My Life with Multiple Sclerosis 103122

Hellooooooooooooooo, Possuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuums!

Coming to you from the Celebrity Suites of the Wyndemere Condominiums on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas. Today is Monday, October 31. It’s going to be a mostly sunny day again today with a high of 74 degrees.

Happy Birthday to:

Lynn Rose Townsend

Good Morning, Possums. Happy Monday and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The Christmas holiday begins tomorrow - LOL. Just Kidding! It’s the scariest day of the year (besides April 15). Office parties, teachers and kids wear costumes to school, trick-or-treating this evening and maybe a scary movie or two will be watched.

I am not in costume (while I work from home), well, unless you count me in my wheelchair as a costume - Professor X, Ironside - not my intent, but if it helps celebrate the day today, sure, why not?

It was a good weekend. My friend, Carol Margo Stanners,helped me out helped me run a few errands - flu shot, prescriptions, groceries. Yesterday was church and the I spent some time with my besties getting ready for our fundraiser next Sunday.

My flu shot is taking it’s toll on me. My legs are nearly unbendable and they hurt. They have never hurt like this before so I can only image in it a side effect from the flu shot. Chemo is also taking its toll on my eyes. My vision is somewhat blurry so reading / typing takes a little extra time.

I need to continue on with my day. I hope you all have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! What are your plans today?

Anyhoozle, I wish you and everyone around you a SPECTACULAR day. Do everything today with kindness in your heart. The world is full of kind people. If you can’t find one, be one! Peace, Love and Blessings to you all. -AJ

#strengthpatiencepeacefaith

#hopelovejoygrace

#AndyStrong

My Life with Multiple Sclerosis 102922

Hellooooooooooooooo, Possuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuums!  

Coming to you from the Celebrity Suites of the Wyndemere Condominiums on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas.  Today is Saturday, October 29.  It’s going to be a gloomy, rainy day again today with a high of 61 degrees. 

No birthdays only calendar today.

Good Morning, Possums.  Happy Saturday and Happy weekend.  

It’s gloomy, cold and rainy - a great day to stay inside under a warm blanket, throw something in the crockpot and binge-watch something.  I plan on doing that later, but first I have a church finance committee meeting, then I am getting my flu shot and running a few other errands.

PLEX yesterday afternoon did not go as planned.  I had the procedure and I have fresh, clean plasma running through my veins, but my body wanted nothing to do with it. 

First, the return line (where the clean blood/p[plasma is returned) kept popping out.   Finally, after three attempts (painful stabs into my arm) it decided to hold. and Second, my port (the draw line where the blood is sucked out of me) did not want to let any blood out.  The needle went in (twice - painfully) before they finally decided to do an ATP.

ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is a procedure used to clean a blocked area.  It’s a normal procedure but it adds about an hour or so to my plasma exchange.  The ATP worked an I was able to begin (and complete) my plasma exchange. I should not have to do it again - for a while I hope.  It’s just one of this things.

My arm looks like a pin cushion.  LOL

Another joy / blessing bestowed on me by MS!

I need to get my day started.  What are your plans today?

Anyhoozle, I wish you and everyone around you a SPECTACULAR  day.  Do everything today with kindness in your heart.  The world is full of kind people.  If you can’t find one, be one!  Peace, Love and Blessings to you all.  -AJ

#strengthpatiencepeacefaith

#hopelovejoygrace

#AndyStrong 

My Life with Multiple Sclerosis102822

Hellooooooooooooooo, Possuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuums!

Coming to you from the Celebrity Suites of the Wyndemere Condominiums on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas. Today is Friday, October 28. It’s going to be a gloomy, rainy day today with a high of 55 degrees.

Happy Birthday to:

Adam Medrano

Helen Boyd

Mark Rees

Mary McClaud

Melissa Ward Hunter

Ron Sluder

Good Morning, Possums. Happy Friday, Happy FriYAY and TGIF. It’s the weekend and it couldn’t get here fast enough.

There all kinds of Halloween parties and celebrations going on everywhere this weekend but I am staying put, for the most part.

MS is being a pain in my ass this morning. My legs are unbendable and my neuropathy has come back. I’m not sure if it is the disagreeable cooler weather (which MS hates) or maybe it’s time for PLEX (which I have at 1pm) or I need another round of chemo (in two weeks). I get botox in my legs right after chemotherapy - the same day.

Tomorrow morning, I am going to get my flu shot. The news this morning made it sound like it’s going to be a bad flu season. My friend, Carol Margo Stanners, is a dream and is taking me around to get my shot and run a few errands.

I think I have found my personal assistant. I have it narrowed down to two people. They both have experience in this area, one of them has a mother with MS, but they are both good candidates. I just need to figure out (with them) when I need them to do what - days and times and whatnot.

