REFLECTIONS

He re's some healthy advice I came across suggesting that walking for an extra two minutes each hour may help prolong life. This is what I'm trying.  I have a small kitchen timer which I set for 1 hour.  When it goes off I set it for 2 minutes and walk around the rooms in my house. L inks: Walking Extra Two minutes Each Hour May Offset Hazards Of Sitting Too Long : Health : Headlines & Global News Walking an extra two minutes each hour may offset hazards of sitting too long -- ScienceDaily

Tomorrow I go for another Intravenous immunoglobulin  (IVIG) treatment.  It takes about 4 hours.  I feel stronger so it's definitely worth it.  Luckily it is covered by my insurance. Here's a short video about CIDP.

My brother Tony E-mailed this video to me.  For me the center green dot comes on and off while the yellow dots seem to disappear for a moment. I circled one of the yellow dots with my hand so it was the only one I could see. It did not disappear.  Neither did the other yellow dots when I tested them in turn.  The illusion is real and not a tampering with the video. Here it is: This link explains it better.  Do you see the dots? This optical illusion is bending our minds

BMI = Body Mass Index  is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. I recently read that a slightly heavier weight for seniors is still healthy.  Here's one explanation from Living Strong: Body Composition "As you age, you lose muscle mass. It's called sarcopenia, and as muscle mass decreases, fat tissue centralizes, filling in the gaps, so to speak. You also tend to store more fat as age progresses, thus maintaining steady or slightly increasing weight. Sarcopenia in obese elderly patients is associated with functional impairment and disability, so the upper ranges of BMI indicating obesity may indicate poor health outcomes in seniors as well as younger adults. That suggests that an ideal weight range for seniors is somewhere between the upper limit for good health for younger adults and the obesity range that is detrimental to patients of all ages. The Yale study concludes that 27, and not 25, should perhaps be the ideal upper limit for BMI in older pe

Lynette and I have been married for 35 years!  It will be a quiet celebration, just the two of us for dinner and back home to watch TV together.                                  I've had terrible headaches as a side effect of daily doses of intravenous immunoglobulin  this past week for my CIDP.  See my earlier post. Here's the link:  CIDP . Last night I had to take some  oxycodone, left over from before my back surgery last year.  The extra strength Tylenol did not help much.  The pain felt like a knife stabbed into my neck.   I was supposed to feel more strength in my legs but so far I only feel the headaches. Maybe I'll just have to give it more time to work.       (That's not me in the photo but that's how I felt.) We'll celebrate by going to one of our favorite restaurants.  They serve the best Chinese food I've ever had.  We usually order extra dishes to take home for dinner the next couple of days. It will be some quiet time together.

It's great having a grandson! My first day of therapy for my CIDP went better than expected.  It was for about 3 hours instead of 4.  Now I feel tired so I'll keep my post short.

I've had "dropfoot" for many years and wear braces on both my feet/calves to prevent me from tripping.  I've fallen many times but have not broken anything; except that my back required surgery and I wonder if my falls had anything to do with it.  But I'm very lucky that now I feel no pain. "Foot drop is a gait abnormality in which the dropping of the foot happens due to  weakness, damage to the peroneal nerve or paralysis of the muscles in the anterior portion of the lower leg. It is usually a symptom of a greater problem, not a disease in itself. ..." ~Wikipedia I just learned that I have Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy; CIDP for short.  After all these years I have a reason why I have "dropfoot". "Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy,  is an acquired immune-mediated inflammatory disorder of the peripheral nervous system." ~Wikipedia The treatment is Granulex-C iv ig, which is  made from hum

Whatever works is okay.  I just go for walks, do a few dumbbell exercises and physical therapy at home by myself.  I know it's not very exciting but at least it is something I can get myself to do. I almost forgot.  I have a stationary bike in my bedroom.  The good thing is that I can watch TV while using it.  But most of the time it only holds clothes and pillows.  

After a series of health problems starting with back surgery in September 2014, involving additional surgery to correct that surgery in February 2015; I developed a series of seizures after a meningitis/pneumonia infection.  I had a blood transfusion at the time to correct my anemia.  Maybe that was the origin of the infection. Now I'll need a fairly long rehabilitation to get back to a healthier state. The strangest thing I find about all this is that I was so anxious and in pain that I wanted to die.  It just felt like the right time. I don't remember most of my delusions and hallucinations.  I don't remember biting one of the nurses or believing setting EEG wires into my scalp as a hair style. The delusion of flying through a long thin tube, passing through the history of my life until I was suddenly cut short was the scariest roller coaster I've ever taken. The next almost as bad delusion was flying through an infinitely long numerical tube, waiting for

I'm having another spine operation to correct a "lump" which developed on the incision site from my first operation.  The "lump" is a pseudomeningocele. From Wikipedia: "A pseudomeningocele is an abnormal collection of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that communicates with the CSF space around the brain or spinal cord. In a pseudomeningocele, the fluid has no surrounding membrane but is contained in a cavity within the soft tissues." Anyway, while having my pre-op blood work they found that I have anemia.  It was a surprise to me because I have no symptoms. I thought the treatment would be easy. Take iron tablets 3 times a day.  But after spending a day on and off the toilet with painful black tar-like stools; I decided to stop taking the medication.  Maybe after my operation next week I might try 1 tablet a day. I found the chart above with some strange causes for anemia.  I can believe some of them but there are others that are just too muc