I can certainly think of better means of catching up on what all has occured since my last rambling, but it appears I'll have some time to kill the next few days spent in hospital so here it goes....
The new house - During our annual trip to White Springs, Fla. to ride the IDIDARIDE, we had two offers on our house, which was outstanding considering the state the economy and housing market were in. We took the most solid offer and became homeless for a few months. Well, not exactly. We stayed at Twin Oaks south of Perry, Ga. in a tiny - and I do mean tiny - cabin. Single file walking in that shoe box. That lasted 2 months until we were able to finally buy the house our real estate agent had shown us previously, but didn't want to pay what was asked since the house was in bad shape. Well, as luck would have it the owner was in the process of filing for bankruptcy and her creditor, Wells Fargo Financial, was trying to "short sale" the home to save their bacon and the owners. The original price of $200k had been dropped to $139k, so we jumped on it first with a full price offer and got it. In the end it was worth the hassle we went through to get 2800 sq. ft. house on 29 acres, but I'm not so sure I'd do it again considering we could have bought other homes that required no work and were move-in ready. I look at this new home as an opportunity to put my skills to work making it ours, and in the design style I want.
The lifestyle change - The new house is some 35 miles or so from where we work and is quite a change since we both were only 10 minutes from our respective jobs in the old house in Warner Robins. We can no longer pop out for something missing from a recipe, or walk to Subway for a sammich. We can no longer come home and casually get ready to join our fellow cyclists on the usual road or mountain bike rides during the week. BUT... the roads we live off of are nice and hilly for road rides and did I mention the 29 acres of land we now own? Yeah, we bought it to have our own private mountain bike trail we can ride anytime, can build it my way (not that that is the right way), and I think once the house painting and repairing is done our friends can come out, ride until they get their fill, have a beer or twelve with some brats or steak, shower off, and even park it for the night if they want. Oh, and we now live only 10 minutes from Arrowhead (boom) trail. And the most important aspect of our new home: we don't have mean little shithead kids screaming at each other or being screamed at by their shithead parents. Enough soap box, I feel better. We also have a few deer that keep pretty close to the center of our property because of all the dogs running loose out that way. We plan to fence in the property to keep the deer safe (til deer season) and the dogs out. Speaking of deer....I hope everyone knows that deer carry these interesting little creatures called ticks around. Which leads me to my next point.
The new hospital visit - I'm sitting here in room 437 of Warner Robins' hospital with an IV of ceftriaxone (aka, Rocephin) dripping its way into my bloodstream. It must be what the medical people call a "big gun" because it is making me feel - not so good. And, it made the wifey tear up when the neurologist mentioned the need for it. The reason for all this fuss is that I may have Lyme encephalopathy, or what is commonly called lyme's disease. This lovely disease got its name by geography and happenstance: around 1975 mothers of a group of children who lived near each other in Lyme, Connecticut, made researchers aware that their children had all been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. This unusual grouping of illness that appeared "rheumatoid" eventually led researchers to the identification of the bacterial cause of the children's condition, what was then called "Lyme disease" in 1982. Ticks carry the bacterium and it gets transmitted to a host when bitten. Not all ticks carry it, just the trusted ones who make the grade.
The past few weeks I've been feeling less than normal, heavily fatigued is putting it mildly, along with several other symptons: loss of motor function (coordination and movement), tingling in my arms and hands, joint stiffness, body aches, mild to severe headaches, sweats/chills, memory loss, and some confusion. More confusion than I normally experience anyway. I never once had the bulls-eye rash everyone, including doctors, expects.
Anyway, I've had the luxury of having 12 viles of blood drawn today and a CT scan with contrast. Yes, more needles. I just had visits from the neurologists, Dr. Parihar, and my friend and doctor, Dr. Fabian Franco. Both said my bloodwork was suprisingly normal and the CT scan was normal. Did they think I wasn't human or something, or didn't have a brain since it showed up on the CT scan? It is great news, however, because it appears I may not have lyme enceph-something afterall. Relieved I am, but still not looking forward to tonight and the morrow. MRI tonight, with contrast, fracken needles again.....and the coup d'etat tomorrow --> a spinal tap, or the softer verbage: lumbar puncture. They want to be sure, and so do I, that I don't have Lyme encepha-something because what few folks know is that during later stages of the disease miningitis may develop, heart failure can occur, hearing loss, and several other nasty ways of slipping down the slope of a miserable death. I know I'm worth more dead than alive, but damn-it man, I don't want to slip the surly bounds of earth just yet!
Guess I'll leave it at that for now. Getting really tired and I think the lab vampires are about to strike again.... Need a nap anyway since the old folks on this floor have a "gown streaking" planned for midnite they want me to lead. NAKED LAP!!!!!
Below is the male's partner. He hovered about a foot from me and to the left as she fed. Territorial little jokers for sure.
This is the male from the second couple.
Below is the second male's partner. He wasn't so territorial with me but buzzed around making sure the previous male wasn't trying to corner in on his action.