OK, time to get to work! Lots to do, so I better get crack’in.

Anyhoozle, I wish you and everyone around you a SPECTACULAR day. Do everything today with kindness in your heart. The world is full of kind people. If you can’t find one, be one! Peace, Love and Blessings to you all. -AJ

#strengthpatiencepeacefaith

#hopelovejoygrace

#AndyStrong 

My Life with Multiple Sclerosis 102722

Hellooooooooooooooo, Possuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuums!

Coming to you from the Celebrity Suites of the Wyndemere Condominiums on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas. Today is Thursday, October 27. It’s going to be a partly cloudy day in Dallas, Texas with a high of 73 degrees.

Happy Birthday to:

Brenda Cowley

Kenny Jones

Kerry Sumpter Smith

Good Morning, Possums. Happy Thursday and Happy Friday Eve. We are a day away from the weekend and a day away from lots of Halloween festivities and shenanigans. Tomorrow, the temperature is going to drop with a high in the 50’s and lots of much-needed rain.

Tomorrow, I have my bi-weekly PLEX. I cannot decided if it’s the cooler temperature affecting my legs or the fact that it’s been two weeks since I had my last PLEX. Regardless, my legs are as stiff as a board and do not want to cooperate very much.

Just one of the many joys and blessings MS provides me year ‘round.

I am already looking forward to going home for the Christmas holiday, but I have to get through two more rounds of chemotherapy and one more MRI. If it calms the MS fire on my spinal cord so that I may relax and enjoy my time at home, I am all in!

OK, time to get to work! Lots to do, so I better get crack’in.

Anyhoozle, I wish you and everyone around you a SPECTACULAR day. Do everything today with kindness in your heart. The world is full of kind people. If you can’t find one, be one! Peace, Love and Blessings to you all. -AJ

#strengthpatiencepeacefaith

#hopelovejoygrace

#AndyStrong

My Life with Multiple Sclerosis 102622

Hellooooooooooooooo, Possuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuums!

Coming to you from the Celebrity Suites of the Wyndemere Condominiums on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas. Today is Wednesday, October 26. It’s going to be a sunny day in Dallas, Texas with a high of 72 degrees.

Happy Birthday to:

Eric W. Trekell

Michael Pascuzzi

Good Morning, Possums. Happy Wednesday and Happy Hump Day. We made it half way through the week. While I do not want to wish time away I don’t think this week can be over fast enough. It feels like (to me) the days are just creeping by.

Maybe it’s the fall weather. We are actually having fall weather in Dallas this year. Cooler temperatures and shorter, well-lit days; I can look out of my office window and actually see brown leaves. I guess change, even in the weather and / or the seasons is just one more change we have to adjust to. Good or bad, inevitable as it is, it is going to happen whether we it want to or not.

So we adapt, which is more difficult for some than it is for others. It also depends on the type of change we are adapting to. My adapting to fall in Dallas has changed from pulling out my long-sleeve shirts and finding my light jackets to stretching and bending my legs every hour to get them to move and bend better. It is a lot more difficult in cold weather.

I caught myself thinking of next spring and summer - wishing it would hurry and get here. But that would mean rushing past Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, time off of work and fun times with my family and friends - here and back home. And regardless of the changes going on now, good or bad, I’m in no hurry to rush through that.

OK, time to get to work! Lots to do, so I better get crack’in.

Anyhoozle, I wish you and everyone around you a SPECTACULAR day. Do everything today with kindness in your heart. The world is full of kind people. If you can’t find one, be one! Peace, Love and Blessings to you all. -AJ

#strengthpatiencepeacefaith

#hopelovejoygrace

#AndyStrong

My Life with Multiple Sclerosis 102522

Hellooooooooooooooo, Possuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuums!

Coming to you from the Celebrity Suites of the Wyndemere Condominiums on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas. Today is Tuesday, October 25. It’s going to be a sunny day in Dallas, Texas with a high of 68 degrees.

Happy Birthday to:

John Terrell

John Paul

Keith Anderson

Murry Howle

Good Morning, Possums. Happy Tuesday. Less than a week left in October. We are getting down to some serious holiday realness. I wonder how many people have put up their Christmas trees and how many will put them up this weekend or right after Halloween?

I haven’t even seen, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” Does Apple still own and monopolize all that? They did at one time.

I am moving around pretty OK. Still a little sore here and there from the events of Friday night / Saturday morning, but that is OK. I have no medical appointments next week, but the week after, all the madness begins with appointments and lab work and all that biznatch. It is what it is.

OK, time to get to work! Lots to do so I better get crack’in.

