Hello all, it's been awhile.
It's hard to explain but I feel like I should let everyone know what is going on with me. It's like I need to share it and stop keeping it bottled up.
As you guys know, my back has been nothing short of a source of endless troubles for me. I've had several surgeries and not of them really helped me out. I'm constantly falling down because I lose feeling and control of my legs. I'm almost always getting false sensations in my legs. It will feel like my legs are on fire or all of my bones are broken. There is no fun in this. It's like I'm imprisoned to living my life in bed. I have been sentenced to life without parole. I do have some positive notes over being in a real prison. I get to visit my family every day. I can watch what I want on TV. I eat better food. There isn't any sodomy. I get to go on furlough to doctors offices every week. Every now and them my buddy Tim W5TAH will come and kidnap me do a few hours or an entire weekend.
Over the past few years I feel that people have been hurt because of them not understanding what exactly is going on with me. I will start with my eating habits. I will go to peoples house and these are great people and wonderful additions to my life. They don't want to see anyone leave their house without eating. Then I show up and refuse to eat. I know it bothers them, it bothers the hell out of me. Especially when they cook up a lot of deep fried southern soul food. You know, the good stuff that fills up your stomach and hugs your soul. It will hug your heart with hardened and blocked arteries but you got to have the good stuff every now and then. I'm on I believe more than twenty prescription medications that I have to take every day. That is a hell of a lot of side effects. My stomach doesn't work like it should. I have to be extremely picky on what I eat or it will make me sick to my stomach. What makes me flip out is I will eat something, lets say green beans. I will eat it at one meal and then not eat it again. Then I will throw up up to two weeks after I eat the green beans and I will throw up those green beans. Meaning they have been sitting undigested in my stomach for two weeks. I can go two to five days without eating anything because my stomach will just fill up with undigested food and I wait until I spend a night throwing up until my stomach is empty and I can eat again. We've thought about going to get it checked out but there is just too many more pressing health concerns that we need to work on that is more important.
About a year ago I started experiencing pain from the middle of my shoulder blades up to the base of my neck. Then several months back I started having intense pain in my biceps. More so my right than my left. We talked to my family doctor and we decided to start with an X-Ray and go from there. I got the X-Ray done and my doctor said that I may have severe arthritis. So I went to an orthopedic to figure out what can be done. The orthopedic said that by looking at the X-Ray he didn't see very much arthritis. After looking at my history with my back and going through my symptoms he said that it could be where my back problems have moved up to my neck. At this point we are waiting to get an MRI and we will go from there. I'm experiencing a lot of pain in my shoulders, neck, biceps, forearms and hands. There are times when I'm way more useless and a burden than normal. I can't pick up anything. It is like picking up a glass if tea is like dislocating my shoulder and elbow. The other day I was holding our cat and everything was ok then suddenly my right arm from shoulder to hand just exploded in pain and I nearly had to throw the cat to Desiree to keep from dropping her (She is an old and very well loved cat). It took over six hours to recover from that. I'm unable to draw, it's hard to write. Doing electronics is next to impossible for me. I've been trying to do a simple AGC add on kit for a radio that I sold to Tim W5TAH. What would take a normal person an hour to do, I've been fighting it for six months. I keep dropping my soldering iron, which isn't fun, I will put electronic components in wrong. I just want to get this done and give it to Tim so that he can use it, but I feel at this point it is nearly impossible for to do. A month back some of you saw that for the very first time I grew a moustache and beard. It looked pretty sweet and was solid white. I really hated it, but I grew it cause I couldn't hold a razor or clippers to shave.
About the main thing that I have been doing is working on my bonsai trees. However even though they weigh no more than a pound I have to get someone to move them for me because they are just too heavy for me to pick up.
I have plans that I have been working on, like a YouTube channel. My channel idea is basically combining my recumbent trike with ham radio and my health challenges along with showcasing the beautiful parks and trails in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan area.. I'm in really bad shape and I'm constantly racked with severe pain. My hope is to say to people "Hey look what I have to deal with every freaking day of my life! If I can get out of the house and do something physical and just DO SOMETHING then so can you. Life is short and precious, don't waste yours by hiding away inside.
Right now I'm limited to riding my trike no farther than a mile from my house. That is so that when I run into health problems and need someone to come and get me. I'm 50 years old and I have a lot of challenges in front of me. Those are challenges that I plan on overcoming somehow. Here are a few:
- Find out what is going on with my arms and try to fix it.
- Spend more time riding my trike so that I can eventually build up to being allowed to ride farther from home.
- Finish my bike trailer so that I can take more radio equipment with me on the park. I have my dream radio and everything but my stuff is kind of bulky which makes it hard for me to fit everything on the trike. I have one of those bike trailers for hauling kids and I'm trying to turn that into a cargo trailer. It is taking longer than expected cause it is difficult for me to use any tools.
- Get electric assist for my trike. This is crazy expensive, roughly $1,500 for the cheapest option, so this will remain more of a dream than reality. This will allow me to ride farther and then when I have heath problems on the trail, it will let me limp back home on my own.
I'm not asking for anything, I'm not wanting any symphony. Not a single person is able to go through life without struggles. Some have to struggle more than others, that has been the way it is since the moment of creation. Just got to keep in mind that God will not give you any obstacle that is greater than your ability to overcome. I'm 50 years old, I'm in horrible health, live each moment in chronic pain. Yet I still believe that my best years are ahead of me. I'm also eternally grateful for my family and friends that pick me up off the floor (literally), and continue to support me and encourage me to move forward. Every day I feel like I don't deserve my wife and kids, but everyday I thank God that they are in my life.
Again feel free to leave any comments in the comments section below. Subscribe and you will be notified for any future activity. You may contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com
