E1114's Xanga

Guillain-Barre

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:58:56 GMT

Guillain-Barre Syndrome is an autoimmune disorder which attacks the myelin sheathing on nerves. The most notable effects include weakness that progresses from fingers and toes all the way inward to the body's core. The weakness is followed by paralysis as the myelin is further damaged and nerves disabled.

My best friend David's dad came down with GBS earlier this year. At first, it was misdiagnosed as tendonitis, which wouldn't be unusual in a 50-year-old man who's been working 11-hours per day, 6-days per week, for the last 30 or so years. The cure for tendonitis is rest & time. Time makes GBS worse. The hospital incorrectly diagnosed GBS, while commenting on how extraordinarily healthy Bob was otherwise. He responded to treatment (plasmapheresis = specialized blood-filtering), but suffered a bad relapse a few weeks later. (A few weeks ago) During the relapse, he worsened progressively, to the point where internal motor nerve damage made it difficult to breathe. Earlier this week, he made the trip to U of M hospital, where his diagnosis was altered. He had "Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy". The effects are the same, but the treatment (immunoglobulin IV) is different. Right now, he's on a cocktail of drugs which can slow/halt the problem until immunoglobulin can start.

Divine providence has also declared that Social Security and Medicaid will cover the bills for an otherwise uninsured jack-of-all-trades, and father of 6. In a year or two of monthly immunoglobulin treatments, Bob should make a 90%+ recovery, with full use of his extremities and some possible strength loss.

.edit.
The correct diagnosis was CIDP, which is similar to GBS, but treated differently. From what I understand, immunoglobulin is tailor-made for the patient, and rush-delivered so it can be administered in time to be useful. The treatments are also astoundingly expensive since they are custom-made.

.edit.
It looks like my David has the same condition, in less advanced form. Crap. Triple crap.

CPR

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:59:34 GMT

The CPR procedure is like the procedure to launch a nuclear weapon: learn well, review often, pray you never have to use it. This is CPR for my blog - it's been 2 months. The nuke may follow later.

What would I be like if I spoke significantly less? What would my thoughts become? How would I be different socially?

11/6/07

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 14:32:33 GMT

Demon Hunter's fourth record, Storm the Gates of Hell, comes out in November. I had no idea, Nate being gone and all.

crystallize

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:44:09 GMT

I had to make a tenative schedule today for the rest of my college classes, even those a year away. If I can get a class at GVSU or GRCC one semester while I'm here in GR, I only have three more semesters. If I can't, it's four semesters with a lighter load for the last 2. Either way, I pretty much know exactly what I'm taking, and when. This is the first time that's happened. Before now, I've only had to take four classes, and often those have been chosen for me by the prerequisites for other required classes. Finally, now, I'm seeing the light at the end, and all the railroad track in between - lots of it.

Now, if Kettering would just get back to me about my thesis project, I could get a jump start on that...

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:37:19 GMT

Nate called me last Thursday morning as I was getting to work. I left the phone alone - I didn't recognize the 1-999- number. Turns out it was Nate, calling direct from Iraq. He works the night shift (midnight to noon) as a guard at a prison camp (didn't say where), and he's asleep for the hottest parts of the day. He's also bored, because the prisoners eat, sleep, and pray - that's it. As far as I know, all Nate has to do is stand around with a rifle. I kinda feel sorry for him. Honestly, I'm also really happy - he may be bored out of his skull, but he's not getting shot at.

heads and tails

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:43:07 GMT

I thought I was ahead on all this...

Nate called Jimmy from Kuwait at 3:30 in the morning our time several days ago. Jimmy didn't pick up - because he wasn't in the room. He was, in fact, awake at the time. A few days later, Nate tried to call me from Iraq with the last three minutes on his phone card, but he dialed Jimmy again. (Probably because he doesn't remember my phone number.)

What we know so far: Nate is in Iraq. Nate has been promoted to PFC (Private First Class).

The only way that we can contact him until he gets a phone card is via email. I'm not posting his address, but I'll be happy to give it to you if you want it.

I head back from the Air Force. Finally. My recruiter calls me up at 7:30 one night - I'm at the library. I pick up anyway when I see the caller ID, and say hello. With no preamble, SGT Wilson's first words were, "You got it, man. You're in." I didn't stay on the phone any longer than I had to, because, after all, you're not supposed to be on the phone in the library. The next step is to go to the Lansing MEPS (3rd trip) to do paperwork and processing. I don't know when all this is going to happen - soon, I hope.

School starts in 5 1/2 weeks.

water what?

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:10:14 GMT

Our water pump sprang a leak last Friday, and it was finally fixed yesterday sometime. In the interim, we had no water pressure to speak of (until we hooked up a hose to the church next door). It's interesting how we don't think about something little like that, and I found it more interesting how fast I forgot.

The leak itself was next to the well pipe, four feet underground. The only night this week when I was home (Wednesday) was the night we had to get the leaky hose exposed. Dad had started digging a hole the other day, and we had to finish it so that the well could be repaired. It was mostly done when I saw it, because Dad had done most of the work. The end result was that I got in the hole (four feet deep, five feet long, and all wet clay muck), ended up planting my foot in the muck, and finished with both feet half buried and muck streaks up to my knees and elbows. At the end, I was digging with my hands because the shovels were too hard to handle and the storm was coming. We got the hole covered with tarps, I showered with the hose we ran from next door. Almost as soon as we all got inside, the rain started.

I felt like the swamp thing.

Now we have our water back.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:55:30 GMT

Evan Almighty is definitely worth seeing. I don't like Steve Carell, but Morgan Freeman as God is excellent. Overall, Bruce Almighty is better.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:52:17 GMT

Nate is home for a couple more days - he's nuts. He's all over the place, organizing Air Soft wars, Halo/movie nights, movies, bike park riding, mall, sorta-dates, air show, whatever. I guess he's trying to get his fun on before he ships. I would too. And I still haven't gotten him his birthday present, now 2 weeks late, because he doesn't want anything.

I'm getting my birthday present today. You will see it when you see me.

For those of you who don't know, I applied to what is basically a merit-based scholarship progam (TDSP) run by the Air Force. If you make the cut, they give you some financial help to finish college if you agree to go to officer school (OTS) and serve at least four years active duty after graduation. I started the application process in March. I finished the application in the beginning of June. I get to wait until early- to mid-August to find out what the verdict is. I've been told my chances are good, but I know zero about the competition. If I don't make it, I'm applying again.

Nate has been in the Army for almost a year. My cousin Casey is going through medical approval to enlist in the Air Force right now. Depending on what happens, we may be going in within weeks of each other. He scored well enough on the ASVAB that he might end up working with or for NASA. I can tell people that my cousin is a genuine rocket scientist....

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:06:37 GMT

Nate flew in from Louisiana last night, a little early. It's nice having him back for a little while.

Grades come out tomorrow - I'm looking for an 85 for the term.

When I got my license renewed, I was just starting to look at the camera when it snapped. I saw the picture. I'm going to hide my license in my wallet and never take it out. In four years, I can get a new one...