Anyhoozle, I wish you and everyone around you a SPECTACULAR day. Do everything today with kindness in your heart. The world is full of kind people. If you can’t find one, be one! Peace, Love and Blessings to you all. -AJ

#strengthpatiencepeacefaith

#hopelovejoygrace

#AndyStrong

My Life with Multiple Sclerosis 102422

Hellooooooooooooooo, Possuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuums!

Coming to you from the Celebrity Suites of the Wyndemere Condominiums on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas. Today is Monday, October 24. It’s going to be a rainy day in Dallas, Texas; thunderstorms and winds with a high of 70 degrees. A perfect day to lie on the couch and watch movies all day…but it’s Monday!

Happy Birthday to:

Sarah Berry

Good Morning, Possums. Happy Monday. Time to kick off another work week/ October is almost over and done. Time to get serious about getting home for the holidays. I need to lock down my December chemotherapy and then I should be OK to make my travel plans.

I was able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather yesterday and hang out with my friends. They take such good care of me when we are out and about.

The Halloween Block Party is this weekend. I have no intentions of going and attempting to navigate that in a wheelchair. There are usually three or four thousand people there. People from all over Dallas come with their families for the costume parade, outdoor beverages and the costumes people design, create and come up with.

This year it’s back in full force so there may be even more people attending. I think I will just plan ahead and throw something in the crockpot Saturday afternoon and plan on a movie night. I am planning to get my flu shot Saturday anyway and I have no idea what that will do to me.

OK, time to get to work! Lots to do so I better get crack’in.

Anyhoozle, I wish you and everyone around you a SPECTACULAR day. Do everything today with kindness in your heart. The world is full of kind people. If you can’t find one, be one! Peace, Love and Blessings to you all. -AJ

#strengthpatiencepeacefaith

#hopelovejoygrace

#AndyStrong

My Life with Multiple Sclerosis102322

Hellooooooooooooooo, Possuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuums!

Coming to you from the Celebrity Suites of the Wyndemere Condominiums on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas. Today is Sunday, October 23. It’s going to be a mostly sunny day in Big D with a high of 86 degrees.

Happy Birthday to:

Jerry Quinton Fredieu

John Watson

Joyce Baker

Robert Metzger

Good Morning, Possums. Happy Sunday. My morning has not been nearly as exciting and eventful as yesterday. I have gotten my coffee, taken my morning pills and I am considering going back to bed, although I will probably fall asleep during Sunday Today.

The movie yesterday, Black Adam, was good. Good, not great. Marvel continues to kick DC’s butt when it comes to developing their properties. Plus, the character, Isis, was not in the movie. Her human character was, but she found the amulet and she never turned into Isis. Remember the Saturday morning cartoon (back when they had Saturday morning cartoons), “The Shazam/Isis Power Hour)? That was some really cheesy good/really/really bad/entertaining stuff.

My arms, chest and legs are sore the events of -yesterday morning and it feels really good - almost like I had an extra day of physical therapy.

Today is pretty open: church, a little work for our Titan’s fundraiser on 11/6, some grocery shopping and that’s about it. What’s on your schedule today?

Anyhoozle, I wish you and everyone around you a SPECTACULAR day. Do everything today with kindness in your heart. The world is full of kind people. If you can’t find one, be one! Peace, Love and Blessings to you all. -AJ

#strengthpatiencepeacefaith

#hopelovejoygrace

#AndyStrong

My Life with Multiple Sclerosis 102222

Hellooooooooooooooo, Possuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuums!  

Coming to you from the Celebrity Suites of the Wyndemere Condominiums on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas.  Today is Saturday, October 22.  It’s going to be a warm sunny fall day in Big D with a high of 87 degrees. 

No birthdays on my calendar today.

Good Morning, Possums.  Happy Saturday and Happy Weekend.  I have already had a bit of a morning.  My weekend is NOT going as planned (or unplanned) but it has been eventful.

I woke up around 2am to go to the bathroom - Success!  But on the way back to bed I was wide awake and new I was not going to sleep.  So, I sat in my recliner and turned to something on television I knew would put me to sleep and then turned to Hallmark to watch a Holiday-Themed movie.

I fell asleep as predicted but woke up around 3:30am. As I was getting up to get in my wheelchair to get back to bed, my foot got tangled in the blanket and I ended up on the floor - nothing was scraped, bruised or broken - just a clumsy guy with MS who was half asleep.

Now, getting up off the floor is vey difficult because my legs do not bend (well).  And when I add stress to the situation, well, they are like two steel beams.

Getting traction on my hardwood floors is near impossible.  So I needed to devise a plan.  Calling someone for help was not an option.  It was 4am and the only thing hurt was my pride and possibly my ego.  Plus I am fairly hard-headed and I wanted to do this myself.

