to the surface of the skin.
Ally is counting the days down this week before she starts her Easter vacation. We wanted to head to Lindy's for Easter and top spend time with Ella on her birthday, but the fuel costs would have killed us. I figured it would have been about $ 1,200 just in fuel. So we are staying in Florida and doing a short trip here. We are getting all set to leave this weekend to Port St. Lucie and I am really looking forward to getting away and relaxing. I also am looking forward to seeing the beaches and the Atlantic. Jim and Mary, our next door neighbors are over at the same resort we are going to and will be back this week. So I am hoping they can provide us with some direction as to where to go to eat as well as some sites to see.
I will try and get some photos taken and will post them once I get back. Until then I hope this finds all of you in great health and spirits. Remember, life is a gift, so get your backside out there and enjoy it. Smile, laugh and live today like its your last.
Sending my very best to all of you,
Chris
Keep up to date on the latest photos ( by clicking here )