Long time no hear

No I wasn't abducted by aliens, kidnapped by terrorists, and I am not deceased. There simply hasn't been much going on that I deemed interesting enough to blog about. I know you must be missing me very much or at least I hope so lol. Anyway here is a quick update.

My health is doing pretty well despite a very low grade temperature of 99.0°F that quickly went away the day before yesterday. besides that everything with my health has been pretty much normal nothing really stands out in my mind that warrants reporting.

For the past two Fridays I have been spending time with the pride and joy of my life my nephew Zayne. He's an adorable 15 month old with the biggest brightest smile I've ever seen a baby make. He is the only son to my older brother Matt and his lovely wife Laura. Zayne is my first nephew and my younger brother Brett and I are very proud to be called uncle :) He just learned to walk and now he's all over the place getting into everything, he's especially interested in my medical equipment and even tries to grab my trach! Maybe he wants to be a doctor or a nurse? Kidding asside what he really seems to be interested in is baseball and playing instruments. He loves playing catch and adores the maracas and xylophone we bought him for his first birthday. He takes his maracas all over the house and hardly ever puts them down. I am pretty sure he's going to be a musician; he must take after my grandfather since he was the only one with musical talent in the family. My mom loves to be "Grammy" and Zayne brings so much joy into her life, he really makes her laugh. Zayne brings so much joy into my life as well, he has a way of brightening even the gloomiest of days.

Follow-up Article

This Thursday I again met with Chelsea Phua a reporter for the Sacramento Bee. the previous article was such a big hit that she decided it needed an update as to not let down the fans.

Thanks again Chelsea for your wonderful contribution to my life, you are truly an amazing person and words cannot describe how thankful my mom and I are to you. None of this would've been possible without you.

You can read the article here http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1945150.html

Stress Relief

Amidst all the craziness going on with my health lately; chest pain, x-rays, a CT scan, blood tests, an EKG and a new discovery that I am extremely anemic due to lack of iron, I decided I needed some stress relief so today I decided to catch a movie. This time it was Disney Pixar's Up a charming tale about Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old balloon salesman, finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. Yes I did copy that from the offical movie description from Fandango.com; I know i'm a lazy guy. Joking asside the movie was absolutely brillant. It has something for aferyone, action check, drama check, comedy check, stunnig 3D visuals check, an enthralling storyline that kids and adults can equally enjoy check and check. Somehow the folks at Pixar were able to create the perfect movie, a movie for everyone! Up was by far one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in years and it was just what the Dr. ordered to Relieve Stress.

one hectic week

Today marks the end of one heck of a week in my life filled with ups and downs twists and turns and stress.to help you understand all that has gone on in this week I'll have to break it downin a numbered list.

1. I have been feeling chest pain on and off for the past week as well as an irregular heartbeat and even had to go to the ER. They ran a CT scan to check for a pneumothorax for hole in my lung, drew blood to test for signs of a heart attack, and took a chest x-ray. What did this battery of tests show absolutely nothing everything looked completely normal which was a shock and a release at the same time. At least I know it's nothing life threatening. I would like to know what caused the pain though so I am going to go to my cardiologist for a full cardiac check.luckily my heart rate has been steady for the most part and I haven't had a more effective pain.

2. The fund raiser has achieved something I thought was impossible we have reached a $15,000 mark all thanks to that amazing article. the amount of love in this world astounds me. thanks again from the bottom of my heart for anyone who has donated to our cause. God bless you!

4. in spite of everything that has gone on with my health I decided I needed to do something to take my mind off of all of the stress so I caught a WNBA basketball game featuring the Sacramento teamknown as the Monarchs and their fiercest rival in the Seattle Storm. my wonderful friend Amy hooked my mom and myself up with amazing seats in a suite!The game was amazing those women can keep right up with the Guys, if they weren't sporting ponytails and breasts I would have never known women were actually playing they are that good. I was amazed at how tall they were for women tallest member of the storm was 6 foot five. both teams put up a valiant effort and for most of the game and the score was very close. In the end my favorite the Sacramento monarchs met defeat but not after putting on one heck of a game.in the end the Explorer was 61 to 71. We had a blast.

Overwhelming Support

Amy Bush my dear friend who put together the fundraiser got the surprised of her life when she walked into work yesterday. Sitting on her desk were over 80 checks, money orders, and letters. Apparently my article had touched the hearts of a enormous amount of wonderful people. I knew my article would have impact but I had no idea how big the impact would be. I am so touched by the outpouring of support and love I have received. With all those checks and money orders we were able to raise a grand total of $10,000 an amount that made my jaw drop and eyes pop out of my head. I thought it was dreaming when Amy told me how much love we have received. I have a newfound faith in humanity that I never thought was possible. From watching the news and other media you get the impression that the world is filled with awful people with no heart. Let me tell you that that is NOT true in any way shape or form there are plenty of decent, kind hearted, selfless individuals who really do care. Today I am tasked with writing thank you letters and all those individuals who helps us keep and repair our home. Life is amazing!

The Cadillac of Trachs

For the last 4 months or so I've been having an unusual problem that has effected my quality of life immensely. Mucus has been pooling above my tracheotomy tube in the back of my throat that I was unable to cough up no matter how hard I tried. Having the secretions above my tube made it very difficult to talk, when I would talk it would often sound like I was underwater or in desperate need of suctioning, sometimes no sound would come out at all. This made it very hard to socialize since my voice could cut out at any time, it was embarrassing frustrating and very depressing. I went months thinking I would always sound like that and I would have to live with it for the rest of my life. This all started when an experimental tracheotomy tube was placed in me back in February when I had surgery to open up my stoma or hole in my neck. It turned out there was a problem with this experimental tube, it didn't fit in me properly and stuck up in the air 45° out of the hole which was very harmful to my trachea. After two months of having this tube in my neck it had caused my trachea to change shape. This is what I believe cause my problem with secretions pooling. It around this time a glimmer of hope began to shine, a knowledgeable ear nose and throat nurse told us about a brand-new tracheotomy tube that had a port to section above the cuff which would allow the secretions to be removed alleviating my problem. Only one thing these tubes were in very short supply as they were only being used on a trial basis by the hospital. Luckily today after months of waiting I was able to get my dirty little hands on one my doctor found one and put it in me. Today I went in for my routine monthly trach change, everything was routine about it except for the fact I would be using this coveted new tube. This too was exactly 1 mm in diameter larger than my previous model so the Dr. was unsure that it would fit. She informed me that the it may be quite painful to insert disc two has the larger tube. This had me quite anxious but I knew I had to go through a fit if I wanted to improve the quality of my life. To my astonishment the new tube slid right into place with no problem! I was so relieved I felt like singing. I no longer had to live with embarrassment and shame about a speech problem I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.