Plan #1: This was something I have done before:  get two chairs from my dining room table, put them side by side and pull myself up on them and then sit up and get my walker / wheelchair.  So, I rolled from my living room to my dining room, arranged the chairs but I was exhausted.  I  did not have the energy to pull myself up onto the chairs.

The thought of calling someone (at 4:30am) passed through my mind for a fleeting moment but NO - I was going to get off the floor and stand up myself.  I had a phone and my Apple watch.  I could have easily called for help but I was determined to do this by myself.  This meant coming up with a new plan.

Plan #2 - I rolled from my dining room into my living room - legs still unbendable - and I pulled myself up on my foot stool-type bench in front of my couch, rolled over and sat up  This was a big accomplishment.  I pulled my legs in and they cooperated (begrudgingly) and sat there smiling and out of breath and a little full of myself.  I was off the floor and sitting up.  Now, I just needed to get to my wheelchair.

I was able to move myself to the couch and slide down to the other end - that was exhausting and I was getting very tired.  Just one more step:  Reach my wheelchair and get into it.  I sat on the couch for a bit to recuperate and chill - I looked at my watch and it was 6:30.  I had been at this for 3 hours.

Normally, I would have called for help, but it was the middle of the night, I was not hurt, nothing was broken and I wanted to give Multiple Sclerosis the MIDDLE FINGER.

And that I did.  I stood up and furniture surfed my way over to my wheelchair and muttered to myself (it’s almost 7am on a Saturday.  I am not going to yell):

F U Multiple Sclerosis!!!!!  Don’t give up MS Warriors - No matter the situation!

Good Lord, after reading all that, it sounds like Lucy and Ethel making candy except it’s a guy with MS that cannot bend his legs - LMAO.  Now I am completely exhausted.  I am going to have a cup of coffee (possibly with some Bailey’s or something) and possibly take a Saturday morning nap.

I know, many of you will think this was silly and unnecessary, but for me and my stubborn, hard-headed self, I WON.  This was victory for me and I am taking my victory lap to my recliner and I am going to take a nap (at 8:28am).

I am going to see the Black Adam this afternoon and that’s about it.

What are your plans for today / the weekend?

Also, (and no offense intended):  F U Multiple Sclerosis!

 

Anyhoozle, I wish you and everyone around you a SPECTACULAR  day.  Do everything today with kindness in your heart.  The world is full of kind people.  If you can’t find one, be one!  Peace, Love and Blessings to you all.  -AJ

#strengthpatiencepeacefaith

#hopelovejoygrace

#AndyStrong

My Life with Multiple Sclerosis102122

Hellooooooooooooooo, Possuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuums!

Coming to you from the Celebrity Suites of the Wyndemere Condominiums on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas. Today is Friday, October 21. It’s going to be a warm sunny fall day in Big D with a high pushing near 90 degrees.

Happy Birthday to:

Aaron Conger

Steve Blanchard

Toy Loftis

Good Morning, Possums. Happy Friday, FriYAY, TGIF and Happy Weekend. The weekend is here. Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas may begin and it’s the weekend. Only 10 days until Halloween, 11 days until Halloween candy goes on sale and our offices are flooded with leftovers and 12 days until October 2022 is in the books, Thanksgiving starts to become a reality and Christmas music is in the air

I am feeling pretty good. I think Chemo really is working. I almost feel different inside - like I can tell the inflammation in my spinal cord isn’t as pronounced. My legs are beginning work work nicely, especially my left leg, I am standing up and walking (baby steps) and it just feels good. I need to get in two more rounds of chemotherapy before I come home for the holiday, but it will happen.

Yesterday, I mistakenly scheduled my November chemo the day before we see the Broadway touring production of “My Fair Lady”. Missing that is NOT an option. I saw it twice in New York - once with Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) and once with Tony winner, Laura Benanti (whom I met). The sets, the costumes, the entire production is stunning. I hope they haven’t had to change much for the tour. But I will NOT be missing it!

It’s going to be a nice weekend and I hope to get out and enjoy it. I have plans to see Black Adam tomorrow (if I can get my shoes on - my feet are puffy). It’s gotten crappy reviews, sadly, but I feel like I have to see it. Pour DC Comics/Theatrics, they just can’t seem to get their act together.

What are your plans for today / the weekend?

Anyhoozle, I wish you and everyone around you a SPECTACULAR day. Do everything today with kindness in your heart. The world is full of kind people. If you can’t find one, be one! Peace, Love and Blessings to you all. -AJ

#strengthpatiencepeacefaith

#hopelovejoygrace

#AndyStrong