MRIs and sex

Ok so I might have already shared this with some of you, but I still find it intriguing and worth sharing with others.  Plus, John told me "less prednisone and more pictures."  So here are some pictures (via someone else's blog).  I wish I had a photo of myself getting a spinal tap, like Alan suggested.  That would have been sick.

Around the time I got my first MRI I was tooling around on the internet and did a google image search of MRI so I could see what some of the images look like.  I came across this and was immediately fascinated.  Not only because someone got funded (wow!), but because MRI machines require you to be completely still or the images will be blurry.  How did this work? Turns out that they had to give the men Viagra because they were "unable to function" while inside the MRI machine.  Not too surprising I guess.  The images are pretty crazy too-I admit I had to look at them for a while to figure out what the heck was going on.

At any rate, if you guys are interested in science and the battle against ID and creationism, you should check out the Pharyngula blog.  I added a link to the right.

I'm also adding the "brainbow" pictures that I found a few months ago.  Amazing!  Now I just gotta figure out how to put the pictures where I want them.  I'm still learning about this blogging thing.

In other news, I'm not going to Jailhouse today because Dan Urban bailed on me.  Oh well.  I guess I'll go to the gym tonight and suck instead.  

In addition, good news/bad news.  I got the results from my blood tests and lumbar puncture (spinal tap) back, and they are consistent with the diagnosis of MS.  Which is good, because that means it's not something else (which could potentially be worse).  I also got the results back from my evoked potentials testing.  This is where they hook up electrodes to your back and head, and then stimulate the nerves in your feet and hands to see how fast the signal is transmitting up and down your body.  Mine are completely normal, meaning that we caught it early and no damage has been done.  This gives me an excellent prognosis, and I am optimistic.  Now if I could just get off the steroids, life would be good.  Now if I could just win the lottery...

By the way, apologies if this is becoming the "MS blog."  I'm sure that when this all settles down I'll write about it less, but right now it's on my mind.  Thanks to everyone for all of your support and comments.

Mondays

Well, well well.  It appears that I am pretty excited about this new blog.  But it doesn't come without some uncertainty about what to include and what not to include.  How personal should you make your blog?  How much should you write about other people?  How much should I say about my health?  I don't know.  I have fears about insurance companies stalking me and deciding that I will never get coverage...that sort of thing.

Tomorrow I think I will go to Jailhouse and see if I can send Common Thug (doubtful).  Sunday I felt pretty tired after just two pitches up at the Killer Pillar.  I'm not sure if it was the MS, the steroids, or the fact that I hadn't climbed in two weeks.  At any rate I got super sunburned, which the doctor warned me about with prednisone .  If you follow the link, you can see what a nasty drug this is.

For my MS flare-up, I went into the the Medical Infusion Technologies center in Savannah, GA and got an hour of Solu-Medrol infusion (IV) for three days in a row.  Basically they sieged my body with a prednisone solution.  Because prednisone is so toxic, I can't stop taking it right away or my body could go into shock and withdrawal.  Therefore the doctor prescribed a three week taper where I will gradually ween myself off the drug, giving my adrenal glands a chance to start producing cortisone again after being shut down by the prednisone.  Right now I am on week two of the taper.  I'm pretty excited to be off it completely, though am naturally worried about any symptoms that could come back.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I know I should put some photos up...the key to any successful website, powerpoint or anything else is always: lots of pictures!!!  I plan on putting some up soon.  I'm heading back to Yosemite to climb Thursday-Sunday, so hopefully I'll get some good ones.

Who has more misfortune?

While driving back from Yosemite I decided to stop at Trader Joe's and buy some stuff.  The guy who was ringing up my groceries asked me "how was your weekend?" I said, "oh, pretty good."  I then proceeded to ask him about his weekend, and he said "terrible, just terrible."  So I said "I'm sorry, I hope it wasn't that bad."  He says "it was".  

I can't believe I did this, but I said "Well I bet it wasn't as bad as my week last week."  He said "I bet it was."  I said "I bet it wasn't."  He asked, "what happened to you?"  I said "I got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis."  He looked stricken.  

Following that, I said "yeah, it's pretty bad.  Somebody would have to have died for you to have a worse week...uh oh. I hope no one died...did they?"  "No, but my fiance left me."

I paused for a moment..."well, at least you can get over that..." and then he said "well, we'll see about that."

And then I punched him in the face.  Just kidding...I kind of felt bad for the guy.

Yikes!  I can't believe I was competing for the greater misfortune!  We both ended up laughing about it...uncomfortably.  What a weird exchange.  

Anyway, the valley was a lot of fun even though I didn't do too much climbing.  It was just so nice to be out and see everyone.  Maybe I'll take the quarter off and just go rock climbing.  Quitting my job sounds pretty good right now.

First post on a blog.  Ever!  Wow!  This is probably just a way to keep procrastinating and avoid the three hour drive to Yosemite, where I'm supposed to meet up with Shannon, Audrey, and some dude I don't know.  

But I don't really feel like bouldering, considering I haven't bouldered in years, and haven't even climbed on real holds in over a month.  So basically I'm going to suck.  So maybe I'll just hang out and heckle.  Plus I have to give Shannon all of her stuff back (and Casey's) from our trip to Indian Creek.  Even if I don't climb, I can consider this "ticking something off the list" of little things that I need to do.  

Other things on this list: 

buy drywall screws and fix the toilet paper holder in my downstairs bathroom

buy a sharps container (exciting!)

get a power drill (mwa hahaha)

find things to do with a power drill

use the power drill

etc.

So basically my life right now consists of getting lots of little things done, and nothing major.  I like this.  I think I could live like this for a long, long time.