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All posts for the month August, 2008

Olympi-YEAH

Posted by PacFu on August 19, 2008
Posted in: Life. Leave a Comment

Hi.  My name is Matt.  I’m addicted to watching Olympics.  Frankly, I can’t stop, nor do I want to.  Now that I have att’s uVerse, I get even MORE olympic channels.  Yes, the other day, I watched pingpong on the Mandarin Olympic channel, and badminton  on the Olympics Korean channel.  I didn’t care I had no clue what they were saying, I was watching competition.  Oh, did I mention I watched equestrian on Oxygen?

This olympic games are historical.  Michael Phelps’ 8 unprecedented golds got me watching, gymnastics keeps me interested (even though the Chinese cheat), and I enjoy anything else.  Yea, in 2 months, no one will be talking about it anymore, and I’m not sure people will even remember their names.  For these 2 weeks, I’m in the moment.  Even my daughter (5 yrs) who wants to learn how to “swing on the bars, and flip, and summersault in the air and land on my feet.”

We signed her up and she starts in 2 weeks.

MS Fatigue (Or, When Simple Rest Is Not Enough)

Posted by PacFu on August 12, 2008
Posted in: Quotes. Leave a Comment

Fatigue is many things.

Fatigue is…
starting out the day with an energy deficit.
being more tired in the morning than you were the night before.
wanting to cry thinking about a task to be done next week.
not remembering where you put the refrigerator, the car or the kids.
operating at half-speed.
When your limbs feel like concrete
and your brain like cotton candy.
when you cannot go
one more millisecond and have to stop NOW.
when it becomes a major chore
to walk to the mailbox.
knowing no one can really understand
unless they stand in your shoes.
oft times painful.
walking through glue.
Fatigue = Gravity X 2

Fatigue is many things.

Fatigue is a great teacher…
when we must learn to share our burden.
when we must learn to
freely let go
of some of the
control
we prize so dearly.
when we must learn to stop and smell the roses.
when we must learn to love the quiet times.
when we must learn
to let our souls and our bodies lie fallow
waiting for change that will bring new life.
when we can laugh at ourselves.
Fatigue is a great teacher if we can learn it’s lessons.
Fatigue means learning these lessons again and again.
Fatigue is about letting go.

Fatigue is many things.

MS Update

Posted by PacFu on August 11, 2008
Posted in: Medical (MS and other). Leave a Comment

I haven’t wrote in here in quite some time, so I’d like to share some things MS related I’ve recently read.  First, 2 more patients developed PML (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy) from treatment via Tysabri.  Since the FDA already “black-labeled” this drug for risks of this exact thing, and neither patient has yet died, and the risk-reward of the drug still outweighs the bad. 

I also have read about some promising treatments, such as caffeine and a new pill drug for relapsing-remitting ms called Laquinimod.  Laquinimod is now in phase III trial, which means it could be less than 2 years away from release to public.  I HATE SHOTS, and would love for this drug to take off.  I take a daily pill already for my hiatal hernia, so another pill is not a big deal to me. 

Caffeine you say?  According to an article I read, and tested on mice, the caffeine blocked a compound called adenosine that triggers the events that lead to the mouse form of MS.  Does drinking more coffee help?  Ehh, maybe not, but the equivalent to 6 cups a day blocked this compound and in some cases reversed the effects.  Shit, I drink about 12 so if it does help, I’m all set.